My new steam deck gets hot. Is it common?

[Papagei]

Hi guys, just today I received my new steam deck, while using it the console's right corner gets kinda hot, even outside of gaming. Is it okay? Should I be worried and trying get another console instead? Share with me your knowledge/experience pls

[Bee🐝]

How hot? What does the overlay show?

The right corner is where the SD card is. If the card is overheating, then stop downloading and let it cool down. Common issue with some Samsung SD cards.

[Mailer]

I coincidentally moved over some games to my new SD card as "Bee" mentioned just now, and the bottom right corner of the screen does get a bit hotter after a while of data transfers.

The top-right corner on the other hand would be near the power button and where the charger plugs in, which could also heat up the device.

Are you making sure the vents are unobstructed and can take in air? There is a vent on the back as well as up-top that should both ideally be free to suck in and pump out air.

Or are you saying that the areas of the held triggers are getting heated up on the very outer points of the device?; because that should definitely not happen.

[Papagei]

Yea, it's the bottom right corner and indeed I've downloaded like 150 gigs of games on SSD of steam deck. That actually could be the thing. I also had the console on a charger, but even without it, when I pulled out the cabel and gave some rest to the steam deck, it got kinda hot, not entirely, but the bottom right corner was pretty warm. I played Deep Rock Galactic and I have around 25 C in my room. So, idk. Is it all right? I mean, is this the way it works? Like I don't have any issues with my console beeing kinda hot, in a place where I don't touch it, but I don't wanna find myself in situation whet the things breaks in a short time.

Definitely don't wanna.

[Papagei]

P. S. I don't have any SD card, for now at least

[Mailer]

The SSD is a probable culprit, with or without an SD-card, as for why that area is heated up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SElZABp5M3U&t=877s
(Note that this was before the Steam Deck released; Timestamp: 16:25 )

My other advice would be to shut down the deck fully and let it cool to ambient temperature. Then start it up from that cold state, head into DRG and see how much the temperature rises. Also listen for the fans so that you can clearly hear that the Deck is trying to counter the increased heat with more cooling. As long as that is the case then I don't think you need to worry.

The device is designed to keep your hands away from the heated areas behind the screen, so you don't need to worry too much about that. Just keep the vents free.

Another thing you can do is limit the screen to 30 or 40 FPS so that it doesn't push itself too much but it depends on how demanding the game is and what kinda graphics settings you use.

[Bee🐝]

Papagei님이 먼저 게시:

P. S. I don't have any SD card, for now at least

No SD card?

The right side is also where the vent is and that’s normal depending on the actaul temp of the Steam Deck. Note, handhelds run hotter than desktops. If it’s not hitting the 80c while gaming constantly, you’re fine.

It shouldn’t burn you though. If it’s burning you, something is wrong.

Oh, and badly emulated games can push the Deck temps into dangerous ranges. But you’d have to check the temp in the overlay. Do not keep playing those games.

Edit: Good advice from Mailer.

[Papagei]

I probably can just google it, but let me ask you - how does one check the temperature of the deck? And how much's okay?

[Papagei]

And your tips are making me feel better about my deck, because I was a little bit worried. I also have a Nintendo Switch and it never was so warm. My phone was, but not console.

[Mailer]

Papagei님이 먼저 게시:

I probably can just google it, but let me ask you - how does one check the temperature of the deck? And how much's okay?

Use the performance overlay and see how much of your Deck is being used while gaming. Have you used the menu on the right side of the Steam Deck yet?
The lower-right button with the three dots opens it anywhere, as well as in-game.

https://www.tomsguide.com/how-to/how-to-enable-the-performance-overlay-on-the-steam-deck

As for what temperatures are safe, normally with hardware you don't want to see much higher temperatures than 90-95 degrees Celsius, from my experience.
If you go above 100 degrees Celcius then it gets close to harming the actual hardware so just make sure that it doesn't say too hot on the overlay and just feel for it after you have played for a while.

The plastic on the outside shouldn't instantly burn you if you touch it, but it might feel pretty warm around the back vent still if you hold your fingers near it for a little while. For me it would be hard to describe it any better than this. You just have to feel for it yourself.

I can't really specify it any better than this personally, but do feel free to reach out to Valve as well if you continue to have issues.

[Papagei]

Mailer님이 먼저 게시:

Papagei님이 먼저 게시:

I probably can just google it, but let me ask you - how does one check the temperature of the deck? And how much's okay?

Use the performance overlay and see how much of your Deck is being used while gaming. Have you used the menu on the right side of the Steam Deck yet?
The lower-right button with the three dots opens it anywhere, as well as in-game.

https://www.tomsguide.com/how-to/how-to-enable-the-performance-overlay-on-the-steam-deck

As for what temperatures are safe, normally with hardware you don't want to see much higher temperatures than 90-95 degrees Celsius, from my experience.
If you go above 100 degrees Celcius then it gets close to harming the actual hardware so just make sure that it doesn't get too hot on the overlay and just feel for it after you have played for a while.

The plastic on the outside shouldn't instantly burn you if you touch it, but it might feel pretty warm around the back vent still if you hold your fingers near it for a little while. For me it would be hard to describe it any better than this. You just have to feel for it yourself.

I can't really specify it any better than this personally, but do feel free to reach out to Valve as well if you continue to have issues.

Thank you all guys a lot, I'll check how it runs!

[Muppet among Puppets]

In a desktop, the air is a little warm.
At the exhaust of a laptop it can be quite hot.
A handheld console is rather like a laptop, i would say.