FYI -- SteamOS 3.5 automatically mounts external drives and can format drives in Settings->Storage, so the issue with setting up the dock's drive mentioned at 15:48 should be resolved once Valve fully releases 3.5 (or if you install the OS preview)
@@juli0q If you've been keeping up with the LTT drama recently, the whole thing is that they rush their videos and make way too many mistakes to be considered a reliable source.
@@PatalJunior exactly, while a mention couldn't hurt, most users aren't using preview builds anyway so this is a more realistic representation of the experience.
Thank you for featuring my buttons!! As a long time LTT fan this is almost incomprehensible to me. They are all resin cast by hand by one person (me) and everything is from scratch (not directly molded off of the OEM steam deck buttons) That's what allows for the raised "steam" and "..." buttons, and other tweaks and themes that are coming in the near future. Absolutely in awe that this happened, about to go live to chat to everybody stopping by the site!
Buttons look great and from what I’ve heard are good in texture but I hope with all this publicity and customers you could maybe bump down the price ever so slightly. $50 for some replacement buttons is pretty crazy. You could get a full blown Xbox controller with that money. Once you get production costs down, it would be very wise to make them more affordable, maybe within the 20-30 range. Wish you the best for your company :)
Small correction: the extreme rate cases don’t use the same threading as the steam deck because the steam deck doesn’t have threads. Valve explained that the back screws cut into the plastic posts. This is why they don’t recommend opening your steam deck and state it severely weakens the deck. If you plan on tinkering with the internals I highly recommend the full case replacement (but the screen removal is a huge difficulty spike) Also, the thumbstick daughter board is screwed into the front case so you can flip it over and test the friction before installing the controller board. No need for full assembly before testing them.
The fact that basically all of those upgrades are very much possible but often times come with great conceptual downsides just goes to show how much valve hit the nail on the head with the Deck.
@@sategllib2191Modularity has plenty of its own downsides. If it was modular it would be more expensive, even bulkier and not look as seamless. If the storage were easier to customize that would be a big plus, but pretty much everything else would be a net negative if made modular.
@@mpholicx2 thumbsticks upgrade is a maybe, I'm super happy with the stock ones, even reduced the dead zones by a lot without issue, but if/when they break or start drifting I'm happy to have the solution on the shelf.
I honestly have to say, ever since you guys dropped the amount of videos, the quality has improved immensity and it's a lot more enjoyable to watch long videos like this
the Aftermarket scene for the Steam Deck is incredible, Valve captured lightning in a bottle with this and I REALLY hope their refresh has Oculink or Thunderbolt 4 support to really push it ahead even further
@@NameName-ll2yx Nothing says it can't be fixed and the other screen is so aftermarket, it's it even a replacement, it's a replacement that has a different resolution, coloring and drivers. Replace a broken screen with another official screen and it should work fine.
@@Saint_Wolf_ the way Windows works and the way Valve's SteamOS works is entirely separate. You can replace the screen on the Steam Deck with a regular screen no issue. But the SteamOS has to push updates like a console, so when they update the SteamOS build, they push the firmware with it. This makes sure any issues resolved in firmware aren't being left out because people don't go into Desktop mode to install firmware updates. Windows devices don't do this because it's Windows, you just treat it like you would any other desktop
Wow, thank you for using our replacement shell! The result looks absolutely fantastic. By the way, this could be the hardest replacement kit in our product ranking, so GOOD JOB LLT! Through your video, we hope more and more people learn about the possibility of personalizing gaming devices on their own, and that's what we are doing to provide the best modding kits ever for all of you!
Better products will come. Steam Deck is likely going to be around for awhile so the users will grow, and as the users grow so will the market for accessories.
So one simple mod I did for my Steam Deck -- which I hope the team at P3R might consider as part of their install process -- is replacing the stock TIM on the APU with Honeywell PTM 7590. Since the Deck already runs quite hot the PTM works amazingly well, and I've noticed that my deck not only runs quieter since install, but I've also seen some performance improvements. Sadly I didn't measure it before doing the upgrade, so my experience is very subjective, but I'd say it's worth doing just for the reduction in fan noise.
I just wanted to say that I did the same shell mod with JSAUX and installed the Guilikit V2 thumbsticks and had the same issue you had at 11:40 where they were sticking. It turns out that this has something to do with the way the thumbstick cap is sitting on the post. If you wiggle the thumbstick cap off of the post a little bit and then use a decent amount of force to press it back on, it'll sit at a lower height and clear the deck's front shell (and no longer get stuck). I found this out from Retro Handheld's video (Timestamped): ua-cam.com/video/FnIqILz6YjQ/v-deo.html
Didn't your comment before I posted mine. 3 sets of GuliKit sticks had this same problem. I figured it out completely on accident but was a noticeable difference. Seems like a weird manufacturing issues, but it is permanently fixed by doing what you/I did. I will say I didn't have to do anything aside from just compressing the stick to the post, but I removed one set to confirm that nothing was broken, prior. Weird issue but one that is easily remedied, at least.
you know, the fact that the mono block manufacture warned you about the issues, and had a option they were working on makes me trust them more than 90% of the aftermarket companies out there
@@jeanvaljean6433 I feel like it totally does. You can sell whatever you want if you tell people exactly what you're selling. What would be wrong would be selling shoddy products and not admitting it. Anyone who buys this can't say they didn't know the risks.
It looks like the monoblock would benefit from something like K5 Pro or thermal putty, something that can squish, instead of pads to prevent uneven contact
This is something that can be fixed in design they need to adjust the approach on how they make contact points they should prioritize the soc making sure they contact it at exact pressure then have everywhere else designed for thermal pads the pads will allow for height tolerance around the board.
This may also be overlooking the temperature tolerance of the different components too, the RAM is up to 85degC while the APU is 105degC, is it wise to make contact with both at once for the same heatsink?
It may have cost a pretty penny but I think it is worth it to add all that optional customisation and performance to the Deck, the right to repair (and upgrade) is a wonderful thing.
I love how good the first 1.5 minutes of the videos have been getting. Each time they get better and more creative, and the punchline of "our sponsor" makes me laugh every time. Keep it up LTT!
for determining the thickness of thermal pad required, there is a product used in engine building called a squash string, used to work out the clearance on bearings. You put it in and tighten down the bracket then undo it and how much it has flattened out tells you the exact size of the gap I don’t know if people use these in PC building yet, but it seems like a great way to get the perfect thickness pad required for those VRM and memory chips
I was wondering when someone was going to get around to mentioning the method you suggested using squash string. As a retired EE & a Mechanic, I can definitely see the advantage and credibility in using this technique. This SHOULD be the GOLD Standard way of doing ALL HEAT-SINK Clearances !! It's done this way in EVERY SPEC Motor,so there should be NO difference in our Micro-Electronics either ! This would insure Maximum & Minimum height tolerances to gain the BEST out of the Heat Sinks. And it's Easily attainable !😎
I just got my Steam deck less than a month ago and man, although many of these products aren’t perfect, I LOVE the idea that there’s such a wild market out there creating things for the Steam deck
I love the idea of a display upgrade but this one feels like they wanted to focus on higher resolution as the main selling point, which I think is not really a good idea considering the Steam Deck's performance and battery. Personally this is what I would really want from a display upgrade, and I'd pay over $100 for it: -Better color (the one in the video does have this) -Better response time (the Steam Deck display's response time feels very noticeable in some games to the point that I don't play them on the Deck) -Higher refresh rate (even just 75 Hz or 90 Hz, doesn't need to be 120 Hz for me) -A slightly bigger display via smaller bezels (same resolution) I'm sure some people like the higher resolution and that's cool, but I really think that's the wrong focus for the Steam Deck given its performance and battery constraints. I'd even put up with all the BIOS tedium for the stuff I mentioned above. I'm sure there's difficulty around sourcing a display like that though.
One way I've noticed to get response time a little better is to set the Deck's frame rate limit to OFF because there's a separate option to allow/disallow screen tearing and use the game's Vsync instead so the game doesn't render past your set refresh rate and burn battery. Though if you're playing games at 30-40fps response time will always be higher than a good pc that can run at 60fps or higher.
Given the Decks huge bezels, I'd bet you could fit a 7.5" display into the same frame as long as you could find a compatible one. It doesn't sound like much, but that extra .5" could really help with text legibility in some games, I'd definitely buy that upgrade.
I don’t get it. You understand that the performance and battery life are reasons the 1200p screen is a bad idea, but you WANT a 90hz display…what the heck do you play at 90FPS that doesn’t max out the GPU?
Those buttons are the most amazing part. Absolute best upgrade. The shell is nice too, but would probably also just stick with the back shell. Just to avoid having to swap the screen around.
the maker posted above, they personally do each one by hand @Deckbuttons @Deckbuttons 12 hours ago Thank you for featuring my buttons!! As a long time LTT fan this is almost incomprehensible to me. They are all resin cast by hand by one person (me) and everything is from scratch (not directly molded off of the OEM steam deck buttons) That's what allows for the raised "steam" and "..." buttons, and other tweaks and themes that are coming in the near future. Absolutely in awe that this happened, about to go live to chat to everybody stopping by the site! @@Whiteshade
Enjoying my steamdeck for almost a year now. Been able to play some triple aa games on it like Spiderman, Days Gone, Cyber Punk and Elden Ring. I use it mainly when I go to my brothers house for a bit of a lan party to play co op shooters. The J Saux case with cooler makes it around 10°C cooler and is just a click on and off without any modifications to the deck! Also works great when docked!
I love how honest you guys are about everything rather than pretending everything went great. I wanted to swap the shell of my deck but I'm not good with this type of thing, it seems pretty invasive and the quality sounds bad.
The problem with some of these upgrades, in particular the ones that impact performance, is that they're less upgrades and more trade offs. There's a reason why Valve set it up that way and messing with it messes with that balance. In my mind there are only two upgrades to the Steam Deck internals that are actually worth it, storage capacity and the analogue sticks. And frankly, you don't strictly speaking _need_ to do either. A micro SD card will do fine for storage and unless the analogue sticks start acting up you really don't need to upgrade them either.
The chassis swap is definitely the way to go! That looks awesome! The 1200p does look a lot better... dang that sucks it is such a big performance hit.
I love that "gription" has slowly been spreading. My wife first used it like 25 years ago and we never heard it anywhere else for a long time but it keeps popping up here and there. This is how language evolves, and the internet certainly accelerates it!
You missed one component, that I love: USB-C to USB-C EXTENSION CABLE (2m is mine) So you can play while charging, using USB connected to the dock, HDD, or SDD, or use your TV or monitor and the Steam deck as controller.
I would upgrade the screen for a smaller bezel; not too bothered about resolution or even colour gamut. Not sure if that would be enough to make the bios flashing worth the hassle for me though
Good catch. I've tried warning people over and over again on GPU repaste vides that you must spread the paste on the dies because its not the same as just putting a blob on an IHS and it'll likely spread to enough places. On dies, always spread it.
@@peartreez If there was proper contact it'd be spread properly. If there is so little pressure that you have to make sure it spreads then it isn't going to conduct well anyways, regardless of spread. The goal is to have as little TIM between the CPU and cooler as possible.
@@Mad-Lad-Chad it would not fully cover the whole DIE if there's not enought thermalpaste applied initialy even if the pressure was sufficient. And you could not 100% tell if it is enough or not.
Hey, as we mentioned in the video, we got a sample from Wave 1 of Posseidon's 3 Rings' original Monoblock, and their CEO warned us in advance that they had experienced wildly varying results, ranging from 20 degrees below stock, to 10 degrees above stock due to some manufacturing issues. We followed the directions they provided, using the supplied pads, and unfortunately ended up with a poor result. P3R also told us they are aiming for a more consistent "10 degrees below stock" for the second iteration of the Monoblock (Wave 2), and told us about some of the improvements they are planning, which include increased fin density, additional material over the APU to improve mounting pressure and thermal conductance, and some tweaks to improve levelling and mounting. They also mentioned experimenting with a larger heatpipe, though at the time of this update, that's still listed as 'Pending' for their original Monoblock, while it appears to be confirmed for the Monoblock 2. We look forward to trying out both Wave 2 and Monoblock 2 and seeing the improvements first-hand. In the meantime, there's an active modding community on P3R's Discord who have conducted a ton of experiments aimed at improving the performance of the Wave 1 part, you can check that out here: discord.gg/uRhFDDK
Why would you bother going through all of that trouble and hassle (and the cost) to upgrade that screen and then play at the deck's native res, though?
Linus also hasn't tried the vibrant deck plug in which makes the colors of the stock screen so much better. That we actually won't need any replacement screen.
the sticky joysticks is a known issue with the guile kit stuff - take them out, pull the stick off and pop it back on, pushing hard, should fix it right up.
I believe the whole thing that happened at LTT was for the best. This video was well done and still had the Linus charm. I have noticed that these new videos just seem to have more care and less objectivity more straight forward facts. All in all I think I can watch more videos. Good job guys.
Give this another year and perhaps Valve getting more on board with the modding/aftermarket scene, you'll see this process get better and be very affordable.
How is getting Hall effect joysticks a waste of money, it litterly gives you peace of mind that your joysticks won’t drift while having a lower deadzone.
@@jaylomeredid you not watch the video? Linus could instantly tell that the new joysticks were now sticking when aimed at the bottom right corner. There are multiple comments here of other people saying they had the same problem too... So yeah, the thought of stick drift could be a thing of the past. But actually having your sticks get stuck when using them regularly... that doesn't sound worth spending money on holisticks n time to install them to prevent the chance of stick drift. If my SD got stick drift I would for sure look into putting holeffect joysticks on. But ya this video was pretty dumb when everything except for adding more storage had pretty big downfalls included with them. And adding more storage to your deck is something everyone did the moment they got theirs... no need to be in a video two years later
@@MemeCastGuy69 did you not read my comment I said Hall effect joystick in a general term not this one in particular, if you had actually understood my comment maybe you wouldn’t be yapping in the replies
I love all the accesorries, but tbh I absolutely love the simple approach with having everything black. I get distracted easily and I love that when I game all I see is the screen and nothing else. I wish that the screen gad better sRGB and was an oled, but I think valve nailed it! I want to upgrade to a bigger ssd later, but with that said I've been using an sd-card and in everyday use it works great!
Got my purple body from Jesus and they had a wonderful process for replacing the body. All the screws and springs came in an organized kit with the screws separated and labeled for size. Still a pain staking process but it was 100% worth it.
sticky sticks are also present in the OG case, the solution I found best is to loose the screws holding the sticks by a tiny bit and all is good. The tolerances there are a little bit small.
As for the replacement shell, I'd fear the Nokia-effect - there were so many crappy cheap cases for the popular models and the quality and feel was terrible. When the case-swap is that much work, I'd be depressed to find a lower quality gaming- and handling experience afterwards. I'll stay with the stock shell, the hall-effect sticks are quite attractive though :D Thanks for the video, that gave me something to think about.
6:31 WHY though? That's a downgrade in my book; you lose performance, or if you render at 1280x800 to get the same performance it's actually a downgrade in visual quality since the native resolution will look better. Edit: NICE! You guys did a great job covering the downsides of the screen upgrade, I didn't expect that and spoke too soon
I love how he initially complained about a slightly scratched d-pad and then went on to replace it with a bunch of incredibly tacky replacement parts lmao
the screen upgrade is a definite "no" for me. not only is it to much work, but 800p just doesn't look that bad, and the hit to battery life isn't worth it. So I'm still holding out for for a battery upgrade
8:43 In that Frame Linus opens the Steam Deck again and lifts the heatsink, you can see the mounting pressure on the ram is very uneven (1 of 4 ram chips seems to have no contact at all). This would explain the bad temperatures on the die also, guessing that to bottom pads for the powersupply are too thick and cause an uneven pressure in the apu itself) I personally would give it another try first testing without thermal pads at all and if that works better using pads but press them a little bit harder on the components to make them thinner (yes that works, happend to me with 2 waterblocks for 2080 ti and 4090 as I preordered them and the thermal pads had the wrong thickness for some components)
They are also did a bad job on applying thermalpaste on the DIE - you can see it not fully covered. You should spread the paste and not dotting it as they did. Another bad effort from the team after all the critics they got.
Do yourself a favor. Buy the 1tb OLED Limited Edition. You end up with something much better and don't have to risk taking it apart. And it's cheaper after the upgrades of a refurbished.
I really hope that Nintendo and Steam keep their next devices to 720p/800p screens. Everyone wants more resolution but I just want to be able to play at some higher settings, or framerate. Screens at these sizes are great at this resolution.
Tbh i i think higher is better as you can just lower the rez, then on games that dont push the system to its limits like a emulator you get a way nicer image
I think they probably would keep it the same, though I could see the next Switch being a 1080p screen that just runs games at 720 and uses DLSS to get to 1080 but we'll see.
For heating that screen uniformly use the 3d printer heated bed.. Put the screen side down, set to 70C leave it for few minutes, it will soften the adhesives and you don't need to put so much hot air and/or tin foil.
0:48 LTT has the only sponsor segments I actually feel good about watching. This segue actually made me laugh. I wish UA-cam ads would go this route instead of being intrusive af.
There are adapters developed for the Steam Deck to install 2280 ssd above the m.2 slot. The SSD then protrudes over the battery. But you have to build the case yourself. Cut a hole in the case yourself or build something from 3D print.
The same company that makes the monoblock in the video offers an adapter and a new backplate to accommodate a full size m.2 but it’s a pre order at the moment
@@BEARTAC0S This is great, it looks like you need to remove the back cover to swap M.2 drives. A small removable cover would be better, but this works. Especially since 4TB NVMe drives are so cheap now.
they're square gated while the OEM are circular gated, so it won't feel the same by default, you'd need to change it in steam input to account for that. That's why the gulikit ones kinda suck while the new Elecgear ones just are better
I love that Valve has been open to and supportive of these kinds of mods, and I hope they will continue to improve, but as of right now nothing I've done to "upgrade" my Steam Deck has actually made it any better, except the drive and stick upgrades.
What a coincidence that I just bought a used steam deck yesterday and just opened UA-cam and this one the first video in my feed. Linus your team does really well with all tech products. You guys make it look so easy to add upgrades. P.S. already added and playing PS2 games first three hours of turning it on 😂. Love my steam deck!! 🔥
I was considering the screen update just because it had better colors. I found the colors on the original screen very bland, but after using SteamOS 3.5 color controls I was able to tweak it so that it looks a lot better.
man, i really hope that if Valve ever does a SteamDeck 2 revision they make a lot easier to just pop-out the screen-side half of the shell so you can install things like buttons, sticks & screens with less hassle
Gonna need to make a new one of these for the SteamDeck OLED. This was a really great video. Looking forward to your updated upgrades for the OLED model.
I have no interest in a higher res screen for the Steam Deck. What I DO desperately want, however, is an OLED screen mod. Then I would definitely go through the effort of upgrading.
My guess is Starforge talking with Linus. But I don't think they are that big of a sellout to just delete the video to just not make a brand look bad or I least I want to think that
I would personally change the title and thumbnail for this video. From the perspective of someone who often scrolled past this video before actually watching it, saying "I spent more than I saved" and showing a broken screen feels like negative advertising for the refurbished deck (something I'm actually considering buying). Great vid, btw!
Why did they private the secret shopper video they recently put out?? Was it because Starforge bribed them into not showing their piece of crap pc they sent them??
Personally the JSAUX covers were much more better to install and they used the same threads for the deck. I originally got a back cover, and then they released front ones and I bought one in an instant! Broke the screen, I heard it as I scraped off the foam, but other than that, it caused me to get a 512GB screen replacement instead, so it was a win for me, I absolutely LOVE it and honestly, it feels nice when people ask how I even did it, I even sideloaded windows onto it, allowing me to code on the go, absolutely love this machine!!
FYI -- SteamOS 3.5 automatically mounts external drives and can format drives in Settings->Storage, so the issue with setting up the dock's drive mentioned at 15:48 should be resolved once Valve fully releases 3.5 (or if you install the OS preview)
Kinda weak that ltt didn’t find that out themselves
@@juli0q If you've been keeping up with the LTT drama recently, the whole thing is that they rush their videos and make way too many mistakes to be considered a reliable source.
I see this as a positive, they aren't spending their time on preview versions, so that gives them time to refine everything.@@Krilium
chill. do you even know how long this video is in production? 3.5 isnt even that long in beta
@@PatalJunior exactly, while a mention couldn't hurt, most users aren't using preview builds anyway so this is a more realistic representation of the experience.
Thank you for featuring my buttons!! As a long time LTT fan this is almost incomprehensible to me. They are all resin cast by hand by one person (me) and everything is from scratch (not directly molded off of the OEM steam deck buttons) That's what allows for the raised "steam" and "..." buttons, and other tweaks and themes that are coming in the near future. Absolutely in awe that this happened, about to go live to chat to everybody stopping by the site!
Happy for you! Good job. 🎉
appreciate you :) @@MoAli72
They're so pretty!
Well done @Deckbuttons ! Looking forward to getting mine. Sadly have to wait for more used decks to come into stock 🥲
Buttons look great and from what I’ve heard are good in texture but I hope with all this publicity and customers you could maybe bump down the price ever so slightly. $50 for some replacement buttons is pretty crazy. You could get a full blown Xbox controller with that money.
Once you get production costs down, it would be very wise to make them more affordable, maybe within the 20-30 range.
Wish you the best for your company :)
This video should be called, "Things you don't want to install on your Steam Deck"
The whole Tech Tip squad has been lost in the sauce for a good minute now.
Right? Why make a video about accessories and some of them give you a worse experience?
@@redfin382at least its an honest video showing the downsides
At least we know to avoid these
@@redfin382its a review
Like why review a movie if its bad?
Was thinking the exact same thing as I was watching along with, "why would go to the trouble of installing ANY of these..?"
Small correction: the extreme rate cases don’t use the same threading as the steam deck because the steam deck doesn’t have threads. Valve explained that the back screws cut into the plastic posts. This is why they don’t recommend opening your steam deck and state it severely weakens the deck.
If you plan on tinkering with the internals I highly recommend the full case replacement (but the screen removal is a huge difficulty spike)
Also, the thumbstick daughter board is screwed into the front case so you can flip it over and test the friction before installing the controller board. No need for full assembly before testing them.
@@insignia406for most people, it might be a bit much to risk. You are right that it isn't too hard. But for me it was fairly difficult
The fact that basically all of those upgrades are very much possible but often times come with great conceptual downsides just goes to show how much valve hit the nail on the head with the Deck.
I think it also shows that third party support is still so new
All except the larger ssd is a hard pass.
I feel it just shows how much more potential it could have being more modular
@@sategllib2191Modularity has plenty of its own downsides.
If it was modular it would be more expensive, even bulkier and not look as seamless.
If the storage were easier to customize that would be a big plus, but pretty much everything else would be a net negative if made modular.
@@mpholicx2 thumbsticks upgrade is a maybe, I'm super happy with the stock ones, even reduced the dead zones by a lot without issue, but if/when they break or start drifting I'm happy to have the solution on the shelf.
I honestly have to say, ever since you guys dropped the amount of videos, the quality has improved immensity and it's a lot more enjoyable to watch long videos like this
the Aftermarket scene for the Steam Deck is incredible, Valve captured lightning in a bottle with this and I REALLY hope their refresh has Oculink or Thunderbolt 4 support to really push it ahead even further
At this point, Gaben is Thor the way he captures lighting in bottles.
Except for the fact that windows based ones can have their screen replaced and it’ll work. Valve really locked it down apparently.
@@NameName-ll2yx Nothing says it can't be fixed and the other screen is so aftermarket, it's it even a replacement, it's a replacement that has a different resolution, coloring and drivers. Replace a broken screen with another official screen and it should work fine.
@@Saint_Wolf_ the way Windows works and the way Valve's SteamOS works is entirely separate. You can replace the screen on the Steam Deck with a regular screen no issue. But the SteamOS has to push updates like a console, so when they update the SteamOS build, they push the firmware with it. This makes sure any issues resolved in firmware aren't being left out because people don't go into Desktop mode to install firmware updates. Windows devices don't do this because it's Windows, you just treat it like you would any other desktop
occulink? this is the gonna fair that much better in vr than the quest itself
Wow, thank you for using our replacement shell! The result looks absolutely fantastic. By the way, this could be the hardest replacement kit in our product ranking, so GOOD JOB LLT! Through your video, we hope more and more people learn about the possibility of personalizing gaming devices on their own, and that's what we are doing to provide the best modding kits ever for all of you!
It looks awesome but the tolerance still keeping me away. At 11:40 the left joystick was stuck
Best ever.... but the left stick gets stuck>?
@@tumo07 They said right in the video that it's a torque issue on the screws. Annoying, but not a dealbreaker. They can be tuned to work just fine.
@@tumo07it’s an issue with the joy sticks sitting a bit to high. Wiggling them then press hard down has fixed the issue in most cases.
Do a shell for the Lenovo Legion Go? :)
The products themselves might not be the greatest, but it's great that the steamdeck is getting this kind of support
Better products will come. Steam Deck is likely going to be around for awhile so the users will grow, and as the users grow so will the market for accessories.
My thoughts exactly!
I love these recommendations but, boy, did some of the recommendations age like fresh milk now the Steam Deck OLED is out.
I ended up buying the steam deck weeks before the announcement 😭
They aren't mocking your height, they are mocking your lack of height.
under 100: 99.99999
What an underrated comment Jesus 😭😭
You can't mock something that isn't there.
So one simple mod I did for my Steam Deck -- which I hope the team at P3R might consider as part of their install process -- is replacing the stock TIM on the APU with Honeywell PTM 7590. Since the Deck already runs quite hot the PTM works amazingly well, and I've noticed that my deck not only runs quieter since install, but I've also seen some performance improvements. Sadly I didn't measure it before doing the upgrade, so my experience is very subjective, but I'd say it's worth doing just for the reduction in fan noise.
I just wanted to say that I did the same shell mod with JSAUX and installed the Guilikit V2 thumbsticks and had the same issue you had at 11:40 where they were sticking. It turns out that this has something to do with the way the thumbstick cap is sitting on the post. If you wiggle the thumbstick cap off of the post a little bit and then use a decent amount of force to press it back on, it'll sit at a lower height and clear the deck's front shell (and no longer get stuck). I found this out from Retro Handheld's video (Timestamped): ua-cam.com/video/FnIqILz6YjQ/v-deo.html
Didn't your comment before I posted mine. 3 sets of GuliKit sticks had this same problem. I figured it out completely on accident but was a noticeable difference. Seems like a weird manufacturing issues, but it is permanently fixed by doing what you/I did. I will say I didn't have to do anything aside from just compressing the stick to the post, but I removed one set to confirm that nothing was broken, prior. Weird issue but one that is easily remedied, at least.
Lmao, HD screen costs the same as piece of metal (cooler)
@@fomingera65 precision machining metal is an expensive and slow process. screens can be assembled on a line, and the raw material cost is also less
This didn’t age well 😂
@@TheUAProdigy what do you mean?
you know, the fact that the mono block manufacture warned you about the issues, and had a option they were working on makes me trust them more than 90% of the aftermarket companies out there
Doesnt excuse selling shoddy products that had bad results in rnd
Considering that company didn't let anyone return or get a refund, no lol, don't buy from them.
@@jeanvaljean6433 honestly, "yeah our product may or may not work but we're still gonna sell it"
@@jeanvaljean6433 I feel like it totally does. You can sell whatever you want if you tell people exactly what you're selling. What would be wrong would be selling shoddy products and not admitting it. Anyone who buys this can't say they didn't know the risks.
It looks like the monoblock would benefit from something like K5 Pro or thermal putty, something that can squish, instead of pads to prevent uneven contact
Copper shims, in fact, are better because then you have the force pushing against the die of the chip.
@@ChristopherStanton I'd be worried about those shifting and shorting out.
This is something that can be fixed in design they need to adjust the approach on how they make contact points they should prioritize the soc making sure they contact it at exact pressure then have everywhere else designed for thermal pads the pads will allow for height tolerance around the board.
This may also be overlooking the temperature tolerance of the different components too, the RAM is up to 85degC while the APU is 105degC, is it wise to make contact with both at once for the same heatsink?
actually monoblock works fine on my steamdeck, not like shown in the video. probably couldn't mount it correctly or they received bad unit.
A lot of work to downgrade the steam deck
It may have cost a pretty penny but I think it is worth it to add all that optional customisation and performance to the Deck, the right to repair (and upgrade) is a wonderful thing.
14:38 I like how you call 49.99 "around 40", the trick really works!
I love how good the first 1.5 minutes of the videos have been getting. Each time they get better and more creative, and the punchline of "our sponsor" makes me laugh every time. Keep it up LTT!
for determining the thickness of thermal pad required, there is a product used in engine building called a squash string, used to work out the clearance on bearings. You put it in and tighten down the bracket then undo it and how much it has flattened out tells you the exact size of the gap I don’t know if people use these in PC building yet, but it seems like a great way to get the perfect thickness pad required for those VRM and memory chips
I was wondering when someone was going to get around to mentioning the method you suggested using squash string. As a retired EE & a Mechanic, I can definitely see the advantage and credibility in using this technique.
This SHOULD be the GOLD Standard way of doing ALL HEAT-SINK Clearances !!
It's done this way in EVERY SPEC Motor,so there should be NO difference in our Micro-Electronics either ! This would insure Maximum & Minimum height tolerances to gain the BEST out of the Heat Sinks. And it's Easily attainable !😎
I'm glad that linus is doing videos on the deck again 😁 it's been a long time
I just got my Steam deck less than a month ago and man, although many of these products aren’t perfect, I LOVE the idea that there’s such a wild market out there creating things for the Steam deck
I love the idea of a display upgrade but this one feels like they wanted to focus on higher resolution as the main selling point, which I think is not really a good idea considering the Steam Deck's performance and battery. Personally this is what I would really want from a display upgrade, and I'd pay over $100 for it:
-Better color (the one in the video does have this)
-Better response time (the Steam Deck display's response time feels very noticeable in some games to the point that I don't play them on the Deck)
-Higher refresh rate (even just 75 Hz or 90 Hz, doesn't need to be 120 Hz for me)
-A slightly bigger display via smaller bezels (same resolution)
I'm sure some people like the higher resolution and that's cool, but I really think that's the wrong focus for the Steam Deck given its performance and battery constraints. I'd even put up with all the BIOS tedium for the stuff I mentioned above. I'm sure there's difficulty around sourcing a display like that though.
One way I've noticed to get response time a little better is to set the Deck's frame rate limit to OFF because there's a separate option to allow/disallow screen tearing and use the game's Vsync instead so the game doesn't render past your set refresh rate and burn battery. Though if you're playing games at 30-40fps response time will always be higher than a good pc that can run at 60fps or higher.
Given the Decks huge bezels, I'd bet you could fit a 7.5" display into the same frame as long as you could find a compatible one. It doesn't sound like much, but that extra .5" could really help with text legibility in some games, I'd definitely buy that upgrade.
@@unnoticedhero1 Yeah I'm aware of that. Even under ideal circumstances, I believe the Steam Deck is 30+ ms for response time.
I don’t get it. You understand that the performance and battery life are reasons the 1200p screen is a bad idea, but you WANT a 90hz display…what the heck do you play at 90FPS that doesn’t max out the GPU?
@@TheOfficialOriginalChad Older games
The most tech tippy video I've seen in a while. Thanks for getting into the details and not treating it like short circuit.
Those buttons are the most amazing part. Absolute best upgrade. The shell is nice too, but would probably also just stick with the back shell. Just to avoid having to swap the screen around.
The screen removal looks really rough.
$50 for few plastic yeah.
the maker posted above, they personally do each one by hand
@Deckbuttons
@Deckbuttons
12 hours ago
Thank you for featuring my buttons!! As a long time LTT fan this is almost incomprehensible to me. They are all resin cast by hand by one person (me) and everything is from scratch (not directly molded off of the OEM steam deck buttons) That's what allows for the raised "steam" and "..." buttons, and other tweaks and themes that are coming in the near future. Absolutely in awe that this happened, about to go live to chat to everybody stopping by the site!
@@Whiteshade
“Joystick doesn’t feel as good down to the right” just gets stuck in position 😂 11:40
@@michael99087 the camera pan didn’t come quick enough 🤣 they had to of been sponsored lmao
Enjoying my steamdeck for almost a year now. Been able to play some triple aa games on it like Spiderman, Days Gone, Cyber Punk and Elden Ring.
I use it mainly when I go to my brothers house for a bit of a lan party to play co op shooters. The J Saux case with cooler makes it around 10°C cooler and is just a click on and off without any modifications to the deck! Also works great when docked!
Yeah i recently got the 64gb and upgraded it to 500gb, probably gonna get that back plate next
Triple aa is like aaaaaa games
@@maxosborne1693yeah I just got my 64gb refurb from GameStop and upgraded to a 1tb SSD, and the jsaux vented backplate too. Easy peasy
I love how honest you guys are about everything rather than pretending everything went great. I wanted to swap the shell of my deck but I'm not good with this type of thing, it seems pretty invasive and the quality sounds bad.
The problem with some of these upgrades, in particular the ones that impact performance, is that they're less upgrades and more trade offs. There's a reason why Valve set it up that way and messing with it messes with that balance.
In my mind there are only two upgrades to the Steam Deck internals that are actually worth it, storage capacity and the analogue sticks. And frankly, you don't strictly speaking _need_ to do either.
A micro SD card will do fine for storage and unless the analogue sticks start acting up you really don't need to upgrade them either.
the timing on this is gold.
Ya steamdeck oled fixes a lot
The chassis swap is definitely the way to go! That looks awesome! The 1200p does look a lot better... dang that sucks it is such a big performance hit.
On a handheld, 720p is fine, and you're prioritising performance anyway
I love that "gription" has slowly been spreading. My wife first used it like 25 years ago and we never heard it anywhere else for a long time but it keeps popping up here and there. This is how language evolves, and the internet certainly accelerates it!
Sticks - fucked up
Cooling interface - fucked up
Screen - decrease performance
BIOS - fucked up
Cool upgrade.
You missed one component, that I love: USB-C to USB-C EXTENSION CABLE (2m is mine)
So you can play while charging, using USB connected to the dock, HDD, or SDD, or use your TV or monitor and the Steam deck as controller.
I would upgrade the screen for a smaller bezel; not too bothered about resolution or even colour gamut. Not sure if that would be enough to make the bios flashing worth the hassle for me though
Ok sounds like way more hassle
Yeah replacing the screen looks like a huge hassle and risk.
Rip to all the 7 people who bought the full hd screen for steam deck only for valve to drop steam deck oled
8:43 looks like the thermal paste wasn't spread evenly, that could explain the temperature differences
Good catch. I've tried warning people over and over again on GPU repaste vides that you must spread the paste on the dies because its not the same as just putting a blob on an IHS and it'll likely spread to enough places. On dies, always spread it.
@@peartreez If there was proper contact it'd be spread properly. If there is so little pressure that you have to make sure it spreads then it isn't going to conduct well anyways, regardless of spread. The goal is to have as little TIM between the CPU and cooler as possible.
@@Mad-Lad-Chad it would not fully cover the whole DIE if there's not enought thermalpaste applied initialy even if the pressure was sufficient. And you could not 100% tell if it is enough or not.
Hey, as we mentioned in the video, we got a sample from Wave 1 of Posseidon's 3 Rings' original Monoblock, and their CEO warned us in advance that they had experienced wildly varying results, ranging from 20 degrees below stock, to 10 degrees above stock due to some manufacturing issues. We followed the directions they provided, using the supplied pads, and unfortunately ended up with a poor result.
P3R also told us they are aiming for a more consistent "10 degrees below stock" for the second iteration of the Monoblock (Wave 2), and told us about some of the improvements they are planning, which include increased fin density, additional material over the APU to improve mounting pressure and thermal conductance, and some tweaks to improve levelling and mounting.
They also mentioned experimenting with a larger heatpipe, though at the time of this update, that's still listed as 'Pending' for their original Monoblock, while it appears to be confirmed for the Monoblock 2. We look forward to trying out both Wave 2 and Monoblock 2 and seeing the improvements first-hand.
In the meantime, there's an active modding community on P3R's Discord who have conducted a ton of experiments aimed at improving the performance of the Wave 1 part, you can check that out here: discord.gg/uRhFDDK
FYI when you order a refurbished Steam Deck, the case is still brand new
I'm amazed you guys didn't test the replacement screen at the decks native resolution to see how it looks in comparison
Running a non native resolution on a display generally looks pretty bad, wouldn’t be a fair comparison to the replacement.
Upscaling non-native looks bad, always, why even test it??
@@mrpiratefox4497 with fsr its not that bad
Why would you bother going through all of that trouble and hassle (and the cost) to upgrade that screen and then play at the deck's native res, though?
Linus also hasn't tried the vibrant deck plug in which makes the colors of the stock screen so much better. That we actually won't need any replacement screen.
That segway to the first sponsor...
*chef's kiss*
Might be your best on yet!
the sticky joysticks is a known issue with the guile kit stuff - take them out, pull the stick off and pop it back on, pushing hard, should fix it right up.
I believe the whole thing that happened at LTT was for the best. This video was well done and still had the Linus charm. I have noticed that these new videos just seem to have more care and less objectivity more straight forward facts. All in all I think I can watch more videos. Good job guys.
With OLED Steadm Deck out, RIP DeckHD
Surprise surprise 00:58 was segway to @LinusTechTips sponsor, truly creative.
I like the much more comedic videos linus tends to make now
The title should be “Destroy your steam deck for $100''
Give this another year and perhaps Valve getting more on board with the modding/aftermarket scene, you'll see this process get better and be very affordable.
All these upgrades except for the SSD are a complete waste of money
How is getting Hall effect joysticks a waste of money, it litterly gives you peace of mind that your joysticks won’t drift while having a lower deadzone.
@@jaylomere no you
@@jaylomeredid you not watch the video?
Linus could instantly tell that the new joysticks were now sticking when aimed at the bottom right corner. There are multiple comments here of other people saying they had the same problem too...
So yeah, the thought of stick drift could be a thing of the past. But actually having your sticks get stuck when using them regularly... that doesn't sound worth spending money on holisticks n time to install them to prevent the chance of stick drift. If my SD got stick drift I would for sure look into putting holeffect joysticks on.
But ya this video was pretty dumb when everything except for adding more storage had pretty big downfalls included with them. And adding more storage to your deck is something everyone did the moment they got theirs... no need to be in a video two years later
@@MemeCastGuy69 did you not read my comment I said Hall effect joystick in a general term not this one in particular, if you had actually understood my comment maybe you wouldn’t be yapping in the replies
@@jaylomere linus spent the entire video complaining about them lol
I love all the accesorries, but tbh I absolutely love the simple approach with having everything black. I get distracted easily and I love that when I game all I see is the screen and nothing else.
I wish that the screen gad better sRGB and was an oled, but I think valve nailed it!
I want to upgrade to a bigger ssd later, but with that said I've been using an sd-card and in everyday use it works great!
You lost me at 50 bucks for 5 plastic buttons
That purple case looks just like my old N64 controller!
I like that the upgraded screen with “anti glare coating” had substantially more visible glare than the oem screen on camera lmao.
Got my purple body from Jesus and they had a wonderful process for replacing the body. All the screws and springs came in an organized kit with the screws separated and labeled for size. Still a pain staking process but it was 100% worth it.
Love that Valve is doing this!
sticky sticks are also present in the OG case, the solution I found best is to loose the screws holding the sticks by a tiny bit and all is good. The tolerances there are a little bit small.
As for the replacement shell, I'd fear the Nokia-effect - there were so many crappy cheap cases for the popular models and the quality and feel was terrible. When the case-swap is that much work, I'd be depressed to find a lower quality gaming- and handling experience afterwards. I'll stay with the stock shell, the hall-effect sticks are quite attractive though :D
Thanks for the video, that gave me something to think about.
6:31 WHY though? That's a downgrade in my book; you lose performance, or if you render at 1280x800 to get the same performance it's actually a downgrade in visual quality since the native resolution will look better.
Edit: NICE! You guys did a great job covering the downsides of the screen upgrade, I didn't expect that and spoke too soon
I love how he initially complained about a slightly scratched d-pad and then went on to replace it with a bunch of incredibly tacky replacement parts lmao
He let Jordan buy the parts so of course they will be bright, shiny and ADHD pleasing. [Jordan did the TEMU video]
the screen upgrade is a definite "no" for me. not only is it to much work, but 800p just doesn't look that bad, and the hit to battery life isn't worth it. So I'm still holding out for for a battery upgrade
8:43 In that Frame Linus opens the Steam Deck again and lifts the heatsink, you can see the mounting pressure on the ram is very uneven (1 of 4 ram chips seems to have no contact at all).
This would explain the bad temperatures on the die also, guessing that to bottom pads for the powersupply are too thick and cause an uneven pressure in the apu itself)
I personally would give it another try first testing without thermal pads at all and if that works better using pads but press them a little bit harder on the components to make them thinner (yes that works, happend to me with 2 waterblocks for 2080 ti and 4090 as I preordered them and the thermal pads had the wrong thickness for some components)
They are also did a bad job on applying thermalpaste on the DIE - you can see it not fully covered. You should spread the paste and not dotting it as they did. Another bad effort from the team after all the critics they got.
Do yourself a favor. Buy the 1tb OLED Limited Edition. You end up with something much better and don't have to risk taking it apart. And it's cheaper after the upgrades of a refurbished.
I really hope that Nintendo and Steam keep their next devices to 720p/800p screens. Everyone wants more resolution but I just want to be able to play at some higher settings, or framerate. Screens at these sizes are great at this resolution.
Tbh i i think higher is better as you can just lower the rez, then on games that dont push the system to its limits like a emulator you get a way nicer image
I think they probably would keep it the same, though I could see the next Switch being a 1080p screen that just runs games at 720 and uses DLSS to get to 1080 but we'll see.
For heating that screen uniformly use the 3d printer heated bed.. Put the screen side down, set to 70C leave it for few minutes, it will soften the adhesives and you don't need to put so much hot air and/or tin foil.
Secret shopper 3 video is no more,after 3 min stop,I refresh and is gone......😢
0:48 LTT has the only sponsor segments I actually feel good about watching. This segue actually made me laugh. I wish UA-cam ads would go this route instead of being intrusive af.
I wish someone would make a custom back shell and M.2 ribbon cable that lets you use a 2280 M.2 accessible via a hatch door on the new back shell.
There are adapters developed for the Steam Deck to install 2280 ssd above the m.2 slot. The SSD then protrudes over the battery. But you have to build the case yourself. Cut a hole in the case yourself or build something from 3D print.
The same company that makes the monoblock in the video offers an adapter and a new backplate to accommodate a full size m.2 but it’s a pre order at the moment
Ide cables can only be a maximum length
Sata can only be a maximum length.
Might be the same with M.2
@@BEARTAC0S Seeing how the company handled the monoblock, don't get your hopes up
@@BEARTAC0S This is great, it looks like you need to remove the back cover to swap M.2 drives. A small removable cover would be better, but this works. Especially since 4TB NVMe drives are so cheap now.
That case color is the same as my game boy advance. That thing got a lot of use. Still works! Including my Game Boy and Game Boy Color.
17:46 I wish we could have seen those thumb-sticks tested in LABS. How do the dead-zones and outputs compare to the standard OEM thumb-sticks?
they're square gated while the OEM are circular gated, so it won't feel the same by default, you'd need to change it in steam input to account for that.
That's why the gulikit ones kinda suck while the new Elecgear ones just are better
I love that Valve has been open to and supportive of these kinds of mods, and I hope they will continue to improve, but as of right now nothing I've done to "upgrade" my Steam Deck has actually made it any better, except the drive and stick upgrades.
What a coincidence that I just bought a used steam deck yesterday and just opened UA-cam and this one the first video in my feed. Linus your team does really well with all tech products. You guys make it look so easy to add upgrades. P.S. already added and playing PS2 games first three hours of turning it on 😂. Love my steam deck!! 🔥
Linus digging in that hole looked surprisingly good 😂The lighting matched really well.
I was considering the screen update just because it had better colors. I found the colors on the original screen very bland, but after using SteamOS 3.5 color controls I was able to tweak it so that it looks a lot better.
@unholydonuts True. My comment is from 3 weeks ago when I had no idea the Steam Deck OLED even existed.
There are 2230 to 2280 SSD adapters for the Steam Deck, you should take a look at those.
What happened to the new Secret shopper 3 part 2!? The video now says private when trying to load from UA-cam home. Re-release!
This was much more indepth than I expected. Can't wait to check out your other content ❤
Did he delete secret shopper part 2?
very creative intro truly although it only lasts like 1 minute its still really good and got me to watch this more than once fully
man, i really hope that if Valve ever does a SteamDeck 2 revision they make a lot easier to just pop-out the screen-side half of the shell so you can install things like buttons, sticks & screens with less hassle
I had to replace a stick because I broke it. Was no hassle?
@@Wylie288 yeah but it could be even simpler is what I'm saying
my favourite gamecube joystick was also the purple translucent one. i like seeing the electronics inside.
Yoooo what happened to Secret Shopper Part 2. I was in the middle of watching it until it got removed.
i know same happened here
The editing of the intro is enjoyable, great job
Why did you take down the Starforge video?
I want a segue company to sponsor you guys once so you can say "here's the segue, to our segue"
Linus is the kind of person to buy a tech item and shove a butt load of random stuff inside of it cause why not
Gonna need to make a new one of these for the SteamDeck OLED. This was a really great video. Looking forward to your updated upgrades for the OLED model.
It’s… basically the same lol all these upgrades are gonna be the same
@@spacedout4061not the screen upgrade. It’s gonna be smaller
@@GoCOD3 what
@@spacedout4061 the pled has a 7.4 screen, the screen improvement has a 7 screen
What happened to secret shopper part 2?
Steam Deck 2 when tho? APUs don't age nearly as well as PCS, every new generation tends to have pretty significant uplift.
Why did you private the secret shopper video 🧐
I have no interest in a higher res screen for the Steam Deck. What I DO desperately want, however, is an OLED screen mod. Then I would definitely go through the effort of upgrading.
What happened to secret shopper 3?
My guess is Starforge talking with Linus. But I don't think they are that big of a sellout to just delete the video to just not make a brand look bad or I least I want to think that
@@SnakeJuice thanks for the reply. Hopefully they did do it because of a mistake and hopefully they will upload it again.
I love how there was a product placement spot for the Sabrent dock BUT its Ethernet port wasn't mentioned
uhh i was in the middle of watching the new secret shopper video and it was just ripped from the internet..... what happened??
The diging part is the coolest thing you have done
Why was the secret shoppers part 2 privated?
i was literally in the middle of the video lol
@@OddEyeGuy Something smells fishy.
I would personally change the title and thumbnail for this video. From the perspective of someone who often scrolled past this video before actually watching it, saying "I spent more than I saved" and showing a broken screen feels like negative advertising for the refurbished deck (something I'm actually considering buying). Great vid, btw!
Why did they private the secret shopper video they recently put out?? Was it because Starforge bribed them into not showing their piece of crap pc they sent them??
I noticed that too they removed it all of a sudden 😂
I have a 512 deck and feel bad I've not been able to use it more. It is a really, really impressive piece of kit.
I think its not worth doing half of these upgrades
The sabrent dock is probably the best choice if you are gonna get any of this but if you have a steam deck 1tb model you dont need an extra sd
ltt should do a collaboration with spectre sound studios
Personally the JSAUX covers were much more better to install and they used the same threads for the deck.
I originally got a back cover, and then they released front ones and I bought one in an instant! Broke the screen, I heard it as I scraped off the foam, but other than that, it caused me to get a 512GB screen replacement instead, so it was a win for me, I absolutely LOVE it and honestly, it feels nice when people ask how I even did it, I even sideloaded windows onto it, allowing me to code on the go, absolutely love this machine!!