Steam Deck Modded with an AMD Desktop GPU Turns Into a 4K Gaming Monster

Valve has repeatedly insisted that the Steam Deck doesn’t include exterior GPU help, capturing down gamer’s hopes of connecting an RTX 3090 and cranking the graphics settings to Ultra. At the identical time, Valve retains emphasizing how the Steam Deck is an open platform, a tool that may be modified to suit a person’s wants and preferences.

So what does a DIYer do with that information? Listen to the stuff they needed to listen to and ignore the remainder, after all. The of us operating the ETA Prime YouTube channel discovered a option to increase the Steam Deck’s customized AMD Zen 2 processor and RDNA 2 graphics with an AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT GPU—a high-end desktop graphics card.

It wasn’t simple, and also you shouldn’t do this together with your shiny new handheld console, however the hack principally labored. ETA Prime initially needed to mod the Steam Deck with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 card, however they found that the Steam Deck didn’t play properly with playing cards from AMD’s rival.

Since the Steam Deck doesn’t include a Thunderbolt port (it makes use of a regular USB-C), ETA Prime needed to jerry-rig an M.2 connector with a PCIe x4 interface by swapping the inner SSD with an exterior dock. They then related a desktop-grade energy provide dice to the GPU to provide it the juice the diminutive Steam Deck lacks. As you possibly can think about, the setup seems to be foolish—you’ve gotten a Nintendo Switch-like handheld daisy-chained to an enormous GPU and a chonky energy provide. It’s not the type of factor you could possibly play on the prepare throughout your commute to work.

Since the M.2 slot was getting used for the exterior GPU, a microSD card needed to be employed for all OS and sport storage. And whereas ETA Prime would have saved SteamOS 3.0 on the Deck, since Valve’s working system can’t be booted from a microSD card but, the mod makes use of Windows 11 as an alternative.

After booting up Windows, ETA Prime opened Task Manager and found that, together with the native AMD APU, the system was operating on a Radeon RX 6900 XT exterior graphics card. It labored! Of course, connecting a full-blown desktop GPU to a handheld console is like inserting a turbocharged V8 engine right into a Ford Pinto—the opposite elements weren’t designed to accommodate such a robust card, so bottlenecks are inevitable.

And but, even with a stunted RX 6900 XT, the Steam Deck quadrupled its efficiency in artificial 3DMark benchmarks and performed demanding video games like The Witcher 3 at 4K decision on Ultra settings at a median of 108 frames per second. The modded Steam Deck even performed GTA V at 4K on Very High at 73 fps and Elden Ring on 1080p at Max setting at 46 fps. Again, the Steam Deck’s RX 6900 XT card was being bottlenecked by its low-power APU and gradual storage, however even then, the system noticed large efficiency positive aspects.

This clearly isn’t the type of factor it’s best to strive with your personal system. The Steam Deck wasn’t designed to help exterior graphics playing cards, and including one primarily turns this smooth moveable console right into a messy (however pleasant) stationary desktop. Even ETA Prime cautions towards utilizing this methodology to beef up Valve’s console. So why did they do it? For one of the best cause: “Because we can.”