Steam Deck: you do anything with your console and Valve says so

News hardware Steam Deck: you do anything with your console and Valve says so

Published on 04/29/2022 at 14:45

Even if you find your Steam Deck too noisy, you shouldn’t use tape to try to fix the problem: Valve warns against this suggestion, which was posted on Reddit.

Since its release, Valve’s Steam Deck portable console has been regularly criticized by its first users. Among the criticisms that we can read, we find its low autonomy, but also the noisy nature of its fan. The latter has a lot to do when the machine starts to heat up, and it is impossible to ignore it, to the point that noise often covers the musical atmosphere of the game !

A software update that does not fix the hardware problem

The deployment of the SteamOS 3.2 update, available in beta version since April 27, fixes some issues with Steam Deck ventilation. If the fan was running almost permanently when it came out, Valve’s work on the software part now allows the portable console to better manage the times when the ventilation is activated. This gives players a bit of a break.

However, this new update does nothing but fix the fact that the fan of the device is, quite simply, extremely noisy when it activates. Even iFixit, an expert platform when it comes to dissecting the entrails of high-tech devices, admits for the time being powerless to meet user demand for spare parts: yes, iFixit will offer many spare parts for the Steam Deck, but Valve still has to decide to detail what components will be available, hoping that the fan will be part of it. And again, this does not mean that changing this part will solve the problem.

We’re aware of the noise issue, and we’re trying to source the ones without the noise, but it will depend on what’s available to us.

— iFixit (@iFixit) April 18, 2022

Adding tape to the ventilator, the solution?

While Valve doesn’t seem particularly vocal about an official method to make the Steam Deck’s fan less noisy so far, some users of the device are looking for solutions. On Reddit, a user calling himself OligarchyAmbulance discovered that the very unpleasant noise of the Steam Deck fan tended to fade when it pressed on the back of the consoleright where the fan is.

So he had the idea of put some tape behind the fan to try to dim the noise. And it works: videos made avant et
after the installation of the electrician’s tape makes it possible to attest that the annoying noise gives way to the simple, traditional blowing of a fan. On Reddit, the author of the discovery believes that its handling does not cause the device to overheatbut he also admits not having tested with graphically “heavy” games.

A false good idea for Valve

According to Valve, this solution is potentially risky, and it is not recommended. “We recommend not changing the airflow path, as we don’t know what impact this may have on the thermal part of the console”a company spokesperson told The Verge.

The precautionary principle therefore seems to apply here. and if this manipulation caused problems, it is possible that this will have an impact on the guarantee of the Steam Deck. However, as it seems agreed that the fan noise of the machine is due to a hardware problem and not softwarel, it’s hard to blame users for looking for methods to improve their gaming experience: it’s what is sadly called “wiping the plasters” when a new machine of this type is released.