Valve says the Steam Deck’s performance will be about the same regardless of how it’s used.<\/b>
\nValve has revealed a key differentiator between the Steam Deck and the Nintendo Switch: Using a dock to connect its handheld gaming device to a TV won’t lead to performance improvements. Steam Deck designer Greg Coomer said in an interview with PC Gamer that Valve had actually thought about including a high performance mode for when the device is docked but \u00ab\u00a0didn’t choose to make it a really high priority design target\u00a0\u00bb because the company \u00ab\u00a0felt that it was actually better all things considered to not modify based on docked status or mobile status.\u00a0\u00bb That means the Steam Deck’s goal of providing 30 frames per second at its native 800p resolution won’t change based on how it’s used. Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais said in July that 30fps was \u00ab\u00a0the floor of what we consider playable in our performance testing,\u00a0\u00bb however, and that \u00ab\u00a0there will also be an optional built-in FPS limiter to fine-tune perf vs. battery life.\u00a0\u00bb Having the same performance target across multiple play modes helps differentiate the Steam Deck from the Switch. Many games for Nintendo’s platform offer graphics or performance improvements when the console is docked instead of being used in handheld mode. It wouldn’t be surprising to learn many Switch owners leave the console docked for that very reason. Valve expects the opposite for the Steam Deck. \u00ab\u00a0We really wanted to prioritize for using it in what we thought would be the highest use case,\u00a0\u00bb Coomer told PC Gamer, \u00ab\u00a0which is actually mobile.\u00a0\u00bb We should get a better idea of how the device performs\u2014and how it can be customized using the built-in fps limiter Griffais revealed\u2014when it starts to reach pre-orderers later this year.<\/p>\n