Most {hardware} hackers don’t want an excuse to tear their tech aside, however this whole Steam Deck conversion may be a step too far for many. A modder has taken a Steam Deck, eliminated the display and controller, and compressed it down right into a single box-like chassis referred to as the Steam Brick. Not within the identify of science, however simply in order that the hand-held can lastly match into their backpack.
The Steam Deck is without doubt one of the finest gaming handheld PCs you should buy, kickstarting an entire trade of moveable PCs with their very own screens. This specific modded Steam Deck now has extra in frequent with a set-top field than a handheld, and whereas we wouldn’t suggest you strive it your self at residence, it’s definitely a novel option to downsize your gaming setup.
The main points of this specific construct had been shared on GitHub by crastinator-pro. Describing himself as “not a sensible man” and confirming that it positively isn’t Valve endorsed or accepted, crastinator-pro confirms that whereas the Steam Deck presents nice portability, they discovered “as a rule” that they had been leaving it at residence as a result of it didn’t match of their bag.
After all, most avid gamers would possibly simply purchase a brand new backpack as an alternative, however crastinator-pro had a distinct method. As a substitute, they took a 1TB Steam Deck OLED and tore it down, ensuring that the hand-held would boot with out options such because the show or battery hooked up.
With this confirmed, crastinator-pro made a number of customizations to the interior aluminum motherboard body earlier than 3D-printing a customized plastic chassis (the so-called brick) to put it in, reusing the unique battery pack and fan, whereas ditching the show and controls, leaving only a USB port and energy button. The all-new Steam Brick is “a couple of third of the dimensions” of the unique, whereas additionally being 24% lighter, based on crastinator-pro.
With out the display, the Steam Deck is usable through an exterior monitor, though crastinator-pro prefers utilizing XReal Air 2 Professional AR glasses whereas he’s on the transfer. To exchange the Steam Deck’s built-in controls, the modder additionally makes use of a wide range of completely different third-party controllers, together with an 8BitDo Professional 2 and SN30 Professional. Crastinator-pro is even contemplating a number of extra further enhancements, similar to a USB hub and a secondary battery, to enhance on the unique Deck’s design.
This isn’t a mod we suggest as such, nevertheless it’s intriguing to see how adaptable the Steam Deck’s parts may be. If you would like a handheld gaming rig your self however don’t fancy tearing it aside like this hacker did, you’ll be able to try our Steam Deck OLED assessment to see our ideas on the unique.