Steam Deck vs new games: CPU limited in some cases, but the performance is still sufficient

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The Steam Deck has reached its limits in individual games over the last few months. The processor with Zen 2 cores proves to be the limiting factor, even if it has a full 15 watt TDP. However, the performance is still sufficient in general.

In the past few months, games have increasingly dispensed with versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (S). The reason for this can be identified as the greatly aged hardware of the two consoles, which can hardly cope with the requirements of new games. At the same time, current-gen titles like Forspoken skyrocket system requirements. Square Enix' upcoming open-world title requires a Core i7-7700 or Ryzen 5 1600 with AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT or Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 even for 720p, minimum detail settings and 30 frames per second.

Digital Foundry has therefore analyzed how the Steam Deck copes with current titles in order to assess whether the hardware is already reaching its limits here. A Plague Tale: Requiem (test) ran mostly satisfactorily.

CPU as a limiting factor

The game had to be rendered in 720p, with the resolution being upscaled from the 360p range. Graphic details were roughly the same as on the Xbox Series S, although there were trade-offs in image quality, the site writes. “Mostly” 30 frames per second could have been achieved, however, cities are problematic – due to the then massively increasing demands on the processor.

Valve Steam Deck SoC AMD Ryzen (“Van Gogh”) SoC-CPU Zen 2 with 4C/8T and 2.4 to 3.5 GHz with 4 to 15 watts TDP SoC-GPU RDNA 2 with 8 compute units and 1.0 to 1.6 GHz Architecture Zen 2 + RDNA 2 Memory 16 GB LPDDR5 with 5,500 MT/s Storage 64 GB (eMMC)
PCIe Gen2 x1 256 GB (NVMe)
PCIe Gen3 x4 512 GB (NVMe)
PCIe Gen3 x4 Display 7″ IPS with 1,280 × 800 pixels 7" IPS with 1,280 × 800 pixels
with anti-glare & etched glass

The CPU causes even bigger problems in Gotham Knights (test), at least in the open world and stays well below 30 frames per second there. Need for Speed ​​Unbound does reach this mark, but stutters occasionally. Here, too, the processor is identified as the culprit, but the game as a whole is rated as playable.

The Steam Deck also has limitations in Callisto Protocol, with framerates in the “low to mid 20s” in some areas, with the same issues as last-gen consoles. The decisive factor is again the processor. However, the horror thriller is not yet running smoothly on all platforms and started selling with a lot of problems.

The Witcher 3 in the next-gen version (test) and Uncharted 4 (test) as examples of ports of exclusive Sony games ran flawlessly. Graphically, both titles are roughly on par with last-gen consoles.

The performance is still sufficient

Overall, it is becoming apparent that the Steam Deck is still sufficiently fast at the moment, according to the conclusion of the analysis, at least when you look at the graphics options. With current-gen titles, however, playback would become “tougher” as it “gets more ambitious”.

Basically, this confirms Valve's update plans. Work is being done on the software and the compatibility layer Proton, the hardware should at most be changed in the areas of battery life and the display. Valve only sees an upgrade of the processor and graphics unit as sensible if there is a significant increase in performance with the same consumption; Finally, volume and running time also play a role. When it comes to selecting games, the demands placed on a handheld are different than playing all the latest triple-A titles in the best possible quality.

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