We’ve known for a while that Valve is working on a Steam Deck 2, but it’s waiting for a chip that’ll provide a “true next-generation” experience. Now, though, a potential APU for the handheld has appeared online, sparking speculation that work is ramping up.
The benchmark was posted on OpenBenchmarking, and shows an AMD APU codenamed ‘Gainsborough,’ with 6 cores and 12 threads, along with 24GB of LPDDR5 memory. However, while the the CPU side of the leaked chip is much more powerful, with 50% more cores, there is no information about the GPU, with even the graphics architecture remaining a mystery.
It’s not the first time that the Gainsborough chip has appeared online. Earlier this month, Moore’s Law is Dead spotted import documents for the chip, using the same ‘GBR’ abbreat this won’t be the chip used in the final version of the Steam Deck 2, but the original Steam Deck APU was codenamed ‘Aerith,’ then the Steam Deck OLED got the ‘Sephiroth’ chip, so there’s clearly a theme going with AMD’s codenames for handheld chips
Steam Deck OLED: White Edition – Slideshow Gallery
At first glance, the performance on the leaked Gainsborough chip doesn’t look super impressive, clocking in with a FurMark score of 3,508 points, compared to 3,323 points on the original Steam Deck, according to TechPowerUp. However, the new chip was tested at a lower 768p resolution than the Steam Deck’s 800p, which likely makes up for some of the difference. Plus, this is an engineering sample likely running on very early drivers, so there’s a lot of room for improvement before this chip ever sees the light of day — if it even does.
These benchmarks don’t really say much about how the Steam Deck 2 will actually perform when it actually comes out, either, but their existence suggests Valve’s next handheld is closer than I thought. But, if we’re at the point where Valve is just trying to nail down the drivers before it makes an announcement, I could see the handheld launching in the next year or two.
Whenever the Steam Deck 2 comes out, it’ll launch into a gaming hardware market that’s vastly different than when the Steam Deck first came out in 2022. Valve has said that the ongoing RAM crisis hasn’t changed its plans for the sequel, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up being much more expensive than the original handheld.
Valve has also had to learn the new hardware landscape the hard way, launching the Steam Machine and Steam Frame at prices a lot of gamers have balked at. Valve has even had to raise the price of the Steam Deck so much that it makes it hard to recommend in the face of newer, more powerful handheld gaming PCs.
Jackie Thomas is the Senior Tech Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. She’s been covering gaming hardware for more than a decade for IGN, TechRadar, Gizmodo, PC Gamer and more. You can follow her @Jackiecobra
