Gaming - News
Valve Warns This Mod Will Brick Your Steam Deck
By JESSICA REYES
As Valve’s Steam Deck continues to challenge Nintendo Switch’s place as the premier portable console, modders have been curious about how to turn the handheld PC gaming device into an even better machine. One such attempt by a Canadian modder called TheSmcelrea raised concerns, however, when PC Gamer published an article about their “upgrade.”
This modder replaced the console’s standard 2230 SSD with a 2242 M.2 NVMe SSD to try to upgrade its internal storage, which goes against Valve's suggestions. In response to PC Gamer's tweet of this article, Valve's Lawrence Yang quote-tweeted the post with a warning: “Hi, please don't do this. The charger IC gets very hot and nearby thermal pads should not be moved.”
Commenters started re-posting Yang's tweet under PC Gamer's to warn players not to change the SSD, not seeming to realize that the PC Gamer article already pointed out that the mod could be problematic. The article also explains that there are better ways of getting more storage without disassembling and potentially overheating your Steam Deck.
TheSmcelrea later posted a comment agreeing with Yang, writing, "Mod at your own risk! I am taking risks by opening the device and working on it, and it is mostly just as a proof of concept." So everyone's mostly on the same page about this SSD mod's potential danger to the system, and all aspiring Steam Deck modders should proceed with caution.
