TheSteam Deckmay look like a rival to the Nintendo Switch, but it’s much more than that. It’s designed for users to take their Steam library anywhere, but the available tools and flexibility are close to what’s available on a PC. Better still, the machine offers so much flexibility in customizing their gaming setups players can achieve optimal settings for old and new games.
As with a PC, Steam Deck users can adjust their graphics settings and frame rates. The usual go-to settings are between 30 FPS and 60 FPS. Unfortunately, this usually means players choose between sacrificing visuals for smoother/faster gameplay or increasing visual fidelity for smoother gameplay. However, the Steam Deck has a hidden feature that lets players get a kind of middle ground with a40 FPS setting. It’s a kind of best-of-both-world scenario that allows for an improved framerate without sacrificing too much visual fidelity. This guide will show users how to activate 40 FPS in compatible games for better performance without sacrificing graphical clarity.
Updated June 12, 2025, by Michael Llewellyn:As a handheld device with PC capabilities, users can adjust their settings to get the best performance out of their games. One of the best ways to achieve this is by setting the FPS to 40. This allows for a smoother performance while maintaining most of the visual clarity. Not all games will hit the maximum range of 40 FPS, but users should experience a more stable performance.
Setting Up 40 FPS On The Steam Deck
As mentioned above, finding the 40FPS setting isn’t immediately obvious and requires a little tinkering around with the settings to get it working. The steps below will get Steak Deck running at 40 FPS -with improved battery life- for games with a 60 FPS target or above.
That’s everything needed to activate the 40 FPS feature on the Steam Deck. However, this will only work with games with a 60 FPS feature built into the game’s settings. The feature is open to allusers of the Steam Deck, but they’ll have to adjust the frame rate slider to their liking.
