In case you are lucky enough to trace down a Steam Deck, likelihood is that you could have already skilled the sweaty palm syndrome with this hand-held console — simply as our very personal Jess Conditt did in her review. Worse but, the system is liable to throttling and even crashing because of overheating, to the purpose the place modders got here up with their very own creative solutions. For the remainder of us who do not need to void the guaranty, regardless that, Hong Kong-based Unitek is now providing the Cooler Dock Pro for Steam Deck. That is necessarily Valve’s official dock boosted with a thermoelectric cooler — like the one who comes with the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate — at the again, if you do not thoughts paying the additional $30.
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Just like the reliable dock, Unitek’s model cushions your Steam Deck — or any transportable instrument, for that subject — with a strip of sentimental silicone, and there is a brief USB-C cable dangling from the again for connecting to the console. The thermoelectric cooler, RGB-lit fan and metal touch plate are all housed inside of a hinged module, which permits for minor tilt perspective adjustment whilst supporting the Steam Deck.
The Cooler Dock Professional comes with a suite of ports very similar to the ones on Valve’s dock, however with some positioned on the entrance as a substitute — the latter come with two USB-A and one USB-C (as much as 10Gbps), accompanied with two RGB lighting fixtures. At the again, you get a USB-C PD socket (as much as 100W passthrough), HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 and Gigabit LAN. It is price noting that this dock helps Multi-Movement Delivery i.e. daisy-chaining more than one screens within the console’s Linux desktop mode. In case you are the use of only one video output, you can stand up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 120Hz; however if you are the use of each ports, then it is both twin 4K at 60Hz, or 8K at 30Hz on one and 1080p at 60Hz at the different.
Unitek has added one additional USB-C port at the left, which is devoted to the cooler module. If you wish to use simply the cooling serve as whilst at the cross i.e. no shows nor equipment attached to the dock, you’ll be able to merely plug an influence financial institution into that 10W USB-C socket.
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Unitek claims that whilst working Apex Legends, the Steam Deck’s reasonable floor temperature was once round 46°C (114.8°F), but if used with the Cooling Dock Professional, this determine dropped right down to 34.5°C (94.1°F) — falling throughout the recommended ambient temperature vary. For a extra excessive take a look at, we ran Forza Horizon 5 on extremely graphics settings, by which case the Steam Deck would typically fail to start out a race, nevertheless it controlled to final for round six mins at the Cooling Dock Professional. The corporate added that once reduced to top graphics settings, the sport would crash after round 45 mins of gameplay, however with its dock, it stored working even after an hour. After all, your mileage might range from one sport to some other, however it is extra about prolonging your Steam Deck’s lifespan.
The $119 Unitek Cooling Dock Professional is now to be had for pre-order, with shipments ranging from round mid-December. There may be additionally a less expensive $89 Cooling Dock for individuals who handiest want an HDMI 2.0 port (capped at 4K at 60Hz), regardless that it would possibly not be transport till Q1 2023. It will have to be famous that there is no energy provide integrated with both style (however they do include a 2-meter 100W USB-C cable), whilst Valve’s $89 reliable dock features a 45W brick. Likelihood is that you might have already got a suitable energy provide; Unitek recommends that you can want 60W or above to get probably the most out of the Cooler Dock Professional.
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