Image: Valve / Kotaku
Today, Valve has released a highly anticipated update for its laptop. SteamOS 3.2 brings many fun changes to both the operating system and Steam’s own client, allowing Remote Play Together, adjustments to some visual and UI elements, and the ability to change the screen refresh rate Noise updates of the fan, however, have to be debated (sorry) a lot in the corners of the internet.
Essentially, a constant problem with the Steam Deck has been that, to prevent this handheld from catching fire, your fan is usually turned on. And I usually mean: Everything. De. He. Time. And it’s strong! It easily blows past my heavy metal-induced tinnitus to produce enough sound to reach an audible tone. I’ve gotten used to it (I also have hearing damage), but others haven’t been so happy.
The noise inspired iFixit to sell new fans that, if you’re in the DIY spirit, are fairly easy to replace and offer a quieter solution. But for those of us who prefer not to open the device, SteamOS 3.2 allows you to adjust the fan curve, lowering it so that the device does not start singing in its mezzo-soprano range.
This is where things are likely to heat up (again, sorry) online. When the fan speed is lowered, the device will warm up. How much hotter? Well, PC Gamer measured the change up to 10 ° C (it’s an 18 ° change in Freedom units) a few weeks ago in just one example. It was enough for them to consider this update not worth it given the potential impact on the lifespan of the Steam Deck.
Photo: Kotaku
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Digital Foundry had a slightly more nuanced perspective; basically, fan speed, temperature and usage are mixed to give different results. Therefore, you are likely to see temperature rises from 4 or 5 ° C to 10 ° C. His opinion (as well as mine, to be honest) was that, as it was still within the expected operating temperatures. for the device, you probably won’t have any problems.
This is not much different from debating whether to turn off your computer all the time or turn it off when not in use. As one science teacher once told me, “The heat is real,” so yes, running the device in hot temperatures is nothing. But technically speaking, unless we’re pushing the device to temperatures that weren’t designed to work, why should we have a problem?
I do not want to dismiss this debate too quickly. According to an old military manual on the expected service life of electronics, 10 ° C could halve the life expectancy of a device. Of course, there are so many factors to consider that this is likely to be a debate that we will continue to do on Twitter and Reddit.
I guess the only real way to find out is to buy a dozen Steam Decks, make them run the same scene on something like Cyberpunk 2077 for four or five years, set half in the bottom corner of the fan, while l the other half uses the original configuration. . Then we’ll see which ones die first. Until this science can be achieved, it may be best to turn off the old fan curve setting if sound is not so important to you. You are more than likely to come across a source of opinions and facts, full of anecdotes and math on the internet about this detail. Until we have a couple of years in the life of Steam Deck and start seeing real results, we just won’t know it one way or another.
I leave it to the comments section to respectfully discuss more.
Correction 27/05/2022 13:45 ET: A math error has been fixed.