Quick Links
- Tips For Saving Your Steam Deck's Battery
- Improvements And Updates
- Frequently Asked Questions
Is your Steam Deck’s battery life cramping your mobile gaming style? Do the words “low battery” send shivers down your spine, killing your questing and zombie-slaying vibes? We hear you. Tiny batteries imposing their tyrannical will, holding your experiences hostage after just a few hours...it’s unacceptable, we say!
RelatedPlayStation Portal Vs. Steam Deck: Which Is Better?
Can Sony's PlayStation Portal compete with the more versatile Steam Deck? Read on to find out.
PostsWith a few quick tweaks to performance settings and graphics, you’ll squeeze out substantially more hours of exhilarating gameplay before needing a pit stop at an outlet. We’re talking double or even triple the battery power. Read on to find out more.
Tips For Saving Your Steam Deck's Battery
Turns out there's actually quite a few ways you can go about saving the Steam Deck's battery. Here's a list of our top recommended ways:
Manage Performance Settings
When it comes to eking out some extra battery life for your Steam Deck, one of the most effective yet simple options is right at your fingertips...the performance settings menu. By tweaking a few key graphics preferences here, you can discover the sweet spot between stunning visuals and battery-saving efficiency.
The easiest way to go about this is to just bring down your framerate just a little bit. Capping your framerate to 30 FPS cuts battery usage nearly in half compared to the default 60 FPS. You'll still get smooth performance, while drastically reducing the demand on your battery. You can set this globally or on a per-game basis. Keep in mind, more visually demanding games may require higher FPS for playability.
Adjust In-Game Video Settings
In addition to the global performance settings on your Deck, make sure to also take a look at each game's graphics options. Again, the easiest place to start is by lowering the resolution. Higher resolutions like the Steam Deck's native 1280x800 use more power to render increased visual quality. Dropping this down to a more manageable 960x600 or 800x450 can add an hour or more of game time without tiring out your console.
Also, turn down or disable resource-intensive settings like anti-aliasing, shadows, texture filtering, particles and post-processing. It definitely makes sense to start this out with the most demanding options first, and then you disable others gradually as needed. We're well aware that playing on lower graphic settings will make your gameplay look noticeably worse, but the actual performance will remain unaffected.
Use Battery Saver Mode
The Steam Deck comes preloaded with a super handy Battery Saver mode conveniently tucked away in the Quick Settings menu. When that battery life enters the red zone, flipping this switch triggers automatic optimizations that are going to squeeze out every last bit of juice.
Also, consider keeping Battery Saver enabled by default if you want to strictly maximize battery capacity during a longer gaming session. To be honest, the performance hit is minimal for less demanding games, while still providing some nice gains. However, you can expect AAA 3D titles to take a visible toll on graphical quality.
Use Airplane Mode
When not connected to Wi-Fi, the Steam Deck will automatically use mobile data which keeps the Wi-Fi/cellular radio active. This constant communication uses extra battery even if you aren't actively browsing. Activating Airplane mode disconnects all wireless radios, eliminating this drain.
Quickly toggle Airplane mode on or off by swiping down from the top bezel to open the Quick Settings menu. Juust remember to disable it again to download games or chat online.
Disable Background Processes
It's easy to forget about background processes silently sucking away precious battery life while you're a lil too gone into those epic gaming sessions. But it all kinda adds up, so take a moment to close out any unnecessary apps before launching a game. For example, disable auto-updates or internet connectivity for single player titles that don’t require real-time server pinging.
Better yet, toggle on Airplane mode to cut ties completely and route all power directly into the foreground gameplay. In case you're going for online multiplayer battles, temporarily halting downloads and notifications is gonna shield you from random spikes in energy usage as well. Getting into this habit allows the Steam Deck to focus on what it does best - delivering raw, uninterrupted gameplay excellence.
Use Sleep Mode
It's surprising how much battery the Steam Deck gulps down while just doing nothing on the main menu. All those animated backgrounds and UI elements churn away at full processing power, even when you're not actively gaming. Luckily, the handy Sleep mode kicks the Deck into a lovely low power nap whenever you need to temporarily walk away.
Sleep mode uses about 20 times less battery than idling. So yeah, get into the habit of sleep-ing the Deck whenever it is inactive for more than a few minutes.
Improvements And Updates
Valve has been working hard behind the scenes to make the Steam Deck even better through software tweaks. They've rolled out a bunch of updates recently aimed at improving performance and making that battery last longer:
- Battery Life Boosters: One handy update automatically dims the Steam Deck's screen when it's unplugged from power, which is great if you're gaming in the dark. This stops the battery draining as fast when you leave your Deck idle for a bit.
- Graphics Upgrades: The graphics driver powering the Steam Deck was updated to the latest Mesa 24.1 version. This brings some nice performance gains, especially in more demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 where you'll notice smoother frame rates.
- System Improvements: The core SteamOS software has also been updated to a newer version of Arch Linux. This helps strengthen Bluetooth connections, which is useful for wireless controllers. Stability was improved for scenarios where the Deck is gobbling up lots of memory too.
These updates don't just stretch out battery stamina, they also optimize overall performance. It's clear Valve is committed to refining the Steam Deck over time. However, if you're still finding the battery a limitation, you can always grab a nice power bank or upgrade to a better charger.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I disconnect my MicroSD card to save battery life?
Yes, removing the MicroSD card when you don't really need it can end up providing a small boost. Higher capacity cards tend to use marginally more battery when saving/loading data, so one thing that you can do is start with the lowest capacity card for your essential games. This is gonna reduce any redundancy and relieve some of that pressure on your console's processing power.
Can I play on my Steam Deck while charging it?
Absolutely! You can simultaneously charge and play while plugged into a powerful USB-PD wall adapter or battery and play indefinitely without interruptions. Just make sure to avoid sustained peak loads cause we don't want anything to overheat.
Do the LED light strips and buttons have to do anything with battery drain?
Yep. In fact, disabling unnecessary lighting can give you up to 30–60 minutes of extra playtime. You may be thinking that's a weird detail, but here's the thing - the power draw is minimal for sure, but it also adds up, especially when you're playing at peak brightness with all the bells and whistles on. Try to keep them off unless you absolutely need it, and that way you can save on some battery.
NextSteam Deck Vs. ASUS ROG Ally: Which Is Better?
Pitting the Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally against each other to find out who wins!
Posts
