"Owning a Steam Deck has made me realize the errors of my ways" - PC Gamer

https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/handheld-gaming-pcs/i-used-to-be-a-frame-rate-snob-but-owning-a-steam-deck-has-made-me-realise-the-error-of-my-ways/

Happy Easter! I saw this article and immediately thought of @BassMan 😜

This is mostly a blog post from this writer, but it highlights something I think we take for granted... Enjoying what is in front of us rather than micro analyzing specs and output.

I am not and have never been a performance snob, but steam deck has made me game differently. Appreciating games at a different pace and digging into so many backlog games I otherwise never would've.

I'm wondering how steam deck has changed your gaming life? Do you relate to gaming differently since the deck? How?

Also, do you think steam deck can warm @BassMan's cold 120fps 8k heart like the writer in this article or is he more machine than man at this point? 🤪

Disclaimer... I totally enjoy bassmans posting. He's a great community member.

Since I have always played games for playing and not for framerate, I have not been a victim of this silliness of requiring 60fps.😊 It has always been silly, and it remains silly. There are so many good games I would have missed if I have limited myself to a counter on screen. Framerate only matters to me when it directly affects the game. I don't get this Steam Deck changing one life stuff.🥴

Likely to get a few in here just blowing off Steam. lol :P

Here here!! 🍻

You clever bast***...

@TheEroica: The point of video games is to have fun. Somehow, that keeps getting lost.

Looking forward to hearing the feedback from these 10-20 people in the world who actually own a Steamdeck.

Funny thing, but I keep thinking about having a Steam Deck OLED and I think in a way it would limit me to only enjoying games that can run on 90fps and preferably have HDR.

Yes, I like those games the most that can take full use of the hardware I have lying around at the time.

On DS I liked games that could make use of both screens. On 3DS I liked games with 3D support.

On Steam Deck I appreciate games that can run at 60fps and preferable at 16:10.

Coming off Batman Arkham Asylum (beat it for the first time the other week) and jumping into Blackgate on a couch, was a great experience.

Closing off, we shouldn't overly obsess over framerates, but we should demand our games to be optimized.

A good game is a good game regardless of 30fps vs 60+fps. The caveat for me is multiplayer and competitive games. That’s where 144+fps comes in. As far as the Steam Deck and my gaming habits. Being able to take my Steam backlog on the go is a huge bonus. And the ability to, you know, have generations of games right there as well is huge

I’ve purchased GTA V like 4 times and never finished it. Having it on the Steam Deck is probably the only way I’m gonna finish that game. Are there graphical and performance compromises being made? Yup. But for this kind of game, that doesn’t really matter.

I've been telling @BassMan that the best thing about the Steam Deck it helps gamers (also console gamers) open the doors to the world of PC gaming and what it's like without building a desktop or breaking the bank. The Steam Deck may have its flaws for not having state-of-the-art PC specs, but it is still a great device to get into PC gaming.

While the Steam Deck isn't for me as I prefer to game on a high-end PC, I'd still always recommend it to anyone who just wants to play PC games right away without building a PC.

Hey Last-Lap, if you are reading this, I think you'll like Steam Deck as it's more straight forward to get into and most of all, enjoy gaming...on PC.

(Oh yeah, glad you are loving the Steam Deck Garrus. Does playing Mass Effect Legendary Edition on Steam Deck has been a dream come true?)

For the last couple of years, i really want a nice handheld, but what's on the market is simply not good enough. Not only do i want to run everything on High settings, but both sticks better be Hall Effect sticks. And the screen must be in no less than 1080p. When that's released, i'll grab one.

Btw i think that Steam should release a Jumbo Steam Deck for the release of the Switch/PS handheld/MS handheld. It should be $800-1000, but offer the absolute top end hardware that you can get for a mobile device.

I just made friends with a guy that owns a Steam Deck OLED in my Networking class. I showed him my Legion Go and we both joked about how we have much more powerful desktops but we choose to play almost everything on our PC handhelds.

Best thing I am loving about my Legion Go right now is that because it runs on Windows I can use Lossless Scaling and their new frame generation tech. I tried it out on Days Gone and at a locked 30fps it looked like 60fps. I only got noticeable artifacts on the bottom of my screen when driving around. Capping games at 48 FPS also is great even without frame generation. The input latency and framerate is smooth enough for games that aren't too fast paced.

The fact that I am also getting way better graphics and performance than any other portable gaming device also makes it easier to deal with not playing the latest games at the highest settings and framerates. As long as the graphics aren't muddy and blurry and the framerate doesn't feel like a slide show I am willing to put up with it.

The type of games that I play on the Deck aren't demanding, so performance is usually held at 60fps. I've always treated the Deck like a traditional handheld, where I play mostly 2D games, platformers, and rpgs. If I want to play something with a lot of visual clutter, that's what my desktop is for.

More like 1.62M. However, I'll say it again, it's a PC. Just a PC in handheld form, you don't need to come out with the numbers of how many Switches with its 10 year old old weak hardware have been sold in comparison.

Most people who bought a Deck, already have a main gaming PC.

Playing the Tomb Raider Remasters collection highlights instantly how much better higher frame-rate is.

You have a instant button choice, never use 30fps.

I'd buy it.

Pc gamers have always played hardware and framerate instead of actually enjoying their games. Every pc I have owned has been the same - I spent more time tweaking settings instead of actually playing. It’s a giant waste of time. I’ll never game on pc again.

Having a superiority complex over specs has been, and always will be, a symptom of Small Dick Energy.

This has happened to me somewhat with the ROG Ally.

It has a FreeSync display so I find myself capping games at 40fps for the extended battery life or higher settings.

This is from a guy who always gets Nvidia's top GPU every generation.

You mean lossless scaling as in the app that is on Steam?

@R4gn4r0k: Yup that is what I am using. As far as I know it doesn't work on SteamOS. You need Windows.

I've mostly been gaming at 60fps the last few years and have developed anm metal aversion to 30... but on the rare occasions i've played at 30 it hasn't been too bad, so maybe i can get past it .

Only played stuff on the Deck where I can get 60fps so far.

@jaydan: 🤣

But yes. 60+ fps is better, but most games play perfectly well at 30. Higher resolutions are cool, but gains after 1080p are small potatoes to my 41 year old eyes. PlayStation and N64 were my formative years. Performance dips don't phase me.

I own a ROG Ally. Love it. Xbox, Steam, and Epic games all in one place. Haven't played on my laptop or consoles in a while. The fps on the Ally while playing Robocop jump around a lot. Haven't played much for demanding games on it yet. I own RE4 Remake, but haven't tried it yet.

@NoodleFighter: Big fan of those frame generation tools so far!

Been saying it the whole time. Hell, I still don't have a 4k tv, my PC was built in 2012, and my only console is a base PS4. I like great graphics as much as anyone, but not more than a great game. I would take WCW vs NWO over any modern WWE game.

This is one of the many things I hate about modern multiplayer. Beyond the rampant cheating and the lame ass games, the ability to buy an advantage has never been greater. Video games used to be one of the fairest forms of competition; at least on console. Give everyone the same system and controller, then see who's actually better at the game. If it's not fair, then what's the point?

@TheEroica: Part of the fun of owning a PC is trying to push it and get the best out of your hardware, that in itself is a game. Something can always be better.

But this makes you more attuned to noticing flaws and having the compulsion to do something about it. Getting everything just right can be a bit consuming, and you don't know just because everything works right in the earlier part of the game, if the tuning you did will perform consistent through to the end of the game. So you might have to reevaluate things and tweak some more.

I can see how it can become a distraction and take focus away from enjoying a game. On the other hand if there's nothing you can really do about the performance, and if the game is on a specific piece of hardware then generally it's expected the performance is tuned so you get something consistent and not too distracting anyway.

I am the type of person who can identify with the PC Gamer article, and I've been there personally.

The Steam Deck helped get me back into PC gaming as far as the Steam Deck is concerned for similar reasons. It also helps that it removes the annoyances of the OS that people, even MS themselves, call out about Windows handhelds. With the frame cap at the OS level you get a consistent feeling performance with no frame pacing issues. Everything is just very smooth and seamless out of the box. The focus is really on the games, you get into a game and can play it right away without thinking about anything else.

I dunno about that article. The author seems confused. When games have low frame rate, frame pacing issues, stutters, pop-in, flickering, etc... it breaks the immersion and ruins the experience. I buy nice hardware so that I can enjoy all games without having to deal with that shit. However, I do not obsess over the numbers. I do not play with frame rate counters or other overlays. Sure, I will turn them on to see how things are running, but I don't want them distracting me.

I have certain standards for enjoyment of games. I am not going to lower them just for the sake of portability. The OLED Steam Deck is a nice package that lacks performance. So, it would be relegated to potato games for me. At least that way I wouldn't be compromising the experience (other than the downside of playing on a handheld of course). It's the same thing I do with my laptop. My desktop has a RTX 4090 and my laptop has a GTX 1070. I only play potato games on the laptop and don't even bother trying more demanding games.

I have bad habit of leaving my MSI Afterburner overlay/framerate counter on every game I play but not all the time for last-gen games that came from PS3/Xbox 360 era as getting more frames isn't a problem if your PC is up-to-date that is. (I just have Framerate, CPU usage, RAM, and GPU for everything. I keep my overlay simple and a small box)

Honestly the OLED Steam Deck should have been a thing since day one and while Steam Deck does has its flaws, it does help get console gamers into gaming PC.

I'm with you on that. For me, I prefer better framerates to better graphics myself. I really miss those Raw vs Smackdown games. I don't like those more realistic WWE games. They try way too hard, it takes the fun away.

For me, it's not the sense of being able to just enjoy games at lower framerate, it's the fact that I'd be playing on a tiny screen.

I'm sure you can plug the Steam Deck into an HDMI port, but at that point, why? I don't care at all about the portability; if I'm going out somewhere, I'm not going to be playing games, and if I am, it would likely be a LAN party of sorts where I just bring my HTPC and use a monitor/TV or use my 3070 laptop.

So, give me all the incredible hardware to push the most frames and a sweet OLED monitor, please.

The main thing I've noticed with frame rates is the control style. If I'm playing with a kb mouse I must be above 60fps or it feels horrible. On a controller where inputs are slower and smoother I find 30 is ok but still lessens the experience compared to 60.

Also the steam deck is the best piece of gaming hardware I've ever bought.

I love my ROG Ally, and as far as I'm concerned they are all pretty much the same thing. I'll likely get a mini PC at some point because I jumped in with one of the handhelds. Great purchase.

I wouldn't call 60 fps "arbitrary", as you can definitely notice the difference in a lot of fast-paced games. But I do agree with the point that it is often a silly goal to strive for.

Hell, I sometimes find myself setting my FPS limit to 60 in most games just to a.) keep things consistent, b.) limit stress on my system, and c.) keep my room a bit cooler in the summer 😋Those GPU's get hot! 😁

With that said, silky-smooth framerate is pretty damn nice and there are many benefits to high-performance hardware. Is it worth breaking your bank account over? Of course not; but it's a luxury, and some might think it a worthwhile one.

This article almost sounds apologist in tone, like someone is saying "Look, we're sorry for pushing the hardware narrative all these years. It's not the end-all, be-all of gaming, OK?" and I don't think that's accurate lol. Hardware is far from the only component to gaming that matters but it is a significant chunk of it.

Speaking just for me, holding the screen a foot from my face as opposed to 6 feet or more from my face feels on par in terms of emmersion enjoyment.

I agree with this 110% Put a headset on and it’s even better.

PC Gamer, just like many other game news sources, are against their own audience. At least they didn't close the comment section. Anyway...I don't care about portable gaming. Performance is very important to me. It adds to the enjoyment of the game greatly and makes certain genres unplayable if the framerate is poor and/or inconsistent. Next up, the games I've playing are unfinished and glitchy, and that's okay. To each their own I guess.

If i didnt had steam deck, i would never play games like hades, yakuza, vampire survivors. I have been playing heavily with my SD and these types of games i would easily skip on my pc and console because how outdated the graphics are specially when played on big screen.

Even though I have a high end pc, I have never obsessed over graphics and framerate to the detriment of me enjoying a game. I will still play retro games or play a game without adjusting any settings

Hmmm 🤔, so are you saying they haven't been pushing the hardware narrative the hardest for years now? What would you say they have pushed harder? Maybe my view of this is too myopic, but I feel like I've almost exclusively seen the push for higher framerate, greater resolution, more power, rtx, dlss, etc, well above anything that deals with mechanics or interactivity. But again, maybe my view is one of those 'forest for the trees' kinda scenario, and I'm full of it. But I can't think of anything that has been pushed harder than hardware for visuals.

I don't think the Steam Deck really changed anything for me as I have never really run in the framerate race. For me even 60FPS is just a nice to have for many games I play. I'll still happily play even at 30 in many games. The main thing is it's consistent.

I tried 144FPS in Doom Eternal (Using a mouse and keyboard) and Monster Hunter rise and I was not impressed. I wouldn't even consider dropping any settings or dropping below 4K to reach something beyond 60.

As far as setting and tweaking goes for PC games: for me it's set it to high or max, do a quick benchemark if it's available to gauge how it will run, adjust settings if needed, then just play the game.

As long as I am not playing a competitive game, I am fine with 30 fps. I prefer fun games than 120 fps games.

My ROG Ally and Switch are both enjoying a lot of time, and to be frank, I prefer the comfort of a nice environment over the computer desk at times.

You're such a flip flopper.🤡

And why does it have to be white vs black when there's a lot of gray? You say that you prefer playing a FUN game than one in 120fps. Have you ever heard of a SIXTY FPS GAME THAT IS ALSO FUN? Imagine that, a fun title that runs at good frames. What's next? You gonna tell me that you enjoy playing a FUN game in 30fps on your tv than a not so fun game running in 300fps on a pager from 1996? Your arguments are always🤢This is not how you make a point.

Eh. If it's possible I'm going to play it at 60+ fps. I'm not typically a handheld/console gamer tho so it's not really a concern for me.

The only game I played that came out in the last 5 years that didn't have a native options for 60fps is Zelda ToK (and you bet I overclocked my switch to get it running at a smooth 30).

Outside of handhelds I don't agree with the tradeoffs to go below 60fps, and I think newer handhelds will be powerful enough not to require such compromises. (with the likely exception of the New Switch XL 🤣)

They were definitely pushing the powerful hardware narrative but stopped because because of the massive inflation in GPU prices with graphical improvements that don't match it. It also doesn't help that a lot of major games are poorly optimized. All this is making PC gamers appreciate the hardware they already have and lower end hardware.

My personal opinion (emphasis on "personal opinion") is we went too hard, too fast, after 4K. We didn't even really have 1080p in great working condition before 4K was pushed on us, and now we are doing that the wrong way (again, imo).

There is, of course, a middle ground we aren't really pursuing because doing so doesn't sell 4K televisions or "4K capable" devices.

1440p and 60 frames per second is what the industry should have been focusing on. Instead we are focusing on 4K, mediocre effects, and 30 frames per second.

I will always emphasize art direction and creative solutions over pure hardware and performance statistic, but at the same time I think there is a lot of merit in pursuing some decent hardware. The issue is that the industry seemed to be pushing for Lamborghini -equivelent performance while supplying us (on average) with standard run-of-the-mill gasoline when really they should have been going after, idunno, Corvette-equivalent performance if all we are getting is regular gas? I suck at analogies but hope you can see what I am saying.

Not settling for inferior necessarily (far from it!), but good performance that is manageable.

@mrbojangles25: 100%. They aren't even close to consistently delivering 4k, and are already blathering about 8k? Ok🙄. Our whole world seems to be rushing towards things that are not yet feasible. I mean how high profile bombs, or games that take years before they're stable are people gonna endure? We need to slow down and be more practical.

You just misinterpretted what I said. What I said was comparing fidelity to performance. In which case performance is king.

Have you seen the games the guy who obsesses with high fidelity and frame rate plays? He literally hyped up Immortals of Avernum or whatever it is called. And then Starfield. And last time he was also talking up a bunch of ubisoft titles. There are games that run at 60 fps and are a blast, Metroid Dread is one of them.

He literally brought up 2 bad games as an argument as to why my 1070 is useless.

Yeah I already see some people stating that 144fps should be the norm now while still having a huge improvement in graphical visuals not realizing how much more powerful the hardware would have to be to fufill both desires.

I get your analogy. It seems a lot of devs nowadays "optimize" their games by just slapping DLSS and other upscaling tech on it and calling it a day. DLSS went from being bonus performance and an aid for ray tracing performance hits to being a default optimization requirement regardless of the technical scale of your game because it gives extra frames so they use that instead of making it more efficient.

We are also lacking in art direction which is why games like Immortals Of Aveum that are technically impressive but still look bland and unimpressive due to its art direction.

For years hermits convinced us that gaming at 30fps wasnt worth it...

Funny how its not a problem anymore \_(°-°)_/