Crazy that the performance doesn't increase when plugged in

[Auron]

Haven't bought one yet, but I have a gaming laptop and it is capable of vastly higher performance when using the wall charger due to the power limits of all laptop batteries. It runs over 50% worse when running on battery. I wonder why the Steam Deck has this limitation since it relies on a battery as well? Idunno I just feel that the performance "could be" way better if an external power supply could increase the power limits of the hardware.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Originally posted by Auron:

Haven't bought one yet, but I have a gaming laptop and it is capable of vastly higher performance when using the wall charger due to the power limits of all laptop batteries. It runs over 50% worse when running on battery. I wonder why the Steam Deck has this limitation since it relies on a battery as well? Idunno I just feel that the performance "could be" way better if an external power supply could increase the power limits of the hardware.

Because it isn't a gaming laptop. They made it to be the same regardless of being near a wall outlet.

[ugafan]

It can only dissipate so much heat. Any more power and you'll be running into overheating issues.

[Auron]

Originally posted by ugafan:

It can only dissipate so much heat. Any more power and you'll be running into overheating issues.

Ahh thanks for response. I'm just trying to understand why it's not possible. I suppose if the fans are already struggling to keep it cool then increasing the power limit would not make a difference. Idunno I'm just curious if they gave us the option to do it anyway if we could undervolt to greatly decrease temperatures, and increase the TDP power limit what would happen.

[ugafan]

Yeah this thing is sort of at the maximum as far as what the fan can handle. One thing I wasn't prepared for is how much heat comes out of the vents at the top. This thing gets HOT at the top.

I wish we could undervolt, it makes a big difference in my desktop gpu.

[Mizufluffy]

I don't have my Deck yet but I could just turn that title around and say "crazy that the performance doesn't decrease when not plugged in", and suddenly it sounds a lot better for a portable gaming device in my opinion.

[Sabeki]

Originally posted by Mizufluffy:

I don't have my Deck yet but I could just turn that title around and say "crazy that the performance doesn't decrease when not plugged in", and suddenly it sounds a lot better for a portable gaming device in my opinion.

I agree with this one.

The steam deck will only downthrottle to save battery due to user tweaks via the quick access menu. Which is great! But I would suggest a to add a battery saver preset somewhere for the less tech savvy consumers.

A laptop out of the box will standard go on a battery saver mode, unless the user disables this.

[Xedhadeaus]

I'd imagine it's already pushing as hard as it can regardless of if it's plugged in or not.

I'll definitely agree that it would be nice if it would try to create a 1080p image when plugged in on game mode. But even though it's a little grainy, it runs surprisingly well for a little engine.

Hopefully when the dock releases they'll have the experience together. As it is now, flopping controllers around and etc, it's pretty bare. It can't kill switch if it can't switch amirite?

Smh. I still use it non stop, so take the jests with a grain of salt.

[AD]

Originally posted by Auron:

Haven't bought one yet, but I have a gaming laptop and it is capable of vastly higher performance when using the wall charger due to the power limits of all laptop batteries. It runs over 50% worse when running on battery. I wonder why the Steam Deck has this limitation since it relies on a battery as well? Idunno I just feel that the performance "could be" way better if an external power supply could increase the power limits of the hardware.

It might be due to thermals. All the parts are squeezed into a tiny box so I imagine thermals are important to get right, or it will cause problems for people. Or it could be that it runs as good as can be expected and they just didn't want to limit performance when on battery. Of course this is just speculation and I really don't know.

There are some options you can use yourself to adjust performance, though, but it's not automatic (like I limited framerate to 30 fps because I don't think it makes a difference in the games I currently play and much rather have longer battery life) and I think it's probably in "high performance" mode by default, so it won't squeeze more out of it but is a way to limit performance for the sake of battery life when desired.

[N a v y 3 0 0 1]

A gaming laptop is to be used while sitting down near power, the Steam Deck is made to play games on the go for hours.

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by Auron:

Haven't bought one yet, but I have a gaming laptop and it is capable of vastly higher performance when using the wall charger due to the power limits of all laptop batteries. It runs over 50% worse when running on battery. I wonder why the Steam Deck has this limitation since it relies on a battery as well? Idunno I just feel that the performance "could be" way better if an external power supply could increase the power limits of the hardware.

The APU on the steam deck is 15W, so the battery already gives all the power it could need.

[Punkovich]

Originally posted by Mizufluffy:

I don't have my Deck yet but I could just turn that title around and say "crazy that the performance doesn't decrease when not plugged in", and suddenly it sounds a lot better for a portable gaming device in my opinion.

Exactly this.
I much prefer that it is capable and delivers full power running off the battery and leaves it up to me if I want to lower performance for battery life. But OP doesnt strike me as the type to put a positive spin on anything...

[darrenphillips666]

you're basically upset that valve don't reduce the performance when its unplugged, like the nintendo switch does.
it can't increase power when plugged in if it's already at 100% power when unplugged.

you decide its power with the TDP control, whenever you want or need to

[QLIQ]

Tho the battery turns off when fully charged. My steam deck is way louder when charging and has loads of thermal headroom when fully charged.

I think you have a valid point. But I guess the chip is locked by AMD to max 15w.

[Zer01neDev]

APU is 15Watts TDP, Chip has to share CPU & GPU Watts, Thermal Design is built for 15Watts TDP, not more.

[kholland83.gaming]

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