Valve’sSteam Deckhas quickly risen to become the most popular and prominent PC-based gaming handheld on the market, and one fan decided to try their hand at writing a full-fledged research paper on the topic of optimizing the Deck’s performance. As Valve decided to forego Windows in lieu of its own Linux-based SteamOS, such topics are very interesting to the enthusiast community.
Broadly speaking,SteamOS 3.5’s continued performance improvementswould likely be completely out of the question had Valve not built its own operating system based on Linux. Doing so allows software engineers to fine-tune the OS however they see fit, and the end result is a very well-optimized experience that lends itself specifically to gaming use cases.
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Taking all of the above into account, CJ Griesmeyer decided that the time was right for them to try their hand at writing a research paper discussing theSteam Deck. The author is “an early career IT professional,” who chose to explore the topic as a fun side project. Griesmeyer’s findings are all based on their own testing, and they are freely available for anyone to peruse. The main conclusion states that there are very likely to be more substantial software-based performance improvements for the Deck in the future, thus extending the device’s long-term usefulness and market relevance.
Many of Griesmeyer’s findings are based on the performance improvements featured inCryoByte33’s Steam Deck plugin, which helps alleviate some of the device’s bottlenecks in select situations. It is, however, worth pointing out that some readers have already highlighted some of the paper’s faults. For example, Reddit user kadupse explained that the data Griesmeyer has provided lacks a proper explanation of the results' statistical relevancy, while others have pointed out that there aren’t any formal citations or references featured in the piece.
Griesmeyer’s work can, therefore, not be submitted as an actual, falsifiable research paper, but something of the type could be coming down the line, as the author already said that they’ll amend whatever problems might crop up. Sincethere’s no new Steam Deck on the way, Griesmeyer may well have a long road ahead of them in this particular niche.
While the mythical Steam Deck 2 isn’t coming soon, it’s worth pointing out that Valve has absolutely kicked off a bit of a renaissance for the handled gaming PC category of devices. Competitors from companies such as Aya Neo, Loki, and GPD Win are already out or coming soon, with theparticularly promising Asus ROG Allypromising its own unique features and offerings.
MORE:The Asus ROG Ally Proves Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck Can’t Rest on Their Laurels
