According to a recent report from Phoronix, a beta patch for Steam aims to improve pre-caching capabilities for shaders, which could, in turn, save space, not just on a user’s PC, but on the Steam Deck itself. As of last Friday, and for those who participate in beta testing for the client, the software will now “flush” this cached data, specifically for GPU drivers. Given that cache can become quite large, having it purged should go a long way to improving storage capacities, and that goes doubly so for the Deck.
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The Steam Deck will be available in different models, the smallest of which will feature 64 GB of eMMC storage. Given the propensity for modern games to take up a lot of hard-drive space, and that PC users generally have much bigger HDDs and SSDs, some may have concerns that purchasing the cheapest model will incur a significant disadvantage when it comes to storing software. While the device will also support SD cards for extra space, the fact that the beta update for Steam will free up more by default should provide some relief to concerned potential buyers.
However, it should be mentioned that the Steam Deck’s operating system may take up 10 GB of storage, which amounts to 15% of the cheaper model’s SSD. For some, the obvious solution is to simply go for the more expensive models with greater storage capacity, but that’s not always the option for many. Hopefully, it won’t cause too many issues down the line.
All-in-all, there’s a good chance that Valve’s upcoming device will make a positive impact on the world of mobile gaming. With games like Cyberpunk 2077 seemingly running well on the Deck, and devs working hard to make it compatible in time for launch in a few weeks, gamers are hoping that the extra two-month wait will have been worth it in the end.
The Steam Deck is due out on February 25.
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Source: Phoronix
