8 Essential Tips for Maximizing Your Steam Deck Experience

The Steam Deck is the best handheld gaming experience, bar none. But there's still room for improvement. That's why I made this video. I'm hope to help you maximize your gaming experience on Deck.

Featured in this video:

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*What are your PC specs?*
My Office Rig:
❯ AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
❯ ASRock B550 TAICHI RAZER Edition
❯ MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB
❯ G. SKILL DDR4 32GB x4 (128GB)
❯ HYTE Y60 Case

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❯ AMD Ryzen 7 1800x
❯ MSI Pro Series X370 SLI PLUS
❯ NVIDIA GTX Titan X (Pascal) 12 GB
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❯ Fractal Design Define R9 Case
❯ Manjaro GNOME

Living Room Gaming Rig:
❯ ASUS X99-E-10G WS
❯ Intel Core i7-6900K @ 3.2GHz
❯ NVidia Titan X (Pascal)
❯ DDR4 Corsair Vengeance RGB 8GB x8 (64GB)

Backup Rig
❯ System76 Thelio Minor
❯ AMD Ryzen 5 3400G
❯ DDR4 16GB RAM
❯ Zotac Nvidia GTX 970 4GB

Home Server:
❯ ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3
❯ AMD FX 6300 at 3.5 GHz
❯ Nvidia GTX 750 1GB
❯ DDR3 20 GB RAM

00:00 - Intro
00:35 - Discovery your back catalog
01:31 - Upgrade your storage
03:13 - Explore Controller Customization
04:44 - Install non-Steam apps
05:54 - Enable file copying
06:34 - Connect your headphones
07:11 - Enable 40Hz mode
08:46 - Upgrade your charging
09:44 - Connect to your TV
10:46 - Connect your controllers

#steamdeck #tipsandtricks #valvesoftware

[shiBuyaking]

I’m glad I’m not the only one who buys a bunch of games on Steam and never plays them 😂

[WCfanatic]

I am very glad that Steam is making this at least somewhat end-user friendly, instead of doing what companies like Apple do where everything is closely controlled and you cant do anything to change any part of the hardware.

But then again Valve seems to understand that being hands-off and making the end-user experience as simple and open-ended as possible is always a winning move.

[SticksAandstonesBozo]

Buddy ….. I’m old and very busy and haven’t paid attention to the deck info until this week when I got one. I’ve looked for a decent video like this for almost a week. Finally. Thank you.

[playamusa]

"Why not like that smash button?" Because I can't see it anywhere 😢😊

[Decked-Out]

If you are downloading games on desktop mode you can have the screen turn off. I had to reset my steam deck a few weeks ago and had it download games all night this way.

[ryanbell]

Great timing with the Steam Deck sale!

[uss_liberty_incident]

Thanks for the solid, non clickbait video. Love to see it.

[limpfall]

I ordered it like 3 days ago so I can’t wait for it to arrive

[moonlambo]

Awesome video man. I think I might pick up the official dock.

[roqeyt]

I'm waiting for the sn740 2tb to be available in Europe, for that sweet sweet storage upgrade

I'd argue a good case (like the killswitch) broadens the usecases of the deck. Me and many of my friends occasionally use the deck for watching movies, streams or just for a call. The kickstand really helps with that.

[M-AC]

A new updated guide from yourself explaining the best ways to set up the deck to a monitor, getting the best desktop experience. That would be nice from your channel.

[miles]

For me, I felt myself mainly using my deck as a PC, i want to take more use of it and use it outside/traveling but whenever im out i dont feel the need to bring my pc with me.

[maroonstarsface]

Screen off download option, switch to desktop mode and open steam. Click the battery icon and pick how long idle you want before screen off and set sleep to never when plugged in.

[XoaGray]

So one thing I've found that's a bit of an issue with 3rd party controllers (Xbox in my case specifically) is that sometimes software changes require a firmware update on the Xbox controller. I ran into this recently when I noticed one of my Xbox controllers had significant input lag when connected to the Steam Deck) I do not own an actual Xbox, nor do I have a Windows PC myself. I was fortunately able to get a friend to upgrade the firmware on my controller via their Windows computer.
Do you know of a way to upgrade the firmware on an Xbox controller via the Steam Deck, or via a PC that isn't running Windows? Conversely, is this an issue you've come across with the PS Dual Sense controllers? Can you upgrade their firmware without a Windows PC or PS5 if it needs be?

[monsetrplays]

I just ordered my steam deck so excited for it!!!

[Shadow_Hawk_Streaming]

I'm thankful for the 3.5mm jack even if seldom used

[dath_realm]

I get 2 hours total of break time during work. I use my steamdeck at that time. playing all the single player games i never have time for after work.

[TheInfiniteNine]

If I'm going to be doing mostly emulation for my steam deck am I good to just get a 1tb micro sd? I have the 64gb emmc version.

[SavvySteak]

I got the steam deck for me fps and emulation needs.
So excited

[cgsenior]

I'd love to see a video showing actual live 4 players' gameplay on the steam deck 👍