My Personal Experience With Steam Deck

[Barry]

Hi all

So I have a funny feeling this post may be longer than I expect. But here goes. Yeah, it's going to be quite a read.

I have been a PC gamer since 2010, when I finally bought my first what would be considered a top end system. First generation i7, GTX 275 which I replaced to a GTX 580 (I'll explain in a bit) and 8GB of RAM. 1080p was my target resolution at the time and I was impressed with how well it handled everything I threw at it. Even on a mechanical drive it was pretty speedy, but not for long. Within less than a month of constructing, the issues began

From blue screens to hardware failure, to multiple systems and eventually giving up, PC gaming has always been a matter of luck for me. My first rig would have weekly blue screens and very regularly, games would crash out. I saw this as the so called "windows experience" but not to the scale I was actually having. Memory leaks would start to occur and constant frame drops would plague an otherwise enjoyable experience. Within a year of having the machine, my GTX 275 decided to have thermal failure and actually reached over 115 degrees under moderate load. The machine was well vented too, but apparently not enough. So I upgraded the card to a newer and more powerful GTX 580, when to my surprise a lot of the issues went away. The PC didn't blue screen weekly, rather monthly instead, so I saw that as a big thumbs up. But the joys were not to last. About a year later I was casually playing TF2, when a rather strong smell of burning dust came from the computer. Alas, a burning PSU. In between all of this I must have reinstalled the OS (Win7) twice and the crashes returned. But then, HDD failure happened not long after. Alongside my GTX 580 failing at almost the same time. Windows 7 had been installed at LEAST 5 times in a month before the HDD deciding it no longer wanted to read anything. While all this was going on with my desktop, I had invested in a small laptop. It ended up lasting longer than my desktop, but it wasn't without issues. Screen replacements and HDD failure plagued it until it stopped turning on and the battery gave out.

And this was the beginning

I was a student at the time of all of this. And music production was my chosen subject. During my first desktop adventure I was using it not only for gaming, but also composing. This is when I began to lean into RAM and CPU heavy applications. Oh dear, the poor thing couldn't cope with what I was trying to achieve. The fans were doing their best, but I eventually overloaded it multiple times trying to do what I needed so I felt the time was close to upgrading. So I decided to get a new system.

So after months of saving, I decided to get an extremely overkill machine. Core i7 5820k, 16 GB RAM and not one, but 2 GPUs (Oh dear) which were GTX titan x maxwells. I was fortunate enough to get the 2 cards at a significantly lower price than the MSRP (that seems like a myth now) and 3 SATA SSDs. After setting the thing up and enjoying the machine for less than an hour, it decided to eat a CD I had put in. And not spit it out. Naturally the whole system froze (thanks windows 10) and I had to manually dissect parts of the computer to get my CD back. This was the final days of DVD RW drives literally, as months after the drives had stopped being manufactured. Anyway, after that I went back to what was a pretty reliable, stable and fast PC. At least for 2 years. For some reason, games began to freeze up the system after being under load for less than a minute causing me to manually switch off the machine at the wall. I eventually managed to figure out that the GPUs were beginning to fault, or so I thought. Even after trying everything I could do within my knowledge the problems carried on. Sometimes not even booting to the OS. No word of a lie the computer turned into a heater for 10 minutes while it tried to boot into windows. The months went by and the problems got increasingly worse. Failure to recognise hardware at all, be it RAM or GPUs all together. I was determined not to give up on the thing. SLI was being phased out and I then learned why. It was useless for the majority of the time. 80 percent of the second card was being used at the best of times. When they worked at least. I tried flashing them, still nothing. Swapping them around, cleaning the internal components and going on forums. Nothing. Any load would cause the machine to freeze with the only option being to unplug it from the wall. Years later a windows update came along with a "fixed nvidia driver issue" bug fix of some kind. Then as if by magic, it worked again. Well, mostly. While I had this I had upgraded from the small laptop, to a more powerful one and it was good I did. For a few years it actually served as a good machine until the RAM leaked all the time and thermal paste would be the cause of the machine's downfall. Not to mention all the other issues in between.

So fast forward a few years and at this point I could no longer be bothered with desktop PCs at this point so I decided to then, after graduating, get a laptop only. During the height of the chip shortage, I was amazingly lucky to get myself any form of computer let alone a gaming one. I thought I'd treat myself to something nice, but when the laptop arrived it had a completely broken screen. Day one, and it didn't work. So after another 2 weeks of waiting patiently a replacement arrived and I thought, great, time to set it up and...... the heat. And Windows 11 was now shipping and mine must have been the last one to come with 10. But the fans weren't having any of it even at idle it sounded like a jet taking off. All I wanted to do was play a few of my favourite games and write music but I think it became more of a chore than fun at this point. A few days after the machine arrived, the Steam Deck was announced. Instantly intrigued, I decided to order one and it arrived a few months after I had purchased it when it was a queue system

So, from the first boot of the deck I was instantly impressed with it. The interface felt simple and streamlined especially for a gaming pc. Near instant boot times and after a month of having it, I didn't notice any issues. At all. Fast forward to now, I can count on one hand how many times it's frozen or crashed entirely. It has been the only gaming PC I have had which does what I want, game. Sure I can't use it for music production, but that's a different subject all together. I have found my experience with the steam deck to be very streamlined and above all, fun. It's been 99 percent brilliant for me personally and I don't see myself going back to windows based PCs again at this point.

So I am sorry if this has been an insanely long post, but this has been my personal experience into the world of the steam deck. I almost forget to push graphical settings to maximum or tweak settings all together. I know some people may read all of this and go, "yeah but hardware has changed and is more reliable" or something, but after seeing the 40 and now 50 series cards melting cables, I'm a hard pass on desktops now. Not to mention the cost. Anyway. That wraps up this ridiculously long post. No matter how you game, be it console, pc or steam deck I hope you have fun. :D

[N]

i love mine too! what DAW do you use? there are linux DAWs, and I was able to get fl studio working fine for the most part. i just cant use a midi controller right now. gotta wait till its patched in.

but working on music while leaned back in a recliner is magical

[Barry]

Back then I used to use Cubase, it was great for what I needed but I now use Logic Pro. That's great you got FL studio running on linux though, plus the added bonus of chilling back like that sounds fun. :D

[masterzone]

Great topic and I agree with you. I'm working as 3D artist and I used windows, many CGI softwares, reinstalled OS, bug, crash. So I understand you perfectly. I bought my Steam Deck three weeks ago and after reading what system is running, I love it so much. Great product!

[MUD]

Yeah mine has been good too, versatile and reliable.

[N]

I am very stressed out with the world right now, so this thread is really helping my mental health.
I am currently typing this in a Spravato center for depresssion. Using a bluetooth keyboard with my deck. Reclined back in my chair with nurses checking my vitals every half hour or so.

I am an engineer, I love to fix things and make them work. steam deck is great if you want to have complete control over the hardware and software that you buy.

i dont feel like i have any control over whats happening.

at least i can control my games.

[Barry]

I'm deeply sorry for your current position and I am happy that this thread is helping you. I am sending you good thoughts and wishes and to hope you recover soon. Escaping into a game is great and it can make you feel like you are in control so please take good care. I am happy your steam deck gives you the freedom you want and need.

[𝕯𝖊𝖑𝖔𝖗𝖘]

Valve did good with first generation steam deck imo.

[tomk1]

If you have an old PC, dump windows, install Bazzite, turns the PC into a Steam deck, extends the range of games playable. Has an excellent desktop option as-well.

A portable 15.6" usb screen is useful for the deck, I got one for €90, uses only 7watts, powered by deck, or both can be powered by the steam charger.

[Citizen Cook]

I wish Valve would revisit their Steam Machine idea and make their own box with custom SOC like they have done with the Deck. I’m do sick of Windows at this point and buying a new GPU is a complete unfunny joke.