DeckHD, the display mod for Steam Deck, is quite popular among Deck users that have given it a go. It can tweak the original Steam Deck’s resolution to 1920 x 1200p from the native 1280 x 800p. Now that DeckHD is on its way to being approved by Valve, it might be a tempting upgrade for many Steam Deck users.
Since covering the DeckHD upgrade, we’ve been interested in what people think about it. One of the drawbacks of the Steam Deck compared to its competitors like the ASUS ROG Ally is its lower resolution and refresh rate, but can the DeckHD really try and amend that? Users online give differing opinions, but most people who actually upgraded seem pretty happy.
Many DeckHD owners are happy with their purchase
A post on Reddit sparked a debate about whether DeckHD was worth it. We’re generally of the opinion that OLED is king, but the post sparked some useful discussion. Users with hands-on experience with the mod have much to say regarding overall performance with FSR enabled and battery life.
Judging from the comments, the general sentiment among users seems to be positive. Redditors pointed out that DeckHD upgraded the visual quality and delivered much better colors than the original Steam Deck – especially when playing at 1080p, if the game isn’t too demanding. If not, you can always return to the usual 800p and upscale to 1080p with FSR or the SteamOS upscaler. The same commentator also said that the battery life wasn’t an issue with DeckHD and they didn’t notice any difference.
Another user echoed the positive opinion, stating that DeckHD worked well, but the user had issues with the company. The user’s order was delayed for months, and the return policy was tedious and costly.
It’s worth noting that someone mistakingly thought the DeckHD refresh rate could only be set in multiples of 60, but this turned out to be a user error. If you want more freedom in terms of refresh rate cap, make sure you uncheck ‘Enable Unified Frame Limit Management’ under Display settings.
Others say the Steam Deck doesn’t have enough power to handle 1080p
Some people think that the OG deck simply isn’t capable of running the mod, instead having to rely on FSR. One user bluntly writes “FSR sucks” and isn’t better than the original resolution. While this is technically true, the trade-off for better performance is subjective. Simply put, the higher resolution makes the Deck more versatile – which should never be a bad thing.
We found one comment on Facebook that called the DeckHD “a terrible upgrade” that “tries to push the Deck to run resolutions it simply doesn’t have the power for” – adding “just get the OLED”.
In our opinion, we think it’s a worthwhile investment if you already own an original Steam Deck, want to upgrade the visual experience, and are willing to shell out an extra $99 for it. If not, you’d be better off with a Steam Deck OLED thanks to its slightly bigger screen and supreme color accuracy – plus a higher refresh rate of up to 90Hz.
We think that the cost of the DeckHD is another concern. At the moment, the DeckHD costs $99, which is quite the price to pay for a 7-inch display and could instead be put towards the OLED model. Furthermore, installing the DeckHD mod requires users to disassemble the Steam Deck device, which can be intimidating for someone not familiar with the hardware.
