Should You Buy The Steam Deck OLED For Emulation?
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- čas přidán 18. 05. 2024
- Join us as we take a look at the Steam Deck OLED's incredible emulation capabilities. We're looking at the initial setting up process, some advanced emulator configuration, how retro games benefit from the Deck's hardware and of course, we're testing a load of games from every era!
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🔗 LINKS 🔗
Steam Deck Official Store:
store.steampowered.com/steamdeck
💻 CHAPTERS 💻
00:00 - Introduction
01:15 - Setting The Steam Deck Up For Emulation
04:30 - Additional Files Needed For Certain Emulators
06:03 - What Makes The Steam Deck Special?
08:57 - Game Performance Testing
12:02 - Battery Life
12:45 - Is The Steam Deck Worth Buying For Emulation?
14:37 - Price Of The Steam Deck
15:29 - Conclusion
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#steamdeck #emulation #emulator - Věda a technologie
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I'm blown away by the OLED, I liked the original anyway but the Battery improvement on the LCD along with the screen is just insane.
I never had an original LCD model to compare the screens directly, but from the comparisons I've seen online the battery improvement is pretty significant!
@RetroDodo I own both, and the same day I got my oled I installed DeckHD on my old one. Og model with deck HD does AAA titles at 1080p or 1200p better than oled. But anything at 800p with vibrant colors looks better on oled. God of war for example, looks better on deckhd than oled.
this comment is nonsense the oled deck has 90 hz screen hdr and is much brighter than deck HD its no were as good I had original deck and upgraded to oled is miles better plus the screen is bigger on the oled and ignore this guy above and original deck is only 60 hz
@gavrawlinson3099 do you have a deck HD? Sounds like your saying lcd vs oled. You're completely ignoring that deckhd is 1920x1200p, this increased resolution helps a lot on triple A titles that were designed to run at a minimum of 1920x1080p. Sure the colors won't be as nice, but the pixel clarity and texture quality makes a big difference. For example on the oled or the original lcd, games that were designed at 1920x1080p have this blurring effect on the edges of almost everything, but on deck hd you see clarity and crispness on the edges, no blur
@@TechCartelSF6 Dude, I'm not risking dismantling the entire thing just to replace the screen to get a small bump and in resolution 😅
I bought myself my first Steam Deck for Christmas. The OLED is very expensive here in Australia ($1279/£660) because we have to import it. Absolutely no regrets. It's an amazing handheld. Ive bought a few Android handhelds in the past, primarily for emulation but theyve always felt lacking in some area. The Steam Deck is great.
You got the 512 or 1tb??
@@alphagodvon 512. I didn't want the screen that comes with the 1Tb and I bought a 512Gb MicroSD card for about $65AUD so it ended up being much cheaper than the 1Tb version.
Just a tip for people who are new looking into a Deck.... The OLED model is like $549. With some hunting around you can find the LCD model used (Facebook marketplace, ebay, etc) for around $200-275. No question less than 1/2 the price, and a steal at that for what you're getting. A 64gb model with a 512gb MicroSD card and you're ready for almost every rom you can think about.
If you have seen the difference an OLED display makes, it's amazing but, the LCD screen is still really nice. Battery in the OLED deck is 50wh, on the LCD it's 40wh. So, the OLED is better but, it's not like crazy better. The memory and processing power is about the same (OLED uses faster memory so seeing 1-3 fps faster is possible), performance is going to be very close to each other.
What I am saying, do not dismiss the LCD model if budget is a factor here, you can get a lot of bang for your buck with an LCD model and get the same overall experience.
And one of the HUGE features of the EmuDeck, is cloud sync of saves/states. This will be coming to a Windows version too. You can play a game on your PC, boot up your deck and continue exactly where you were. This works across the board too, even Switch games....
One of the biggest reasons i use my oled steam deck as an emulation device is because of the amazing docked experience.
Being able to take the same device with the same games, saves, etc and play it on a TV, while being able to use any controller i want is incredible 💝
Same with android phones but yes steam deck is better since it can run for hours on emulation even on higher end and it has access to higher gens of consoles.
you could have just use a controller on pc and emulate there
@tylerdurden6992 you can on android and steam deck too. My s24 I connect a 8 bit do wired USB controller attached to a usb to type c port adapter and wallah. Smooth and no lag.
Yep the Deck is great, I upgraded to the OLED and what a difference. I normally use the Deck for the higher end systems like the Switch. For travelling light I have the Retroid Pocket flip and for ultra light the Miyoo Mini + Obviously that is for the low end systems, but I get my fix of Metroid when travelling.
There seems to be one way of transferring files, which every reviewer never mentions, but I use often... I make their folders "shared" on the network. Then from the Steam Deck's "Dekstop Mode" file browser you can copy them from the PC to the Deck. Admittedly, it's over wi-fi, so it's not the fastest option, but it is relatively easy and simple to set up, and if you keep saving files to these shared folders they are always available to be moved to the deck.
I genuinely think that the video stuff from RetroDojo has quickly become their most impressive content. It’s all because of their new video host who just smashes out hit after hit. outstanding stuff!
Haven't even watched the video yet, but I've had my Deck OLED since launch and this is primarily what I use it for. It's incredible. I would HIGHLY recommend this for emulation simply because it's perfect in almost any emulation use case and it does everything else as well. Such an amazing piece of hardware.
I'm a recent steam deck owner and I'm very happy with my purchase. I have the 528bg OLED version. And it's hard to pick between the PS5 and steam deck sometimes. Because of the emulation.
Great video. Really informative.
Emulation is the number one usage category for my steam deck. Emudeck is fantastic and so easy to setup and use.
Surprisingly I've been in the same situation! I didn't even initially want a Steam Deck for emulation at all, but after I saw how good it was it's practically all I've been doing 😅
Is Emudeck free ?
@@melissar.7802 it is. Its a piece of Software downloading emus for nearly all Systems and Auto cobfiguring them for an easy plug & play expierience. Didnt look into emulation too much the recent years but it was a 5 min install to enjoy my old loved ones from gamecube directly from the steam OS.
@@melissar.7802Sure is. Get it before they charge you
@@melissar.7802Yes
I completely agree with you. I have also a Legion Go, with its amazing 8,4’ display, and its extra power over Steamdeck, but Valve’s Handheld is so comfortable, user friendly, optimized, and I always choose it instead of Legion.
Great video. It’s what I needed to finally get me to buy a SD
I have the O.G LCD Steam deck bought it on release date and more than happy with it do not need to upgrade to OLED maybe in time I will.
But agree the emulation is great on it been enjoying playing The Last Story on Wii!
Yes I also play the last story on my steam deck
Did you have trouble mapping the controls for Wii or was it all ready to go when you started the game?
You don't need a seperate device to transfer files between SteamOS and Windows. You can do it via Wifi transfer with various programs. At the moment, I'm using KDE Link on Windows.
Surely you can just go to desktop mode and download them on to the deck directly?
Thanks, I was wondering about this since it's what I do to send files between phone and tablet. Now I know I don't need to order another device to move my files
you actually dont need to use a usb stick to transfer your roms, you can connect to your pc through network folder sharing in desktop mode.
I picked up one yesterday for dirt cheap, thanks for another big vid 🔥🔥🔥
That's awesome! How are you finding it so far? It's been the only thing I've played games on for a couple of months now 😅
@@RetroDodo let me clarify, I ordered one yesterday, so I'm still waiting😅, Not the oled but for £115 I really can't complain about a matt finish display. I heard it's an emulation beast, and seeing your vid put my mind at ease in making the right choice, but again for £115 fully loaded I can't complain.
That is an absolutely incredible price! You definitely got a good deal there and I can guarantee you'll be happy with it. Not only is it basically the perfect emulation device but it's also given me a reason to tackle my Steam backlog 😅
I own steam controllers and the deck didnt disappoint with controller customization
An OLED?
there is an acessory for the deck that can be used to play original gba catridges... but its kinda of an work arround since it will be hooked to the deck with an wire +adapter
3:12 you could also share a folder on your pc over the network (smb) and copy the roms that way. No need for a dock or waiting for slow usb thumb drives.
FYI on your computer you can format the SD to exFAT and it will work on PC, Mac, and the Steam Deck to make file transfer easy.
EMUDeck runs on the internal SSD and the ROM stay on the SD saving space on the Deck.
Huh, that's interesting. I thought you had to format the card with the Steam Deck itself in order for it to be recognised. Doing it your way would make things significantly more simple. Thanks for the tip!
Playing Metroid prime trilogy with prime hack on the OLED deck is…a dream come true. It’s sooooooo smooth. There’s a slight pause when you open a door but other than that it feels like it was made for the damn thing.
Prime Hack is amazing! Insane how good Prime 3 looks and plays on the Deck.
Nice review. I've watched quite a few of these Steam Deck review, and yours is one of the best. I've been bouncing back-and-forth between the Steam Deck and the Odin 2. Today I'm thinking Steam Deck, with the bigger screen tipping the scale. 6" on the Odin 2 for these older eyes would be less than ideal.
Thanks!
The heck is an Odin 2?
I prefer to add my games individually to my Steam Library so that they can each have their own unique controller settings. If you launch everything through emulation station, you'll have to change settings when you switch systems.
Needed help for sorting out roms as in is there a way to know if a certain mame rom is of which year ? Emudeck has more then one mame roms folder
Steamdeck is great since you don't need to remap controls in mutiple emulators when using the handheld controls then switching to using external controllers when docked to the tv. This is my main gripe with my Retroid Pocket 3+ and other retro consoles. The steamdeck just works.
The cheaper option is to go with the LCD model, works great. I've finally gotten around to installing emulators on mine.
One advantage with the deck are the track pads, I've been using them when navigating settings menu's for emulators, for when you want to quickly change some settings. Really useful.
I would really recommend transferring files to the steam deck over SSH. It's trivial to setup and means you're not constantly messing with USB dongles and taking your SD card in and out
I've been planning to get Steam Deck just for emulation and probably a few easy-to-run Steam games but I may have to hold on to that considering I upgraded my PC recently.
Get it in a pay in 4.
Day to day, I find the Rg35xx plus great, because I can always carry it with my no matter what I'm doing and where I am. Since most people aren't always on an airplane or will never be on a airplane you are basically stuck at home with the steam deck. You can just install the emulators on your PC and play them just add well at home.
I’m waiting for the true second generation which should be out in the next year or so with upgraded processors, hopefully using the upgraded 3nm chips.
Probably in 2026, but nobody knows for sure.
All I know is that I absolutely love my Steam Deck OLED and I will definitely upgrade to the Steam Deck 2 whenever it comes out.
Dream on. Valve aren't going piss off every current owner with an upgraded model so soon. If they even release a new model at all.
Just got the Steam Deck OLED and all I can say it is so much more responsive than the LCD.
Just received the Deck on Monday, and since then I've spent my entire time emulating and installing all those old nostalgic games 😂
Pretty much only use mine for emulation! Such a great device
Just got mine and a computer noob but so far I’m loving it
good afternoon folks! Can you help me? I have a question like that, Legion go or Steam deck OLED? I really want a gaming laptop, which one at the moment, in your opinion, is better?
PSA: You don't actually need a USB drive to transfer your roms from your pc to your steam deck. You can use kde connect wich is present by default on the steam deck and works flawlessly.
There's also an application for mobile if you want to control your steam deck that way
Does emudeck use retroarch as it's emulation backend? I'm a big fan of RA's shaders, and it would be amazing to have the ready to go after installation.
emudeck is merely a collection of emulators- retroarch included. however, most of the emulators are not retroarch based.
@@NinjaWeedle yeah, I knew that, but I just wanted to know if retroarch was one of the options. I managed to get Emudeck running and my Roms transfered after a great deal of googling and troubleshooting. I'm still testing things out but I absolutely love my Steam Deck and Emudeck.
Yes, EmuDeck does use RetroArch but, not for all systems. Like for the SNES for example, I PREFER BSNES-HD, it gives 16:9 backgrounds without stretching. I can change this fairly easy too.
Thanks Rob for the video. What about the Switch emulator ? Is it available trough the Steam Deck ? I was looking to buy a windows based handheld because of the full Game Pass possibility and for use Yuzu and Dolphing for some Nintendo consoles emulation, but your final consideratoin on the video makes me reconsider the chance to purchase an OLED Steam Deck. You're the devil in disguise :D ah ah
Yes, it can run Switch emulators.
Yuzu works great on it
@@brands2k7 Thanks a lot
I was one of the ambassadors with the steam deck, knowing they had this down the pipeline I would have definitely waited a couple of years to get it. I still love my steam deck but the battery kills me sometimes, and the wifi
It really is my favourite gaming device I’ve ever used and I’m including everything, handhelds, consoles, pcs, apple devices etc
I never thought of something like this coming along. I always used to say I wish there was a console that played everything! Little did I expect the steam deck to be pretty much just that or as close as possible. I cannot wait till steam deck 2, I think the big jump the second one will make is going to be the system itself with all games being supported and naturally work (or at least I hope so)
I transfered files between the deck and my PC without any hassle using an application called "any desk" on desktop mode
What about the typical purple OLED ghosting/smearing?
I love my Steam Deck OLED, but the purple ghosting in dark areas can be a bit annoying at times.
I have a lot of SNES, GBA, GBC, and Sega Genesis roms on my desktop, so would they run on the Steam Deck and auto adjust to the FPS on each game for the best performance and optimization? If I can get download roms for free and the Steam deck can play them through the dock station with a usb or a micro sd card, I would totally get this over the AYN Odin 2. My only concern is the battery life running SNES, GBA, GBC, Genesis, Dreamcast, N64, PS1, PS2, GameCube, Xbox, Android and PC games. I play a lot of 2D games, so I play up to 2-3 hours at a time on video games.
It will piss it. You'll get 6 hours playing those old systems.
Bought an LCD a week before the last sale preceeding the OLED release (lol) and I say it's still worth every penny.
Between my library of backed-up games, several old MMOs, FFXIV, and my steam catalog, I now have virtually all of my entire life's gaming career on one device.
I’ve got an ROG ally but really thinking of upgrading to the Deck OLED. Fought the urge to buy a deck for a long time and kind of regret it. The ally is nice but not as comfortable as id like and the battery life is not great, even emulating and playing indie games. Do have a warranty so may just keep it but i do really want to try the deck, that DPAD looks so much nicer!
I also had an ally, then switched to a deck oled- best decision ive made. Sold the ally…….
Are you using a different SD card just for Emulation games vs steam deck/PC games?
I'm using the internal storage of the Deck for Steam games and the SD card for emulation stuff. So far I've not ran out of room on either of them!
Which Mario game is show at 9:24 please?
I have my ROG Ally but with a Xreal Air 2 Pro with an oled screen per eye now I never play without my ar glasses on someday I’ll get Apple Vision Pro for the best immersion all using a handheld
After playing with the ar glasses in I take them off the Ally screen looks washed out so Steam Deck OLED is the best handheld console at this time for emulation if you don’t want to use ar glasses or xr headsets the OLED screen is so vibrant
I'll keep the LCD for a while longer. Hopefully there will be an original battery upgrade if solid state batteries finally take off. Or any other technology really. Its taking almost as much time as cold fusion...
Purchased a portable battery charger
I was considering high end handhelds until I upgraded my pc, it now just runs EVERYTHING. So handhelds up to PSONE is just enough now
I have the OLED SD and agree it's fantastic system for emulation. The only thing I'd wished Valve had changed was to add another usb-c port and to allow 2280 NVME drives to be fitted, one of these with a 4TB NVME and a 1.5TB SD card would be fantastic would be able to carry the majority of my pc and emulator games without needing external drives.
The 1.5TB SD are out. But who knows what the future might hold.
Damnit. Now I am once again wishing to buy a SDOLED
Get it on a pay in 4 .
What's crazy is how well it runs PS3 titles through emulation. I really didn't expect Demon's Souls to be playable, yet it is with some fairly minor tweaks.
What are ur setting to combat frame dropping on ps3 games. Case and point when playing asuras wrath on certain battle scenes my deck would drop frames badly
Have a onexplayer mini pro 6800u but I play most of my emulation on my Odin 2 max. It’s lighter and plays most of the switch games I own.
you can also send roms through ssh.
I figured that the OLED screen would je marvelous for the bright and colorfull retro games.
I thought this Guy was a Mii Character but this a nice Video Review
Yes is the answer
It's just... Awesome 😀
Yes.
Hoping to replace my heavy laptop with this and a tablet PC setup for less than 2G USD.. not a high end user.. its easier to carry around.. need a bigger screen, can just get a portable screen monitor and a power bank
I like using my oled for 3D consoles, but the size and weight of it made me get an Analogue Pocket for everything else.
and should we buy it now or are there news about a new one coming soon?
There's no signs of a new version of the Steam Deck releasing anytime soon. I don't personally think we'll see a full on Steam Deck 2 for a couple of years yet. Considering how popular this one still is, I think it's got lots of life left in it!
So yeah I would definitely still buy one now!
I recently went to Japan and while I was there I wanted to get an OLED Deck but they were literally completely unavailable I even tried to buy the display models and it was a firm no. So I just bought the normal one instead, very happy with it it's super cool put the steam games I wanted on it and a decent library of emulated classics.
Emudeck includes games in the library by default?
If you have the Roms yes.@@alexg350
Bought the OLED model for xmas for the wifey. Mainly just to get her off my PC playing Hogwarts and RDR2. She has been playing on the Deck almost daily since then. What a great device. I've also played on it quite a bit. Finished Burnout 2 on Dolphin emulator, played some new Zelda on it with the Switch emulator, cause FU Nintendo. Love using it as a Plex media streaming device while on longer trips. It plays most of my PC games really well too and in a pinch, works as a full blown PC when connected to an external monitor. Such a versatile device. For a Linux user the device feels so natural to use. Valve has done a brilliant job.
Can it emu the 360 and will games too
2:45 No you do not need an additional storage device if you have a Windows PC. Use WinSCP to transfer roms over your LAN from a PC to the SD OLED.
Yeah I will admit, I completely overlooked that. I'm so used to transferring files with microSD cards and stuff like that, that I didn't even consider doing it over LAN 😅 that would be much easier way if doing it.
Still, for those of us who are living in the past I think the whole USB drive thing was probably worth mentioning!
- Rob
The Steam Deck OLED is incredible. It's my favorite gaming device of all time. There's just so much you can do on this handheld.
Was the channel sold?
I've bought my LCD deck literally a week before they announced the OLED.... I love my deck and i play it all the time, but i wish i had the chance bach then to get the OLED instead...
AYN Odin 2 is great as well
Yeah I sold my SD oled and ordered an Odin 2 pro as it’s all I really need for emulation etc
Can it run MGS4 on the ps3 emulator?
I'm getting LCD model at $420 and OLED one at $602. Both 512gb please help which one should I get.
It's difficult for me to answer that because I've never used an LCD model. I can absolutely vouch for the OLED model being incredible though, it's become my go to gaming device! Personally, I would go for the OLED because of the better battery life and screen quality upgrade, but I'm sure that the LCD one is awesome too!
So JUST for Emulation. Steam deck or AYN Odin 2? Which one is better?
Steam Deck.
I really wish handheld gaming devices had cellular like phones
you can transfer roms over wifi network
I don't get why people complain about battery life. I have the absolute first LCD model of the Steam Deck and I find it ridicolous that I can play Cyberpunk for 3 hours at 30fps. However you need to be a tiny bit tech savvy as YOU are in control of YOUR battery life. For Cyberpunk it will eat all the performance it can get (that's the way the engine is designed), but you can still lock it to 30fps with a TDP limit of 9W and get 3 hours on the LCD model (9W on OLED model is not the same). And when playing 2D emulation I usually get somewhere between 7.5-8.5 hours of playtime. 3D Emulation like Dreamcast I can easily get 6hours... Lighter Switch games like Captain Toad, Metroid Dread, Link's Awakening etc. 5hours. And the OLED has better battery. So, is the battery really that bad? I don't think so, but people running the device at full tilt without any sort of battery optimization will get about 1.5hours... And the reason they don't get more is because they use all the watts the device can deliver. If you are plugged in, it's great to have that option, but it's not particularly great for battery life.
The flexibility of gaming gadgets - under Linux - is truly astounding 🐧
Background music ? 12:21
I believe that's the Monkey Soccer music from Super Monkey Ball 2 if I remember right! 🐵
Not a fan of 8/16 bit systems on the Steam Deck due to the low DPI and average D-pad. For modern systems it’s great but as mentioned there’s quite a few hoops to jump through which is a little off putting. Overall I generally prefer a dedicated emulation handheld.
LOL more pixels per inch ain't gonna do much to 8/16 bit games. Also, the d-pad is fine.
@@UmVtCg LOL. I’m talking about that the 4.7” screen displays 4:3 games at a mere 3.8” and even less for 8:7 and GB games. You’ll need those triggers in top shape for games that fill that widescreen though.
Why you skipped switch emulation?
I got one but sadly it's never lived up to the shoes the ps vita had back in my teenage years!
I wish we could get an Apple Silicon handheld. I think the power and efficiency would be perfect for retro gaming. The issue is that if Apple made one it would be so locked out, like their "i" devices, and they will never release "Mx" chips etc to 3rd party developers. I didnt like the hassels I had with my LCD Steam Deck but hats off to Valve for all the improvements the OLED version brought
I've always had problems finding ROMs for PlayStation games and Sega Dreamcast. Any suggestions? 😂
Arcade Punks.
Or send me a hard drive and I'll copy everything I've got.
Also Odin2 Pro or Steam Deck Oled?
I've not personally tested the Odin 2 Pro, so I'm by no means an authority on the subject. However, based on what I know about the two devices, I would still go for the Steam Deck OLED because it's more powerful, easier to get setup and has way more utility outside of emulation because it can play PC games through Steam.
I would say though that if you're exclusively looking for an emulation device for PS2/GameCube era stuff or if you're looking for something a bit more portable than the Steam Deck, then the Odin 2 Pro would be perfect. So it sort of depends on what you want out of a device like this!
Another thing to consider is that the Odin 2 Pro uses Android which somewhat restricts it's emulation potential because there's no PS3 or Wii U emulation software at the moment.
Overall, I would say that the benefits of the Steam Deck OLED outweigh the advantages of the Odin 2 Pro, but there are certain specific use cases where the Odin 2 Pro could be better.
I hope that helped!
@@RetroDodowell, you can still play your steam game with the ayn odin 2 with steamlink. And even ps5 or any console game with remote play, and it works pretty good.
Can it play switch games?
Batocera on SD card way better! You can use simple SMB file transfer to drop your roms over Wifi
Just got the original 512gb steamdeck, ill be fine with that
I just use warpinator to transfer my files from my pc to steamdeck over wifi
Can’t you download roms straight through the steam deck itself?
Yeah you can, but I didn't really want to download loads of ROMs I already have on another device. Plus, I don't download ROMs, I definitely get them legitimately from legitimate sources that are legitimate 👀
It’s also easier to upgrade. The fact that Valve cares about the customer, is the biggest plus.
Do you experience eye strain while playing it
After I changed the screen to an HD one, I didn't want to buy the oled steam deck, I think I'll get the Legion GO, normal Steam deck is so good.
I respectfully disagree. The Steam Deck is fantastic for emulation, but for _that use-case specifically,_ I don't think it's far enough ahead of devices like the Retroid Pocket 4 Pro or the Odin 2 if that's _all_ you're doing unless the size and price really are no object to you.
I speak as someone who has an (LCD) Deck and likes it. I got it because I have a massive x86 library. If you don't, or aren't sure that access to your x86 library is worth the size and price for you, then I'd recommend a smaller and less expensive device like the ones mentioned above instead.
Yeah I’ve been convinced just bought an OLED 1TB😭
whats the game at 7:57
That's TimeSplitters (the first one) 👍
Considering what it is, it's not a bad price.
is it me or does the device controls suck for fighters Capcom and Neo-Geo - combos are crazy stiff for me - but decked it's buttery smooth
Get the lcd if you're only emulated 300usd is a steal!