After experiences flooded the web just a few days in the past exhibiting customers the right way to simply improve the Steam Deck’s 2230 SSD to an even bigger 2242 drive, a Valve worker has taken to Twitter to close down the mod as rapidly as potential because of reliably considerations for the gadget. Based on a Tweet by Steam Designer Lawrence Yang, (opens in new tab) modding the Steam Deck to run bigger SSDs than 2230 will lead to a considerably shorter life span of the Deck because of overheating issues.
Yang says the internals across the M.2 slot may be very delicate to further energy necessities and thermal pad modifications. Consequently, the cost ICs can get very popular when you relocate the close by thermal pads. Moreover, Yang says bigger M.2 drives historically draw extra energy than the 2230 fashions, which is not optimum since Valve did not design the Steam Deck for extra power-hungry SSDs. These two components mixed will considerably cut back the lifetime of the Deck.
Final week, Twitter person Stomach Jelly shared a tutorial on the right way to improve the Steam Deck’s built-in SSD to a barely bigger 2242 drive. Essentially the most incentivizing a part of the drive mod is its low issue, with the modder saying there’s little or no work wanted to make the transition. This mod is straightforward to hold out because it requires nearly no further effort from the end-user, and it must also be simple to perform for inexperienced modders.
Hello, please don’t do that. The charger IC will get very popular and close by thermal pads shouldn’t be moved. As well as, most 2242 m.2 drives draw extra energy and get hotter than what Deck is designed for. This mod might seem to work however will considerably shorten the lifetime of your Deck. https://t.co/Kmup7Zov13June 25, 2022
The mod consists of shifting the cables and thermal pads round to accommodate the bigger drive. The warmth spreader will bend a bit of bit, but it surely is not extreme sufficient to trigger any quick points. Stomach Jelly acknowledged that the drive doesn’t collide with the motherboard or put further pressure on cables.
It’s in all probability why Valve responded so rapidly about this mod and warned in opposition to its use Since there’s a excessive probability many players will do this mod on their Deck.
However fortunately, there’s little or no cause to improve the Deck’s M.2 drive within the first place. Valve has already carried out an SD card slot into the Deck for storage enlargement functions. Though SD playing cards are technically slower, we present in testing that the SD card resolution is completely enough, and body charges are an identical to operating video games on the interior M.2 drive.