this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2025
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Will steam deck 2 be on arm? what would change? (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 weeks ago by raicon@lemmy.world to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.world
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Just wondering if releasing the steam deck 2 on arm would be a huge deal. I know arm is famous for being more efficient, but would it still be better, even when using FEX?

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[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Can't know for sure. Valve probably doesn't even know. But I think it's highly likely.

What would change? Better battery life. This was a big focus on SD and SD OLED as well. It's why they were never particularly powerful, and still aren't.

[–] Contramuffin@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Depends on how you loosely you feel about "why". Was battery life a consideration? Sure. But it wasn't really the primary consideration. Valve's current track record is that they are masters at making a product that's surprisingly workable out of scrapyard parts that they got for cheap.

Valve didn't design the Steam Deck's chip - AMD designed it for Microsoft initially before the deal fell through. Then AMD offered the chips to Valve for cheap to recoup the costs.

Likewise, Valve didn't intentionally choose the parts in the upcoming Steam Machine. Valve just bought AMD's excess stock. That's why the Steam Machine uses such an unusual and unbalanced CPU/GPU combo.

I honestly think SD2 is going to use x86, not for any particular reason, but because AMD is most likely going to have excess stock that's x86 at the time that Valve designs it

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Valve didn't design the Steam Deck's chip

No but they did choose it, specifically. There were certainly more powerful options available, ones that the Steam Deck's imitators used, but they wanted a good balance of efficiency. One that's yet to be topped.

Valve just bought AMD's excess stock. That's why the Steam Machine uses such an unusual and unbalanced CPU/GPU combo.

Source?

[–] Contramuffin@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Frankly, it seems somewhat self-evident based on the fact that Valve chose a Hawk Point 2 CPU (last gen laptop CPU with 2 big and 4 little cores) with a last gen laptop RX7600M GPU on a desktop, and also the fact that Valve calls them "semi-custom."

But here's the analysis: https://youtu.be/sJI3qTb2ze8