How Much Does It Cost to Fix a Steam Deck?

I completely dissasembled my new Steam Deck, and I go over how to replace EVERYTHING in this thing. I show you how to upgrade the joysticks with the gulikit joysticks, and I show you how to do a screen replacement on the steam deck. I also show you how to easily upgrade your SSD, so you can have more storage on your Deck! I upgraded this one with a 1TB SSD, and it came out fantastic. We also look at a teardown of what the motherboard, controller, and other assembly looks like for the deck, and how fixable it really is. The battery replacement needs some work, however.

Links to everything I used (Affiliate!):
(I suggest upgrading once you feel more comfortable soldering)

ifixit pls sponsor me I am on my hands and knees here

[KarlRock]

Handheld gaming industry is really heating up, and I love it. I forgot how much I loved handheld until I got my Switch a year ago. It took me back my Gameboy days as a kid. I just got the ROG Ally. Although I hope to get a Steam Deck one day because I think Valve will continue to lead the segment with their future Decks and SteamOS. Keep tinkering and documenting it Bro!

[Ahmed____]

Some serious video quality here! Gets better with each upload, and the layout is excellent.

[ben_burnes]

It is honestly WILD and REFRESHING that Valve seems to give a shit about consumers who care about cracking the Deck open and poking around. Amazing they labeled not only the boards but the cables and everything.

[OmairArif]

The battery may be a similar size in mAh to a S22 Ultra, but what actually matters is the Watt hour rating, which is almost double in the Steam Deck. This is because The S22 Ultra battery, similar to most phones, has a nominal voltage of around 3.8V while the Steam Deck's battery is 7.7V.

It is really strange that we've all standardized on talking about mAh ratings when it makes way more sense to talk about Wh rating. The whole controversy about the Apple MagSafe battery being tiny steamed from the exact same misconception.

[martingru]

For ppl who are not expierencd with soldering, when working with small electronic parts try to have quite high temp coz excessive exposure to heat heats up all the components around the area you work on and CAN lead to damage right on the spot what you want to do is just use the iron for as short is possible to do a job ( its possible to add some new soldering material to help melt it), i hope that helps .
I wish Noctua made replacement fan for Steam Deck that would be cool ;)

[DeckWizard]

Incredible Video Jeff, I know you spent a lot of time making this video and looking forward to more Steam Deck content from you soon, well played my man.

Thankyou for the support and encouragement you've given me this year since I started the Deck Wizard channel, you're a true friend! 💪

[shadowedfate]

"Why aren't you loading into the os?"
The steam deck: there's umm... no os to load into jeff...

[returnofmerenguespersempre]

Love these teardown videos, big thanks for doing this!

[MUSQUIZanimation]

Dammit Jeff!
I left you alone with my Steam Deck for 30 minutes. How did you even get a sponsor in that amount of time!?

[retrobear]

I upgraded my joysticks yesterday. Forgot the sd card was in. Ended up snapping it in the drive. The drive is now messed up because I ruined it while prying the card out. I contacted Valve, let em know what happened. Told em i didn't have the old 64gb hard drive since I upgraded to a TB. They are taking it back anyway and sending another. Awesome customer service

[jfangx]

What slowly kills the decks chip is the power draw from the nvme not the form factor. Those western digitals (3.3v 2.5a) you and others are using are about 40 percent over spec on their power draw and if run full tilt for long enough, it will shorten the life of the chip. The deck is only rated for a few watts and those nvme easily exceeded that. I recommend the kingston OM3PDP3512B, 512 (3.3v 1a within spec) and a Samsung 512 pm991 3.3v 1.6a or 1tb pm991a (3.3v 1.8a) both slightly outa spec but much easier on the chip.

Knowing is half the battle.

[tiredoftheliesalready]

6:29 - No, we aren't "just now finding solutions for [drift]." The Sega Dreamcast used Hall Effect sensors in its controllers, and that was back in the late 1990s; the principal is far, far older. It's not that there's been no knowledge of a fix, no understanding of the reason drift happens, or no technology needed to actually address the issues of drift and excessive wear. It is that the preventative design is a tiny bit more expensive, and "cheaping out" is a favorite for manufacturers, especially those in gaming.

[mb]

Nice ad bro I’m moving to Santa Monica next week and when you said where you were my ears perked up so much hahah

[maurosgarage]

for removing sticky glue/tape use 99% isopropyl alcohol works like a charm. That's also good for cleaning water spots off devices with a very soft toothbrush.

[SpaceCassini]

This is a best easy repairable console that history of gaming ever seen.
Valve knew that problems (sticks drifting) with 3D analog sticks and did easies way to replace it:) it's so cool, respect them.
Now i love this company more😂
(And sorry for my English, a just learning it)

[ojmachine]

as an aside the sega saturn had hal effect analogue sticks in their 3d controller as did the dreamcast. the issue is system manufacturers cutting costs and wanting you to replace the whole controller instead of repairing

[beavis]

When you bend the heat pipe slightly while trying to remove that stubborn sticker then you might need a replacement heat sink. I would like to know where to get replacement and how much just for future reference

[KoralTea]

I love your videos, Jeff! Jokull must be proud

[fdddd]

I dunno why but Jeff video is addicting

[RobertLiamWhyte]

There is a few errors in your video:

1. The Hall Effect joy sticks are not new, Sega introduced them on the Dreamcast controller in the 90's.
2. The PCB board that features the shoulder buttons are incredibly fragile and the main reason for replacement or repair to them is the deck being dropped on it's shoulder buttons instantly chipping the button on the board off. Look at how small it is in your video to your finger and then imagine the weight of the deck pushing it off sideways.
3. The replacement M.2 2242 or 2280 pass over the wireless module and it's that interfere that causes issues, that can be circumvented by increasing the length of the electromagnetic shielding on the m.2