There’s now an official way to combat this with the replacement fan kit from iFixit. But that hinges on being able to buy the product. Not to mention being able to install it or paying to have it installed. Thanks to the 3.2 software update for SteamOS Steam Deck users have a free way to improve the noise of the fans. Valve says that the update includes an all-new OS-controlled fan curve. Which makes it “overall smarter.” Valve says it also helps the fans become “more responsive to what’s happening on and inside the Steam Deck, and quieter – especially in low usage situations.”
The Steam Deck fans aren’t the only thing getting improvements
In addition to helping the fans, this update also adds new refresh rate controls. Users can now adjust in-game refresh rates with a couple button presses. Users will now see options to adjust the frame rate down to 40Hz, 20Hz, or 10Hz. Granted you won’t want these lower refresh rates for every single game. And you may need to play around with things a bit to find your own sweet spot. But the lower refresh rates will definitely help to mitigate battery drain. To adjust the frame rate, you can hit the quick settings button and use the slider to tune things down (or up) to your liking. A couple of other smaller improvements include the higher max volume for the speakers, and a quick format option for microSD cards. All of these updates were initially released earlier this month as part of the SteamOS 3.2 beta. But as of this week the update is live on the stable build for all Steam Deck owners.
