Valve warns against squeezing a larger SSD into your Steam Deck

Valve loves to alert men and women about about the pitfalls of do-it-by yourself Steam Deck servicing, and that now extends to upgrading the storage. In a reaction to a Laptop Gamer post on modding the Steam Deck, Valve components designer Lawrence Yang warned versus upgrading the device’s NVMe SSD. Whilst it’s technically possible, the M.2 2242 drives (22mm wide by 42mm long) you routinely discover in merchants are hotter and much more electrical power-hungry than the 2230 models (22mm x 30mm) the handheld was meant to guidance. You could “appreciably shorten” the longevity of the procedure, Yang said, including that you shouldn’t go thermal pads.

The Computer Gamer tale referenced modder Stomach Jelly’s discovery (to begin with noted by Sizzling Hardware) that it was feasible to suit an M.2 2242 SSD in the Steam Deck, albeit with some design sacrifices. There had been now issues this may possibly direct to overheating issues. Yang just discussed why it is a terrible notion, and outlined the possible long-phrase implications.

The alert could be a letdown if you experience limited by Valve’s utmost 512GB storage and really don’t consider a microSD card (typically a great deal slower than an SSD) is an adequate substitute. With that claimed, it can be not surprising — cell gadgets like this usually have dimension and thermal constraints that make it impractical to up grade at least some elements.