Valve says Steam Deck's SSD change impacts performance only in 'extremely uncommon cases'
Steam Deck designer Lawrence Yang has explained the rationale behind a recent change to the handheld gaming PC's storage options, saying that the team at Valve has «determined that there is no impact to performance between the two models» of SSD now being used.
HardwareLuxx(opens in new tab) brought to light that the Steam Deck's 256GB and 512GB versions can now ship with either a two-lane or four-lane PCIe SSD(opens in new tab), a spec change made at the end of May. We reached out to Yang to ask what the difference will mean for the end user. According to Valve's design team, there is no difference between the two drives except in «extremely uncommon cases.»
The original Steam Deck spec states a PCIe Gen3 x4 SSD for both the 256GB and 512GB versions of the device, but those SKUs are now listed with either PCIe Gen 3 x4 or PCIe Gen 3 x2 drives. It states that some models will ship with one kind of drive and some with the theoretically slower SSD.
Valve's rationale for the change is easy to understand; it's largely about securing the supply chain and increasing manufacturing capabilities to ensure that large pre-order list gets run through as quickly as possible.
Valve recently announced it would be «shipping more than double the number of Steam Decks every week,»(opens in new tab) and giving itself another SSD option is part of the reason it can manage such a feat.
«Many Steam Deck components come from multiple suppliers for improved redundancy and production capacity,» Yang tells me. «One of our SSD suppliers provides PCIe Gen 3 x4 NVMe SSDs, while another provides a x2 (2 lane) SSD.
»Our team has tested both components extensively, and determined that there is no impact to performance between the two models."
The
Read more on pcgamer.com
