Maybe don't jam electrical tape in your Steam Deck to fix fan whine

pcgamer.com:

We've all heard the lamentations over the Steam Deck's fan whine. But waking up this morning to news of people MacGyvering their Steam Decks with electrical tape is slightly worrying me. Hey, go ahead if you're feeling brave. It's just that, perhaps there are more elegant solutions out there—or at least there could be soon.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the right to repair. And OP seems pretty confident with their electrical tape trick. It involves placing a stack of four pieces of tape directly under where the Valve logo sits on the rear of the Deck with the result that it dramatically changes the whiny pitch of the device's fan.

Aside from the aural improvement, they report that it hasn't negatively impacted their Steam Deck's temps. They've reported they're still getting around 54°C in No Man's Sky, though it's worth noting that's not necessarily the most graphically intensive game around to test with.

And, as a few people kindly point out in the comments section, not all of the Deck's temperatures are currently known or displayed. The memory modules, for example could be frying, while OP carries on topping out the load, unknowingly damaging their precious portable gaming machine.

What I'm saying is this: just hold fire before you start jamming foreign bodies into your Deck. A mantra to live by, in my opinion.

First off, iFixit is looking to start selling replacement fans for Q1 Decks, so there's that option to come. For something more immediate, though, other commenters suggest making a leap from the stable software, and downloading the latest beta update. 

So we did a little test to see whether that would improve the Steam Deck's fan whine at all for us.

It's honestly been like having our own tinnitus simulation