Leaker thinks Steam Deck 2 will "run circles" around current handheld consoles

We recently reported that the Valve Steam Deck 2 might use an AMD APU codenamed “Gainsborough”. Rumors circulating online claimed that the AMD Gainsborough APU uses an RDNA 3.5/RDNA 4m iGPU with 12 Compute Units. On the surface, this doesn’t bode well for the Steam Deck 2’s performance, as we mentioned in our reporting.

However, Moore’s Law Is Dead now thinks that the AMD Gainsborough might not be as underpowered as many people think. Moore’s Law Is Dead explains that, even with only 12 CUs, the AMD Gainsborough will probably “run circles around the current AMD non-Halo APUs” and the Steam Deck APU. So, per the leaker, the RDNA 4m iGPU of the AMD Gainsborough will not only be much more powerful per CU than the RDNA 2 iGPU of the Steam Deck, but it will also beat the Ryzen Z1/Z2 APUs powering handhelds like the Asus ROG Ally.

To illustrate this point, MLID gives the example of the Radeon RX 9050 4 GB. While the RX 9050 4 GB is a mediocre desktop GPU by all standards, MLID points out that the RX 9050 4 GB manages to beat iGPUs with double the CUs at lower TDPs. This shows that RDNA 4 has a huge advantage over RDNA 3/3.5. 

So, assuming AMD Gainsborough’s RDNA 4m iGPU is actually a derivative of RDNA 4 and not another RDNA 3 refresh, the Steam Deck 2 might put out some impressive results compared to the original Steam Deck (get one on Amazon). 

Moreover, MLID thinks the Steam Deck 2 will be able to manage 960p/60 FPS in AAA games that run at 720p and barely manage 20 FPS on the current Steam Deck. Combine this with RDNA 4’s ability to run FSR 4, and the Steam Deck 2 can do a seriously good job compared to the original Steam Deck at playing demanding games.

We’ll have to wait and see what Valve ends up cooking. Till then, take all rumors, leaks, and commentary surrounding the Steam Deck 2 with caution.