Rumour Unfortunately, it looks like Steam Deck 2 is going to be disappointing.

Phawx

Phawx

Not-tradamus
Sep 6, 2018
119
475
63
I'm not a leaker but I've had some people mention to me what the APU in Steam Deck 2 is going to be and ... it's not looking good.

To put it in perspective, its going to be pretty similar to the Xbox ALLY X but with hw FSR4 support.

Perhaps I'm reading this article wrong but it reads exactly like that:

So we've been working back from silicon advancements and architectural improvements, and I think we have a pretty good idea of what the next version of Steam Deck is going to be, but right now there's no offerings in that landscape, in the SoC [System on a Chip] landscape, that we think would truly be a next-gen performance Steam Deck."
Click to expand...

So Steam Deck 2 is going to launch with RDNA3.75 (RDNA4m) is what it reads like to me.

Perhaps I'm reading it wrong. Which honestly would be great news! But its a bit deflating.

www.eurogamer.net

Valve is "hard at work" on Steam Deck 2, but don't expect it anytime soon, as the company's idea of "next-gen performance" isn't possible yet

As the new Steam Controller is readied for launch, Valve has commented on the next Steam Deck and confirmed it won't be rushed out for small performance gains.
www.eurogamer.net www.eurogamer.net
 
  • Sad
Reactions: MegaApple, Panda Pedinte, Ge0force and 1 other person
Phawx said:
I'm not a leaker but I've had some people mention to me what the APU in Steam Deck 2 is going to be and ... it's not looking good.

To put it in perspective, its going to be pretty similar to the Xbox ALLY X but with hw FSR4 support.

Perhaps I'm reading this article wrong but it reads exactly like that:



So Steam Deck 2 is going to launch with RDNA3.75 (RDNA4m) is what it reads like to me.

Perhaps I'm reading it wrong. Which honestly would be great news! But its a bit deflating.

www.eurogamer.net

Valve is "hard at work" on Steam Deck 2, but don't expect it anytime soon, as the company's idea of "next-gen performance" isn't possible yet

As the new Steam Controller is readied for launch, Valve has commented on the next Steam Deck and confirmed it won't be rushed out for small performance gains.
www.eurogamer.net www.eurogamer.net
Click to expand...

In my opinion, Steam Deck 2 using such a chip is highly unlikely and I think that the article confirms that. Valve has said many times that it is waiting for a chip that offers generational performance improvement at similar or better battery life. Xbox Ally X isn't even close to a generational leap in performance.

If such a chip is intended for a Steam Deck device, I think it is way more likely to appear in some sort of Steam Deck "Pro" than in the true successor. If your sources are correct, my theory is that this will be an interim release to have something in the market while Valve waits a few more years for the right chip for a Steam Deck 2.
 
  • Like
Reactions: undu and lashman
They explicitly say that the SOC they'd want for the next Deck does not exist right now. And they have absolutely no obligation to get the hardware out on any specific timeline. I would not link any existing hardware profile to what they want to do with the device. Also, they're about to get burned on Steam frame/machine pricing because of the RAMpocalypse. There is no way they'll be pushing forward with a Deck 2 while this shitshow is ongoing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Panda Pedinte, Ge0force, Phawx and 1 other person
spindoctor said:
They explicitly say that the SOC they'd want for the next Deck does not exist right now. And they have absolutely no obligation to get the hardware out on any specific timeline. I would not link any existing hardware profile to what they want to do with the device. Also, they're about to get burned on Steam frame/machine pricing because of the RAMpocalypse. There is no way they'll be pushing forward with a Deck 2 while this shitshow is ongoing.
Click to expand...
Tbh, this is my hope. I would rather Valve just wait until 2030 rather than go this route.
 
  • Like
  • This!
Reactions: Cacher, Alexandros and lashman
Ge0force said:
I'm fine with waiting until 2030. I don't like playing AAA games on such a small screen and everything else runs fine on the Deck.
Click to expand...

Yeah man same, i mainly play emulated snes games (Advance Wars) on my deck so im happy to wait.

It does suck though, its a great machine and for those that use it as a main computer its lagging a bit now and a beefy refresh would be great.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ge0force and lashman
At the end regardless of power, this lives or dies on the price, and Valve’s recent track record doesn’t make me very optimistic.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: lashman
I imagine AMD is pivoting more and more into AI chips and unfortunately Valve gets what they get.
It’s probably not a bad idea to get some new Deck out soon, the current one has a pretty bad value proposition for it’s price.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: lashman
Durante said:
As far as I understood it the new leak shows nothing other than that a chip codenamed "Gainsborough" exists, right?
(Which is obviously quite indicative, not disputing that!)
Click to expand...
So, someone had relayed to me around February what the chip was going to be.

At the time, I wanted to dismiss it because it just seemed not ideal. Timing wise and everything.

But from what they told me, it was Canis but with "RDNA4m" which was RDNA3.5 (what's in the Xbox ALLY X right now) plus RDNA4 's ML backported to it (so that FSR4 can be hardware accelerated)

At the time, I thought it was 16CU of RDNA4m, but now we are hearing it's actually 12CU. And what troubles me is this makes sense. RDNA3.5 can easily clock to 3ghz and even 3.2Ghz.

And with 9600MT for LPDDR5x that's 160GB/s of bandwidth, which is RIGHT on the money for actually feeding 12CU of RDNA3.5 at 3Ghz

So, this will be ~20% faster in straight raster over the Xbox ALLY X, it will have HW accelerated FSR4 but it will not have any improvements to raytracing capabilities, and who knows how well it will handle FSR5+ and what not.

Further, the PS6 handheld which WILL get RDNA5 in basically the same package and because it will be subsidized will be better AND cheaper than the Steam Deck 2.

Obviously yes this still rumors and whatnot but it's still fairly disappointing for a 2027 release.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: Ge0force and lashman
Just pushed this. TL: DW

Expect ~2x performance at 15w without FSR4. Hard to really nail down because I don't yet have any information on:

N3P
Zen6

But looking at 9600MT on memory and likely that GPU clocks will land at 3.2ghz as a max (Will likely require significantly more power, perhaps up to 40-50w) Generally speaking, I think ~2x is a round-about estimate that Steam Deck 2 will actually land out watt-for-watt.

And then it would have hardware accelerated FSR4.

Still unfortunate because if it was RDNA5 it would be a signifcant lead over this. But it should be cheaper!

 
  • Sad
  • Like
Reactions: Alexandros and lashman
Phawx Great video Cary, very informative, you explained the situation simply enough that even a layman like me could follow it. I'm still holding on the hope that Valve will manage to get RDNA 5 on the Steam Deck 2, otherwise it's probably going to be a skip from me. It's going to be pricey either way, so I would rather have something more expensive but future proof than a device that will be hitting its limits immediately.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lashman
Alexandros said:
Phawx Great video Cary, very informative, you explained the situation simply enough that even a layman like me could follow it. I'm still holding on the hope that Valve will manage to get RDNA 5 on the Steam Deck 2, otherwise it's probably going to be a skip from me. It's going to be pricey either way, so I would rather have something more expensive but future proof than a device that will be hitting its limits immediately.
Click to expand...

Yea I'm in agreement. Ultimately it won't be too bad. I think the reality of doing 1080p120 with upscaling and no framegen in a number of games. As time goes on that'll like go to 1080p60 but, I still think that's pretty impressive.

So on one hand, a really cheap chip that's good enough and Valve doesn't have to fork over any real money is not-too-bad.

But yea, really wish it was at least RDNA5 and then we could have done even better in low-power
 
  • Sad
  • Like
Reactions: Alexandros and lashman
I was thinking about this chip using the new process and though, what if the stockpile for the deck APU is dwindling, and AMD does not want to keep / restart their fabrication anymore. In this situation it would make a lot of sense to have this new chip as a stepping stone to keep making Decks while the big generational leap is not there yet.

If it comes out this way, there's a real chance I replace my Deck LCD, depending on price. In particular, the potential extra performance while docked can be a really attractive, especially for me since I have a powerful PC and haven't had the need for the steam machine.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lashman
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom