Valve warns Steam Deck users to watch system temperatures as the planet burns

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Steam Deck has precautions to "protect itself (and you) from damage"

Steam Deck
(Image credit: Valve)

As the European heatwave continues, Valve has issued a warning about which temperatures the Steam Deck can safely operate in.

"For our friends in the midst of a heatwave, a quick note about Steam Deck in high temperatures," Valve says in a tweet. "Steam Deck performs at its best in ambient temperatures between 0° and 35° C [32° and 95° F]. If the temperature gets higher than this, Steam Deck may start to throttle performance to protect itself."

Valve notes that the Deck can run well at internal temperatures up to 100° C, or 212° F, though once it exceeds that temperature, it will throttle performance in an effort to regulate the heat. At 105° C, or 221° F, it will shut down entirely to "protect itself (and you) from damage."

Nintendo issued a similar statement to Switch users last week in the wake of a Japanese heatwave, warning that temperatures above 35° C could negatively affect the system - and that it may go into sleep mode to protect itself. Maybe you should take these very similar warnings as an indication that all your electronic devices don't do well when the temperature rises.

Dustin Bailey
Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.