Steam Deck's GPU is completely outdated, and this cheap AMD mini PC proves it

Published Oct 12, 2026, 5:30 PM EDT Sydney Butler is a technology writer with over 20 years of experience as a freelance PC technician and system builder and over a decade as a professional writer. He's worked for more than a decade in user education. On How-To Geek, he writes commerce content, guides, opinions, and specializes in editing hardware and cutting edge technology articles. Sydney started working as a freelance computer technician around the age of 13, before which he was in charge of running the computer center for his school. (He also ran LAN gaming tournaments when the teachers weren't looking!) His interests include VR, PC, Mac, gaming, 3D printing, consumer electronics, the web, and privacy. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Research Psychology with a minor in media and technology studies. His masters dissertation examined the potential for social media to spread misinformation. Outside of How-To Geek, he hosts the Online Tech Tips YouTube Channel, and writes for Online Tech Tips, Switching to Mac, and Helpdesk Geek. Sydney also writes for Expert Reviews UK. He also has bylines at 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, Tom's Hardware, MakeTechEasier, and Laptop Mag. When Valve released the Steam Deck in 2022, it wasn't a cutting-edge device by any means, and that was a deliberate choice. Valve carefully balanced performance, power consumption, and cost to create a machine that was almost perfectly suited for its intended purpose. However, the GPU in particular was already pretty borderline at launch, and while it does a fine job of playing most games that were available at the time of its arrival, playing later releases ranges from unpleasant to impossible in terms of the gaming experience. Everyone is waiting for a Steam Deck 2, and if you look at what's come out since it's painfully clear just how quickly the creaky Steam Deck GPU has fallen behind. Valve upgraded the screen, but kept the old GPU design Playing the (very) long game The Steam Deck has received exactly one refresh, and that comes in the form of the OLED model. This is essentially the same console in terms of performance and features, but refined with a much better display. New (albeit much more expensive) handheld PCs blow the GPU performance of the Steam Deck away, although it's a testament to Valve's foresight that the Steam Deck still keeps up or even beats these newer PCs when you limit it to that 15W or lower window you need to get usable battery life from it. The newer systems have compensated in some cases by integrating enormous battery capacities, but there's a (literal) limit to how far you can push that. We also have to bring the Nintendo Switch 2 into the conversation here. I sold my much-loved Lenovo Legion Go after getting my Switch 2, because I realized that whenever I wanted to play a handheld game, it was my thinner, lighter Switch 2 I reached for. The Legion Go is already much more powerful than the Steam Deck, and even then I found that for the same games I owned on both, the Switch 2 experience was simply better overall. Considering how much cheaper a Switch 2 is than a Steam Deck, and the later addition of handheld Boost Mode for Switch 1 games, the SD now comes across as clunky to use for little if any real benefit over Nintendo's latest console. Especially with the use of DLSS on Switch 2. A budget mini PC can offer more without a graphics card The bottom has risen What really made me realize that the Steam Deck's "Aerith" GPU is well past its prime is a review of the GMKtec NucBox that I read on TechRadar. At the time, the 32GB config cost around $550, but as of this writing you're going to pay $880 for the 32GB/512GB K12. That's close to the price of a 512GB Steam Deck OLED right now, though that system has half the RAM. Yes, it's not an apples-to-apples comparison, since one is a portable handheld. However, the K12 comes with a Radeon 780M, which offers nearly twice the raw performance of the Aerith GPU in the Steam Deck. From left to right: Lenovo Legion Go, AYANEO 2021 Pro, Valve Steam Deck, GPD Win3, Logitech G Cloud, Asus ROG Ally, OneXPlayer 1 I feel that if you removed the cost of the 16GB of RAM difference here, you're probably closer to making up for the addition of the screen, battery, and other Deck-specific bits. Even worse, the 780M is a GPU from 2023, which is one major reason why it's in sub-$1000 mini PCs now. Also, I hate that a "cheap" mini PC is one that costs less than a grand now. Especially since this same computer was almost half as expensive a year ago, but I digress. Again, this isn't some ridiculous argument that a mini PC is a replacement for a Steam Deck. They don't do the same job at all. It's just illustrative of how much we've moved on. A common iGPU in an entry-level PC will smack it around. The Steam Deck 2 needs to fulfill many more needs Valve has openly said that it's in no hurry to make a Steam Deck 2. After all, the Steam Deck has always been a base template for other manufacturers to work from. It's why we have all of these high-performance, ultra-expensive handheld PCs. Valve has stated that a Steam Deck 2 would have to be a generational leap, and to me that indicates at least a tripling of performance at a given wattage. Less than a week before I wrote this, Digital Foundry reported on the rumored "Gainsborough" GPU, which is possibly what will be in a Steam Deck 2. That's Aerith from Final Fantasy 7's last name, by the way. The rumors say that this is a 12CU RDNA 4 GPU and, so, I wouldn't be shocked if it offers significantly more power than that 780M in the K12 mini PC. However, just like the K12 benefits from being plugged in, and the Switch 2 gets a massive performance uplift when docked, a Steam Deck 2 needs a much bigger performance delta between battery and plugged-in operation. Valve might not feel the technology has moved on enough to justify a second-generation Steam Deck, but personally I think the time is ripe. The Deck might still be good for indies and older AAA titles from the PS4 era, but it almost feels retro at this point.