Modder gives Steam Deck massive performance boost with “mother ship” GPU dock

A modder has managed to give his Steam Deck a massive boost by equipping it with an AMD Radeon 6700 XT graphics card.

The Valve Steam Deck is an amazing device that can offer high-tier PC gaming on the go, despite the tiny form factor. Some users have noted that though the Steam Deck can punch above its weight class in many ways, it could benefit from a boost in the graphics department.

Now, most people would think of attaching the Steam Deck to an external graphics card, something like a Gigabyte AORUS gaming box or similar. One modder user decided to go in a different direction and instead managed to hook a desktop AMD Radeon 6700 XT graphics card and a monitor to his Steam Deck.

Steam Deck hooked up to GPU and monitor

Modder and Reddit user J0urnalizm found a way to connect a desktop graphics card to the Steam Deck by utilizing the M.2 PCIe connector inside the Steam Deck. This connector is typically used to plug in additional SSD storage modules to provide extra space for games and save files, but J0urnalizm discovered a novel use for it. However, the use of this slot does mean that bandwidth limitations would be imposed.

With the Radeon 6700XT installed and a 13.5-inch LCD hooked up, J0urnalizm was getting 2K resolution and 75Hz refresh rate, which is an impressive result. A video containing his methodology and results was posted to YouTube.

Commenters on Reddit were mostly very impressed, with some referring to this unique set-up as a ‘Deck Top’. Others pointed out that some gaming handhelds like the upcoming MSI Claw have Thunderbolt 4 available, which presents opportunities for similar setups to become commonplace, without the difficulties of wiring a desktop GPU into the M.2 slot.

It is possible that we could see handheld PC devices like the MSI Claw and Ayaneo Slide become something akin to desktop replacement devices because modders like J0urnalizm led the way.