TheSteam Deckis just a week away from being launched, and there’s reason to believe this could be one of the most intriguing mobile gaming devices for a long time. There has been a lot of buzz around it lately, to such that theBaldur’s Gate 3developer has been praising Valve’s machine, as have other studios. One thing that many may be curious about is how long it’s likely the device will last on the battery, and there may be some good news on that front.
According to a recent report from PCGamesN, the battery of theSteam Deckhas the potential to be extended by an hour, thanks to the upscaling technology that’s built into it. AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution, or FSR, can boost framerates on games, and a new update to the portable PC, specifically to the operating system it will be using, should be able to make the Deck last a little longer.
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In a benchmark test conducted by ThePhawx, by turning FSR on, not only does the visual quality of games not suffer too much, but the battery life can be increased as well. In this case, the test shows that the Deck has around 68 minutes left, and when AMD’s upscaling is turned on, there’s a reduction of around seven watts. They show that it’s possible to get the device to last for an hour longer, even on games likeControlandGhostrunner.Steam Deck’s battery life is between two and eight hours, whether this is after FSR is on is not said, but if not, an extra 60 minutes is pretty impressive.
Valve has evidently been working hard to ensure its hotly-anticipated device runs for as long as it can, especially withnew Linux drivers also extending the Deck’s battery life. This is, after all, a mobile gaming machine, and as such, the company has a vested interest in making sure that it’s less likely to run out when users are on the move. Of course, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so with seven days left until launch day, it’s not long before people will see whether these tweaks truly make a difference.
Studios are also making sure that theSteam Deck has as many verified games as possibleby next week. With several hundred titles now ready for the device, at the time of writing, the fact that it was originally delayed by a couple of months has given Valve and its partners the extra few weeks to tweak it in time.
