Steam Deck's Batter Can Die Very Quickly
The latest tests of Steam Deck's battery show that Valve has gone a bit overboard with promises. We also learned how essential the graphic settings are.
According to Valve, Steam Deck is expected to offer between two and eight hours of battery life. Everything is supposed to depend on how demanding a title we run and what graphic options we choose. Recent tests of the device, which can be found on YouTube, show, however, that the battery life on a single charge may fall even below the promised minimum.
Steve Burke from Gamers Nexus channel conducted a number of battery tests, firing up Devil May Cry 5 with uncapped fps, screen brightness set to 50% and vertical sync turned off. With these settings, the Steam Deck lasted only 87 minutes. Two hours on a single charge was achieved by turning on Vsync and limiting the frame rate to 60.
Youtuber The Phawx also set himself the goal of draining the battery as quickly as possible. He managed to get a very similar result - the battery died after almost 90 minutes. Both channels also tested the device in Dead Cells, achieving about six hours of operation with vertical sync enabled. This means that indie games, as well as older or less demanding titles will probably enable us to enjoy the fun much longer. Phawx noted, however, that his result was nowhere near the eight hours of gameplay promised by Valve.
The tests clearly show that the graphic settings used on Valve's device will be crucial to its battery life. While playing Forza Horizon 5 in locked 30fps, Phawx drained the portable PC after four hours. Increasing the animation fluidity to 60 fps will usually mean about two hours of fun, unless we play older and less demanding titles.
"If you turn off Vsync, set the graphics options low, and get 90 frames per second - which makes no sense since Steam Deck's screen offers 60 Hz either way - you'll drain the device very quickly. (...) I have been unable to reach eight hours of battery life in any attempt," Phawx said.
The rather good news, on the other hand, will be the charging times of Steam Deck. Steve Burke from the Gamers Nexus channel reports that charging the device to 80% takes about 100 minutes - with the console on and in sleep mode. Filling the battery to full requires additional 80 minutes.
If you have ordered the portable PC from Valve, you can check the estimated delivery time here. All you need to do is log in to the Steam store. The official release of Steam Deck is scheduled for February 25, 2022. The first units will be shipped on February 28.
