While gaming handhelds are practically a dime a dozen at this point, the Steam Deck is still one of the most popular of the bunch. Despite its weaker hardware and lack of complete game support, it's managed to arguably still be the face of the PC gaming handheld world. One of the biggest reasons that's the case is that the Steam Deck has a custom AMD APU inside.

Based on Zen 2 architecture and codenamed "Van Gogh," the Steam Deck's custom APU from AMD isn't exactly a technological marvel, but it's a unique chip for a number of reasons. Most notably, the combination of Zen 2 and RDNA 2 is particularly interesting, as RDNA 2 launched around the same time as Zen 3 did. Very few products have actually combined RDNA 2 with Zen 2, aside from the company's Mendocino APUs.

Valve knows games

Sacrificing CPU performance for GPU performance makes sense

When it comes to games, Valve is one of the kings of the industry in understanding what exactly goes into making them run. The Steam Deck sacrifices CPU performance by using older Zen 2 cores with less cache in order to pack powerful RDNA 2 graphics inside, supplemented by a high memory bandwidth rather than Infinity Cache. The GPU is undoubtedly more important for graphically intensive games and it makes sense, but the single CCX design of Van Gogh that can only boost to 3.5GHz makes it a relatively underpowered CPU when compared to the rest of Zen 2.

With that said, the GPU is a different beast, and while it's not quite as powerful still as what you'll get in the likes of the Z1 Extreme, it manages to run at lower wattages decently well, something that Valve manages to get the most out of with this particular chip. The Steam Deck manages to do wonders with its lower TDP, and that's something that makes it perfect for playing less intensive games on the go for long periods of time.

With that, the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme is influenced strongly by the need for lower power consumption. It's basically the same APU as the Ryzen 7840U, with a focus on lower power consumption for handhelds. This is something that AMD has as an advantage over Nvidia and Intel, as it can claim both CPU and GPU prowess, whereas Nvidia and Intel only have one of those things.

Other companies could benefit from custom APUs

Here's why they can't

When it comes to custom APUs, the only device with a custom AMD APU is the Steam Deck. Ayaneo, a company that ships new products near-weekly, is probably the best candidate I would suspect to be working with AMD on a custom APU. Ayaneo was tight-lipped when I asked, but it has been using AMD chips in all of its products, including the older 5670U in the AM01. Asus would also be a potential candidate.

With that, though, the biggest problem is the economies of scale. Even if the cost of the AMD custom APU in the Steam Deck is high, Valve has an advantage in that even if it makes a loss on the Steam Deck, it makes a profit from people using Steam to buy their games. The same tactic has been employed by gaming companies like Nintendo, where consoles were sold at a loss and those losses were made up for by sales of games and accessories.

If Ayaneo were to do the same, the company would need to profit purely from the sale of hardware, and on top of that, would need to sell enough units to justify mass production of an APU where the economies of scale make sense per unit produced. Ayaneo releases enough products that it could potentially use that APU in multiple products, which is why I feel like if anyone can do it, the cost per unit makes the most sense for Ayaneo of all companies to do it.

With that said, I really don't think it will happen. It's costly and time consuming for a company to spend that time for marginal gains when the likes of the Ryzen 7840U are more than good enough, and in the case of the Ayaneo Flip DS, the 8840U is a step up, too.

Will Valve use another custom APU in a future Steam Deck?

It's really hard to say

Valve has been very quiet about future Steam Deck devices, with the Steam Deck OLED even coming as a surprise only a couple of months ago. Valve's partnership with AMD resulted in its custom APU being produced on a smaller 6nm process for battery life and thermal improvements, and that's another advantage that having a custom APU used only in one product can lend to a company. With that said, I'd be unsure if Valve will go through with another custom APU.

The custom APU in the Steam Deck is designed in cooperation between both AMD and Valve, and at the time, there were far fewer options for companies to use in gaming handhelds if they wanted to. Some companies existed in the space already, but none were as successful as the Steam Deck. Companies, seeing Valve's success, stepped into the space using other AMD APUs. At that point, AMD launched the Ryzen Z1 Extreme, which both Asus and Lenovo have used in their gaming handhelds.

If AMD is making a chip aimed at gaming handhelds, I'm unsure if Valve will want to use a custom APU for a future Steam Deck, or a Z2/Z3 future APU. There are arguments for both, and with the first custom APU being a trial run essentially of what works or what doesn't, I could see Valve being happy to use an off-the-shelf APU if it has everything that the company needs in a gaming handheld.

While the custom APU in the Steam Deck is part of what makes it great (especially versus the options at the time when it launched), I'm unsure even today if Valve would launch the Steam Deck wtih a custom APU or not. Custom hardware is always cool, and as a nerd, I hope that a future Steam Deck has a custom APU, even just for something interesting and new to hit the CPU world.