Enabling the performance overlay on your Steam Deck takes but a moment, yet can deliver oodles of information on how your games are running. That makes it useful whether you simply want to know how much battery life to expect, or if you’re going full tweak mode on the Steam Deck’s hardware settings and need to scarf down as much performance data as possible.
]]>Learning how to play Game Pass games on your Steam Deck will both demonstrate the handheld’s compatibility limits, and show you how flexible it can be in bending them. See, while it’s not actually possible to install PC Game Pass games onto your Steam Deck’s SSD, Xbox Cloud Gaming – a streaming service included with Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions – can be unlocked on the Deck, making the all-you-can-eat library available to play. Here, we’ll show you how.
]]>As someone who hasn’t been able to aim with thumbsticks since about 2008, the ability to calibrate, customise, and ultimately deploy gyro controls on the Steam Deck has me considering the internal gyroscope as one of the Deck’s hidden gems. Not every game will support motion input, but in those that do, it can be a more comfortable alternative to the sticks and trackpads; you are, after all, harnessing the precision of using both hands in tandem, rather than a single crooked thumb.
]]>Knowing how to format a microSD card on the Steam Deck is as essential as the card itself. While the Deck is compatible with any microSD card that meets at least the UHD-I specification – loads, in other words – it doesn’t format them automatically, leaving one final DIY step before your expanded storage card can actually serve as expanded storage. It’s easily done, though, as the shortness of this guide attests.
]]>Installing Zenless Zone Zero on a Steam Deck is pretty straightforward, especially compared to the nightmare that was getting fellow anime-styled RPG Wuthering Waves to behave on the handheld. Despite ZZZ’s lack of native Linux/SteamOS support, the Deck has more than enough compatibility-boosting tools available to make it launchable – and enough graphical power to run it smoothly on Medium settings.
In fact, there are a few different ways of installing Zenless Zone Zero on your Steam Deck. One of the more popular methods I’ve seen involves configuring the Heroic Games Launcher to run the Epic Games Launcher, which in turn can run the Zenless Zone Zero (Games?) launcher. However, I’ve discovered a much simpler and easier technique, based around Lutris; it’s this method that I’ll walk you through below.
]]>Anyone looking for how to record game clips on their Steam Deck will have, until recently, been starved for decent options. Decky Loader allows for a decent screen capture plugin, for instance, but even that’s on the overly basic side. Enter Steam’s own Game Recording feature – a flexible bundle of game-clippin' tools that’s now emerged from beta and is available to all Steam Deck users on the SteamOS Stable branch.
As far as handheld recording majiggers go, there’s currently little reason to use anything else, not least because Game Recording is built right into the Steam Deck’s operating system. As such, it’s highly configurable and, once you get to grips with the recording process, easy to use and share clips with. Its only problem is that it doesn’t explain itself all that well at first, but good news: you’re reading a guide. Here, I’ll walk you through how to capture footage using both of Game Recording’s two modes, as well as how to save and share those highlights with pals.
]]>Steam’s Game Recording feature has launched in be- wait, no, it's out properly now! Valve have added this (impressively rich) set of video clipping tools to Steam's default Stable branch, effectively bringing it to everyone who hasn't tried it since the Beta branch launch back in June. It comes with tooltips to give you some pointers, but they’re light on detail, so read on for a more comprehensive guide on how to record game clips with Steam – and how to share your clips around.
]]>Here’s the thing: I’ll gladly show you how to install an SSD in a Steam Deck, but be warned that it’s by far the trickier of your two storage upgrade options. Whereas adding a microSD card is as easy as pushing it into the dedicated slot, swapping out the Deck’s internal drive involves fiddling with some seriously sensitive components. It’s not for the faint of heart nor the shaky of hand, and unlike the majority cool things you can do with Valve’s handheld PC – be it adding fun plugins with Decky Loader or unleashing its versatile Desktop Mode – swapping the SSD does require a fair few tools.
]]>Even if connecting your Steam Deck to a TV takes the "portable" out of “portable PC,” big-screen play is yet another of the handheld’s many talents. As far as lounge-based gaming goes, it’s certainly preferable to hauling several kilos of desktop from your desk to your telly and hooking that up instead.
As for the particulars of marrying Deck and TV, Steam Remote Play veterans may immediately turn their thoughts to the Steam Link. This can indeed enable wireless beaming of your handheld-installed games onto the living room screen, but sadly, the Steam Link itself has been discontinued for years, and while it lived on as a smart TV app, this isn’t widely available either - especially after Samsung cut support for it in 2023. Nowadays, your best bet is to connect your Steam Deck to your TV using physical hardware, and this here guide will show you how.
]]>Installing Decky Loader on your Steam Deck is one of the biggest free upgrades you can make to it. With a few clicks (or touchscreen taps), you can open up a library of feature-adding plugins that are as versatile as they are easy to use. Want better management of your Steam Deck screenshots, or a simple way of recording your screen, or more information about battery usage, or interface tweaks to SteamOS itself? All in one place, with one-tap downloads, and accessible from the Steam Deck’s existing quick access menu? Install Decky Loader.
]]>Once you know how to enable Desktop Mode on the Steam Deck, you basically get the keys to its handheld gaming kingdom. From playing Game Pass games on your Steam Deck to installing Lutris and other non-Steam launchers, many of the device’s best hidden functions are enabled through Desktop Mode – not to mention its entire usability as a proper desktop PC.
]]>To install Lutris on your Steam Deck is to swing open the doors that SteamOS, being a Linux-based device in the Windows-dominated world of PC games, normally keeps shut. See, for all the thousands upon thousands of Steam Deck-ready games on Steam itself, there are many more hiding within their publishers’ preferred launchers – launchers that SteamOS can’t install without help. Lutris is a convenient tool that not only forces these apps to work on the Steam Deck, but handles their individual installations, all while acting as a handy all-in-one launcher of launchers.
It supports all the biggest Steam alternatives like GOG, Battle.net, the Epic Games Launcher, the EA App, and Ubisoft Connect, and can gather and install all the Linux compatibility gubbins they need with minimal input from you. It’s a fabulous addition for Deck owners whose game collection is spread across multiple services, and once you have a launcher up and running, it operates with the same functions and UI that you’re already familiar with from desktop use.
]]>Sad news vis-a-vis playing Starfield on the Steam Deck: it runs like a slug, even on the lowest possible settings. And if you were planning to get it through PC Game Pass, that's another issue, as Game Pass games are locked down behind the fully Deck-incompatible Universal Windows Platform system. If the wonder of space depends on the it being a borderless infinity realm of endless possibilities, nobody told Microsoft.
There is a way, however, to sidestep both problems. Xbox Cloud Gaming will let you play Starfield on the Steam Deck at a steady (enough) 30fps, by streaming the game from Microsoft's cloud network direct to your screen - no Proton GE or Lutris launcher required. It still takes some setting up, but luckily, you’ve already clicked onto a step-by-step guide on how to do it.
]]>Installing Battle.net on a Steam Deck is no longer the only path towards handheld Diablo IV, now that it has a Valve-Verified Steam version. Nonetheless, if you’re sticking to the original release, it’s still perfectly possible to get Blizzard’s demonic RPG – plus the likes of World of Warcraft and Hearthstone – playable on your Deck, despite the launcher’s lack of native support. You even have a couple of options on how to get there, so this guide will cover both how to install Battle.net directly to a Steam Deck’s SSD and an alternative method that uses the Lutris all-in-one launcher.
]]>Now that you’ve installed a CPU, the logical next step of building a PC would be to install a CPU cooler. So, let’s do that.
These essential chip-chillers come with varying degrees of sci-fi design tendencies, ranging from simple fan-and-radiator combos – air coolers, to use their actual name – to the mathematical pipework of "open loop" liquid coolers. For your first PC build, don’t worry about constructing an open loop system; I know this is guide is meant to inform you, but plumbing knowledge is more than you need at this point. Instead, you can simply pair your CPU with either a simple air cooler or a more powerful, yet still relatively easy to install, "closed loop" all-in-one liquid cooler.
]]>With all the internal components installed and connected, congrats: you basically have a custom built gaming PC, albeit one that won’t be functional until you install Windows. There are also just a few more details to attend to first, including a spot of cable management (optional, but highly recommended) and putting your opened-up case back together.
]]>Installing RAM takes mere seconds – honestly I feel a little silly for even having an entire page dedicated to explaining how to do it. The only possible complexities come from making sure you have the right kind of RAM for your system, and that you’re inserting each stick of memory into the right slot. But these are easily done as well, making RAM installation both the most painless part of building a PC from scratch and a dead simple way to upgrade your rig in the future.
]]>Knowing how to build a PC is, at least in the view of this hardware ed, an underrated skill. The single, solitary advantage of buying a pre-built rig is convenience, but if you know (or are willing to learn) how to slap all the parts together yourself, you get to exert far greater control over the specific components in your PC while gaining a greater understanding of how the whole thing works. Not to mention you’ll be saving an absolute bundle of cash, a benefit that’s all the more keenly felt in a cost of living crisis.
]]>This is it, folks. We’ve squeezed thermal paste together, seated graphics cards together, and tidied cables together, so now all that’s left to finish building your own gaming PC together is to install Windows on the SSD or hard drive.
]]>Behold, the final piece of actual hardware installation work you’ll need to perform on your custom PC build. In this section we’ll walk you through how to install SSDs of two different types, as well as how to install an HDD, if you’re including some mechanical storage as well.
]]>The importance of the GPU in your gaming PC isn’t remotely reflected in the amount of effort required to plonk in a new one. While it's the component for making your games look all nice and shiny, installing a graphics card almost rivals installing RAM on simple, speedy straightforwardness, and if you’re following our how to build a PC guide, this will almost feel like a reward for finishing off the motherboard installation. Almost.
]]>When building a PC, installing the motherboard is the step that brings it all together – where it finally starts to look like a functioning gaming rig. It’s also where installing components like the CPU, RAM and CPU cooler outside of the case pays off, as you won’t have to fumble with them any further while your hands are enveloped by the darkness of the case. They’re already in place, and can be carried along with the motherboard into your PC like a tray of delicious party nibbles.
]]>It ain’t the most glamorous piece of the PC building puzzle, but your PSU (power supply unit) is ultimately what brings the whole system to life. Beeping, whirring life. Let’s look at how to install a PSU in your PC case, how to prep yourself for better cable management once the build is complete, and how to make sure you get a PSU with enough power for your build in the first place.
]]>A Steam Beta update has made it far easier to use Nintendo Joy-Cons on a PC. Before this update, it was technically possible to employ the Nintendo Switch’s detachable controllers as Windows gamepads, but getting them working required some relatively tricky third-party software. Now, you’ll still need to pair your Joy-Cons over Bluetooth, but Steam will handle the complicated bits itself – just like it does when using a PS5 DualSense controller on PC. If you’ve got a set of Joy-Cons at the ready, this guide will show you how to connect and use them with your PC games.
]]>Not that the added security isn’t appreciated, but Valve never actually explained how to set the Steam Deck lock screen in their Lock Screen Update patch notes. Good thing, then, that adding PIN protection to your handheld PC is quick and easy, as this step-by-step guide will show.
]]>Provided the Steam Deck isn’t your one and only games PC, you can make it an even more flexible handheld by using Steam Remote Play. Once you learn how to set it up – with the aid of this guide, I’d hope – you can have Remote Play stream any game from your Steam library straight to your Steam Deck. Yes, you’ll need a fast internet connection for the highest picture quality and lowest amount of input lag, but Remote Play can both sidestep Steam Deck compatibility issues and run your games with potentially much higher performance than what the Deck’s own hardware can manage.
]]>Proton, the compatibility software Valve uses to help Windows games work on the Linux-based Steam Deck, is quite the achievement. There are thousands of games originally built without Linux/Steam Deck functionality in mind, but can work more or less flawlessly after passing through the Proton layer. The bad news is that, as some Deck owners are now discovering, not every game makes the jump without technical problems. The good news is that knowing how to install Proton GE on the Steam Deck can, potentially, fix them.
]]>The Steam Deck is all about transplanting the pleasures of PC gaming to a handheld. But, if you’re exclusively accustomed to mouse and keyboard controls, even simple actions like taking a screenshot can require learning a new language of button combinations. Luckily, in this specific case, snapping a screenshot on the Steam Deck is as easy as a couple of presses – or to be more specific, a hold and a press.
]]>The Steam Deck’s battery life depends largely on what games you’re playing on it, and if you own one of the original models instead of the newer, longer-lasting Steam Deck OLED, you’d be forgiven for looking at the latter with a covetous eye. Some games, after all, can drain a 100% charge on an original Deck battery in less than a couple of hours.
Fortunately, there are more than a few tricks you can employ to extend your Steam Deck’s battery life. Some have been nestled in its settings menus since launch, others have been added as part of SteamOS updates, but pretty much all of them are worth trying if you’re unhappy with how quickly your handheld PC is conking out. This guide will explain how and, to sate the curiosity of prospective Steam Deck buyers, list the actual battery test results I’ve recorded with various games.
]]>Knowing how to install the Epic Games Launcher on your Steam Deck will let you sneakily bypass the handheld’s innate lack of... well, ability to play any games that aren’t out on Steam. You have a choice of installation methods, too, including the quick and easy Lutris launcher manager or a more complex (but more direct and flexible) manual installation. In this guide, we’ll show you how to do both.
]]>When building a PC of your very own, installing the PSU is usually one of the final steps. And perhaps as much as installing the motherboard, it’s one that brings everything together, with power cables latching on to almost every major component like braided black tendrils. Only for the purpose of fun, not horror.
]]>Ah, a nice easy, beezy upgrade that even the most nervous technophobe can quickly make to their gaming rig. Learning how to install a PC case fan is as simple as reading this guide, and actually doing it barely requires any more effort. What’s more, adding more ventilation your PC is almost never a bad idea, considering heat is as much of a natural foe to its well-being as malware and spilled drinks.
]]>Knowing how to update your BIOS is perhaps one of PC gaming’s lesser-used skills. Even so, it can be useful, especially for brand-new motherboards on brand-new chipsets that might not already have all of the kinks straightened out. Updating (also known as “flashing”) your BIOS can also fix certain technical issues, or even unlock new features that weren’t enabled before.
]]>Welcome, welcome, to the RPS guide on how to install a motherboard. You may have found your way here because you’ve looked at those big sheets of circuitry and slots and thought “Uhhhhhh, what?”, leaving your PC build unfinished or your upgrade route blocked. Fear not, though, because this step-by-step guide will show you exactly which screws need turning and which sockets need filling.
]]>Nvidia Image Scaling might not be computer magic on par with DLSS, but it can perform a similarly useful job: boosting your frame rates by rendering games at a lower resolution, then upscaling them to match your monitor’s native res. Unlike DLSS, it also doesn’t require one of the best graphics cards from Nvidia’s RTX range, only an Nvidia GPU from the Maxwell generation or later – so the performance benefit is available to far more potential users. However, the issue of exactly how to use Nvidia Image Scaling isn’t very well-explained by Nvidia’s own software, so I suppose the task falls to this guide you’re already reading.
]]>Gaming PCs are, unfortunately, no more resistant to memory mishaps than any other type of computer. But if you learn how to test RAM for errors, you can at least figure out the true cause of a crash or a booting error, in turn opening up the chance to find a fix (or just letting yourself know that you need to buy new RAM).
]]>Windows 11 may not be an essential upgrade yet, but its Auto HDR feature is mightily impressive: in games that don’t support HDR (high dynamic range) natively, it can apply similar brightness-boosting, colour-emboldening effects. There’s no performance loss, so if you’ve going to upgrade to Windows 11 on your gaming rig, it’s worth giving Auto HDR a try – and this guide will show you how to enable it.
]]>Change isn’t for everyone: just ask the 5% of Steam Hardware Survey respondents still using Windows 7. Sadly, even the most eager of early adopters might be looking to find out how to uninstall Windows 11, the very latest of Microsoft’s operating systems. It could be the newly centralised Start menu; it could be the lack of DirectStorage support among games making the best SSDs perform below their full capability; it could just be a single unsquished bug, which remains a risk with the infant OS. Fortunately, if you decide to want to switch back to Windows 10 within 10 days of installing its successor, it’s possible to roll back in just a few, mildly regretful clicks.
]]>Alright, fine, here’s how to upgrade to Windows 11 from Windows 10. The current stance of this hardware ed is that Windows 11 has some cool features but is yet to fulfil its potential, largely owing to the missing DirectStorage capability – which, to be fair, could be a very big deal when games start supporting it. For now, then, it’s a free but absolutely not an essential upgrade, and you can think of this post as the RPS equivalent of that video where Valve tore down a Steam Deck: we’re not saying you should do this, just that you can do this.
]]>What better place to start building a PC than by giving it a brain? Thus begins the first, pleasantly easy, step: learning how to install a CPU. Don’t be discouraged by the importance of this particular part of your soon-to-be desktop, as while installing a CPU is best done with a delicate touch, it takes mere moments.
That said, the process can vary slightly depending on which specific CPU model you’re installing. For instance, Intel and AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs are secured in their socket by a hinged metal cover – but if you’re here to find out how to install a CPU from AMD’s older Ryzen range, you’ll find it instead plops into a moveable socket that locks the chip in place by sliding to the side. This guide will cover both approaches, mind, so you’ll be covered regardless.
]]>It’s funny to think how different the use cases are for setting up two monitors for your gaming PC, compared to setting up three. A trio of displays lets you play in ultrawide with a wraparound effect that even most purpose-built ultrawide monitors can’t match, but while you can configure a dual-monitor setup to run games across displays, it doesn’t make nearly as much sense. With the borders of each screen running straight down the middle, most of the best ultrawide PC games would be nigh-unplayable. Still! If you can budget for it, two remains better than one. It’s an expanded but focused setup for when you’re playing a full-screen game but also want a browser tab, video, or streaming controls visible at the same time.
]]>Knowing how to overclock your GPU can be the key to extracting every last iota of power from your PC, boosting games performance without the need to replace and upgrade any hardware. More frames per second at no additional cost? Sure, why not, especially since almost every GPU on the market is unlocked for overclocking. Even a lot of the best graphics cards, which often come with pre-applied factory overclocks, will leave enough headroom for you to make further tune-ups.
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