GoKawiilWhat just happened? With Valve continuing to ignore growing demand for a SteamOS-powered gaming PC, a YouTuber took matters into his own hands by installing SteamOS on an AMD Strix Halo-powered Windows 11 laptop. He also ran several real-world benchmarks that seem to suggest expanding SteamOS to third-party PCs was one of the best decisions Valve has made in recent years.
Popular YouTube channel ETA Prime installed SteamOS 3.9 on an Asus TUF Gaming A14 laptop using the official Steam Deck recovery image. The laptop is powered by an AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 392 APU with 12 Zen 5 cores and a Radeon 8060S iGPU. It also features 32GB of LPDDR5X-8000 memory, a 14-inch 2,560 × 1,600 display with a 165Hz native refresh rate, and a 73Wh battery.
The experiment showed that the TUF Gaming A14 hardware can run SteamOS natively, offering both a gaming mode and a traditional desktop interface. The OS also provided compatibility with the laptop's hardware components, along with built-in support for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB ports, and peripherals.
Once the OS was installed, the YouTuber turned his attention to gaming performance by running several AAA and indie titles on the device. He found that the laptop delivered a console-like experience in most games, including Halo: Campaign Evolved, Spider-Man 2, Doom: The Dark Ages, Crimson Desert, Cyberpunk 2077, and Hollow Knight: Silksong.
The first game tested was Halo: Campaign Evolved, which ran at a smooth 70 FPS at 1440p on High settings with FSR set to Medium. Crimson Desert also ran well at 1440p on High settings, while Spider-Man 2 averaged more than 80 FPS at 1440p on High settings with FSR disabled. Doom: The Dark Ages struggled on Ultra settings and even required FSR set to Balanced on High settings to exceed 60 FPS.
In Cyberpunk 2077, the laptop delivered a stable 60 FPS at 1440p using the High preset and FSR 2.1. The YouTuber disabled AI-based frame generation during the test to measure how many frames the system could render natively. During the battery life test, the laptop ran the game for around two hours and 25 minutes at 800p, but lasted only around one hour and 40 minutes at 1200p.
The indie Metroidvania title Hollow Knight: Silksong ran without any issues at 1200p, delivering a steady 60 FPS while power consumption remained below 16W at all times. Estimated battery life in Hollow Knight and other indie titles ranged between four and seven hours, depending on the settings and display resolution.