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Valve Steam Deck

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Re: Valve Steam Deck

#681
My first reaction/two cents is that while this seems really cool, PC games are mostly set apart from console games in that they’re often designed with keyboards in mind, as part of the core experience (similar to how motion controls were core to the Wii).

PC games that don’t need a keyboard/aren’t designed with a keyboard as a core input are already available on most consoles (e.g. many Steam games with controller support are already on the Switch).

Not saying this won’t work out — I think it will likely do fine.

But I don’t think this was meant for the more hardcore PC gamer, and a lot of controller-only gamers are likely fine with consoles (and for their portable fix, the Switch). So there’s a pretty niche set of gamers this will attract.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#682

   AMD APU
   CPU: Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32)
   GPU: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.0-1.6GHz (up to 1.6 TFlops FP32)
and 5 screenshots with Control by Remedy, game that runs at ~10fps on PS4. PS4 has faster GPU than listed here ...

BTW Somehow Sony didnt delist Control from PS store despite performance problems, their official reason for delisting Cyberpunk :)

Edit: IGN "hands on, but not really hands on" https://www.ign.com/articles/steam-deck-hands-on-impressions... Once again Control by Remedy in EVERY fricking shot of the screen. Even the shot where Valve employee is "casually" sitting with the Deck on his lap, the screen is facing the camera and you can see Control right there :D And the mystery is solved, Control is playable in mid to low settings at 800p with Ray Tracing turned off, something you cant do on PS4.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#683
post #377

“Installing Linux is hard” is about to flip on its head as people find themselves with Linux installed by default and instead having to figure out how to install Windows (and pay for it explicitly).

I don't think people are going to install Windows on this, it's unsuited to this kind of tiny screen.

It's 7" 1280x800 that's more than required.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#684
post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m super excited to see that they’ve chosen Arch as a base for SteamOS. I understand fully why they originally chose Ubuntu, but I feel like Arch actually hits a lot of sweet spots for consumer use cases and could be adapted for such use quite effectively. (To be fair, I feel similarly about Gentoo, which was similarly adapted for ChromeOS quite successfully.)

I love a good distro story but it doesn’t seem very relevant here. A Linux distribution like Ubuntu, Arch or Gentoo provides a platform for users to configure their system. The distro is a toolkit for finishing up a generic OS into the specific workstation needed by the user to do their work. Steam Deck on the other hand has one job to do: launch /opt/steam and run things linked against libsteam. The end user won’t b…

It sounds like a practical choice. "What's a malleable sort of distro we can start with that will be easy to shape into the OS we need?" Apparently the answer turned out to be Arch.

So yeah, not exactly an exciting story, more like a practical solution.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#685
post #682

AMD APU CPU: Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32) GPU: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.0-1.6GHz (up to 1.6 TFlops FP32) and 5 screenshots with Control by Remedy, game that runs at ~10fps on PS4. PS4 has faster GPU than listed here ... BTW Somehow Sony didnt delist Control from PS store despite performance problems, their official reason for delisting Cyberpunk :) Edit: IGN "hands on, but not really hands on" https://www.i…

The screen is 720p, not 1080p which is probably what the PS4 was rendering. Also worth noting the GPU architecture is newer, so a straight clockspeed or Flops comparison might not tell the whole story.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#687

If I were them, I would launch a 2nd version of the dock around Dec-2022 that has an integrated GPU. Use a GPU than can push 2k content and call it the Steam Dock 2K. 4K version in 2023.

If the USB C port supports USB 4 or Thunderbolt, that would definitely be doable

It has neither.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#688

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing about Valve's record with hardware is that the products aren't bad , just extremely niche. If this thing really can play most of most people's Steam games in a Switch-like form factor with a standard gamepad layout, I think it stands to be a hit in a way their past hardware attempts weren't. It's also an interesting counterpoint to all the streaming services popping up these days. PC game streaming to mobil…

One of the major reasons people play PC games is mouse and keyboard are way better than joystick. I don't see myself playing PC games on a handheld.

Not sure I agree. I feel like the majority of AAA PC games are designed for console first and work well with gamepads. At least the ones I play. It’s also just more relaxing since you can lean back.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#689
post #135

From the FAQ [0]: - What OS is Steam Deck running? SteamOS 3.0, a new version of SteamOS based on Arch Linux. - Will people be able to install Windows, or other 3rd party content? Yes. Steam Deck is a PC, and players will be able to install whatever they like, including other OSes. [0]: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamdeck/faq

`Steam Deck is a PC, and players will be able to install whatever they like, including other OSes.` this is probably this most exciting thing about this release. How many days until this thing is running k3s and/or serving up a prometheus dashboard on the same device that is touch capable?

The only exciting thing is the form factor. Spec wise its an underperforming laptop with integrated graphics delivering below 8 year old GTX 760 level of "performance".

1280 x 800 at up to 30 fps.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#690
post #517

> 2 x full-size analog sticks with capacitive touch That’s listed separate from the track pads. The sticks have capacitive touch?

It will allow for only activating the gyro when the stick is touched, which is a great feature for augmenting aim without having the gyro wobbling the view all over the place all the time when not wanted (like when staking out through a window in an FPS).
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