Steam Deck’s RDNA2 GPU is 60% faster than Aya Neo’s Vega in Doom Eternal
Valve offered a first hands-on to select members of the media. This is the first time we can learn about their experience with the early preproduction version of the device.
Steam Deck vs Nintendo Switch, Source: Tom’s Hardware
Among those invited were Linus Sebastian from Linus Tech Tips and Tom’s Hardware. Both had the chance to test the device in games, which among many other things is the most interesting topic regarding the device.
Steam Deck is powered by AMD Van Gogh APU with Zen2 microarchitecture. The APU offers 4 cores and 8 threads clocked up to 3.5 GHz. This new AMD APU is the first to be equipped with RDNA2 integrated graphics. Valve has disclosed that the processor offers 8 Compute Units clocked up to 1.6 GHz. The device is equipped with a 1280×800 screen, which in combination with RDNA2 and FSR support through select titles, should offer a playable experience in most games available through Steam.
Steam Deck offers different glass panels, Source: Tom’s Hardware
Valve’s hands-on did not allow participants to modify the collection of installed games. The preproduction sample also did not allow for Steam account change. This greatly restricted what could have been tested. The hands-on unit offered the following titles: Hades, Halo 4, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, The Ascent, Control, Dead Cells, Death Stranding, Disco Elysium, Doom Eternal, Guilty Gear Strive, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Sunset Overdrive, Prey, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Stardew Valley, Sea of Thieves, Death’s Door, Factoria, Dying Light: The Following, The Outer Worlds, and Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered.
Linus tested the console in Doom Eternal and compared the performance metrics side by side with Aya Neo, powered by Zen2 CPU but also with a bit older Vega GPU. In the same scene and similar settings, the Deck offers 59 FPs compared to 37 FPS on Aya Neo. That means that Steam Deck is 59.4% faster than Aya Neo.
Steam Deck (right) vs Aya Neo (left) in Doom Eternal (same scene and settings), Source: Linus Tech Tips
Gamers now have a wide range of handheld gaming devices to choose from. A popular choice is definitely Aya Neo powered by AMD Ryzen 5 4500U (Zen2) processor with integrated Vega graphics. Alternatively, gamers preferring Windows games may also be interested in One XPlayer which is powered by the latest Intel Tiger Lake processor and its Xe-LP graphics. Naturally, there is also a choice among the Nintendo Switch platform, which was recently updated with an OLED screen.
Steam Deck might be a great choice for people preferring open-source platforms and for those who already own a large collection of games on Steam. Various software developers, including console emulators, have already expressed their interest in the Steam Deck open-source approach, which should allow 3rd party app installation.
The console is now available for preorder with a price starting at 399 USD for the least equipped model. Technically it should be possible to upgrade the onboard storage, but for obvious reasons Valve is not recommending doing it.
| Handheld Gaming Consoles | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VideoCardz | Steam Deck | One XPlayer | AYA NEO | Nintendo Switch | Nintendo Switch OLED |
| Picture |  |  |  |  |  |
| Architecture | AMD Zen2 & RDNA2 | Intel Tiger Lake | AMD Zen2 (Renoir) | ARM Cortex | ARM Cortex |
| SoC | AMD Van Gogh | Core i7-1185G7*** Core i7-1165G7** Core i7-1135G7* | Ryzen 5 4500U | NVIDIA Tegra X1 | NVIDIA Tegra X1 |
| SoC CPU | 4C/8T @ 3.5 GHz | 4C/8T * 4.2*, 4.7**, 4.8*** GHz | 6C/6T @ 4.0 GHz | 4x A57 + 4x A53 | 4x A57 + 4x A53 |
| SoC GPU | AMD RDNA2 8 CUs @ 1.6 GHz | Xe-LP (Iris) 96 EUs @ 1.35 GHz | AMD Radeon Vega 6 @ 1.5 GHz | NVIDIA Maxwell 256 CUDA | NVIDIA Maxwell 256 CUDA |
| Memory | 16GB LPDDR5-5500 | 16GB LPDDR4X-4266 | 16GB LPDDR4X-4266 | 4GB | 4GB |
| Storage | 64GB eMMC (PCIe Gen2x1) 256GB NVME (PCIe Gen3 x4) 512GB NVMe (PCIe Gen3x4) | 512GB*, 1TB **, 2TB *** NVMe SSD | 512 GB / 1TB * NVMe SSD | 32GB | 64GB |
| Display | 7″ 1280×800 IPS | 8.4″ 2560×1600 IPS | 7″ 1280×800 IPS | 6.2″ 1280×720 5.5″ 1280×720* | 7″ 1280×720 OLED |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5 | Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, USB 4.0 x2 | WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2 | 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.1 | 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.1 |
| Battery | 40 Whr | 15,300 mAh | 12,300 mAh | 4310 mAh | |
| Weight | 669 g | 820 g | 650 g | 400g / 277g* | 420g |
| Dimensions | 29.8 x 11.7 x 4.9 cm | 28.8 x 13.0 x 2.1 mm | 25.5 x 10.6 x 2.0 cm | 23.9 x 10.1 x 1.4 cm 20.8 x 9.1 x 1.4 cm* | 24.2 x 10.2 x 1.39 cm |
| OS | Steam OS 3.0 (Arch) | Windows 10 | Windows 10 | Custom | Custom |
| Release Price | 399 USD (64GB) 529 USD (256GB) 649 USD (512GB) | 1,059 USD* 1,158 USD ** 1,599 USD *** | $789 (16G/512GB) $869 (16G/1TB) | 299 USD, 199 USD (Lite) | 349 USD |
| Release Date | Holiday 2021 | June/July 2021 | March 2021 | March 2017 Sep 2019* | Holiday 2021 |
| * Standard Edition ** Pro Edition *** Ultimate Edition | * 1TB model | * Lite | |||
Source: Linus Tech Tips, Tom’s Hardware
