Valve's Steam Deck is delivering surprisingly good performance in modern games
Published: 9th May 2022 | Source: ElAnalistaDeBits - YouTube | Author: Mark Campbell
Forza Horizon 5 runs surprisingly well on Valve's Steam Deck handheld
Valve's Steam Deck console is a surprisingly capable device, enabling portable PC gaming using a custom AMD SoC with Zen 2 CPU cores and RDNA 2 graphics, the same architectures that power the latest gaming systems from Microsoft and Sony.
In a new video from ElAnalistaDeBits on YouTube (embedded below), Forza Horizon 5 has been showcased running at 60 FPS on the handheld system, showcasing how well a modern game can run on mobile PC hardware. That said, 60 FPS was achieved at 720p Low settings, highlighting the limits of Valve's mobile SoC.
Forza Horizon 5 is not a Steam Deck verified game, as it currently lacks support for the system's 16:10 800p display. As such, the game is running at a native 720p with FSR. At low settings, the game can maintain 60 FPS framerates with some stuttering, and future updates to Valve's Steam Deck software will likely make this game more compatible with, and performant on, the system.
At high settings with Ultra Geometry and Textures, Valve's Steam Deck is capable of running Forza Horizon 5 at around 35 FPS, though some areas of the game will see performance dip below 30 FPS. With the Steam Deck's SSD storage, the system can load Forza Horizon 5 faster than an Xbox One, but slower than either an Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S. This makes sense given the handheld nature of Valve's Steam Deck and its use of a weaker CPU and graphics chip.
Forza Horizon 5 is a a graphically impressive game, and seeing it run at high framerates on Valve's Steam Deck system highlights the capabilities of Valve's hardware. That said, it remains to be seen whether or not Valve's Steam Deck system will be able to run newer AAA games moving forward, especially those that will stress current-generation consoles like Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.
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