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Has anyone found out if the new OLED model will support VRR? (Variable Refresh Rate)
VRR with LFC should be possible on this 90Hz display, and I can't think of a place where VRR would be more beneficial than on Deck because sticking to your framecaps is more difficult when your performance is limited and variable.
I'm not talking about the ability to switch refresh rates manually.
I would be surprised. From what I understand, VRR, by definition, holds the image longer, and on OLEDs when the framerate is low, it can cause 'pixel overcharging', which looks terrible, especially in darker gray areas of the screen.
Do you mean that this overcharge happens when both the framerate and the refresh rate are low on OLED? Because I would imagine that even with a low framerate, say 10 FPS on a 60Hz screen, the pixels are still being... well... refreshed.
As I understand it, Low Framerate Compensation would prevent the situation you are describing above by using multiples of the FPS to fall within a refresh rate window. i.e. At 10 FPS the image would be refreshed to match 30Hz, at 27 FPS 54Hz, at 45 FPS 90Hz etc. etc.
And on a fixed refresh rate OLED monitor, say 60Hz, the pixels are still being refreshed no matter the framerate.
I'm not saying I'm right, this is just as I understood it. Can you please point me in the direction of where I could find out more about your explanation? Doesn't have to be a link, just the name of the site / creator will do and then I'll look it up.
Yes, it's related to refresh rate specifically.
No VRR sucks, its the best feature of the Ally
Armory crate scares the hell out of me though
I still can't install that thing on windows 11 on my PC
Linus touched on a potential reason why there's no VRR.
One the CPU side it's just a shrink from 7nm to 6nm, which should provide some power saving. It will be interesting to see how performance changes at different power levels.
i saw that the battery is 50W now.
Any chance that 50w battery fits the first gen steamdeck?
It doesn't fit. They manage to cram that new battery because of the OLED screen's slimness compared to the LCD one.
OLED model has better ram, that explains the performance delta
It might be difficult to pull out SoC related performance difference with the memory clock speed increase?
This is the golden age of handhelds. This thing is almost perfect.
I'm super happy to see they replaced the back panel screws from self tapping into plastic to metal threaded inserts. No more worrying about stripped plastic threads or loose screws after opening it up only 1 time.
I look forward to the Steam Deck 2, which will have an upgraded APU and hopefully a VRR screen, but for now, this is the perfect refresh.
Windows based units are much better, you can play a whole lot more games….my steam deck has been parked and collecting dust since I got my ALLY
Breaking news If you buy a more expensive device youll stop using your old device
All I know there won't be Steam Deck 3
There is actually quite a bit of upgrade on the OLED. They've basically upgraded the whole device aside from the apu. This is more of a Steamdeck 1.5 than simply "OLED". And even the apu is on a smaller node and more efficient.
The apu does upgraded, but not in the way you think. It get node shrink which means it can do the same performance at lower power consumption.
By their own claim valve said that they can squish extra 50% battery life from only 25% batteries capacity increase.
Valve philosophy is they do not promise anything, just deliver. Theres a chance they underestimate the upgrades they made for the new deck.
At least they still deliver and ship the product instead of just scrapping the whole thing for not being enough of an upgrade like in the past.
The OLED's thickness also helps and the main reason why they can use a larger battery and a larger fans
For Deck 2, what AMD chip is in the pipeline that Steam would likely use? Would need to be beyond Z1 as they didn't bother updating the current processor, which is kinda interesting considering they got a 6nm shrink on essentially a chip I think only Valve uses.
If it's in 2-3 years, Zen 4c with RDNA3, hopefully with 3DVcache
If later, Zen 5c with 3DVache + RDNA 4.
It would have to be 3nm based as 5nm isn't enough of a jump from 7nm to give valve the performance jump they are looking for.
Zen5c cpu is the most likely CPU successor due to smaller die space than zen5 normal and how it won't need to boost to 5Ghz+ like in desktop/mobile SoC's.
RDNA 4 is the most likely GPU successor as RDNA3 is a dud and RDNA5 won't be ready in time for SD2(late 2025 IMO).
LPDDR6 is possible, speeds starting at 12800MT/s vs the SD OLEDs 6400MT/s.
Wouldn't 3nm be too costly? Steam deck is affordable because it's on an older node.
Kraken Point coming after Hawk Point is supposed to bring Zen5 + RDNA3.5.
I was hoping the OLED model would come with a higher resolution screen but I guess Valve is also waiting for a more capable APU before they increase the resolution.
Given that it's at least a couple of years away, it could be built upon mature and cost-effective technology rather than being on the cutting edge at the time of release. For instance, a 3nm Zen 5+ architecture could be employed, drawing from established mobile technology that will be accessible at that time. Perhaps the die size and core configuration could be distinctive, with the potential for broader adoption in other handheld devices beyond Deck 2.
RDNA 3 was not as efficient as expected. Sure higher performance but it also needed higher power. Maybe RDNA 4 or 5. Also important is the fact that Valve would try to avoid using any chip based on a new leading edge node. The fact that steam deck is on an older RDNA 2 architecture based on 7nm node is one of the reasons it's so cheap.
It looks to me like Valve's focus is on price and battery life. I think it will try to get something balanced that doesn't necessarily compete with the state-of-the-art AMD APUs. I'd still guess that Valve will release something in the next 2 years, otherwise it will get too far behind what other mobile consoles offer, and the current Deck will struggle in too many games.
So I'd say that it will be newer tech but still low spec. On the CPU side 4 core Zen 4c would likely be a big enough update. On the GPU front AMD still doesn't have anything significantly better than RDNA 2. It will be interesting to see what RDNA 3.5 brings to the table, though RDNA 4 is certainly an option. A custom design with some cache to alleviate the RAM bottleneck might be an option.
considering they got a 6nm shrink on essentially a chip I think only Valve uses.
Yes, this puts them on equal footing with Microsoft and Sony, which implies that the Steam Deck is selling very well.
Yes, this puts them on equal footing with Microsoft and Sony, which implies that the Steam Deck is selling very well.
I wouldn't quite say that. Significant chunks of RDNA2 go back to Microsoft telling AMD things that they required from the graphics architecture of the next Xbox, back in 2016. I'm sure Sony did similar.
Valve in this case was able to take advantage of this increased R&D aspect of RDNA2 and get a custom chip based on it, but I don't think they would have that same position in the development of the architecture, if that makes sense.
Of course, I'm a beneficiary of all of the above!
I'd say that it's true that the custom work done by AMD for Microsoft and Sony is more extensive than for Valve, but Valve did get a custom APU and a 6nm refresh of it. That's something that no other companies except for Sony and Microsoft are getting.
The article says deck 2 is always on their mind and still very far out. And will only be released when the tech advances enough to do it. Why is this headline so misleading?
Why is this headline so misleading?
Money.
Clickbait.
Well, at least we know we arent getting a steam deck 3
Yeah but it's still assumed to be "in the works." For example Apple is currently working on not only the iPhone 16 but also the 17 and 18. Prototypes take years to develop especially when using new tech that hasn't been used in portables before (i.e. Lidar, new sensors, fast-charging, etc.). It would be stupid for them to not plan far ahead.
Deck 2 in the works
Finally, once they release that they might finally release deck1 in Australia!
I don't a die shrink from N7 to N6 brings any improvement of power effiency. It's just a cost reduction because of higher density.
I couldn't find any info on N6's power efficiency, but it's a slight improvement on N7+, and N7+ is 15% more efficient than N7.
It's a good question. I assume that it does, but perhaps the display saves more. In any case, it's clear that the Deck OLED is more efficient than the Deck LCD.
Better be the same price
Kinda pondering
Ideally i want an handheld that can replace my gaming pc with an egpu docked
But usb4 isn't it yet :/
But they still haven't put the first Steam Deck on sale ^^^^^^in ^^^^^^my ^^^^^^country
This is Stead Deck episode 2, i guess the last one forever
???
It's Steam Deck Episode 1.
Never call the next one Steam Deck 2 or you'll never see a third.
Steam deck alyx
Makes me happy I cancelled my preorder of the original.