Brand-new code has been discovered which reveals that Valve has made the Steam Deck officially compatible with the DeckHD screen mod.
The Steam Deck OLED has overshadowed the original LCD version of the handheld, since its release last year. The handheld successor introduced not only an improved battery but a new OLED screen. However, Valve still hasn’t forgotten about the original model and its first foray into handheld gaming.
Brand new code added to the handheld’s Gamescope compositor has revealed that Valve has officially made the LCD Steam Deck more easily upgradable by adding DeckHD support.
As posted by Brad Lynch on X/Twitter, support for the DeckHD screen has been officially mentioned within the compositor. As seen in the two screenshots shared by Lynch, the DeckHD screen mod is listed as “Jupiter Deck HD.”
Valve is starting to add official support for the Steam Deck LCD’s 1920x1200p “DeckHD” mod right into the Gamescope compositorPretty neat! pic.twitter.com/EGQ0ko23E7
— Brad Lynch (@SadlyItsBradley) July 26, 2024
As of writing, the DeckHD screen mod is still available for $99 from the official DeckHD website. While the IPS screen can’t run circles around the shiny OLED display of the latest Steam Deck, it’s still a considerable improvement over the original Steam Deck display.
The DeckHD screen mod upgrades the display to a 1920×1200 resolution with 87% of SRGB coverage over the 1280×800 resolution and 67% sRGB coverage of the original model.
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However, while the replacement screen can breathe new life into the original Steam Deck, its setup is not for the faint of heart. As outlined by our review, the 1920×1200 IPS screen mod relies on flashing the handheld’s BIOS to run.
As a result, adding the screen requires the stress-inducing process of reflashing the Steam Deck repeatedly after every update, making playing your favorite Steam Deck games a bit more of a hassle.
With DeckHD support now officially on the cards, this could eliminate the need to flash the Steam Deck BIOS entirely, making upgrading the screen of the LCD Steam Deck a lot easier.
The newly added DeckHD support only pertains to the LCD model. However, Valve adding support for third-party mods is a great sign all around.
With the plethora of Steam Deck mods available for both models and their varying levels of complexity and support issues, this could be a sign that Valve will continue making its go-to handheld even more easily upgradable in the future.
