Valve Steam Deck Hardware Review & Analysis: Thermals, Noise, Power, & Gaming Benchmarks

Our Valve Steam Deck hardware review & benchmarks test for battery life, power consumption, gaming performance, thermals, noise, and more in this in-depth video.
SUPPORT US! GN 3D Coaster Packs: https://store.gamersnexus.net/products/3d-coaster-pack-4-component-coasters (now on back-order! This amazing 4-pack of fully custom coasters that we designed and made uses high-quality materials and vibrant, PC-centric designs that you won’t get anywhere else. It also supports the weeks of testing we do on content like this! Last time, stock sold out in about 36 hours. Make sure you back-order soon!)

WATCH OUR TEAR-DOWN & VRM ANALYSIS of the Steam Deck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlsJB3narnk

GN ‘Volt’ Modmats are also in stock and shipping now: https://store.gamersnexus.net/products/modmat-volt-large
GN 10-piece Toolkits are in stock & shipping now: https://store.gamersnexus.net/products/gamersnexus-tear-down-toolkit

Our Steam Deck tear-down and other follow-up content will be up this week! Check back for that!

We also went through the specs of the Steam Deck here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkolKam3kjU

Like our content? Please consider becoming our Patron to support us: http://www.patreon.com/gamersnexus

This Steam Deck review (or initial review, anyway — we’re still waiting on ability to review SteamOS) looks at the production-ready Arch Linux-based handheld gaming PCs for the first time. The video includes methodology notes for our in-depth testing approach and demonstrates the basics of the more advanced principles we apply behind-the-scenes in testing. The benchmark sections follow those, with a heavy focus on Steam Deck battery life, thermal testing of the memory, ICs, APU (GPU/CPU), and more, and acoustic testing alongside RPM ramp and hysteresis.
We’re looking forward to a review of the UI and OS for SteamOS in the future. We didn’t test Windows yet because the drivers were incomplete, and so the data would not accurately depict a version with GPU drivers.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – Steam Deck Overview & Testing Notes
03:01 – Schlieren Imaging Setup Explained
04:35 – Steam Deck Schlieren Imaging Analysis
05:48 – Thermals (Gaming Load)
09:53 – Thermal Design, Chassis, & Analysis
14:06 – Fan RPM & Hysteresis
15:25 – Noise Testing Methodology
17:44 – Steam Deck Noise Level Tests
18:58 – Battery Benchmarking Methodology
20:38 – Steam Deck Battery Life Tests
22:03 – Charge Time & Charging Behavior on Steam Deck
23:54 – Power Consumption on Valve Steam Deck
24:58 – Game Benchmarking Methodology
26:55 – Control Benchmarks (Dx11) on Valve Steam Deck
27:39 – Ghostrunner Steam Deck Game Benchmarks
28:34 – Forza Horizon 5 on Steam Deck
29:03 – Devil May Cry 5 on Steam Deck
30:03 – Latency Testing on the Steam Deck
31:14 – Latency in Control (Steam Deck)
32:13 – Latency in Dead Cells
33:11 – Conclusion: Steam Deck Review

** Please like, comment, and subscribe for more! **

Links to Amazon and Newegg are typically monetized on our channel (affiliate links) and may return a commission of sales to us from the retailer. This is unrelated to the product manufacturer. Any advertisements or sponsorships are disclosed within the video (“this video is brought to you by”) and above the fold in the description. We do not ever produce paid content or “sponsored content” (meaning that the content is our idea and is not funded externally aside from whatever ad placement is in the beginning) and we do not ever charge manufacturers for coverage.

t: http://www.twitter.com/gamersnexus
f: http://www.facebook.com/gamersnexus
w: http://www.gamersnexus.net/

Host, Test Lead, Writing: Steve Burke
Testing, Writing: Patrick Lathan
Video, Schlieren Setup: Andrew Coleman
Video Production: Keegan Gallick