Valve shows off the latest Steam Deck prototype and protective case

During the summer months, Valve lifted the veil of a handheld device, which can be seen as its own interpretation of the Nintendo Switch. However, this is not a completely closed ecosystem, but in terms of hardware, it is an ordinary computer with a system circuit from AMD and an operating system based on Linux Steam OS 3.0.

The launch, which was supposed to take place in December, has been postponed due to a lack of components until February 2022. Steam Deck development is in full swing and now vision valve Final Prototype, Design Verification (DV), which is intended to be the unit that goes into large-scale production and is eventually sent to all pre-booked customers.

In addition to Valve now feeling that the design itself is finished, they’re now in the process of testing something basic, but still important, like the packaging. The box is apparently unknown, which according to Valve should not be used as a parachute, thrown on the ground or subjected to strong magnets. Inside, Valve writes in different languages ​​where the device can be used, for example on a ceramic throne, the subway, a Ferris wheel or why not Next trip to the moon?

Inside is a region-specific AC adapter and the game console itself, housed in a protective case with the Steam Deck logo. Interestingly, it appears that the case in the image will only be delivered with Steam Deck with 64GB and 256GB storage, which means that the most 512GB variants will get another case.

On the front of the device, the Steam Deck has a 7-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels with a refresh rate of 60 Hz. This is powered by a system circuit from AMD called “Van Gogh”, by Steam “Aerith”, with four Zen 2 cores with support for Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) for a total of eight threads. Its clock frequency starts in the relatively high manual format of 2.5 GHz and can reach 3.5 GHz at turbo.

The graphics part is AMD’s latest RDNA 2 architecture with eight computing units with a clock frequency of 1.0-1.6 GHz. Everything is surrounded by a 128-bit memory bus and 16 GB LPDDR5. On the storage side, the entry-level model with 64GB has EMC persistent memory, while the 256GB and 512GB models have hard drives connected via PCI Express 3.0

The system circuit in question has a power output of 4-15W and in terms of battery life, the range is high to low. At most, Steam Deck should be able to run for a respectable eight hours and only at least two hours. The package is powered by a 40Wh battery and can fast charging up to 45W through a USB Type-C connection.

Valve also announces that the game console in its final version will soon be sent to game developers and that more news is expected.

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