I bought the CHEAPEST Steam Deck 😬
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- Опубліковано 18 тра 2024
- Refurbished Steam Deck Store: store.steampowered.com/sale/s...
256GB Kingdata SSD for Steam Deck on Amazon: austin.tech/kingdatassd
JSAUX Transparent Back Plate for Steam Deck on Amazon: austin.tech/transparentdeck
GuliKit Hall Sensor Joysticks for Steam Deck on Amazon: austin.tech/joystickdeck
Steam Deck Replacement Parts: www.ifixit.com/Parts/Steam_Deck
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Chapter Titles:
0:00 Unboxing
1:16 Condition
2:25 Upgrades
3:41 Why Refurbished?
4:37 Opening the Steam Deck
6:50 SSD Swap
7:42 Joystick Upgrade
9:33 Do The Sticks Work?
10:48 Installing Back Shell
11:48 We're Done...?
12:34 That's Not Good
13:58 Fan Replacement
14:54 It Lives - Наука та технологія
Quick tip for anyone wanting to upgrade themselves, use the top half of the Decks included case to sit the Deck in for a flat working surface so you don't put pressure on or potentially damage the analog sticks.
Damagin the sticks like that would take real efford. Like hitting table with the deck.. But using the case makes it easier so deck wont move around. Also that "guitar pick" is completely useles. Just pull the covers from eighter end after removing the screws. Done it like 20 times by now.. Takes 2 seconds.
@@hornantuutti515720 times now, yeah you've stressed the plastic clips and it takes 2 seconds now. But first time it's pretty tight. I did an SSD swap, 1tb sabrent rocket.
@@hornantuutti5157I mean, we just watched Austin have to fiddle with his left stick because it was out of position when he plugged it in. Also, I think using a guitar pick or a bicycle tire wrench or something else that's plastic to open the deck is a good idea on the first open, it's way stiffer the first time you open it
Give this man a medal
I mean you’re gonna be using it for hundreds of hours presumably. The sticks can probably handle being set against a desk and being pressed in a direction or something
"Bruh" to the person who broke their steam deck to end up in Austin's hand.
Its also very likely that this one, in the condition its in, could have been one that failed QA testing and thus was "repaired" and sent back out as a refurb.
@@matthewjbauer1990 that doesn't explain the scuffs, especially on the power adapter
Also couldve been a Steam deck that someone returned it and not necessarily broken. But who knows. Mans got a great steam deck.
What are you on a bout? The condition it's in is near perfect @@matthewjbauer1990
Ah well, they got a new one so no biggie
If I'm not mistaken Gulikit sells Hall Sensing joysticks for the steam that DON'T involve soldering. I believe that's the new version they have
Yes
Yes. And it supports both rev A and B of joysticks (there are currently two different revisions) by the flick of a switch on the gulikit board.
Correct!
Yes they do. I got them and they were quite easy to install and configure.
I just had my pair arrive and installed it today, calibration is a bit finnicky and the cable for the sensor may need to be adjusted on the right stick so it doesn't rub up against the main board (makes a really annoying clicking noise if it does that, but that can happen with the stock sticks), but other than that, no issues installing and I'm very happy with them.
Took about an hour to install all in all.
I bought a refurbished 256G Steam Deck, and mine looked pristine and works great. The only issue I had was that Valve forgot to include the charger, but they shipped one out to me immediately. I have been having a great time with it.
I got the 512 Refurbished model and it is just completely clean and new. I am honestly surprised by Value's efforts of making their products good for the price, especially for the refurbished models.
All of them are out of stock 😒
@@Commando_Chaos they are all returns
@@linuxstreamer8910 I know
But they are out of stock
@@Commando_Chaos just gotta wait alittle for there to be more in stock
This wasn't a good example of "valves efforts" they just basically got this unit and resold it cheaper to someone else without fixing any issues at all
Austin, the black sticker on the inside of the original steam deck back cover is a graphite pad specifically for heat dissipation. So there is already heat dissipation in the original cover.
320$ is perfect. I would not pay 350$ for refurbished. Been burned to many times buying refurbished when i could have just spent the extra 30 -50$ to just have working new
I totally agree I feel that that comment about paying more money shouldn’t have been mentioned. The times folks are in no need to be spending extra money cause Austin said so lol.
I bought refurbished for my ps4 and it still works amazing, just has a loud fan but that’s a common complaint all around, not a refurbished quirk. It’s several years old after all.
Who know they might repeat the sale for new steamdecks on labor day.
Just buy new. Are you poor?
@@KA-vs7nl I buy refurbished and new, just depends on if the price drop is enticing enough for me to do so.
This is one of the best things about the Steam Deck compared to other handhelds is that you can easily upgrade or fix components on the Deck.
exactly. All they need to do is come out with a board same case size for swap.
not sure if you guys just copium but all this talk is pure ambition@@DragonProtector
hm@@Ms7mido
even the battery can be swapped. no other makers do this.
exactly and it can run without a battery!@@gogereaver349
I’m still amazed at how easy it is to replace parts in the Steam Deck!
It's a shame Austin did not try and diagnose the fan issue, it could have just been hitting a wire that was in the way.
And when he plops down the old fan on the desk you can hear the noise...it was probably the metal outershield being defective
It’s holding the missing screw 😹
Or more likely the unit was dropped and the fan was intermittent passed vaulted testing but when Austin opened it up just tweeked it enough for issue to arise again eaither way someone’s kicking themselves over 15-25$s and half hour tinker time
I don’t understand the problem. He basically did diagnose the fan as being a faulty part. Trying to take apart that tiny little assembly apart to figure out if there’s any damage, potentially not even fixable damage, seems like way more work than it would be worth considering a replacement costs relatively little.
Do you honestly believe he and his team didn't try that? I assume they did, not everything is and has to be shown on camera, or even mentioned. Just because you didn't see it doesn't mean it didn't happen.
I bought the 64gb model new and upgraded to a 1TB ssd for cheaper than the 250 model. Totally worth it.
By chance, which SSD? Im looking at doing this
@@joeyhillers9460I think Western Digital makes a good 2230 SSD. Just search for a NVMe 2230 SSD and you should find something from a reputable brand. PCIE Gen 3 is good enough if it's all you find or really cheap. Gen 4 won't do much if anything for the Deck
Won’t this kind of situations cause issues with warranty?
@@Nighterlev oh okay. I’m in Europe and usually it’s different.
@Nighterlev negative. Have two decks one with 2tb one with 1tb with heavy use, no temp changes or throttling etc. That was rumored in the beginning but simply not factual. Valve encourages users to tinker.Hence, i fixit site,
So I also bought a refurbished 64GB Steam Deck from Steam. Mine also had a missing screw internally. The other two was able to keep everything in place without issues. I upgraded it immediately with a Micron 2TB SSD for $149.99 from Amazon. It was so worth it and the upgrade itself was fairly easy!
Wow 2t for 150 is not bad. I would be happy with just 1t.
How much it cost the steam deck?
My favorite part of the JSAUX back is the other sets of back buttons - I put in the highest set and it has made those buttons SO much more usable for me.
There was a couple possibilities gong on with the fan. First, it would have been good to know if it was happening before it was opened up. Always good to establish a known state before doing work on something. It sounded like the blades were rubbing on the fan housing when it was in motion. The back shell could have caused a bit of extra pressure on the main board that carried over to the fan housing, slightly warping it.
The bearing on the fan may have been going bad. Those fans usually have a few years in 'em at least before they start to fail, but maybe it was an overlooked failure.
It's also possible that the refurb tech may have over-tightened the screws for the fan. Best case scenario for that would be unscrewing it and putting it back. If it were really over-torqued though, it's possible that the fan housing got slightly dented in and that was the cause of the rubbing. Still fixable, but annoying to remove the housing and flattening it out.
I like how you ran into some issues during your customization process. It portrays an accurate refurbished version experience.
That relief he showed when the fan fix worked is so relatable, I'm scared to death to mess with stuff like that but a few years ago my laptop had a serious fault so I had nothing to lose. I opened it fixed the two things that were wrong and I felt like a God damn genius.
The wires on the joysticks aren't supposed to stick out like that, you're supposed to make them sort of wrap around the module, otherwise the wire is going to be rubbing against its surroundings whenever you move the joystick.
My co-worker already had one of these refurbs 3-4 weeks ago, shipped from Germany to the Netherlands. Could've been a mispicked item, it happens :)
How is somalia these days?
@@KA-vs7nl Wut?
The fan issue was probably because something was stuck in it. My laptop fan used to sound like that and started shutting down on its own. I thought the fan was dead but Taking it apart and checking it out, I found that it was a plastic bit that was getting stuck there. I removed it and my laptop wasnt shutting itself down anymore. I guess it was making the fan not spin at a certain point and the laptop was shutting itself down to protect itself from overheating
Heh, obviously a missing screw isn’t a big deal, but it does make me slightly question how diligently they’re inspecting this. Apparently 100 tests doesn’t include a thorough “once over” before shipping to confirm that everything is in the right place. Put another way, you wouldn’t expect a new unit to be missing a screw, right?
Well my SteamDeck was missing a Screw too, I bought it new. Thanks to ants crawling to the air vents I had to open the deck to check for dead ants... Strange that exact same screw was missing
@@sevine4667Very interesting and strange. Maybe just a coincidence, unless there’s just something about that spot.
To anyone actually wanting to go through this process of replacing the ssd, get at least a 500gb or 1tb. Trust me when you get it all done and set you don't want to have to replace it again in six months when you run out of storage.
Just don't leave games sitting in your library forever...
@colbyboucher6391 it's called a game library for a reason, you don't throw out books and get new ones for your home library
@@Twist3rOffical You can download games in like ten minutes max though
@colbyboucher6391 most modern AAA games run more than 100gb
@@Twist3rOffical Probably less than 10% of the games that release actually require that much space, and frankly, if it's that huge, it's most likely a VERY high-fidelity game and not worth trying to run on the Deck anyways.
Fans have been an ongoing topic for the Steam Deck. On release, they were a bit loud, and Valve eventually patched it up with a software update. Much better. But then the Dbrand Killswitch was releasing soon (which is a Steam Deck case), and just before release, somebody noticed that the magnet on its kickstand was interfering with its fan, and causing some fan slowdowns. It turned out that this issue was only on a chunk of Decks, but Killswitch redesigned the case to not use magnets. If I'm not mistaken, they eventually gave all their customers the non-magnetic case after release months later, but gave their preorder customers the magnetic one earlier at no cost as well.
It does make me wonder if you could have been an update away from a better fan, but I would doubt it if you got Apex Legends to play. You'd probably have to avoid the updates, which seems farfetched if you fiddled with it continuously over the weekend.
Would love to see the temps for both stock and new back cover...
i myself have done all of those mods myself as well, just with tthe non soldering needed version of the sticks and a purple plate with different backbuttons and a 2 tb ssd
That fan sounded like it could do with a quick clean and some grease. Can they be opened up to allow for that? It would be a really nice option, still $25 isn't bad at all. Yes I would 100% get a refurb one.
7:03 those are finger cots, to put on your fingers while removing screws and components without causing static electricity spikes
The Guli Kit has a v2 where you don't need to solder and are compatible with both types of steam deck models (if you uncertain, Google).
Also JSaux has transparent fron shells and an RGB back shell, too.
Glad to hear they finally did a V2
The gullikit joysticks come with solder in place? That's so slick! I hate trying to add solder, well, honestly I hate soldering at all, but mostly because trying to get just enough solder is a nightmare for me.
Also, is anyone else old enough to remember blower fans that size sounding like jet engines? I'm seriously impressed at how far fan technology has come in 30 years.
The V2 gulikit sticks come with the joysticks.
@@juiciness So... Austin bought the wrong ones to try and save a buck and made more work for himself. LOL
@@TheZoenGaming The newer kits just came out. This might have been filmed a while ago.
@@juiciness Ah, that makes more sense than Austin cheaping out to try and hit a budget target.
Other option, instead of buying a clear backplate, the amount can be used to double the ssd instead. 😁 and it will still be under the target budget
This was a great video and I might actually have to check out that backplate since it adds a little functionality to its form. Not just all looks.
I also checked them out and ordered the brown transparent back cover since it was 50% off
@@mikepotapa5773 I’m eyeing that red right now….
next time u try opening a steam deck, u can squeeze the sides after taking out the screws and it just comes off, no need to pry it open on the top and scuff it
Austin got one as good as almost new. A light scuff on the back wouldn't bother me. I'm not OCD about things like in my teens and 20s. I don't expect perfection from refurbs. As long as I'm saving $80 and the screen looks clean.
I buy used all the time because I don't game as much as before. I find it a waste buying new if I hardly will play it. I only game maybe 30 minutes per day or sometimes not at all for weeks.
My Vita slim and Switch Lite are both used and I love them more than any previous console/handheld I had. As long as they work like say the charging port, I could care less about cosmetic blemishes.
It really doesn't make sense to get anything else than the 64GB if you are planning on upgrading the SSD or just don't like the shiny screen (and won't use a screen protector, since that would completely invalidate the matte coating in the 512GB version)
2TB SSD can be placed inside it and you can get the Steam Deck SSD Upgrade kit with it too
I wonder if some of their refurbished Steam decks are ones that got damaged during the manufacture process. Perhaps a box of shells got scratched or something. They can't sell them at full price. I can't imagine a lot of people are returning them.
The screw missing is basically my spirit animal, any time i open anything i am always left with screws out
I’m wondering how a larger sample size is with the results of the refurbished models cause I might just buy the refurbished model and replacing the SSD
Gulikit has ones for only a few dollars more that already have the sticks included and soldered on so you don't have to do it yourself.
If your planning on replacing the shell refurb seems like such a good deal
I'm just wishing retailers(scalpers) dont gobble up the 2nd hand then slap don't open if something goes wrong.
Damn. I paid $575 for my 512gb from someone who played it once before he sold it to me, and it was in absolute mint condition. I would have rather paid $320 and upgraded it myself. I could have put a 1tb ssd and hall-effect thumbsticks in it and still paid less. But it still runs like brand new almost a year later, so 🤷
I always thought the 64GB model had the storate solderer, kinda like the 4GB Xbox 360 Slim back in the day. Kind of surprising its an actual separate unit.
Gullikit makes a non solder Hall effect joy stick kit now, also jsaux has a better version of the clear backplate now too
So for people thinking on buying/upgrading the Steam Deck, I actually did some mods on my Steam Deck, now that "refurbished" are available I would go with 64gb and then spend 80$ on 1tb 2230 ssd. Then the backplate to run the steam deck cooler, it can decrease temp by 10 degrees! and fan noise obviously. For the joysticks I don't recommend the upgrade until you have joystick drift as it's not actually a noticeable upgrade, at least for me.
Got the 2TB SSD (WD SN740, PCIe 4.0) on Ali for less than $150. Internet tells me the 64GB uses eMMC, 256 is PCI 3.0 SSD, and the 512GB is a 4.0 drive, explaining some speed differences. Worth noting: the Micro SD and the SSD utilize the same PCI lane - which is why the SD reads so damned well, and why, no matter what SSD you install, there will be a peak read/write around 600MB/s (up to - but not exceeding - 1GB/s, which is wellllll below the SSD's rated read/write speeds). I'd personally be upset, but concessions were made.
As it's about 25-30% faster than my 256GB SSD, and I can still suspend active games for weeks on end without a need to reload/restart them every time it powers on (ie, works exactly how it did before), not a complaint for carrying around 8x more data!
I bet the tape on the original backing muffled the fan noise when it spins faster.
Austin I highly doubt you will see this comment but over the course of multiple accounts i have had I have been watching you about 2 years prior to the house fire and im just so glad to see how you jumped back in and are still seeing just so much success. I particularly love the surprise item videos where your crew orders you stuff
I think the newest version of those sticks come with the sticks already soldered.
the internal build & layouts way cleaner than the Ally does.
The Nintendo 64 controller has a similar setup for the joystick, undo a cable and you can swap it right out. Very nice if you want to upgrade to a GC style joystick
Reminds me of the first refurbished PSX systems from the 90's. At least for the first few years we were told they were from Sony, and the quality was excellent.
Here in South Africa these go for around R18000 which is around 900 USD
Most the steam decks they end up with are likely returns barely if at all played. I know someone that bought one, powered it on for an hour and returned it weeks later to valve for a refund.
FYI - that version of the JSaux back case ceased manufacturing (or is) because the exposed metal plate gets too hot for a device that is held. They have a new one that doesn't have the exposed metal plate and open airvents.
I got the refurbished one.. the high end version. Nothing was wrong with it. It was only an open box.. so good deal for me
Did you have to backup or save the OS from the 64GB SSD before upgrading to a larger SSD??
Cryobytes suggested not using that shell because the plate can actually burn you. And instead to use the newer jsaux one with the fan cutout.
You can purchase a brand new Steam Deck 64gb for £314.00 at present in the UK
I think a good Austin catchphrase is "Legitimately a good deal"
I’ve looked every day for a certified refurbished steam deck since this video came out and every time they’re sold out. How do you obtain one?
Bro it's been so long and I forgot Austin & his team moved
04:24 Speaking from Norwegian perspective, apparently a store here in Norway has been selling the Steam Decks with an American charger that constantly gives warning of "Slow Charging Detected" and isn't capable of charging the battery while the device is in use, and the Steam Decks hadn't been delivered to their customers with a proper Norwegian power adapter or charger.
I doubt this would warrant a return to Valve by the store when they get them in return from the customers, but it may be a possible case of what might be the cause for some returns to Valve elsewhere.
It sounds like what we have in Australia, although the SteamDeck is only available via resellers online. Valve hasn't come out with an official Australian charger, so we're forced to use an adapter.
The cool thing about the steamdeck is how very User friendly it is to replace certain parts and Repair the System.
My fan was grinding and making a lot of noise, I thought it was normal because a lot of people said the fans were noisy. After a year, I replaced my backplate with the JSAUX one and it somehow fixed it and now my fan is silent even when running over 4000 RPM. It seems to be an issue with backplates.
Mine had a similar issue and it was during winter. Now after a few updates and in the middle of summer it doesn't make that noise anymore
Damn, so those 100 or so tests don't include making sure the fan is good or making sure the gpu works properly? Still waiting on my rma on my refurbished deck.
I bought that same back plate and it gets RIPPING hot. But it works. The fan doesn’t run as hard.
Interesting bit about 'refurbished' tech like this - the user can send back the item unopened to the vendor, and it will still be classified as refurbished. Dell Outlet stores operate in this manner.
Sadly when trying to replace the back my last screw got strip. And i was being extra careful and diligent.😢
*I would go for the smallest storage too & upgrade the internal storage myself*
Is the storage actually the only difference between them?
@@ILikeCheesesticks Yes I believe so.
@@ILikeCheesesticks yes except the 512GB one as anti-glare glass
Issue, if the fan made that noise, quite like other companies, that wasn't refurbished. They plugged it in, turned it on, it worked, boxed it back up. Verizon does the same. With time being money and everyone not being inclined to do repairs you are probably better off just buying new.
i'd want want the "frosted"screen from the maxed out one most of all
damn editing effects are wild
I got myself a new 64GB Deck last week, not refurbished, currently I'm waiting on a 1TB M.2 and an anti-glare tempered screen protector for it, all in all, my Deck is going to cost pretty much the same as the 256GB version, but it will have double the capacity as the 512 version and a protected anti glare glass, which even the 512GB doesnt have,
Is it possible to have a link to Austin´s last shirt? Thanks!
A very realistic video when you try to upgrade something might go unexpectedly wrong like the fan. Nice job on the video!
Does upgrading ssd require any kind of install?
Shouldn't the new joysticks be calibrated or is that already done in the factory?
I liked my steam deck, but I love my ROG Ally. I just hope ASUS fixes the issues, but Valve has much much better support. I hope ASUS will start to pick up and try to match
Asus and support don't go well together, they'll probably just make a new one next year and forgot the previous model, unless they fix their division since out of all the team they have, I choose the cellphone division.
How good is the asus compared to the steam Deck in Emulation?
@@momenteimlicht3375 Depends on what you wanna compare and what kind of emulation we're talking about.
Performance? The Ally has better hardware so it'll run better. Simple as that. Of course if you aren't emulating games from the last decade then all that power is unnecessary and you'd be better off saving money and getting a Deck which starts at a significantly lower price. Like Xbox 360, and PS3 games run on a Deck just fine. You won't always be getting 60 fps but pretty much everything is well within the realm of playable. The Deck will struggle with Xbox One and PS4 games but the Ally is only gonna get you an extra 10fps at most in emulation so you can decide if that's worth the extra money or not. The Switch is hard to emulate cause of several things I don't feel like talking about so Switch games run at like 20fps on a good day with both the Deck and Ally. Then of course like I said before games from older generations can basically run perfectly on a smart refrigerator so if that's all you really wanna play you might as well just pick up a deck since it starts at $400 since the Ally starts at $700. With either you can also easily use a regular docking station to hook it up to your TV and connect a controller when you want a bigger screen.
Set up? I'd probably give it to the Deck since dealing with the desktop mode is simply easier with the Deck's touchpads so downloading and organizing your ROMs and such is easier. Not that it's difficult on the Ally it's just a little annoying to navigate Windows with a touchscreen or joystick. Plus you can do some trickery to add the ROM to your steam library as a non steam game so they show up in the regular deck interface which is nice. With either one you can just download an emulator through Steam, like RetroArch, and simply point it to the folder with your ROMs so that part is basically the same experience.
The are taking buying back bad systems
Steam has such a great support that i will enjoy deck 1 for now and buy a new one when deck 2 is launched. After using it for a year now i think i will even swich to steam os on my desktop when it is released. Some games atleast yet wont support it bit those can be played with dualboot untill valve has got things working fully. No bloatware or other rubbish. Just works. Love the deck.
Do you know if he has done a review on the asus rog ally yet? Been thinking of getting one over the steam deck.
The PSP has no ventilation, the scratching noise was the umd disc
Just know Austin skipped a lot of steps not shown in his video to upgrade the SSD.
I had the same experience with Microsoft officially refurbished console leaving alone a scratch in the pairing button it looks brand new.
Question is did you have the right model joysticks for the upgraded sticks, or did you just loose gyro support
DON'T CLOSE THE UNIT TELL YOU CALIBRATE THE NEW STICKS THERE IS A BUTTON ON THE PCB
I went ROG Ally, but honestly I kind of wish i went Steamdeck. With the refurbs available, i'm tempted to pick one up as well!
I been on the fence about getting one but seeing that they have refurbished ones now and also how easy they are to work on I'll probably get one in the near future
@@Yeshuah6 You really have nothing to lose (other than your money). The refurbished units come with the same 1 year warranty as a brand new one. So if you do encounter any issues, Valve will take care of you. It's worth it IMO, and had I not gotten a brand new one, I would have gotten a refurbished one. Only issue is they're out of stock.
@@ma77bc yeah that sounds about right. I'll have to save up for it anyway.
@@Generic_UA-cam_Username_ All refurbished steam decks are guaranteed (as Valve says) to be of the same internal quality as brand new units. You may just get a slightly less than average shell with minor scratches or blemishes. Couple that with the same warranty as a brand new unit, it's a great deal.
But like I mentioned in my other comment, the issue is stock. So you're likely better off getting a new unit anyways instead of potentially waiting a long time for a used one.
very good deal I may purchase a second one as a backup unit incase I ever have to RMA my og release unit!
So the steam os is not on the ssd . Or how does that work when swapping storrage?
My refurb shipped without Steam OS, other than having to re-image, everything has been flawless.
Got mine on the summer sale 64gb after the deck a 512gb ssd and 512gb sd card I was just over the original 399 price tag for a 1tb deck such a deal that’s new imagine the referb price discounted in a sale to that would be wild
remove the thermal pad from the clear backplate
I bought a 64gb one and upgraded to a 1TB ssd, it just has to be done because the 64GB just fills up from shaders
what would u recommend if im having speaker issues with my hp pavilion 410 laptop? it goes static from the speakers and overheats when i play games if i dont keep a box fan on it to keep it cool. but im also broke and dont have a lot of money to replace everything.
Der workpro sieht den Lux-Tools sehr ähnlich. Die Ladestation ist identisch. Kannst du ggf. LUX-Tools mal checken? War bisher ganz zufrieden mit Metall-Bohrfutter und guter Akku-Laufzeit.
Will the refurbished models come back in stock ever again!?
I've been thinking about buying 2 refurb units for my boys to have. They have a Switch currently, but it would be nice for them to have more "PC" games without the need for the PC itself.
Kind of bummed the fan issue got by reman. Id imagine there is a test in place where cooling is ramped up and checked. It could be a fluke, but id suspect more so on it got by the team.
The OG JSAUX plates are not that good, infact they make the airflow worse which may reduce the life of components like the ICs. The Elecgear sticks are better as they are a circle gate rather than square gated, but the Gulikit comes with an option for pre-soldered sticks and both A and B type compatibility through a switch on the PCB. You also need to re-calibrate using the button on the back of the PCB and through Konsole too.
If I didn't already have a Steam Deck, a refurbished one would sure seem like the way to go... Cheapest model is sold out where I am though. The difference between the other two is €100. I got the expensive one when I bought new because I figured it'd save me the trouble of swapping the SSD and I'd like the anti-glare screen... if you don't care about that screen though you might as well buy the cheaper one and use the difference to buy a 1TB SSD.
Does replacing the fan give you new vent smell?
Baldur's Gate is 141.81GB. IMHO, 512GB drives are under $60. That is dirt cheap and should really be the entry level NVME for a Steam Deck, if you can afford it.
The fan was certainly not normal. That sound on the psp back in the day was due to the UMD spinning and grinding, this fan is clearly grinding on something.