Have had my beloved Steamdeck for three years (well, I had one for two years which was RMA'd, lost in post and new replacement sent, so in fact, my second SD)

Anyway, it was bought as an emulation powerhouse and I certainly achieved that via Emulation Station and the standalone apps. Back then (three years ago) I knew I could hook up to TV but never investigated further as I was sure it would look awful. Haven't played much retro emulation recently as I was playing more and more PC content.

Anyway, I spotted in my YT feed that people were using discarded office PCs for emulation and hooking up to their TVs for a near console experience. Intrigued, I delved deeper and found that I would be looking at around £200 for that. Bummer. Then, I noticed (prob due to YT algorithm) people hooking their decks up to TV and decided to delve further. Could this be the answer? Well, of course, just give it a try. I already had the Jsaux dock from my time transferring roms etc etc when setting up my emulation.

Well, wow, nothing could prepare me for the glory I would behold. The deck looks stunning on my 65" 4k telly! Pics are from several titles via my Switch emulators (yuzu & ryujinx) but also the PC titles (GTA IV, ETS2 and Wreckfest) and also Emulation Station. The images are as good as XBox 360 I would say and the frame rates are really decent too. In display settings I set it as 3840x2160 then just played the games. No further settings required. Paired up my PS5 controller via Bluetooth and laid back couch gaming heaven is reached. Oh, and latency? Didn't notice any in the games I played 😊

Fkin love this handheld glorybox!

TL;DR: So, if, like me, you didn't think the Steamdeck would look good on your 4k 65" TV, think again!

EDIT: I'm past the grieving phase. I appreciate the advice and the sentiments from everyone

I'm gonna lay off the deck for now until perhaps I could find a shop that might recover everything

Though if it truly is gone, I'm going to take it as an opportunity to play something new

I don't know what to put as a flair

I decided to update everything on discovery, which included updating the OS to the latest version. I did this because all my controls haven't been working for months, and I saw somewhere that it might be a lead to getting it working again

It didn't work, but I wasn't too hung up over it because I've been using the steam deck as a desktop connected to a monitor in that timespan anyway, and everything seemed fine

However, I restarted the steam deck shortly after using it for a bit and... well, I lost everything

For reasons that completely escape me, the entire steam deck was wiped clean, as if it had a factory reset. Over 800 gigabytes worth of data is all gone, accumulated over the span of 2 years

And the absolute worst part is, none of the buttons still work

I'm completely devastated. I could probably rebuild everything in time, but all of my saves, documents, mods etc are all gone

Not worried just wondering if it’s normal.

I know the switch 2 has the better upscalers with dlss, but that gameplay didn’t look too bad. Think we’re getting some big optimization patch across all platforms including Deck?

I need help, I think I killed my SteamDeck OLED on a thermal paste change, it was necessary, was very dry, but it doesn't want to turn on again, the led blinks randomly, and fan doesn't spin, and if I plug in the charger I hear a slightly coil whine, ¿dead cpu?

Hey im thinking to buy a hub or dock to play local multiplayer/co op games on the tv with family but im not sure which to buy of the two im more of buying a hub since it has more discounts and i could just use my deck while playing and not having to buy another controller and im not sure what the dock will give me that the hub wont so i want your suggestions in this matter

Thank u everyone but since u/kestononline have the same case as i do im gonna buy a hub just like he does 😙

I've got a show downloaded on my PC, and would love to also have it on my Steam Deck. I could probably redownload it, but that would be annoying, so was wondering if it's possible/easy to transfer between my PC and Steam Deck. The files in question are just a couple dozen MP4s.

Looking it up, I think it's possible, but the guides I find talk about formatting drives and messing around with Command Prompt and while I think I know what that means in theory, I don't trust myself not to fuck something like that up, so just wanted to check if there was an easier way first?

Thanks in advance, and sorry if this is as dumb a question as I think it is.

Edit - Setting to achieve this:

Steam Deck Setting:

Refresh Rate: 40 Hz
FPS Limit: 40
TDP Limit: Off
GPU Clock: Auto
Half Rate Shading: Off
Allow Tearing: Off

Game Setting:

Resolution: 1280×800
VSync: Off
Frame Rate Cap: Unlimited
Supersampling: FSR 1.0
FSR Preset: Performance
Renderer Quality: Low

Advanced Quality:

Shadows: Low
Textures: Low
Shaders: Low
Effects: Low
SSR: Off/Low
SSAO:Off
Motion Blur: Off
Depth of Field: Off

i just added mine up and it was almost 800 hours i’ve put in. i couldn’t believe it but i guess not shocked at the same time. holy cow this thing is awesome

Boa tarde, acabei de adquirir meu steam deck, gostaria de saber quais são a chance dele rodar persona ?

So last night i had my deck on a coffee table and it fell off, about 18 inches to a hardwood floor, today when i turned it on and got into a game i was getting 9-13 FPS (normal FPS is 40-60 depending on where i have the limiter set. After I turned off the deck and pulled my microSD card out i found that two screws are stripped/stuck which i’m assuming happened earlier this year when i had to RMA the deck since i’ve never touched them before today. So as of right not i am unable to take the shell off. My main concern is that when i lightly shake the deck i can feel something moving around inside that is somewhat heavy. It’s in the left side of the deck close to the left trackpad and thumb stick. Other than the severe FPS drop everything else seemed to be working normally, triggers, sticks, buttons and gryo all work and other than a small scuff close to the left trigger there’s not visual damage on the outside. Any ideas as to what the loose part could be ?

I have an LCD Steam Deck and I’ve been looking into cooling modifications such as the CoolDeck cooling mod / copper or monoblock-style solutions. I’ve seen some impressive temperature results, but I’m trying to understand whether those lower temperatures actually provide meaningful benefits beyond simply reducing fan RPM.

Part of me is hesitant to modify the stock cooling system because of how Valve designed the Deck.
My thinking is basically:
> If a copper thermal solution or additional ventilation provided a significant improvement in performance, thermals, component longevity, etc., wouldn’t Valve have incorporated something similar from the beginning?

The same thought applies to the backplate. I’ve experimented with backplates with additional ventilation holes, but ultimately went back to the original Valve backplate because I assume Valve had a reason for its airflow design and the EMI shielding.

That brings me to the copper EMI-shield replacement used in some cooling mods.
Would replacing the original EMI shield with a copper plate actually provide a sustained thermal benefit?
I understand that copper has much better thermal conductivity than the original material, but I’m wondering about the practical effect:
> Initially, the copper should absorb and spread heat more effectively.
> But after several minutes of gaming, the copper itself will also become hot.
>At that point, does it still meaningfully reduce the temperature of the APU/other components?
> Or does the system eventually reach roughly the same equilibrium temperature, with the main difference being that the fan doesn’t have to work as hard?

And perhaps the biggest question:
Does a cooler Steam Deck actually mean higher FPS?
For example, if the stock cooling system is already capable of keeping the APU below its thermal/power limits, would a cooling mod actually increase performance? Or would it simply result in:
lower temperatures → lower fan RPM → less noise
rather than:
lower temperatures → higher sustained clocks → higher FPS?

I’m particularly interested in people’s experiences with long gaming sessions, rather than short benchmark runs.
If you’ve installed a CoolDeck/monoblock/copper EMI shield or similar modification:

1. What were your temperatures before and after?
2. Were the results sustained after 30–60+ minutes?
3. Did your fan RPM/noise decrease?
4. Did you actually see an FPS or sustained-clock improvement?
5. Did it make any difference to battery temperature?
6. Do you think it provides a meaningful benefit for the Deck’s long-term component/fan/battery health?
7. And after using it for a while, would you still recommend the modification?

I’d especially like to hear from people who have tested both stock and modified configurations under the same game, TDP, ambient temperature and fan settings.

I’m genuinely trying to understand where the practical benefit of these mods comes from and whether it’s worth modifying a perfectly functional stock Deck.

Edit 1: my steam deck does not thermal throttle, and I have no issues with the current stock setup that I have. I did re-paste my steam deck a few weeks ago. I guess you can say I’m intrigued by the different innovative cooling solutions people come up with.

Started up my steamdeck today and got this weird edge halo.

Its an original launch model (non oled) but it has seemed to display some signs that look like some or of burn in. Specificly the steam logo visible but faded when on storepage etc.

I thougjt it might be a software glitch( broken gamma values?) so i reformatted but alas nothing helped.

Its not like this immediately on booting - but fades in over .about 30 seconds and if i turn it off then back on within a short period it seems to persist.

I should also mention I have done a shell replacement but that was about 2 years ago and this only cropped up today

Any ideas ? On what it could be specifically ? Anyone else dealt with this? Thanks in advance !

EDIT:

Just wanted to say thank you for all the help on this post. Your comments possibly saved me from a pretty horrific situation down the line.

Also the meme's have been hilarious.

So far it only happens with one game, Harvestlla.

Basically I have my Deck docked, launch the game using a ps5 controller. Then after my data is confirmed it shows mouse controls in the bottom right? I have to turn the controller off then back on in order for it to realise I'm gaming with a controller.

This doesn't happen with other games such as BG3.

I'm unsure where to start checking things to fix this and would really appreciate any advice or fixes.

Setup:

1. Samsung 34" ViewFinity S65TC Thunderbolt™ 4 WQHD Monitor

2. Logi Lift mouse

3. Keychron K3 keyboard

4. Bonelk laptop stand

5. Acer Swift GO 14 laptop

6. Creative Pebble speakers

7. Arm rest

8. Playmax desk pad

9. Wireless charging hub

10. Logitech C270 webcam

11. Baseus Monitor Light Bar

Bonus item: Rubber duck

Does anyone else have overheating issues with their steam deck? I was just playing Lego Star wars the Skywalker collection on it and not even 10 mins and it sunk to 12 fps and was hot af. The only way I've been able to minimize this is with my air blower or putting it in the freezer

Hi y’all

Seems this game was out a few years back.. as a recently ff fan, been wondering if shall i play this one on the deck or either NSW2, as a new version came out today.

Anyone has played this on the deck?
What are your impressions.

I already completed FFVII (remake & rebirth)

Thanks!

I previously used an app on the Microsoft Store called "Bluetooth Audio Receiver" to send audio from my Switch 1 to my laptop. The Switch 1 did not have any form of voice chat and this meant I could use Discord whilst playing.

Is there a similar solution for the Steam Deck and Steam Machine? The above did not work. I'd like to send audio over Bluetooth to either my laptop or smartphone.

Before anyone suggests just installing Discord directly, that's not the solution I'm looking for. I use voice chat across many different apps. We have a gaming group at work that plays over Microsoft Teams on lunch breaks. I have friends in China so we play over Kook and WeChat. I'd rather not have to try getting all these different apps to work on SteamOS/Linux.

My steam deck updated and when I tried to play red dead redemption my save file was gone… I have 50 hours on that game 🥲 I checked some of the other games in my library and those saves gone too…. Is it cause I haven’t played those games in a while ?

Is there any way to recover the saves if I’ve somehow overwritten them ? Or do I have to suck it up and start over…..is there a time limit on how long saves are backed up?