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Valve Confirms Steam Deck Customers to Receive Their Devices Within 2022

Valve's Steam Deck has been a resounding success by any metric, providing an impressive mobile gaming experience at Valve's first try. However, not all has been rosy: particularly for those customers that still haven't been able to receive their Steam Deck order. It's not just a demand problem; for a long while, Valve's hands were tied in the number of Steam Decks they could actually put together, due to continuing electronics component shortages that followed the COVID-19 tech race - paired with logistics nightmares fueled by constant lockdowns and limited transport operations around the globe.

But customers still awaiting their Steam Deck can now take a slight more hopeful outlook, as the company has confirmed via Twitter that all outstanding Steam Deck orders will be fulfilled before year's end. Through improvements to both logistics and manufacturing capacity, many of the reservations previously scheduled for 2Q2022 or later have been moved towards 3Q (July-September). All orders that weren't moved to 3Q are now solidly in Q4, according to the company. Valve has also confirmed that new orders will also be scheduled for 4Q. Do count on a hard limit to how many Steam Decks Valve can fit within it, though, so if you really, really want a Steam Deck before year's end, you better move fast.

iVoler Unveils Its Flagship Steam Deck Docking Solution Countering Launch Delays on Steam's Official Dock Station

The Steam Deck is undoubtedly the most powerful handheld gaming console yet. And just like its close competitor Nintendo Switch, gamers were expecting a docking station from Steam so they could play their favorite games on bigger screens. However, the fans have only met disappointments as Steam keeps delaying the launch due to parts shortage. The delay has affected the gaming community as the launch was supposed to happen in spring 2022. However, a new 3rd party dock solution has emerged as a potential solution to gamers' woes; iVoler Steam Dock.

The iVoler team has been working diligently to release a 3rd party dock solution for Steam Deck for some time. They're happy to announce that their flagship device has finally hit the shelves and is currently available on Amazon in seven regions; US, CA, UK, DE, FR, IT, and ES. The iVoler 3rd party dock solution is a blessing for Steam Deck gamers as it supports up to 4K resolution @ 60 Hz, providing gamers with the best viewing angles and the most immersive gaming experience. It's a sleek and compact unit specifically engineered to accommodate Valve's handheld; even the design has a stark resemble with Steam's delayed docking solution. Plus, the team has paid close attention to making it more user-friendly and convenient.

AOKZOE A1 Handheld Console with Ryzen 6800U Launched on Kickstarter

AOKZOE, an emerging gaming & tech company based in Shanghai, has now announced the world's first AMD 6800U handheld console with the AOKZOE A1. The much anticipated 6800U powered console will surely bring advancement to the gaming experience. With the combination of AMD Ryzen 7 6800U, Radeon 680M graphics, along with LPDDR5X memory, AOKZOE A1 is able to deliver Elden Ring at 60 FPS and Forza over 100 FPS.

The AOKZOE A1 is equipped with pure aluminium cooling fins, pure copper heat pipes, fans and intelligent temperature control to ensure efficient heat dissipation. Being compatible with both Windows 11 and SteamOS, AOKZOE A1 allows the players to access their gaming library on the go, from AAA titles to emulating their favorite retro games.

JSAUX Announces a New Docking Station and Accessories for the Steam Deck

Tech manufacturer JSAUX just announced that the 2nd generation of its Docking Station for Steam Deck is now available for pre-order on its official website. Released at a price of $49.99, this new model features three USB 3.0 ports and a brand new Gigabit Ethernet port that will upgrade the user's experience with Valve's handheld console in 4K TVs. Shippings will start on July 10. Other new accessories for Steam Deck revealed by JSAUX are a special edition of their hard-shell carrying case and a screen protector, sold both as a bundle and separately.

After a successful Gen 1 that was quickly sold out, JSAUX announces that players can get their hands on both the Gen 1 (being sold for $39.99) and the Gen 2. Both products let players enjoy their library in 4K @ 60 Hz on a TV while having the Steam Deck on charge, with access to a variety of ports that allow for multiple add-ons; from external hard drives to an ethernet connection. The docking station also features compatibility with iPads and Android phones with USB-C ports.

Valve Confirms Steam Deck Weekly Manufacturing "More Than Doubled"

Valve, handlers of the world's most popular digital games store and manufacturers of the Steam Deck, have announced that they've been able to more than double weekly production of the handheld console. Due to the production "picking up", as Valve says it, the company expects to double the number of handhelds shipped each week. This is especially good news for users that were expecting to receive their devices in the 3Q - shipments for these particular orders will begin on June 30th.

Valve doesn't make it clear what exactly was bottlenecking production. Manufacturing and logistics have been showing signs of normalization following a couple of years with snag after snag due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent war in Ukraine. Overwhelming demand for graphics chips across the product spectrum may have pushed Valve to accept a smaller pie of AMD chips than the company would like to, and might be one of the reasons the company was forced to extend deliveries of pre-orders for the device.

Steam Deck Engineer Says SSD Mods Will Significantly Reduce Lifetime of the Device

A few days ago, reports started flooding the web on a Steam Deck mod that successfully vied to replace the handheld console's integrated 2230 SSD towards the more ubiquitous 2242 format. The general idea was that the 2242 SSDs could generally provide higher performance and more bang for the buck on the available storage space, which is at a premium on the Steam Deck already, mostly due to its increased footprint compared to the stock 2230 SSD. However, according to a tweet by Steam Deck engineer Lawrence Yang, this SSD replacement carries with it enough caveats that it might actually severely decrease the longevity of the device itself.

According to him, the Steam Deck's SSD slot is particularly sensitive to fluctuations on power requirements - of which those of 2242 SSDs are usually higher. At the same time, the device's thermal pads (of which the removal and/or compromise is required to fit in the larger form-factor SSD) are a very necessary part of temperature management for the complex engineering of the Deck - specifically for the power delivery subsystem, which should see worsened temperatures due to the thermal pad removal. It might be better to simply invest in a fast SD card solution - some relatively affordable models offer read speeds of 160 MB/s already, show no performance degradation, and are hot-swappable.

JSAUX Launches its Line of Steam Deck Accessories

JSAUX has been all the rage in the world of steam deck gaming recently, and rightly so. The renowned digital accessories brand rolled out its steam deck docking station in June and became an instant hit amongst steam deck users around the globe. Following the delay in the launch JSAUX's new accessory, the Steam Official Dock - the first third-party docking station made specifically for the steam deck - attracted attention and captured the imagination of many worldwide.

The all-new steam deck offers users multiple customisable and flexible options. Equipped with a desktop mode, the steam deck transforms into a PC gaming by connecting to a monitor or TV. The docking station also acts as a stand for the steam deck, allowing gamers to optimise their playing experience, functionality, and aesthetics by playing while standing on a table. Priced at $39.99, the steam deck docking station is an affordable accessory for users, adding to its functional appeal. Furthermore, with plans for the second batch of products to start shipping globally by the end of June, steam deck gamers can expect to get their hands on their own docking station if they haven't already.

AMD Reportedly Preparing Next Generation Steam Deck Processor

AMD is allegedly preparing an upgraded quad-core APU with Zen 4 and RDNA3 architectures for a next-generation Steam Deck device according to Moore's Law is Dead. The report claims that the chip is referred to as a "Van Gogh Successor" internally with a die size between 110 mm² and 150 mm² resulting in an increased production cost. The chip should feature 4 Zen 4 cores and 8 threads offering 25% - 35% higher performance per clock (PPC) with a maximum boost of 4 GHz. The RDNA3 graphics will include 8 Compute Units with significantly higher PPC compared to their RDNA2 counterparts which combined with the updated CPU could see a performance improvement up to 50%. These rumors have not been confirmed with any potential Steam Deck processor far from being announced or released anytime soon.

iFixit Temporarily Lists Steam Deck Replacement Parts for Sale

iFixit accidentally listed their lineup of Steam Deck replacement parts for purchase before removing them shortly thereafter. The company listed several key components of the Steam Deck on their UK store including the Motherboard, Screen, Speakers, Fan, and Adhesive. These components do not come cheaply with the bare motherboard excluding an SSD costing £289.99 (360 USD) while the base models screen costs £59.99 (75 USD) with the premium anti-glare screen costing £89.99 (110 USD). These parts have all now been removed from the website with iFixit promising to officially release them soon while honoring any orders that were placed before the removal. The complete list of parts and their prices offered by iFixit can be found below.
iFixitEarlier today we published some pages related to our upcoming parts launch with Valve. These went live earlier than we planned, so we ended up taking them down. If you did get a parts order in, we'll honor it.

AYANEO Announces AYANEO 2 Handheld with Ryzen 7 6800U APU

AYANEO has recently announced the AYANEO 2 featuring AMD's latest "Rembrandt" Ryzen 7 6800U APU with Zen 3+ & RDNA2 architectures. The AMD Ryzen 7 6800U is a mobile processor with a configurable TDP of 15 - 28 W featuring 8 cores and 16 threads with a base clock of 2.7 GHz and a boost of 4.7 GHz. The processor also includes integrated Radeon 680M graphics with 12 RDNA2 cores running at 2.2 GHz which should offer performance almost twice of that as the Steam Deck. This APU is paired with an unspecified amount of LPDDR5 6400 MHz memory and a 7" 1280×800 IPS frameless display. The console is also set to feature an integrated fingerprint sensor and has been showcased running numerous games such as Metro Exodus, Cyberpunk 2077, Witcher 3, and Elden Ring. The AYANEO 2 is set to launch sometime later this year however an exact date or pricing was not shared.

Steam Deck Takes Number One Spot as Best Seller By Revenue on Steam

With the debut of the Steam Deck handheld gaming console, the whole community wanted to grab one and made preorders for a few up-front months. Over the last five weeks, the console held the second spot as the best seller by revenue chart; however, that number changed in the console's favor. According to SteamDB, which collects information from Valve's Steam platform, the Steam Deck console climbed to the number one spot as the best selling item by revenue. This is no surprise given that the Steam Deck base model is priced at $399+, with top models going for $500. For the past three weeks, the leading competitor was the game Elder Ring, which sold 12 million copies in the past three weeks. We are yet to see if Steam Deck manages to hold the top spot in the charts or if other games start to defeat it.

Immovable Steam Deck? Enthusiast Enables AMD RX 6900 XT Graphics Card "eGPU"

A Steam Deck enthusiast has done what Steam would not (at least not in the first rendition of its popular Steam Deck handheld console): he went and added an external GPU to the mix. The owner of the ETA Prime YouTube channel managed to increase the Steam Deck's APU-powered graphical oomph with a much more powerful AMD RX 6900 XT graphics card. To do so required sacrifices however: since the SteamDeck doesn't feature a proper Thunderbolt 3/4 connector, ETA Prime had to remove the Steam Deck's SSD from its M.2 port, instead mounting a special M.2 to PCIe adapter in the SSD slot itself.

This, of course, required that installed games be run off memory cards, which generally offer lower speeds (a less than stellar experience) than the onboard SSD. It also required butchering the Steam Deck's OS by replacing it with Windows 11. But it did allow the Steam Deck's APU to tap onto power otherwise unavailable to it, unlocking playable framerates with maxed out detail settings on games such as God of War, Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring, and others.

Steam Deck Gets Windows Drivers

If you're one of the lucky few that managed to pre-order a Steam Deck and have had it delivered, you might be interested in knowing that Steam has now released its promised Windows drives. For now, Windows 10 is supported, but Valve is promising support for Windows 11, as soon as the company has incorporated fTPM into the device UEFI. Dual-boot isn't supported at this point in time, but this is something that Valve is also working on and is promising to deliver in SteamOS 3. In addition to the Windows drivers, Valve also added instructions on how to do a system recovery to get SteamOS back on the device, if Windows isn't for you on the Steam Deck.

The driver release includes drivers for the GPU, WiFi and Bluetooth, but audio drivers are missing for now. Valve suggests that those wanting to use Windows on their Steam Deck either use Bluetooth for audio, or rely on USB-C until the company has finished the drivers. This means that no sound will come out of the speaker or 3.5 mm audio jack for the time being. Valve will not offer any kind of Windows support, so it's up to you to get it installed and working on the Steam Deck.

Elden Ring PC Stuttering Issues Fixed - But Only on Valve's Steam Deck

Elden Ring launched in late February to rave critic and consumer reviews. The game is an excellent showcase of From Software's gaming design ethos, but ultimately proves that the company's rendering engine still requires work after years of installments due to widely-reported stuttering issues - irrespective of hardware configuration. A fix for Elden Ring's stuttering issues has surfaced on late Monday - courtesy of Valve and its Proton wrapper, and only applicable to the Steam Deck. In a way, this turns Steam Deck into the smoothest device to play Elden Ring on.

The issue with Elden Ring's stuttering has been linked to the games' continuous shader loading. Apparently, Elden Ring allows users to enter its vast open-world without pre-compiling the required shaders (something that we've seen other games do through usually lengthy boot-up processes) for the specific hardware. This forces the game to constantly compile shaders as they're required (due to world loading, animation loading, among other triggers), which is responsible for the stuttering issues gamers on PC have been encountering.

Valve Officially Launches Steam Deck

Valve is excited to announce the official launch of Steam Deck, the powerful all-in-one portable gaming PC first revealed by the makers of Steam over the summer. Emails with order details start going out today to the first customers in the queue, with devices shipping immediately after. Steam Deck is the first handheld device designed to play Steam games, with a custom processor developed in cooperation with AMD that makes it comparable to a gaming laptop. You can play games from your Steam library wherever you go; and as an open PC, you can also install any software or connect with any hardware you want. Steam Deck starts at $399, with increased storage options available for $529 and $649.
Gabe NewellPC gamers and developers have always wanted a handheld option that plays all the great titles, Steam Deck gives them that."

Valve Releases Steam Deck Game Compatibility Tool

Valve has recently launched a tool that allows you to check what games from your Steam library have been tested and confirmed to work with the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck runs the custom SteamOS Linux distribution with the Proton compatibility layer for Windows exclusive titles. The compatibility tool from Valve lists games that have been tested into three categories consisting of verified, playable, unsupported in addition to a list of currently untested titles. Valve classifies games listed as verified as not needing any configuration for use with the Steam Deck and those classed as playable may require modifications to get controls working correctly. You can check what games are supported from your Steam library by following this link.

Steam Deck Officially Arrives on February 25th to First Customers

Valve's highly anticipated handheld gaming console, Steam Deck, officially arrives on February 25th. According to the newest information from Valve, the company plans to start sending our Steam Deck units to customers who first pre-ordered their units on February 25th, and the arrival time should be three days. That means that on February 28th, customers will have Steam Deck in their hands. Regarding press units for reviewers, the company has already started shipping review units to select media partners. The review embargo for Steam Deck is also set to February 25th, so that marks the date when we can see the full potential of AMD's custom Van Gogh SoC.

As a general reminder, the Van Gogh SoC features four Zen 2 cores with eight threads, running at a 3.5 GHz frequency. The graphics side is powered by eight RDNA2 CUs clocked at 1.6 GHz, meaning that the chip can support some decent handheld gaming. The base model starts at $399, while the top-end configuration costs up to $649, carrying more extensive memory/storage options.

Valve Set to Start Shipping its Steam Deck in February

For those that have placed an order for a Steam Deck, Valve had good news today, as barring any last minute issues due to the current conditions in the world, be that the pandemic, supply issues, shipping or some other unforeseen event, Valve should start shipments of the Steam Deck to its customers in February. The company didn't give much else in terms of information about what stage the production is in, but did at least give a small update on what's going on with regards to the software side of things.

Valve provided a photo of several development devices running their latest production build of the SteamOS, which appears to show some kind of test or diagnostics screen. The company is apparently also busy working on its Steam Deck Verified program to make sure that as many games as possible will work with the SteamOS and Steam Deck once it arrives in the hands of its customers. As such, Valve has been seeding more developer units to game developers and the company doesn't appear to have been stingy either, as it claims to have sent "hundreds" of units in the last month and is apparently approving and shipping further units to more developers. It'll be interesting to see if the Steam Deck can win over conventional PC gamers to a more portable device or not and how well games will play on it in the end.

Valve Shrinks SteamOS Size From 24 GB to 10 GB for Steam Deck

Valve has been developing SteamOS 3.0 to launch with their upcoming handheld Steam Deck device with a redesigned interface. The latest SteamOS 20211120.2 image shows a dramatic reduction in total file size from 24 GB to 10 GB for the operating system which will give users an extra 14 GB of useable space for games and applications. Valve has also improved WiFi performance, fixed HDMI output, increased touch screen reliability and released updated kernel drivers for the Audio, GPU, and other components. These changes will be of significant importance especially for the entry-level Steam Deck that comes with just 64 GB of internal storage. The Steam Deck is now expected to begin shipping to customers in February 2022 after an initial delay from December 2021.

Valve Unveils Steam Deck Final Packaging & Carry Case

Valve has recently completed the final Design Validation (DV) prototype for the Steam Deck incorporating improvements from the previous EV2 builds. This latest design revision also sees the confirmation of retail packaging for the device which consists of a simple cardboard box with a region-specific power supply, Steam Deck, carry case, and setup instructions. The portable carrying case for the 64 GB and 256 GB models was also shown with the 512 GB version set to receive a unique version. The Valve Steam Deck features an AMD Zen 2 processor with integrated RDNA 2 graphics and is available to pre-order at 399 USD for the 64 GB base model with new orders not expected to ship until Q2 2022. Valve will begin shipping these DV kits to game developers shortly allowing them to optimize their titles for the device before it begins shipping in February 2022.

Valve's Arch Linux-based SteamOS 3.0 to be Available to Public as a Standalone Distribution

As Valve is preparing to launch its handheld gaming console called Steam Deck, the company is investing a lot of resources into the software side of things. Powering the console is the company's custom SteamOS distribution, a modification of Arch Linux in today's form. In previous releases, Valve has been pushing its SteamOS as a modification of Debian Linux. However, that version didn't get updated in over two years, and the last release happened with version 2.195. When the Steam Deck console lands in the consumer's hands, we are supposed to see a new version of SteamOS, called SteamOS 3.0, become available for the public to download as any standalone Linux distribution.

With the release of 3.0, the company is switching to a rolling release OS embedded with bells and whistles to make gaming on Linux a viable option. All that is needed to fire up Steam and start gaming is already pre-installed, and you can get the same Steam Deck experience on your PC or any device that can run Linux. The moment this becomes available to the public, we will update you with more information.

Valve Delays Steam Deck Console Shipments to February

Valve's highly-anticipated handheld gaming console, Steam Deck, is facing a two-month delay. According to the latest news from the company, the console will not be in time for holidays and will get delayed by two months to February. Suppose you are wondering what the reason behind it is. In that case, Valve says that "we did our best to work around the global supply chain issues, but due to material shortages, components aren't reaching our manufacturing facilities in time for us to meet our initial launch dates." These consequences are understandable, given the issues many companies face with the global supply chain and the overall scarcity of components still ruling the market.

If you have pre-ordered a Steam Deck device, rest assured that your reservation will get shipped accordingly, just with a two-month delay. Valve states that "Based on our updated build estimates, Steam Deck will start shipping to customers February 2022. This will be the new start date of the reservation queue—all reservation holders keep their place in line but dates will shift back accordingly. Reservation date estimates will be updated shortly after this announcement." For more information, please head over to the Steam Deck website.

Valve Introduces Steam Deck Verified Game Program

Valve has recently announced a new program aimed at verifying game compatibility on the Steam Deck with a simple four-category classification system. Valve is reviewing the entire Steam library to see how each title performs in four key areas on the Steam Deck including input, display, seamlessness, and system support. Games need to feature full controller support and automatically bring up the on-screen keyboard to fulfill the input requirement along with supporting the Steam Decks native resolution of 1280x800 or 1280x720. They will also need to work correctly with Proton including anti-cheat if no native Linux version is available along without displaying any warning messages.

Valve will mark games that fail some sections of these checks as playable meaning that the user may need to manually select a community-created controller configuration or use the touchscreen to navigate the launcher. Games that cannot run will be marked as unsupported while all other games will be classified as unknown meaning that Valve has yet to test the title on the Steam Deck. These new compatibility labels will be featured prominently throughout the Steam store on Steam Deck with detailed information about individual checks available. Valve will continuously update these ratings as developers launch updates for their games and they hope to have the feature live before deliveries of the Steam Deck begin.

Valve Cracks Open the Steam Deck, so You Don't Have to

If you bought the 64 GB Steam Deck with plans to upgrade the internal drive, then Valve has posted a video just for you. Well, then again maybe not, as although Valve says that you have the right to do whatever you want with your hardware, they point out that if you cause any damage to the Steam Deck while opening it, they won't cover the damage under the warranty.

They also point out that opening the Steam Deck will apparently weaken the structural integrity somewhat. Opening up the Steam Deck requires the removal of eight screws before you can remove the rear panel. Valve hasn't made things easily accessible inside either, as the first thing they ask you to do, is to disconnect the battery. However, the connector is hidden underneath the EMI shield that covers the SSD and the wireless module, which makes it hard to reach.

Steam Deck Developer Unit Benchmarks Leak, Shows 60 FPS is Doable

Remember those early developer units of the Steam Deck that Valve was shipping out to developers? Well, one of them ended up in the hands of someone in China, who decided to share a few benchmarks on a local forum. Judging by the pictures posted, Valve still has a lot of work to do when it comes to the translation of the UI, but this shouldn't affect anyone using it in English.

The hardware appears to function according to the announced specs, so there were no surprises here, good or bad. Only four games were tested, which consists of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Doom, Cyberpunk 2077 and DOTA 2. Let's just say that Cyberpunk 2077 isn't going to be what you want to play on the Steam Deck, as it was fluctuating between 20 to 30 FPS, although this was at the high quality setting.
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