Steam deck overheat

[Orit]

I recently got a Steam Deck, and not long ago I downloaded the Witcher 3 game on my Steam Deck. When playing the Witcher 3 game on the Steam Deck, I set the TDP Limit to 15 Watts, and the Manual GPU Clock to 1600mhz, I thought it could improve performance, but when playing for quite a long time, the FPS dropped significantly and the movement became choppy and once the game became unplayable, only the sound appeared but it could not be moved, I had to close the game manually by pressing the steam button then exit, and when I looked at the temperature, it could reach 101°C, is this normal, or is there a problem with my Steam Deck.

After that I set the TDP Limit Off and Manual GPU Clock Off and in the settings Enabled Updated Fan Control Off, and when playing I watched the temperature, at the beginning the temperature was around 66°C and could rise to 75°C - 85°C, and when opening the menu to see the map or just to see the inventory the temperature could drop again, if I continue playing exploring all areas in the game, will the temperature continue to rise,
maybe that's all, and I really need help with this

I'm sorry, I can't speak English. I'm using AI to translate this into English.

[Lil B_999]

Did you block air intake and vents?

[Orit]

Originally posted by Lil B_999:

Did you block air intake and vents?

No

[luciferous]

What settings did you have it set to in-game?

[Orit]

Originally posted by luciferous:

What settings did you have it set to in-game?

Display mode : borderless window
Vsync : off
Resolution : 1280 x 800
Maximum FPS : 60
Ray tracing : off
Anti aliacing : fsr2
Fsr quality : quality
Dynamic resolution scaling : on
Sharpening : high
Screen space ambient oclusion : off
Screen space reflection : low
Motion blur : off
Blur : on
Bloom : on
Depth of field : on
Chromatic aberration : off
Vignetting : on
Light shafts : on
Camera lens effect : off
Nvidia hairworks : off
Number of background character : medium
Shadow quality : medium
Terrain quality : high
Water quality : high
Foliage visibility range : medium
Grass density : medium
Texture quality : high
Detail level : high

On Steam Deck I set TDP Limit : 15watt and Manual GPU Clock : 1600mhz

[S.O.B]

Hello to wonderful Indonesia :)!
Are you on Steam Deck LCD or OLED?

[Orit]

Originally posted by S.O.B:

Hello to wonderful Indonesia :)!
Are you on Steam Deck LCD or OLED?

I own the LCD version.

[S.O.B]

Originally posted by Orit:

Originally posted by S.O.B:

Hello to wonderful Indonesia :)!
Are you on Steam Deck LCD or OLED?

I own the LCD version.

Just my two cents, I’d recommend to tweak your settings and check temperatures again (I’m on OLED and not an expert, so take this with a grain of salt):

- Keep Updated Fan Control „Off“
- In launcher switch to DX11 game version instead of DX12
- Display Mode: Fullscreen
- Vsync: Off
- Maximum FPS: Unlimited
- Anti-Aliasing: TAAU
- Sharpening: Low
- Screen Space Ambient Occlusion: SSAO (or „Off“ if you prefer performance/fps over atmosphere)
- Screen Space Reflections: Low

Set all quality/detail settings to „Medium“ (Shadow Quality and Grass Density to „Low“ if necessary) as a starting point and tweak these settings while using Steam Deck‘s Frame-Limiter to find your preferred quality/performance sweetspot (e.g. 40fps for performance or 30fps for quality).

How’s performance and temperature? Still around 90/100°C while having acceptable ambient temperatures? In that case I’d consider something’s wrong. That said, from here on you could also try to do further efficiency/performance tweaks on TDP-Limit and GPU-Clock. For TDP-Limit try for example 12/11/10 Watts to find the lowest „stable“ setting. If it comes to GPU-Clock, my experience with Witcher 3 on my OLED (with a 30fps quality setting) was that there wasn’t a noticeable difference for me. Other experiences and games may differ.

[invision2212]

I’ve never had my deck get about 86c or so pushing it to the max. That’s still pretty hot when my legion go will stay at 55-58c using the same wattage.

[Orit]

Originally posted by S.O.B:

Originally posted by Orit:

I own the LCD version.

Just my two cents, I’d recommend to tweak your settings and check temperatures again (I’m on OLED and not an expert, so take this with a grain of salt):

- Keep Updated Fan Control „Off“
- In launcher switch to DX11 game version instead of DX12
- Display Mode: Fullscreen
- Vsync: Off
- Maximum FPS: Unlimited
- Anti-Aliasing: TAAU
- Sharpening: Low
- Screen Space Ambient Occlusion: SSAO (or „Off“ if you prefer performance/fps over atmosphere)
- Screen Space Reflections: Low

Set all quality/detail settings to „Medium“ (Shadow Quality and Grass Density to „Low“ if necessary) as a starting point and tweak these settings while using Steam Deck‘s Frame-Limiter to find your preferred quality/performance sweetspot (e.g. 40fps for performance or 30fps for quality).

How’s performance and temperature? Still around 90/100°C while having acceptable ambient temperatures? In that case I’d consider something’s wrong. That said, from here on you could also try to do further efficiency/performance tweaks on TDP-Limit and GPU-Clock. For TDP-Limit try for example 12/11/10 Watts to find the lowest „stable“ setting. If it comes to GPU-Clock, my experience with Witcher 3 on my OLED (with a 30fps quality setting) was that there wasn’t a noticeable difference for me. Other experiences and games may differ.

After I changed some settings like:

* Enabled Updated Fan Control: Off

* Quick Action Menu
* FPS Limit: 30FPS / 60Hz
* TDP Limit: Off
* Manual GPU Clock: Off

* In Game Setting
* Display Mode: Fullscreen
* Maximum FPS: Unlimited
* Anti-Aliasing: TAAU
* Sharpening: Low
* Screen space ambient occlusion: SAAO
* Screen space reflection: Low

And the rest are the same as the previous settings.
I got a temperature of around 65°C - 72°C, But after I noticed, in my opinion, TAAU is a bit worse compared to FSR2 in terms of visuals, so I changed some settings again:
* Anti-Aliasing: FSR2
* FSR Quality: Quality
* Sharpening: High
* Screen space ambient occlusion: Off
* Screen space reflection: Low

And the temperature ranged between 65°C - 72°C.
Then the next day, I did another test in an area with quite a lot of NPCs, in the "Nifligard" city area I got a temperature of around 69°C - 75°C, and the temperature would rise again to 78°C - 86°C at night when there were some guards carrying torches, after that the temperature would drop again to around 72°C.

Is the cause of the heat I experienced earlier because I set the TDP Limit to 15 watts and the Manual GPU Clock to 1600MHz?

Because the graphics settings are almost the same as my previous settings, there are only a few settings that have changed such as:
* Updated fan control: Off
* TDP Limit: Off
* Manual GPU Clock: Off
* Maximum FPS : Unlimited
* Display mode : Fullscreen

[Hiro]

Originally posted by Orit:

and the Manual GPU Clock to 1600mhz

This is probably part of your the problem.
Specially if you charge the deck while playing.

Check how much performance you are getting out of that and consider leaving it to the O.S. to control.
Limit FPS to some number, even if 60. I normally go for 45, it is a good compromise.

[Orit]

Originally posted by Hiro:

Originally posted by Orit:

and the Manual GPU Clock to 1600mhz

This is probably part of your the problem.
Specially if you charge the deck while playing.

Check how much performance you are getting out of that and consider leaving it to the O.S. to control.
Limit FPS to some number, even if 60. I normally go for 45, it is a good compromise.

So the possible heat I experienced previously was because I set the TDP at 15 watts and the GPU Clock at 1600 MHz ?

I'm still new to PC gaming, and I still have a lot to learn. I thought that setting the TDP at 15 watts and the GPU Clock at 1600 MHz would improve performance, but maybe that's what's making my Steam Deck overheat

[metal_hamster]

Originally posted by Orit:

Originally posted by Hiro:

This is probably part of your the problem.
Specially if you charge the deck while playing.

Check how much performance you are getting out of that and consider leaving it to the O.S. to control.
Limit FPS to some number, even if 60. I normally go for 45, it is a good compromise.

So the possible heat I experienced previously was because I set the TDP at 15 watts and the GPU Clock at 1600 MHz ?

I'm still new to PC gaming, and I still have a lot to learn. I thought that setting the TDP at 15 watts and the GPU Clock at 1600 MHz would improve performance, but maybe that's what's making my Steam Deck overheat

If you don't know what you're doing, why touch it? Would be a shame to break the thing.

[S.O.B]

Originally posted by Orit:

Originally posted by Hiro:

This is probably part of your the problem.
Specially if you charge the deck while playing.

Check how much performance you are getting out of that and consider leaving it to the O.S. to control.
Limit FPS to some number, even if 60. I normally go for 45, it is a good compromise.

So the possible heat I experienced previously was because I set the TDP at 15 watts and the GPU Clock at 1600 MHz ?

I'm still new to PC gaming, and I still have a lot to learn. I thought that setting the TDP at 15 watts and the GPU Clock at 1600 MHz would improve performance, but maybe that's what's making my Steam Deck overheat

With „TDP Limit Off“ the TDP Limit of the Steam Deck’s APU is maxed out at 15W by default, so by limiting (lowering) the TDP you’re not aiming for performance but for efficiency (battery life, lower temps…). Give it a try with Witcher 3 and finalize your performance/quality settings first. Afterwards play and stroll/fight/ride around in some performance heavy areas (Novigrad for example) and lower the TDP-Limit until you notice any performance dips (the overlay can help here), add 1 or 2W as a buffer and you should be fine.

[Orit]

Originally posted by S.O.B:

Originally posted by Orit:

So the possible heat I experienced previously was because I set the TDP at 15 watts and the GPU Clock at 1600 MHz ?

I'm still new to PC gaming, and I still have a lot to learn. I thought that setting the TDP at 15 watts and the GPU Clock at 1600 MHz would improve performance, but maybe that's what's making my Steam Deck overheat

With „TDP Limit Off“ the TDP Limit of the Steam Deck’s APU is maxed out at 15W by default, so by limiting (lowering) the TDP you’re not aiming for performance but for efficiency (battery life, lower temps…). Give it a try with Witcher 3 and finalize your performance/quality settings first. Afterwards play and stroll/fight/ride around in some performance heavy areas (Novigrad for example) and lower the TDP-Limit until you notice any performance dips (the overlay can help here), add 1 or 2W as a buffer and you should be fine.

Thank you for the advice, I will try it.

[rm -rf --no-preserve-root /]

This is normal. If you ever used a laptop, you would have most likely witnessed the same thing.