Steam Deck Gets 32 GB LPDDR5 Memory Upgrade by Modder

[AleksandarK]

Valve's Steam Deck handheld gaming console has launched with 16 GB of LPDDR5 memory running at 5500 MT/s. This is distributed over four 32-bit channels for 88 GB/s total bandwidth memory bandwidth. While the storage option can be upgraded, the memory is limited to 16 GB, and the memory chips are soldered. However, it seems like that problem can also be solved only if you are a professional and can solder well. Thanks to the Balázs Triszka on Twitter/X, we have witnessed a mod of Steam Deck, where memory gets upgraded from 16 to 32 GB.

The modder successfully bumped up the system memory using Samsung's LPDDR5 K3LKCKC0BM-MGCP memory chips. All it was needed was some experience with ball grid array (BGA) resoldering. No glue was under the chips, and they were easy to remove. You can see the pictures below, and the system shows the higher memory count.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[chrcoluk]

I wish the ally used a dedicated linux OS like the steam deck did, its new features are nice, but I think how the OS is built like a console on the steam deck, thats still what I will probably buy. Especially the price point as well, sticking retroarch on the thing and doing retro achievements will be killer.

Has the modder found any benefit from this though? Granted its used for the APU, so there is a chance will be some benefits as higher quality textures usually just need memory resources not tflops.

 

[Space Lynx]

I wish the ally used a dedicated linux OS like the steam deck did, its new features are nice, but I think how the OS is built like a console on the steam deck, thats still what I will probably buy. Especially the price point as well, sticking retroarch on the thing and doing retro achievements will be killer.

Has the modder found any benefit from this though? Granted its used for the APU, so there is a chance will be some benefits as higher quality textures usually just need memory resources not tflops.

SteamOS is the best thing that has happened to gaming in ages. Games that tear or stutter in Windows 11 run flawless on Steam OS,

long live Linux!

 

[ixi]

Cool, but how about benchmarks, does it really benefit of 32GīBī?

 

[Durvelle27]

I wish the ally used a dedicated linux OS like the steam deck did, its new features are nice, but I think how the OS is built like a console on the steam deck, thats still what I will probably buy. Especially the price point as well, sticking retroarch on the thing and doing retro achievements will be killer.

Has the modder found any benefit from this though? Granted its used for the APU, so there is a chance will be some benefits as higher quality textures usually just need memory resources not tflops.

Just install a Linux distro heck even SteamOS runs on the Ally

 

[R0H1T]

What's he gonna go with 32 GB ram, run Chrome with 100 tabs

Cool, but how about benchmarks, does it really benefit of 32GīBī?

Need real life tests, like with some of the most bloated popular software out there!

 

[xrli]

It looks like K3LKCKC0BM-MGCP is a 6400MT/s chip. I wonder if you can hack the BIOS to make the APU run the memory at 6400MT, should be a decent performance bump over 5500MT

 

[Panther_Seraphin]

I can see this being valuable for modded games especially things like Skyrim etc but for most general users its probably overkill 99% of the time

 

[Luke357]

What's he gonna go with 32 GB ram, run Chrome with 100 tabs


Need real life tests, like with some of the most bloated popular software out there!

Upgraded my work laptop to 32GB (has a 10400H) and it made a noticeable improvement in overall system smoothness.

 

[friocasa]

It looks like K3LKCKC0BM-MGCP is a 6400MT/s chip. I wonder if you can hack the BIOS to make the APU run the memory at 6400MT, should be a decent performance bump over 5500MT

Yep, it would be interesting to see how much the iGPU performance would increase

Upgraded my work laptop to 32GB (has a 10400H) and it made a noticeable improvement in overall system smoothness.

If you had only one Ram module and now two, it would explain the increased performance by working in dual-channel, especially if you're using iGPU

On the steam deck, however, I don't think it's worth the upgrade to 32GB just for the capacity if it's being used just to play games, the biggest limitation it's the performance itself and heat produced, not Ram

Additionally, won't be cheap and that kind of modification would void the warranty of the motherboard