Valve has announced with confidence that the Steam Deck can run the latest games with no problem, noting that their system hasn’t found a game it can’t handle.
So far, the hype for the Steam Deck is palpable, but not without doubts from pundits and gamers alike. Valve, however, assures its upcoming portable PC will be ready for all games. The device will be available to use even for games coming out this year.
Valve tested Steam’s back catalog for device
Valve’s upcoming handheld PC is one of the best hardware offerings announced this year. So far, the device is as powerful as current-gen consoles, with models even running on NVME SSD. Even then, some are casting doubt on its capability.
With next-gen titles here, many question if a device with specs as a mid-tier PC will run AAA titles. While the Deck is a great device, it’s a question if it can run big titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Call of Duty Warzone.
Regardless, Valve assures everyone that their upcoming device will be up to the task. In an interview with IGN, they were adamant that they can handle even 2021 titles.
“We’ve been looking at various games the past few years in the back catalog, but the real test for us was games that were coming out last year,” said Pierre-Loup Griffais, one of Valve’s hardware devs. “They just couldn’t really run very well on the previous types of prototypes and architectures we were testing.
“This is the first time we’ve achieved the level of performance that is required to really run the latest generation of games without problems. All the games we wanted to be playable is, really, the entire Steam library. We haven’t really found something we could throw at this device that it couldn’t handle.”
The Deck has hardware advantage
The Steam Deck uses some of the newest technology to compensate for its inability to add a dedicated GPU. The most notable of these include an AMD Zen 2 CPU, together with 8CU AMD RDNA 2. There’s also the 16GB LPDDR5, which is the crown jewel of the device.
“We might actually be one of the first products to showcase this memory technology,” noted Yazan Aldehayyat, a hardware engineer for Valve. “That gives a lot of futureproofing, especially since we’re not the only people with this architecture. Any optimization that game developers make for this new architecture will carry forth to benefit us as well.”
The devs for the Steam Deck note that the current high frame rate, high-res trend for PC games is a plus for them. It will help them scale down the games to the 800p display that the device uses.
Featured image courtesy of IGN/Youtube Screenshot