Desk fan at the back of the steam deck

[vanishedchief2021]

I've been using a desk fan to help keep the steam deck cool when in the dock but someone told me not to do this because it will break it is this true.

[Prezidentas]

did that someone explained why it would break it?

[Drak3]

You'd only damage the deck's fan if you're forcing an excessive amount of airflow through when the fan is active. That's not going to happen with a desk fan, so you're safe.

[vanishedchief2021]

He said it will break the fan inside the steam deck.

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by vanishedchief2021:

He said it will break the fan inside the steam deck.

well you should ask him why. I do not see any reasons why it should break anything, but perhaps he knows something.

[vanishedchief2021]

He said it will spin the fan to fast and create a electric charge and short out.

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by vanishedchief2021:

He said it will spin the fan to fast and create a electric charge and short out.

you will be fine. it's true that spinning a motor creates electricity, but the amount is miniscule, and it's very hard to spin the deck fan anyways since it's sideways. No idea where the "short out" part came from though.

[vanishedchief2021]

Originally posted by Škoda 14Tr:

Originally posted by vanishedchief2021:

He said it will spin the fan to fast and create a electric charge and short out.

you will be fine. it's true that spinning a motor creates electricity, but the amount is miniscule, and it's very hard to spin the deck fan anyways since it's sideways. No idea where the "short out" part came from though.

Thanks mate.

[invision2212]

It won’t harm it. I use to keep a small turbine style fan blowing right on my ps4 because that thing got hot. It would keep it nearly cool to the touch and keep its own fan from spinning up to max.

I bought that ps4 on launch day and it still works. I did eventually replace the thermal paste and that seemed to help significantly but still let the fan on it.

[[KIN] AlphaObeisance]

I bought a fan accessory off amazon that was well worth the $40. It essentially clips into the fan slot at the top of the steam deck and has a little knob on the side that you twist to turn it on. I've noticed a significant improvement to my Deck Temps and performance has improved due to better heat dispersion.

I'd share a link but I'm not sure it's permitted. Just search Amazon for steam deck fan, it's a little black box that clearly clamps to the top of the steam deck, can't miss it.

[PopinFRESH]

There is likely some misunderstanding as to why your friend is thinking this.

The Steam Deck's cooling leverages the Bernoulli principle to accelerate airflow over the cooling area of the mainboard heatshield. Putting a heatsync or "spot" cooling the back of the Steam Deck may reduce the temperature of the SoC die which will result in the fan controller slowing down the RPM of the internal fan, thus reducing the effective cooling for the other components on the mainboard. This may result in them running hot and can shorten their expected lifespan.

Fans which "attach" to the exhaust outlet for the internal fan and "pull" more air through the system can help improve cooling performance for the system, however, they do have the potential of causing some minor additional wear on the internal fan.

It is definitely not going to "spin the fan to fast and create a electric charge and short out.".

[Prezidentas]

The simple fact is that steam deck has a perfectly adequate cooling system that doesn't need any additional nonsense to keep temperatures in check. I guess sound could be an issue though.

[ReBoot]

Do you get lower temperatures/higher clocks with the external Fan?