Steam Deck Tear-Down: Build Quality, Disassembly, & VRM Analysis

Our Valve Steam Deck tear-down and full disassembly shows all the parts, PCBs, cooling design, and talks about component-level details of the VRM and ICs.

This tear-down of the Steam Deck talks about the battery, the fan and replacement fans (wasn’t easy to find!), heatsink design, screw placement, MOSFET, inductor, voltage regulator, and battery charging IC specs, and more. We’ll cover the VRM current capabilities in this as well, with a lesson on how they work and what they do (for anyone new to this stuff to get introduced). Our hardware review of the Steam Deck is already live on the channel and covered everything else, like battery life, but our focus here is “repairability,” access, overall build quality, and design details.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Steam Deck Teardown & Component Analysis
01:24 - Walk Around of the Steam Deck
02:12 - Steam Deck vs. Switch vs. Switch OLED Comparison
02:53 - Opening Up the Steam Deck
06:00 - Basics of the Thermal Design (See Other Video)
12:17 - Explaining a VRM & Why It Matters
13:45 - Power Component Analysis
14:58 - Power Capabilities
16:15 - VRM Layout & Configuration
17:50 - Teaching Moment for These Parts
19:02 - Battery Charging Circuit Quality
20:56 - MORE TEAR-DOWN
22:10 - So Much Thermal Paste
24:40 - Cables & Connections
28:30 - Controller Boards
30:06 - Conclusion: Build Quality, Shortcomings, & Highlights

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Host, Test Lead, Writing: Steve Burke
Testing: Patrick Lathan
Research: Patrick Stone
Video: Andrew Coleman
Video Production: Keegan Gallick

[GamersNexus]

One correction: the 6A comment would be at a lower voltage (not at wall power), and therefore not a concern. That's our error from pushing through these two videos so fast. But you still shouldn't open your device and then touch stuff while it's running, period.

[justincredible]

Valve are legends for encouraging independent reviewers.

[BurntFaceMan]

Gotta love GN for the speed that they manage to put out such insane quality content.

[Phosphor]

I feel like GN is the only media outlet who understands that thermal imaging is not always useful

[RECEER]

All the separate boards for different functions of the device, i.e. independent board for audio, independent boards for analog sticks, is absolutely fantastic. Super easy to replace a small daughterboard rather than the entire board like most devices these days. Way to go Valve!!

[ZachDxn]

You know Valve did a bangin job when Steve says "I'm impressed" more than once.

[nononame]

Patrick's explanation of the terms VRMs, MOSFETS, controllers, etc and their purpose in the Steam Deck or in the tech world overall was pristine. Steady, articulate and easy to digest. Thanks!

[omgawesomeomg]

Valve said without the shield between the SSD and Wifi module there could be interference and they discouraged users from swapping the SSD. Would love for you guys to test this and see if swapping the SSD with a non-shielded one is actually problematic.

[GeckonCZ]

19:35 It's 6A at 25V max. With voltage potential that low, the thing is perfectly safe. Yes, it's the current flow through your body that's dangerous and 25A is plenty to kill you, but once you put the resistance of your body into the equation (Ohm's law, I=V/R), you will see that with a voltage that low and resistance that high, the current going through your body will never get anywhere near to the dangerous values. In fact, you won't even feel it.

[yaldabaoth]

8:46 I feel pure joy at this editing magic.

[JerryRigEverything]

This guy is like a smarter JerryRigEverything + hair.

[numa_kai]

i love how this looks very serviceable where if one board is damaged, you only replace that and not throw out everything. Simply beautiful

[doogdog]

Engineer here, blown away at the depth and production value of this tear-down. This is far and away more credible than gaming media outlets!

[Boasandpythons]

Coming from an IPC 610 inspection criteria. I'm impressed with the quality of the component soldering onto the PCBs. Valve put in some really good work and manufacturing practices in these steam decks.

[albertogarciaengineer]

Love that valve published a how to video on how to replace some components, makes this product more compelling.

[leotoro]

31:42 Those scenes with very deep field of view are incredible ! I love it - it makes Steve looks almost cinematic ahahah ;) Good job camera man :)

[quantumbits]

HIGH QUALITY CONTENT.
This is the type of content that me and the community love to consume it's both educational and entertaining at the same time.
I genuinely learnt and enjoyed watching your videos.
Really appreciate the time and work that you and your team put into making these.

[ragzard]

Stone's electronics class was extremely interesting and easy to grasp ever for me, a person with very low circuits knowledge. Loved it.

[SuperCloneRanger]

25:36 The foam will be conductive, its so the can is grounded without having to be physically attached.

[KontroldKaos]

A tear-down video at 4am? Yes, please!