Steam Deck is Strong, but Struggles With Cyberpunk 2077
Thanks to a Chinese tester, we learned how Steam Deck handles Cyberpunk 2077, Dota 2, Doom, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider and several other games.
The Steam Deck is still a few months away from release, but the first units have been making their way to select individuals for some time now. One of them is a Chinese tester, who benchmarked the device in several productions. His impressions suggest that the hardware can cope quite decently even with demanding titles.
Unfortunately, the player from China did not perform classic performance tests. Nevertheless, the approximate results he delivers give an idea of what kind of performance we can expect from Steam Deck.
Steam Deck performance in games
Cyberpunk 2077 is a challenge even for powerful desktop PCs, so no one will be surprised to learn that Steam Deck had the most problems with this title. On high settings, the game jumped between 20 and 30 fps. To get satisfactory fluidity, it was necessary to lower the graphics options to medium and low, but unfortunately it was not given how many fps were obtained in such cases.
Doom retained almost constant 60 fps on medium settings. After bumping up some options to something between medium and high detail (we'll continue to refer to this configuration as "custom settings"), the game was stabilized around 45 fps.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the game with the most results provided. Steam Deck provided 30 fps at the highest settings. On high it was 36 fps, and after lowering the detail level even lower (but still above medium) it managed to reach 60 fps.
The last game tested was Dota 2. It's the least demanding game on this list, so it's no special surprise that 47 fps was achieved on the highest settings and 80 on the lowest.
Game: | Score: |
Cyberpunk 2077 | High settings: 20-30 fps |
Doom | Medium settings: 60 fps Custom settings: 45 fps |
Shadow of the Tomb Raider | Highest settings: 30 fps High settings: 36 fps Custom settings: 60 fps |
Dota 2 | Highest settings: 47 fps Low settings: 80 fps |
Analyzing the above results, it should be added that the games were tested on Steam Deck's devkit and it is possible that the consumer edition will perform a little better.
Other interesting data was also provided. During intense gameplay, the back of the device reached a temperature of 42.6°C, while the place where we hold the console reached 29°C. Furthermore, 54% of battery was consumed after three hours of play.
Are you waiting for Steam Deck? If so, you may be interested in other news as well:
- Steam Deck Gets an Official FAQ
- Steam Deck in the Hands of a Gamer - Looks and Works Great
- New Leak Reveals Steam Deck's Interface
Recall that consumers will start receiving the device in December 2021. Unfortunately, all units prepared for this year have sold out like hot cakes. Those who make reservations today, will wait for delivery until the second half of 2022.
