Valve Designer Warns Against Modding Steam Deck

If you've got one of Valve's new Steam Decks and have been deliberating on whether or not you should try modding it, you may want to reconsider any plans you may have for the device. A designer at Valve responded recently to an article talking about making modifications to the Steam Deck and advised against doing so while suggesting that the mod pitched by the story could end up "significantly shorten the life" of someone's Steam Deck.

The story in question came from PC Gamer and cited another outlet, Hot Hardware, which itself credited a modder on Twitter with the idea to install a mod which would in turn allow people to use a bigger SSD if they choose to do so. You could in theory do that seeing how the initial modder got their device working again albeit with a "mod at your own risk" disclaimer, but even if it seemed to work, Valve warned against it.

"Hi, please don't do this," said Valve designer Lawrence Yang in response to the PC Gamer story about the topic. "The charger IC gets very hot and nearby thermal pads should not be moved.  In addition, most 2242 m.2 drives draw more power and get hotter than what Deck is designed for. This mod may appear to work but will significantly shorten the life of your Deck."

So, there you have it. People have already come up with mod ideas for the Steam Deck and will likely come up with many more in the future, but as far as this particular one goes, it's probably not a great idea to shoot for a larger SSD than the one Valve already had installed. Cautions like that will likely apply to pretty much anything else people try to do, too, so if you're pretty content with your Steam Deck, it sounds like it's best to leave it as is.

For those who do not yet have a Steam Deck but are still waiting on one, you're in luck. Valve said recently that it'd be doubling its Steam Deck shipments and shared some news on the next wave of orders.