Connecting a GPU on the Steam Deck? It can be done, and the performance increases up to 10 times

Steam Deck Valve’s portable console, in fact a real computer in an extremely compact device. Precisely for this reason it is possible to install a dedicated GPU and drastically improve graphics performance, despite the fact that Valve itself has declared the opposite.

To prove that you can use a dedicated video card on the Steam Deck was the ETA Prime YouTube channel that, albeit with some compromised in terms of portability, he also managed to run Elden Ring in 4K with the console by setting the graphics options to the maximum.

Steam Deck with dedicated GPU? It can be done (but better not to do it)

Not having a Thunderbolt port, the only method the console offers for connecting external devices either slot M.2 PCIe x4 normally dedicated to storage. This means that for additional storage you need to rely on a microSD. No NVIDIA GPU can be used with the tested method (YouTube channel tried GeForce GTX 1060, GTX 1650, RTX 3060 without success), while the test went through with an AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT.

A specific dock was used to connect to the M.2 slot, powered together with the video card through a traditional ATX power supply for desktop computers. SteamOS clearly does not support the installation of an external GPU, so for its proper functioning state installed Windows 11 inside a microSD used for archiving. A USB-C hub was used to connect USB peripherals and accessories, such as a mouse and keyboard.

The system clearly compromises the portability of Valve’s console, but allows for significantly higher performance despite the various bottlenecks present in the solution. The Van Gogh APU (Zen2) present, for example, has its limited power consumption between 4 and 15W, while the M.2 slot uses only 4 PCIe lanes, with obvious repercussions in performance that also affect the experience of game. Despite this, the performances obtained by ETA Prime are very interesting: on the 3DMark Fire Strike benchmark, 26855 points were obtainedabout 5.5 times higher than the typical Steam Deck result with the same test (4800 points).

In the TimeSpy test the result is almost 10 times higher: 15579 points against 1576 of the integrated GPU in the console. There are also big advantages in video games, with the possibility of enabling 4K resolution with some Triple A titles: on The Witcher 3 you get over 100 FPS with graphics settings set to Ultra, on GTA 5 it exceeds 70 FPS at Very High. In Elden Ring or Cyberpunk 2077 the system allows to obtain a frame rate between about 50 and 70 fps, in Full HD.

Not bad results, It’s a pity that the GPU alone is about three times the size of the entire console, without considering the dock, the USB hub, and the large ATX power supply needed to power the add-ons. In short, an interesting experiment to verify the real potential of the small console from Valve, but of questionable usefulness for the end user.

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