One correction: the 6A comment would be at a lower voltage (not at wall power), and therefore not a concern. That's our error from pushing through these two videos so fast. But you still shouldn't open your device and then touch stuff while it's running, period. If you missed it, we have a full hardware review of the Steam Deck on the channel already: th-cam.com/video/NeQH__XVa64/w-d-xo.html (WATCH THIS VIDEO for full details on thermal design, airflow design, power, gaming benchmarks, and more on the Valve Steam Deck) GN 3D Coaster Packs are now on back-order! store.gamersnexus.net/products/3d-coaster-pack-4-component-coasters Get an anti-static electronics GN ‘Volt’ Modmat, in stock and shipping NOW: store.gamersnexus.net/products/modmat-volt-large GN 10-piece Toolkits are IN STOCK & SHIPPING NOW: store.gamersnexus.net/products/gamersnexus-tear-down-toolkit We also went through the specs of the Steam Deck here: th-cam.com/video/ZkolKam3kjU/w-d-xo.html Watch our factory tour series: th-cam.com/video/NQU5lK29br8/w-d-xo.html
Please show more gameplay on the Steam Deck. I'm curious about how well various games play on it. Horizon Zero Dawn, Destiny, Halo, Fallout 4, Skyrim, Red Dead 2 and anymore you would be willing to show. I love the content. Thanks
@@robertlawrence9000 They can't do that yet, as its only the embargo on the hardware that's lifted. They can only play Control, DMCV, Dead Cells, Portal 2, and Forza right now as a means to show off how the hardware performs under different conditions. The software embargo lifts sometime in the next few weeks
@@robertlawrence9000 They arent allowed to yet because the System Software isnt finished yet. Its only working but VALVE said they need to wait (about) 2 more Weeks to finish it and be allowed to test/talk about it actually.
Not only encouraging them, but actually sharing engineering document, not everyone are Beve Sturke who can afford the newest and flashiest testing equipment among TH-camr.
@@Verpal AND they want to sell replacement parts for it so you can repair your unit or have someone repair it without having some custom part only they could fix.
Valve even shared some of its testing with us, which is incredibly rare. We normally find out one way or another, but sharing information allows everyone involved to do a better job
All the separate boards for different functions of the device, i.e. independent board for audio, independent boards for analog sticks, is absolutely fantastic. Super easy to replace a small daughterboard rather than the entire board like most devices these days. Way to go Valve!!
Valve said without the shield between the SSD and Wifi module there could be interference and they discouraged users from swapping the SSD. Would love for you guys to test this and see if swapping the SSD with a non-shielded one is actually problematic.
It depends a lot on how carefully the ssd was engineered to avoid excessive RF radiation, which interferes with the other radio signals used to carry your wifi. It'll be highly dependent on the model of the ssd. Worst case you'll have no, or very slow wifi with a bad ssd.
Hearting because a lot of people are interested, but this is too variable and outside of our comfort zone to adequately test. We could do anecdotal stuff, but would prefer to avoid it.
@@hiyall15 that would be a one off scenario that doesnt tell you anything about the actual impact. you would need to test a lot of different SSD´s and also measure the power consumption of the wifi module at the same time to account for that the module could be using some extra power trying to compensate for the extra interference. And even then you still dont know if or how much interference there is as you are only looking at the end result without looking at anything in between like doing an actual spectral analysis of both the SSD and the wifi module.
@@whizadree Make that about two weeks at the most. You don't have that much time ahead even with preproduction units,the reason is the source. No company likes to have their unreleased hardware out in the wild for too long for security reasons plus its not just GN getting them so the chances of other folks breaking embargo early goes up significantly risking the company's carefully planned and expensive release arrangements and media coverage.
@@thomasmaier7053 It is said that the sheer disappointment from Gigabyte PSU exploding and NZXT H1 probably burn itself to death that fuels his energy. Or so I was told.
I know right? No idea why other channels don't go deep on SOC, memory and other component temp itself. Seems like obvious superior testing method to me.
Patrick's explanation of the terms VRMs, MOSFETS, controllers, etc and their purpose in the Steam Deck or in the tech world overall was pristine. Steady, articulate and easy to digest. Thanks!
I feel like I'm back in school. This was so comprehensive and helpful. Big thanks to Patrick and GN - and please provide more of these kinds of in-depth explanations - I'm personally going to stay far, far away from 6A charging circuits!
My one criticism would be when he was talking about the charging circuit and he noted that because it can output 6 Amps, that makes it dangerous. Since we're dealing with relatively low voltages, talking about the max amp output, regarding safety, is pretty silly.
19:35 It's 6A at 25V max. With voltage potential that low, the thing is perfectly safe. Yes, it's the current flow through your body that's dangerous and 25A is plenty to kill you, but once you put the resistance of your body into the equation (Ohm's law, I=V/R), you will see that with a voltage that low and resistance that high, the current going through your body will never get anywhere near to the dangerous values. In fact, you won't even feel it.
Thanks. You're right on that - we pushed the video through too fast and Stone recorded this after a long day, so I think he forgot he wasn't talking about wall power here and was working with a low voltage circuit. I should have caught that, so my fault for not correcting it. Thanks for the correction! I'm going to bed now!
@@yaldabaoth2 Glad to hear that. I'm an EE. Not sure if Stone is, so I'm not gonna comment on that part. I mean it's always better to make a comment like he did and make the engineers laugh, rather than to go in the other direction and make somebody feel overconfident.
@@BruhMeister993 Class action for exposing under 18 YO people to afult content by ACTIVELY not filtering comments would be amazing. This is the only way how google will listen. After all, age restriction for vids are a thing...
The charging ICs 85 degree rating is an ambient temperature rating. It says it can do 3.2W of dissipation at an ambient of 70C, then derating by 40mW/C over 70C. Tj shdn (shutdown junction temperature) is 165C and the default thermal regulation junction temperature (point at which the device throttles back the charge current) is 115C, configurable up to 130C.
Surely you're not talking about that garbage video they made where they claim that we're all too stupid to use a screwdriver and that the battery will kill us if we take the Steam Deck apart. 🤦♂️
If that video scared you off then you shouldn't open it up. IMO the video made it's point and if you still feel comfortable working on it then it's just a guide on how to open and replace components. They don't want any user-errors to come bite them in the ass so best to just scare stupid people off.
@@mjc0961 That video is lightyears ahead of their competitors within the right to repair space. That does deserve credit, also many, many people don't know how to use a screwdriver correctly or at least, as Steve also emphasized, using the correct screw is REALLY important with similar screws of different lengths. Shorting components using the wrong screw certainly has the potential of resulting in a Steam Brick. Taking it to a reputable repair shop really is a good idea and the part of right to repair that many seem to not recognize. This also reduces the amount of RMA work on a product that that likely is losing valve money at MSRP in the first place. Not that Valve can't afford it, but the general idea is to continue to build the on mountain of money they have.
@mjc0961 seriously if you think a lot of people know how to use screwdriver correctly, then you are freaking wrong. In electronic case especially, it is not rare people break screw mount from its plastic housing, this include heatsink (basically you just want stop when you feel enough tension, but the problem, which is enough ?).
@@All4Grogg Sadly, at usual LiPo charge cycle life, this is going to be a steam brick after about 18 months anyway with daily use since they've chosen to glue the battery in. 500 cycles is industry standard, although you can con any testers by only using the middle portion of the voltage range so that 500 cycles get used at something like 75% per charge, which might then stretch it to 2 years. Well, you may be able to use it as a wired device until the battery swells and busts up the internals, or worse, catches fire spectacularly (as LiPos have a tendency to do). So the most likely item to fail, and the one which fails most dangerously isn't replaceable, which makes any claim to observing "right to repair" a sick joke at best and an outright lie at worst. If that claim is made on any marketing material, expect the legal cases to start when the batteries start dying. Possibly very big cases if they don't fail safely but unplayable at all with a cut-off circuit.
HIGH QUALITY CONTENT. This is the type of content that me and the community love to consume it's both educational and entertaining at the same time. I genuinely learnt and enjoyed watching your videos. Really appreciate the time and work that you and your team put into making these.
The section with Patrick was really really informative! As someone trying to pick this kind of stuff up, his explanation was absolutely brilliant! Thanks guys!
This is a really great breakdown! I really appreciate the run through of the various circuit board components too, that's really awesome the way Patrick explains it all! Thanks, GN team!
Just here to see what a pro had to say about the marvelous feats in a product like this. You guys clearly have a passion for this stuff and have succeeded in giving an average user a cross-eye with all the terminology that was used. thx
I am thoroughly impressed with Valve here. This reminds me a lot of the Vita 1000. Easy and simple to take apart. I'll defiantly be looking forward to grabbing one of these. Keep it up Valve.
A software company ended up making some of the best HW devices, Valve Index and now this. While full out hardware oriented companies keep failing forever. I don't like gaming on consoles, joysticks or handheld devices but this one looks very promising!
Steve, I was glad to hear you take a stand on the battery situation at the end. The inability to easily replace batteries in most mobile devices in 2022 and before, has been a CLEAR and very HOSTILE move on the part of manufacturers and retailers in order to hijack the end user life of products.
As someone who is familiar with this stuff, I really enjoyed how he does his job so clean, ground pad to minimize possible electrostatic on his hands and removing battery first and holding power butting till discharge possible electricity in the board and capacitors.👍
This is amazingly high quality content. I won't pretend to know half of what's being shown here, but the mere fact that viewers get to see this pulled apart and openly discussed is fantastic.
5:50 kinda not happy that we didn't get to hear the cracking plastic sounds from pulling off the back after the screws and the video cuts to it already removed... the plastic snap things are really obnoxious as they often break, and the sound of them coming apart might actually indicate more about the build quality than one might expect. As well as the force required to get them apart.
Content like this sells me or turns me off a product way more than ads ever could. If I was in the market for a handheld right now I'd be all over the Steam Deck now. It just seems so well built and thought out.
Probably my favorite tear-down video from you all, GN. Highlighting the daughter boards was great, going over the parts of the VRM with diagrams with great explanation...all terrific. Thanks!
Okay i have to say the last scene of steve talking looks SO GOOD. the Depth of field, the lgihting, the scene, i love it. oh and the steam deck is aight, i guess.
I am guessing this might have to wait to the second NDA date later this month but can you guys do testing on replacing the SSD and whether it affects power or interferes with the WiFi. Also if you can solve the interference with say tin foil etc. I feel like that would be very important to know whether you need to get an external hd/SSD in order to expand the steam deck other than the SD card slot.
This, I'm itching to try and fit a m.2 extender out of the back of it so I could use a full form factor m.2 nvme or even build a custom docking solution with a egpu
@@TheQuinn50 Yeah unfortunately I am pretty sure valve has already said it doesn't support egpu's. 2230 ssd's are quite rare. If there isn't any examples of people upgrading internal steam deck ssd's and working I will prob just buy a small and thin dock and a small usbc ssd and just tape it to the back - theres plenty of room for both. I saw a reply of another comment where gamers nexus said that he won't be testing internal ssd's as there are too many variiables and ssd's
Between Valve sharing testing data so openly with GN and producing a device that's so easy to maintain is very impressive! I hope this sets a president for other companies in the tech industry.
Coming from an IPC 610 inspection criteria. I'm impressed with the quality of the component soldering onto the PCBs. Valve put in some really good work and manufacturing practices in these steam decks.
You werent kidding about having tons of steam deck content. Not interested in buying a steam deck - but very interested in the tech\hardware in this thing. Thanks for going all out on this one.
It looks like most of the complexity is because of size and packaging reasons, and not obscure/bad design or trying to block users from servicing it. That's really good. The cynic in me tells me this looks very complex and if they do a next version, everything will be glued down for cost savings...
@@wickersticks Sure it does. To glue two things together you just need smear some glue and press them together. To screw them together you need to add screw holes, put screws in the holes, and turn the screws (making sure not to apply too much or too little torque). More steps and more precision needed = more cost. Of course if you want to account for the cost of disassembling and reassembling the product even once screws are probably cheaper.
Man. GN is such a gem. Long before I will get my hands on my steam deck, I can watch your video to see the most detailed strip down of the hardware possible. Love you guys. Keep up the good work!
I really don't see much point in doing this. I'm sure there will be simple external addons that will be much simpler to use and will transfer data plenty fast. Early testing just off the SD card seems to indicate even that should be "good enough" for most games.
@@Cherijo78 Some of us would like to know since it can be cheaper to bue the cheapest steam deck and then buy an M.2 2230 for fast and more storage that the official steam deck for instance.
When valve actually decides to do something they usually do it well, the problem is actually getting through the internal problems they create for themselves to actually get a product from design to launch
I like how Valve first showed us how to tear down a Steam Deck and told us **not** to do it ourselves. Very tantalizing offer I must say. Awesome tear-down done, GN, thank you so much!
I really enjoy watching this type of video, even though I don't understand 2/3s of what's being said. I don't know anything about electrical engineering, etc. But I still love watching. No idea why
Seriously impressive work from the people who assembled this and the people who disassembled it. No where to hide these days. Thank Christ for YT and GN.
Love how technical you guys are. Also love the EE with a Southern accent but I digress. You guys do stuff other channels don't, and this is a prime example. Thanks for doing what you do. I feel like I'm living in the future.
That isn't really a deal breaker. If you need to replace the battery, simply discharge it to 25% so that the energy stored isn't too high, and then gently heat it with a heatgun, moving evenly over it, not focusing in one spot too long. A few seconds and the battery will lift out. Heck, it's easier to get apart than an iPhone, and I remember when they were easy, back in iPhone 2 days!
You guys absolutely must do a full episode with the technical details of the differences between blowers and fans and why they're used. Once your fan testing rig is all set you have all the data you could ever want.
Real shame about the battery, it will probably need to be replaced within 2 years of somewhat heavy use, if you wish to retain those 2-6h of game time.
I feel like that's to be expected without some large jump in cost. As long as it's fairly user friendly in buying and replacing the battery, I don't mind it.
Stone is the only person in Tech TH-cam that I've come across that feels like a university lecturer in Engineering and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible
Looks like there's a lot of "wasted" space in the two ergonomic hand bump thingies. I wonder if they could have put some extra batteries or a swappable SSD in there. Would be interesting to see some 3rd party backplate and triggers that reduce those bumps to make the whole thing a lot thinner.
That's pretty normal for controller handles. It's really not as much space as it might look, consider the structural reinforcement and clearance for the buttons and triggers.
Making it less ergonomic, more flat like a switch, is a hard sell. Perhaps they didn't stuff the handles because it looks like they made a concerted effort to keep those sections of the deck the most cool to the touch.
It is crazy the amount of detail Gamersnexus have gone to here. I really like this. Component and board design review with spec sheets and parameters. Far out there are smart people out there.
This isn’t my first time viewing this Channel by any means but honestly it always impresses me how educational and how well put together these videos are. The quality of the videos are also always increasing great job to you and your whole team really a great channel.
I like that Valve understands the value of the community and liberty about a product. The Steam Deck is going to be even greater than what Valve is working it to be in so many ways. It really looks like they have made all the right choices till now, and the hype tells by itselft, what a success
Love the tear-down. What would be awesome to see in the future is a tear-down of an "off the shelf" model to compare to the reviewer's model. This way we could see what, if any, changes were made for the large scale production.
2 ปีที่แล้ว +6
Valve being smart with chozing who gets to do hardware and software reviews. LTT doing games GN doing hardware
That isn't how it worked at all. We had the same restrictions, which was "no showing the user interface." We did games as well -- it's in the first video.
I think gn and ltt definitely have two different audience types. Ltt is somewhat more commercial in many senses but they have really great content. Gn has a much more scientific and data driven approach. I really enjoy both tbh and I'm glad that both exist.
I'm happy for all this in-depth Deck content, because after several years of watching GN, this is the first product you've reviewed that I actually plan on buying. (PC needs upgrades eventually, but not yet).
*Modern man is not the man who goes off to discover himself, his secrets, and his hidden truth; he is a man who tries to invest himself in something beneficial for the future.*
This is the kind of content that keeps my patreon money flowing - love the depth and explainers for what the tech specs actually mean. Between you guys and buildzoid I love how much tech I can learn.
You know what looks kinda disappointing? Really hard access to a display, it seems like you need to disassemble everything in case you have a cracked screen and want to replace it. That’s looks like a big oversight. And I’d argue that displays are being cracked even more often than the battery degrades, or joysticks/fan breaks, so it’s kinda weird to see the display being so inaccessible.
I am so happy that people choosen you Steve & Team for quality materials like this! I remember scratching my head thinking "what? Why is Gamers Nexus not know to anybody and low views..." so happy to get this material coming form you EXCELLENT WORK! ^_^
Hey just a note on thermal imaging. Yes, heat sinks get hot, but WHERE the device gets hot matters for a hand held. So it is useful in an ergonomics sense. Maybe cover it when you cover ergo?
Linus did the thermal imaging, the controllers where the most cool part of the deck mostly blue little bit purpleish, where the center(screen and main board where the center of all heat so its very comfortable, he ven compared to other portable pcs(aya neo and such) and the deck was vastly superior in this case where its cool on where its needed for our hands to feel nice while playing.
At this point I only understand half of what’s going on in the video but I appreciate the work and details that a lot of people will need to understand, mod and repair the hardware.
Great video. I learned quite a bit. I rarely see anyone talking about electronics PPE and would LOVE to learn more about that. Three items in particular are ant-static gloves I saw in one video, this grounding wrist bands you showed, and whether or not there is a solder mask that works in tandem with a fan to prevent breathing in fumes. I'm looking to learn as much as possible about electronics and how to repurpose parts to make new things. 😁
One correction: the 6A comment would be at a lower voltage (not at wall power), and therefore not a concern. That's our error from pushing through these two videos so fast. But you still shouldn't open your device and then touch stuff while it's running, period.
If you missed it, we have a full hardware review of the Steam Deck on the channel already: th-cam.com/video/NeQH__XVa64/w-d-xo.html (WATCH THIS VIDEO for full details on thermal design, airflow design, power, gaming benchmarks, and more on the Valve Steam Deck)
GN 3D Coaster Packs are now on back-order! store.gamersnexus.net/products/3d-coaster-pack-4-component-coasters
Get an anti-static electronics GN ‘Volt’ Modmat, in stock and shipping NOW: store.gamersnexus.net/products/modmat-volt-large
GN 10-piece Toolkits are IN STOCK & SHIPPING NOW: store.gamersnexus.net/products/gamersnexus-tear-down-toolkit
We also went through the specs of the Steam Deck here: th-cam.com/video/ZkolKam3kjU/w-d-xo.html
Watch our factory tour series: th-cam.com/video/NQU5lK29br8/w-d-xo.html
Please show more gameplay on the Steam Deck. I'm curious about how well various games play on it. Horizon Zero Dawn, Destiny, Halo, Fallout 4, Skyrim, Red Dead 2 and anymore you would be willing to show. I love the content. Thanks
what are you doing up stillllllll
@@robertlawrence9000 They can't do that yet, as its only the embargo on the hardware that's lifted. They can only play Control, DMCV, Dead Cells, Portal 2, and Forza right now as a means to show off how the hardware performs under different conditions. The software embargo lifts sometime in the next few weeks
@@TheKillerStove oh dang! Ok. I was wondering why they were showing only certain games only since it's been in people's hands.
@@robertlawrence9000 They arent allowed to yet because the System Software isnt finished yet. Its only working but VALVE said they need to wait (about) 2 more Weeks to finish it and be allowed to test/talk about it actually.
Valve are legends for encouraging independent reviewers.
Not only encouraging them, but actually sharing engineering document, not everyone are Beve Sturke who can afford the newest and flashiest testing equipment among TH-camr.
No reason not to when you have a good product
@@Verpal AND they want to sell replacement parts for it so you can repair your unit or have someone repair it without having some custom part only they could fix.
Valve even shared some of its testing with us, which is incredibly rare. We normally find out one way or another, but sharing information allows everyone involved to do a better job
I feel like Valve is being congratulated here for things they should just be doing.
All the separate boards for different functions of the device, i.e. independent board for audio, independent boards for analog sticks, is absolutely fantastic. Super easy to replace a small daughterboard rather than the entire board like most devices these days. Way to go Valve!!
Was just thinking about that. If you break the audio jack it'll just mean replacing a small board instead of having to replace the entire motherboard.
And yet Type-C port is soldered to the main motherboard - 11:00. Charging ports get a lot of abuse and often go out first.
@@GoatedWithTheSause Hopefully that will be addressed in a future release...
on mobile the comment cuts down at “analog”… you can guess what it is
This can be a downside though if the user isn't experienced since it does not take much to break a ribbon cable or ribbon connector.
Valve said without the shield between the SSD and Wifi module there could be interference and they discouraged users from swapping the SSD. Would love for you guys to test this and see if swapping the SSD with a non-shielded one is actually problematic.
I think they are not allowed to test this until release. But i would be interrested too
It depends a lot on how carefully the ssd was engineered to avoid excessive RF radiation, which interferes with the other radio signals used to carry your wifi.
It'll be highly dependent on the model of the ssd. Worst case you'll have no, or very slow wifi with a bad ssd.
It's going to depend on the model of SSD you used to replace it, and how carefully you managed to swap it, it's going to be very variable.
Hearting because a lot of people are interested, but this is too variable and outside of our comfort zone to adequately test. We could do anecdotal stuff, but would prefer to avoid it.
@@hiyall15 that would be a one off scenario that doesnt tell you anything about the actual impact.
you would need to test a lot of different SSD´s and also measure the power consumption of the wifi module at the same time to account for that the module could be using some extra power trying to compensate for the extra interference.
And even then you still dont know if or how much interference there is as you are only looking at the end result without looking at anything in between like doing an actual spectral analysis of both the SSD and the wifi module.
Gotta love GN for the speed that they manage to put out such insane quality content.
What is sleep?
Well don't forget that they had months to prepare
@@thomasmaier7053 I feel that bro
@@whizadree Make that about two weeks at the most. You don't have that much time ahead even with preproduction units,the reason is the source. No company likes to have their unreleased hardware out in the wild for too long for security reasons plus its not just GN getting them so the chances of other folks breaking embargo early goes up significantly risking the company's carefully planned and expensive release arrangements and media coverage.
@@thomasmaier7053 It is said that the sheer disappointment from Gigabyte PSU exploding and NZXT H1 probably burn itself to death that fuels his energy.
Or so I was told.
I feel like GN is the only media outlet who understands that thermal imaging is not always useful
I know right? No idea why other channels don't go deep on SOC, memory and other component temp itself. Seems like obvious superior testing method to me.
@@SSmitar Simply because that's not what they are specialising on.
@@SSmitar takes work and actual tehnical knowledge.
Well, Thermal Imaging can be useful in this specific case since it's a handheld, you can check if the device will be too hot in your hands.
Most users don't care about per IC temp. And it's not something they should care about at all.
Patrick's explanation of the terms VRMs, MOSFETS, controllers, etc and their purpose in the Steam Deck or in the tech world overall was pristine. Steady, articulate and easy to digest. Thanks!
I feel like I'm back in school. This was so comprehensive and helpful. Big thanks to Patrick and GN - and please provide more of these kinds of in-depth explanations - I'm personally going to stay far, far away from 6A charging circuits!
I dunno chief, it felt like he was just reading a brochure and not really explaining much.
My one criticism would be when he was talking about the charging circuit and he noted that because it can output 6 Amps, that makes it dangerous. Since we're dealing with relatively low voltages, talking about the max amp output, regarding safety, is pretty silly.
19:35 It's 6A at 25V max. With voltage potential that low, the thing is perfectly safe. Yes, it's the current flow through your body that's dangerous and 25A is plenty to kill you, but once you put the resistance of your body into the equation (Ohm's law, I=V/R), you will see that with a voltage that low and resistance that high, the current going through your body will never get anywhere near to the dangerous values. In fact, you won't even feel it.
Thanks. You're right on that - we pushed the video through too fast and Stone recorded this after a long day, so I think he forgot he wasn't talking about wall power here and was working with a low voltage circuit. I should have caught that, so my fault for not correcting it. Thanks for the correction! I'm going to bed now!
@@yaldabaoth2 Glad to hear that. I'm an EE. Not sure if Stone is, so I'm not gonna comment on that part. I mean it's always better to make a comment like he did and make the engineers laugh, rather than to go in the other direction and make somebody feel overconfident.
@@GamersNexus Makes sense. After all, he has spent a lot of time working on PSUs lately. Love the content, keep up the good work!
@@GamersNexus it can't kill you but it's enough to burn through that PCB in seconds so warning is good even if point is wrong.
Just don’t lick it and you’re good.
This guy is like a smarter JerryRigEverything + hair.
You know Valve did a bangin job when Steve says "I'm impressed" more than once.
Impressive is way below acceptable
@@fajaradi1223 has Steve ever accepted anything though?
8:46 I feel pure joy at this editing magic.
gachiGASM
25:36 The foam will be conductive, its so the can is grounded without having to be physically attached.
Good catch.
@@BruhMeister993 What, you don't like lops or cold bodies?
th-cam.com/video/zo_uoFI1WXM/w-d-xo.html in case you didn't know, you can mass report them now.
@@BruhMeister993 Class action for exposing under 18 YO people to afult content by ACTIVELY not filtering comments would be amazing. This is the only way how google will listen. After all, age restriction for vids are a thing...
The charging ICs 85 degree rating is an ambient temperature rating. It says it can do 3.2W of dissipation at an ambient of 70C, then derating by 40mW/C over 70C. Tj shdn (shutdown junction temperature) is 165C and the default thermal regulation junction temperature (point at which the device throttles back the charge current) is 115C, configurable up to 130C.
Was looking for this comment, liked! The rush jobs showed here a bit. Still not something major for most people! :)
Love that valve published a how to video on how to replace some components, makes this product more compelling.
Surely you're not talking about that garbage video they made where they claim that we're all too stupid to use a screwdriver and that the battery will kill us if we take the Steam Deck apart. 🤦♂️
If that video scared you off then you shouldn't open it up.
IMO the video made it's point and if you still feel comfortable working on it then it's just a guide on how to open and replace components.
They don't want any user-errors to come bite them in the ass so best to just scare stupid people off.
@@mjc0961 That video is lightyears ahead of their competitors within the right to repair space.
That does deserve credit, also many, many people don't know how to use a screwdriver correctly or at least, as Steve also emphasized, using the correct screw is REALLY important with similar screws of different lengths. Shorting components using the wrong screw certainly has the potential of resulting in a Steam Brick.
Taking it to a reputable repair shop really is a good idea and the part of right to repair that many seem to not recognize.
This also reduces the amount of RMA work on a product that that likely is losing valve money at MSRP in the first place. Not that Valve can't afford it, but the general idea is to continue to build the on mountain of money they have.
@mjc0961 seriously if you think a lot of people know how to use screwdriver correctly, then you are freaking wrong. In electronic case especially, it is not rare people break screw mount from its plastic housing, this include heatsink (basically you just want stop when you feel enough tension, but the problem, which is enough ?).
@@All4Grogg Sadly, at usual LiPo charge cycle life, this is going to be a steam brick after about 18 months anyway with daily use since they've chosen to glue the battery in.
500 cycles is industry standard, although you can con any testers by only using the middle portion of the voltage range so that 500 cycles get used at something like 75% per charge, which might then stretch it to 2 years. Well, you may be able to use it as a wired device until the battery swells and busts up the internals, or worse, catches fire spectacularly (as LiPos have a tendency to do).
So the most likely item to fail, and the one which fails most dangerously isn't replaceable, which makes any claim to observing "right to repair" a sick joke at best and an outright lie at worst. If that claim is made on any marketing material, expect the legal cases to start when the batteries start dying. Possibly very big cases if they don't fail safely but unplayable at all with a cut-off circuit.
i love how this looks very serviceable where if one board is damaged, you only replace that and not throw out everything. Simply beautiful
Stone's electronics class was extremely interesting and easy to grasp ever for me, a person with very low circuits knowledge. Loved it.
HIGH QUALITY CONTENT.
This is the type of content that me and the community love to consume it's both educational and entertaining at the same time.
I genuinely learnt and enjoyed watching your videos.
Really appreciate the time and work that you and your team put into making these.
31:42 Those scenes with very deep field of view are incredible ! I love it - it makes Steve looks almost cinematic ahahah ;) Good job camera man :)
Andrew has been killing it in these Steam Deck videos!
Engineer here, blown away at the depth and production value of this tear-down. This is far and away more credible than gaming media outlets!
The section with Patrick was really really informative! As someone trying to pick this kind of stuff up, his explanation was absolutely brilliant! Thanks guys!
dude, you guys always do a great job! Can't wait for more fan testing videos!
This is a really great breakdown! I really appreciate the run through of the various circuit board components too, that's really awesome the way Patrick explains it all! Thanks, GN team!
Its refreshing to see such a well designed product. Thank you for the insight into the internals guys
A tear-down video at 4am? Yes, please!
That's the best time!
@@GamersNexus yes!
5am for me! Insomnia gang rise up
2:28 am for me. WFH for life
@@GamersNexus but it's 10:30am?
Wow, this production is top notch. From the in-depth analysis, blue highlighting components...GN is without peer.
As an electrical engineer I like how you guys are trying to explain it to normal viewers ... Great video ... Love the details ☺️
Just here to see what a pro had to say about the marvelous feats in a product like this. You guys clearly have a passion for this stuff and have succeeded in giving an average user a cross-eye with all the terminology that was used. thx
I am thoroughly impressed with Valve here. This reminds me a lot of the Vita 1000. Easy and simple to take apart.
I'll defiantly be looking forward to grabbing one of these. Keep it up Valve.
This makes me want to get my psp out again
I absolutely loved the level of detail on the internals…. Seriously mad respect from an old school tech here…
A software company ended up making some of the best HW devices, Valve Index and now this. While full out hardware oriented companies keep failing forever. I don't like gaming on consoles, joysticks or handheld devices but this one looks very promising!
Since I am not actually getting a Steam Deck I can appreciate the knowledge and show and tell of computing hardware. Thanks for putting this together.
Steve, I was glad to hear you take a stand on the battery situation at the end. The inability to easily replace batteries in most mobile devices in 2022 and before, has been a CLEAR and very HOSTILE move on the part of manufacturers and retailers in order to hijack the end user life of products.
I guess fitting comparatively larger batteries was a happy accident thanks to this batter conspiracy.
As someone who is familiar with this stuff, I really enjoyed how he does his job so clean, ground pad to minimize possible electrostatic on his hands and removing battery first and holding power butting till discharge possible electricity in the board and capacitors.👍
Seems like a really well repairable device, I really have to give huge credits to Valve here, I’d buy it just because of that almost.
This is amazingly high quality content. I won't pretend to know half of what's being shown here, but the mere fact that viewers get to see this pulled apart and openly discussed is fantastic.
5:50 kinda not happy that we didn't get to hear the cracking plastic sounds from pulling off the back after the screws and the video cuts to it already removed... the plastic snap things are really obnoxious as they often break, and the sound of them coming apart might actually indicate more about the build quality than one might expect. As well as the force required to get them apart.
They only break if you're not using the correct tools to remove them.
Sometimes you need to slide the panel instead of just pulling it off.
I use guitar picks to pop in the tabs and stick a credit card in the gaps to keep it open.
Content like this sells me or turns me off a product way more than ads ever could. If I was in the market for a handheld right now I'd be all over the Steam Deck now. It just seems so well built and thought out.
7:30 "Remember to disconnect the battery as soon as possible!" _Uses screwdriver to show us how all the buttons click :3_
I mean, they're buttons. It's not like we were bridging contacts with the screwdriver
I appreciate the detail incorporated in this video. Special thank you to Patrick!
The amount of power in that small PCB is really quite impressive, It wasn't THAT long ago that we were getting less from a full on desktop experience
Probably my favorite tear-down video from you all, GN. Highlighting the daughter boards was great, going over the parts of the VRM with diagrams with great explanation...all terrific. Thanks!
This is a real positive review for anyone new to this channel.. Infact it's a solid indorsement!!
The architects for this device really went all the way with having it super serviceable. Thank you so much guys for showing us the guts thoroughly.
Okay i have to say the last scene of steve talking looks SO GOOD. the Depth of field, the lgihting, the scene, i love it.
oh and the steam deck is aight, i guess.
Man the level of depth is insane. Mad respect. I usually go LTT for the general Info looks like GN is my new must watch too.
I am guessing this might have to wait to the second NDA date later this month but can you guys do testing on replacing the SSD and whether it affects power or interferes with the WiFi. Also if you can solve the interference with say tin foil etc. I feel like that would be very important to know whether you need to get an external hd/SSD in order to expand the steam deck other than the SD card slot.
This, I'm itching to try and fit a m.2 extender out of the back of it so I could use a full form factor m.2 nvme or even build a custom docking solution with a egpu
@@TheQuinn50 Yeah unfortunately I am pretty sure valve has already said it doesn't support egpu's. 2230 ssd's are quite rare. If there isn't any examples of people upgrading internal steam deck ssd's and working I will prob just buy a small and thin dock and a small usbc ssd and just tape it to the back - theres plenty of room for both. I saw a reply of another comment where gamers nexus said that he won't be testing internal ssd's as there are too many variiables and ssd's
@@TheQuinn50 egpu is impossible since the usbc port isn't thunderbolt
@@AH-hm2mq You can run a egpu through the m.2 port where the SSD is when you get it. Then you could just boot off the sd card or usb
Between Valve sharing testing data so openly with GN and producing a device that's so easy to maintain is very impressive! I hope this sets a president for other companies in the tech industry.
Coming from an IPC 610 inspection criteria. I'm impressed with the quality of the component soldering onto the PCBs. Valve put in some really good work and manufacturing practices in these steam decks.
GN is the GOAT of hardware reviews.
This guy needs more recognition, hopefully he can reach 10M subs soon.
Love listening to Stone talk about electrical stuff.
It's amazing to hear the expertise and knowledge coming from someone who's a good orator.
Can't wait for this APU tech to find its way to laptops
You werent kidding about having tons of steam deck content. Not interested in buying a steam deck - but very interested in the tech\hardware in this thing. Thanks for going all out on this one.
It looks like most of the complexity is because of size and packaging reasons, and not obscure/bad design or trying to block users from servicing it. That's really good.
The cynic in me tells me this looks very complex and if they do a next version, everything will be glued down for cost savings...
I don't actually believe that gluing stuff down saves much money tbh.
@@wickersticks Sure it does. To glue two things together you just need smear some glue and press them together. To screw them together you need to add screw holes, put screws in the holes, and turn the screws (making sure not to apply too much or too little torque). More steps and more precision needed = more cost.
Of course if you want to account for the cost of disassembling and reassembling the product even once screws are probably cheaper.
Man. GN is such a gem. Long before I will get my hands on my steam deck, I can watch your video to see the most detailed strip down of the hardware possible. Love you guys. Keep up the good work!
I really hope you test replacement M.2 2230 SSDs, like Kioxia BG4. Valve's "concern" is wifi interference and power draw.
Came here to ask for this.
I hope someone makes a modified case for steam deck so you can install bigger m.2 ssds and removable battery.
I really don't see much point in doing this. I'm sure there will be simple external addons that will be much simpler to use and will transfer data plenty fast. Early testing just off the SD card seems to indicate even that should be "good enough" for most games.
@@Cherijo78 Some of us would like to know since it can be cheaper to bue the cheapest steam deck and then buy an M.2 2230 for fast and more storage that the official steam deck for instance.
at 24:37 - it is so satisfying how GPU fan on Steve's t-shirt reflects directly on the SoC... :)
It's funny people all over twitter are quoting the latency numbers you posted even though you said they don't mean much in this context 🤣
Amazing how far technology has come, and to think that this small thing does more than just gaming, definitely worth the price.
When valve actually decides to do something they usually do it well, the problem is actually getting through the internal problems they create for themselves to actually get a product from design to launch
The amount of power they have managed to cram into this tiny package is amazing.
Looks like valve put in real effort for the steamdeck, good job valve.
I like how Valve first showed us how to tear down a Steam Deck and told us **not** to do it ourselves. Very tantalizing offer I must say. Awesome tear-down done, GN, thank you so much!
Why is your livestrong bracelet plugged into the tablecloth?
rofl
I really enjoy watching this type of video, even though I don't understand 2/3s of what's being said. I don't know anything about electrical engineering, etc. But I still love watching. No idea why
Sleep doesn't exist in the world of GN.
Hey, I have a nice couch in the office now!
@@GamersNexus LOL. Gonna assume y’all didn’t schedule this uploaded. Published it when you could probably.
Seriously impressive work from the people who assembled this and the people who disassembled it.
No where to hide these days. Thank Christ for YT and GN.
Late night video release. Love the channel :*
Thank you!
Love how technical you guys are. Also love the EE with a Southern accent but I digress. You guys do stuff other channels don't, and this is a prime example. Thanks for doing what you do. I feel like I'm living in the future.
I was going to pass on the steam deck. After this video I'm about to order one. Thanks to the entire GN staff. You guys are rock stars.
I knew the Steam Deck was gonna be a hit when Linus got his hands on it for the first time.
I love how you plug the shop a lot. But all the stuff on there is actually so cool. ESPECIALLY those mats.
I love the extremely detailed videoes!
I am a fan of the dude running through the chips in detail. Very thorough. Good job 👍
I'd love to buy one of these but the glued-in battery makes it a no-no for me. :(
Hopefully they'll do something about that.
That isn't really a deal breaker. If you need to replace the battery, simply discharge it to 25% so that the energy stored isn't too high, and then gently heat it with a heatgun, moving evenly over it, not focusing in one spot too long. A few seconds and the battery will lift out. Heck, it's easier to get apart than an iPhone, and I remember when they were easy, back in iPhone 2 days!
You guys absolutely must do a full episode with the technical details of the differences between blowers and fans and why they're used. Once your fan testing rig is all set you have all the data you could ever want.
Real shame about the battery, it will probably need to be replaced within 2 years of somewhat heavy use, if you wish to retain those 2-6h of game time.
And do you know how much cost that batery? Tx
I feel like that's to be expected without some large jump in cost. As long as it's fairly user friendly in buying and replacing the battery, I don't mind it.
@@pagatryx5451 that's what's shameful about it, that it's not easily replaceable, but glued in.
@@CasualHerb Could just be the preproduction units. Hopefully that gets changed. But yeah, not looking good.
@@CasualHerb Could just be the preproduction units. Hopefully that gets changed. But yeah, not looking good.
Stone is the only person in Tech TH-cam that I've come across that feels like a university lecturer in Engineering and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible
Looks like there's a lot of "wasted" space in the two ergonomic hand bump thingies. I wonder if they could have put some extra batteries or a swappable SSD in there. Would be interesting to see some 3rd party backplate and triggers that reduce those bumps to make the whole thing a lot thinner.
That's pretty normal for controller handles. It's really not as much space as it might look, consider the structural reinforcement and clearance for the buttons and triggers.
Making it less ergonomic, more flat like a switch, is a hard sell. Perhaps they didn't stuff the handles because it looks like they made a concerted effort to keep those sections of the deck the most cool to the touch.
It is crazy the amount of detail Gamersnexus have gone to here. I really like this. Component and board design review with spec sheets and parameters. Far out there are smart people out there.
For electronics engineering students, Patrick's bit was incredibly interesting!
This isn’t my first time viewing this Channel by any means but honestly it always impresses me how educational and how well put together these videos are. The quality of the videos are also always increasing great job to you and your whole team really a great channel.
Oh no, Steve opened up the Steam Deck by himself, now he's surely gonna die as Valve has stated! :D
Really appreciate all the deep dive information and hard work you guys put into the review of the Steam Deck, but make sure you get some rest aswell
austin evans nintendo fingerprint looking kinda sus
Haha I thought I was the only one who noticed!
I like that Valve understands the value of the community and liberty about a product. The Steam Deck is going to be even greater than what Valve is working it to be in so many ways. It really looks like they have made all the right choices till now, and the hype tells by itselft, what a success
Go to bed GN
Gn
When Steve's friends say GN, they don't mean good night
Love the tear-down. What would be awesome to see in the future is a tear-down of an "off the shelf" model to compare to the reviewer's model. This way we could see what, if any, changes were made for the large scale production.
Valve being smart with chozing who gets to do hardware and software reviews.
LTT doing games
GN doing hardware
Man said "chozing"
That isn't how it worked at all. We had the same restrictions, which was "no showing the user interface." We did games as well -- it's in the first video.
@@GamersNexus This feels like a review, LTT feels like a ad.
@@xzaz2 every LTT vid
Also I'm chozing this device when it's in my country (India)
I think gn and ltt definitely have two different audience types. Ltt is somewhat more commercial in many senses but they have really great content. Gn has a much more scientific and data driven approach. I really enjoy both tbh and I'm glad that both exist.
I'm happy for all this in-depth Deck content, because after several years of watching GN, this is the first product you've reviewed that I actually plan on buying. (PC needs upgrades eventually, but not yet).
I just reported 13 bot comments 💀. This is worse than tiktok.
Yep
It is so bad. Trying to keep up.
@@GamersNexus also hello. First time watching any of your vids in a few months. Happy to be back 🥰
I think I reported 5.
I just reported at least 30! Damn it TH-cam.
Nice to see Patrick Stone explaining the electrical part 👍
Um, Is it just me or does Austin Evan’s “finger print” look more like a…? Never mind.
*Modern man is not the man who goes off to discover himself, his secrets, and his hidden truth; he is a man who tries to invest himself in something beneficial for the future.*
@Thomas camelli I heard a lot of investing with Mr Salvador McConnell and how good he is, please how safe are the profit?
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@Jean Cross 👍 Thanks you so much for the details
💁 I made $13,542 with Mr Salvador After my 10 business days of trading I got my profit directly sent to my wallet.
This is the kind of content that keeps my patreon money flowing - love the depth and explainers for what the tech specs actually mean. Between you guys and buildzoid I love how much tech I can learn.
You know what looks kinda disappointing? Really hard access to a display, it seems like you need to disassemble everything in case you have a cracked screen and want to replace it. That’s looks like a big oversight. And I’d argue that displays are being cracked even more often than the battery degrades, or joysticks/fan breaks, so it’s kinda weird to see the display being so inaccessible.
I am so happy that people choosen you Steve & Team for quality materials like this! I remember scratching my head thinking "what? Why is Gamers Nexus not know to anybody and low views..." so happy to get this material coming form you EXCELLENT WORK! ^_^
So now that Gabe got this mid life crisis "I wanna be a console manufacturer" thing out of his system...
Can we have Half Life 3 now?
Project borealis is working on half life 3. There hasn’t been a recent update though, so I’m not too confident in them.
Hey just a note on thermal imaging. Yes, heat sinks get hot, but WHERE the device gets hot matters for a hand held. So it is useful in an ergonomics sense. Maybe cover it when you cover ergo?
Linus did the thermal imaging, the controllers where the most cool part of the deck mostly blue little bit purpleish, where the center(screen and main board where the center of all heat so its very comfortable, he ven compared to other portable pcs(aya neo and such) and the deck was vastly superior in this case where its cool on where its needed for our hands to feel nice while playing.
First
No, I'm first
Michael was 1st according to TH-cam 🥰👍🏆
HI MOM!
At this point I only understand half of what’s going on in the video but I appreciate the work and details that a lot of people will need to understand, mod and repair the hardware.
Great video. I learned quite a bit. I rarely see anyone talking about electronics PPE and would LOVE to learn more about that.
Three items in particular are ant-static gloves I saw in one video, this grounding wrist bands you showed, and whether or not there is a solder mask that works in tandem with a fan to prevent breathing in fumes.
I'm looking to learn as much as possible about electronics and how to repurpose parts to make new things. 😁