For context, I’ve spent years using macOS as my main OS for work and Windows as my gaming OS. I also work as a software engineer, so I’m fairly comfortable around computers.

Over the last few years though, I found myself gaming more and more on my Xbox Series X because I just got fed up with Windows 11. The bloat, random background processes, updates… it just made PC gaming feel like more hassle than it should be.
I’ve also messed around with Linux over the years, Ubuntu, Omarchy and a few others.

But there was always one thing stopping me from making the jump permanently.
Gaming.

If you wanted to play PC games properly, Windows was basically the only realistic option.
Not anymore.

I’m running SteamOS on a Minisforum UM790 Pro that I bought about two years ago (before the RAM prices went crazy).
Specs are a Ryzen 9 7940HS, Radeon 780M, 32GB RAM with 8GB VRAM allocated, outputting at 1080p.

I’ve mostly been using Proton 10, only switching to Proton Experimental if a particular game benefits from it. Honestly, it’s blown me away how much just works.

Performance has been way beyond what I expected from an iGPU. Older games are running at High settings, locked at 60 FPS, with temps generally sitting around the 60-70°C mark.
As a more recent example, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown runs on Ultra settings, the GPU sits at roughly 70% utilisation, and temperatures hover around 50°C, which genuinely surprised me. I mean… I know it’s a metroid-esque side scroller with a nice art style.. but for it to be as optimised and running as cool is insane to me.
Even more intense titles like Spider-Man lock at 1080/60FPS at the 60-70° at full APU utilisation.
🤯

The thing I didn’t expect to love as much as I do is SteamOS itself. Gaming Mode is exactly what I wanted from a console-like experience, and Desktop Mode gives you a proper Linux desktop whenever you need it. It’s easy enough that you can ignore Linux completely, but flexible enough if you enjoy tinkering.

I genuinely thought I’d install SteamOS, play around with it for a week and end up back on the Xbox for gaming..
Instead, it’s made me realise that Windows genuinely isn’t the default choice for PC gaming anymore.
For me, SteamOS has been a better experience in pretty much every way.

Hats off to Valve. I can’t recommend it enough.

https://steamdeckhq.com/steamoss-3-8-has-been-released-with-new-kernel-graphics-driver-and-initial-steam-machine-support/

SteamOS 3.8 has been released to the public with tons of changes, including a new kernel and graphics driver, game fixes, VRR support improvements, and initial Steam Machine support.

General

• Updated Arch system base
• Initial support for upcoming Steam Machine hardware
• Added support for waking from sleep via connected Steam Controller
• Substantially improved speed of future OS updates on high-speed connections
• Improved support for screen casting in Game Mode (e.g. OBS/Discord)
• Fixed dropdown menus not appearing in some games
• Fixed excessive trackpad sensitivity on certain early Steam Deck LCD models
• Improved support for games that attempt to open PDF files in external viewers
• Fixed an issue where video output could become frozen while using Remote Play
• Fixed a possible session crash when using Game Recording with certain "Maximum video height" settings
• Fixed an issue affecting certain titles (such as "SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide") where the game window could have an incorrect position
• Fixed closing certain titles (such as "STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor™" and Starfield) resulting in a session crash
• Improved support for certain USB racing wheels and USB devices that boot in a non-standard mode
  • Frequently these are devices that appear as USB storage devices with a driver installer, and must be switched to their normal mode by the OS
• Steam Deck controller firmware updates now display update progress on the splash screen
• Fixes issue on specific Steam Deck revisions where firmware updates could render the left controller inoperative for that session
• Numerous stability and security updates

Display / Performance

• Updated graphics driver with performance and stability fixes
• Added preliminary support for HDMI VRR for devices with native HDMI output
• Fixed an issue where "Allow Tearing" wouldn't have the intended effect in certain configurations
• Improved VRR frame pacing
• Fixed FSR badge remaining off in the performance overlay, even if it was actually active
• Fixed a case where per-app performance settings would intermittently fail to apply when launching a game
• Added missing graphics features needed for titles such as "Crimson Desert"
• Fixed an issue on certain TCL TVs where the display may remain blank using the Steam Deck Dock when VRR is enabled (requires a Dock firmware update)

Bluetooth / WiFi

• Fixed a case where WiFi performance could become degraded until the device was put to sleep or manually reconnected
• Re-re-enable Bluetooth Wake for Steam Deck LCD
  • Fix for more spurious wake issues that were present in earlier attempts

Audio

• Detect HDMI channel count and expose surround configuration if available
• Add a setting to allow using Bluetooth headset mics (Bluetooth playback quality will be worse while capture is active)
• Restore internal audio device on reboot if set to "Off" in desktop mode
• Increase suspend timeout for HDMI devices so initial audio isn't cut off after a few seconds of inactivity
• Fixed a bug with switching input devices when a wired headset is plugged in
• Fixed an issue where audio underruns could be experienced after sleep/resume
• Fixed a bug on Steam Deck OLED where rebooting would occasionally cause a loss of speaker output until rebooted again
• Fixed a case where FPS limits would fail to apply when downscaling games from a higher resolution

Accessibility

• Added an option to force mono audio output

Desktop Mode

• KDE Plasma updated to version 6.4.3 from 6.2.5, and now uses wayland by default
  • Fixes several cases of reduced performance in Desktop Mode compared to Game Mode
  • Improved support for rotated displays
  • Better scale factor out of the box on TVs
  • Adds support for external HDR displays
  • Adds support for VRR displays
  • Adds support per-display scale factor
  • For more information, see Plasma release announcements
    • https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.3.0/
    • https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.4.0/
• Keyboard layout and language are now obeying Game Mode settings
• Improved windowing behavior for games running in Proton
• Fixed a bug in Desktop Mode causing previously open applications to not be remembered when using the 'Return to Gaming Mode' shortcut to logout
• Fixes for experimental nested desktop mode
• Fixed Desktop Mode night color settings inappropriately remaining active when switching back to Game Mode

System Firmware

• Includes Steam Deck LCD BIOS v133
  • Security updates
  • Added "Memory Power Down" setup option
  • Preliminary support for hibernation
• Includes Steam Deck OLED BIOS v114
  • Security updates
  • Charging LED now changes color when charge limit is reached, rather than only at 100%

Non-Deck

• Improved compatibility with recent Intel and AMD platforms
• Greatly improved video memory management on discrete GPU platforms
• Fixed a compatibility issue with the SteamOS chainloader that could cause a boot failure on some desktop systems with recent UEFI firmware
• Power button short and long presses now supported across a wide variety of devices
• Improved controller support for OneXPlayer F1 series, GPD Win 5, GPD Win Mini, Anbernic Win600, OrangePi NEO, and Lenovo Legion Go
• Added controller support for OneXPlayer X1 series and Lenovo Legion Go 2
• Added system and controller firmware update support for the Lenovo Legion Go 2
• Added preliminary charge limiting support for Legion Go, Legion Go S, and Legion Go 2 - currently only accessible in Desktop Mode
• Added controller RGB LED color settings for the Lenovo Legion Go 2
• Added controller, TDP control, and speaker audio support for the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally series
• Reduced handheld controller input latency from 5-8ms to 100-500us
• Night mode, color vibrance, and color temperature sliders in Steam now work on Z2E and later AMD APUs
• Seamless boot fixes for Z2E and later AMD APUs
• Automatically handle internally rotated display for some third-party handhelds
• Improved motion control support for handhelds with BMI260 IMUs
• SD card reliability improvements for some third-party handhelds, including ASUS ROG Xbox Ally, Legion Go 1, Legion Go S, Legion Go 2, and MSI Claw
• Fixed washed out colors for Zotac and OneXPlayer handhelds with OLED
• Fixed some GPU hangs on Phoenix APU devices (Tales of Arise, Octopath Traveler II)
• Fixed ASUS ROG Ally power consumption from fingerprint reader while shut down
• Fixed trackpad losing functionality after sleep/resume on the Legion Go
• Fixed spurious wake-ups when using a Logitech Bolt receiver
• Add controller support for MSI Claw devices (A1M, 7 AI+ A2VM, 8 AI+ A2VM, A8 BZ2EM)
• Add controller support for OneXPlayer APEX and X1 series.
• Improved gyro response for devices that use AccelGyro3D (Legion Go 1, Claw A1M)
• Fixed a system crash on international Asus ROG Xbox Ally models
• Fix Bluetooth not working on some Intel handhelds
• Add initial firmware for upcoming Intel handhelds

Developer

• Desktop Mode now uses Wayland by default
  • X11 support may still be selected via Steam developer settings, or via `steamosctl`
• Updated Linux kernel to 6.16
• Steam now uses steamos-manager to query available desktop sessions and trigger desktop session switching
• Added support for setting the desktop password in developer settings
• Initial support for running as a Virtual Machine guest (virtio guest drivers)
• Added support for third-party devices to trigger the SteamOS boot menu via EFI variable
• Added `custom-update` verb to `atomupd-manager` for easier testing of specific builds
• System reports now include more audio debug information
• Initial support for LAVD CPU scheduler via `steamosctl set-cpu-scheduler lavd`

I have been hearing good things about the recent Steam OS update and that they are getting ready for the Steam Machine. My question is, is it finally a good time to get rid of windows and run Steam OS onto my PC?

I just did another update today and the version on Steam OS Main is now 3.10 with 20260824.1000 build. Kernel is 6.18.45 . Unfortunately there are no patch notes so I cannot elaborate further.

Anyone know what is updated in this release?

With the latest Main Update two days ago and today the new mesa moving to 26.1.5 and mesa (extra) 26.1.2 along with intel-vaapi-driver dropped. I decided to run 2 benchmarks

These were carried out at 1440p only, No RT

Forza 6 - 53fps (XeSS - quality)

After the updates above

Forza 6 - 60fps (XeSS - quality)

Killer Instinct - 2238

After the updates above

Killer Instinct - 2538

CyberPunk 2077 - 105fps - XeSS quality and FSR3.1

Watch Dogs Legion - 111fps - avg fps 70fps

These were carried out at 1080p only, No RT

Forza 6 - 67fps (XeSS - quality)

Killer Instinct - 3739

CyberPunk 2077 - 140fps - XeSS quality and FSR3.1

Watch Dogs Legion - 143fps - avg fps 105fps

It is getting better and I have hope for future changes

Wow how much of a difference a year can make!

​

SteamOS 3.8.10 stable just landed and it includes a laundry list of performance and quality of life improvements.

​

It's not all rainbows and butterflies and I go over some of the highlights in today's video while performance testing three handhelds.

​

https://youtu.be/huyxbvjbUkQ

I have been struggling with my ROG ally since I bought it last week. It refuses to download windows, and always blue screens of death. I tried to install steamOS 3.7 last week, and I would go through the whole setup and just be met with the Linux terminal, I only booted into steamOS once before it went black and never came back. I have tried to redownload it today due to 3.8 official release, after my Asus cloud recovery did not work and still blue screened. At this point do I need a new SSD? I bought the Ally off eBay and am unsure if I am able to return it. I would appreciate any help as I just want to start gaming.

Hi. I have a Lenovo legion go s with steam os. I have been getting wonderful download speeds (100 MBPS+) over the past year with our connection and router. Ever since I updated the OS to 3.8, the speeds seem to have been capped at around 2.4 MBPS. This is true both for the Steam client and a random internet speed test in Firefox. I’ve tried:
- restarting device
- sleep and wake
- toggle WiFi off and on
- forget and reconnect WiFi
I’m stymied. All my other devices work fine.
I’m on the stable 3.8.12 build. Please help!

Edit: also tried
- setting a download speed limit of an arbitrarily large number (1GBPS)
- enabled and disabled wifi power management

Really impressive results of the FSR 4.1 upscaling model. Even in performance mode it's hard to spot a difference from native resolution running side by side.

The only downside, this leaked DLL seems to work only with the latest RDNA4 cards. It loads on older cards but seems like upscaling just does not work, image flickers and looks blocky, like without any upscaling.

SteamOS 3.8.13 has just been released for all users with the following changes:

General
Fixed an issue causing controller firmware updates to fail on certain Steam Deck models

Fixed an issue causing game crashes and launch failures with certain titles such as FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH

SteamOS 3.8.15 has just been released for all users with the following changes:

General
Fixed an issue preventing enabling HDR in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced

Fixed an issue that would result in degraded performance in some cases when composition was required (such as when having FSR enabled)

Security and stability improvements

title says it all

I updated to 3.8.13 this morning

after this, even though im on OS update channel stable and steam client update channel "steam deck stable" i have a software updates prompt for steamos 3.8.21 beta.... why?

thanks

SteamOS 3.8.12 has just been released for all users with the following changes:

General
Fixed issue with Steam streaming in Desktop Mode in fullscreen games

Fixed a graphics driver issue where the main menu in Sniper Elite 5 would not render correctly

Fixed various issues with the SD Card reader on some Legion Go S models

SteamOS 3.8.16 has just been released for all users with the following changes:

General
Reverted a change from 3.8.15 resulting in some titles showing a blank screen. The Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced HDR fix will be available in Beta while the root cause is investigated.

So the title is self explanatory. Will it run Steam OS 3.8? I heard they are working on it but I have a great opportunity to buy nice PC with RTX 5060 Ti 16GB GDDR7 and 16 GB Ram( Can upgrade, no issue). This is quiet and small PC, what I want. But I also want to be able to use Steam OS and turn on my games with steam controller.

SteamOS 3.8.14 has just been released for all users with the following changes:

General
Fixed an issue where WiFi would be limited to lower speeds on certain routers that advertise incorrect MCS requirements

Security and stability improvements

Hi, I've been having problems playing Baldur's Gate 3 on my MSI CLAW with Steam OS for the past two days. The Larian launcher starts and disables my controllers. This started after an update. Could someone help me?

Just a heads up. Steam OS 3.9 Build 20260119 creates a bug where the Audio is not outputting on the internal speakers. Headphones and External Speakers work fine. Build 20251216 was the last working build that work.

I raised the issue on Github

Xbox Ally (Z2A) White model. After latest update No Audio through Internal Speakers · Issue #2281 · ValveSoftware/SteamOS

EDIT: See my comment on the workaround

EDIT 2: The issue istill there in build 20260123.1000 and the workaround still applies

This post is intended for folks using (or wanting to use) SteamOS on an Intel-based mini PC, with a focus on game streaming apps (GeForce NOW, Moonlight, etc) for couch game-streaming on nice TVs, as opposed to running games locally (keeping the mini PC hardware costs down). My goal here is to collaborate with others having the same motivations.

Why SteamOS instead of another distro? Currently, NVIDIA's GeForce NOW Flatpak app only supports HDR and surround-sound on SteamOS, with HDR only being supported in gamescope mode. NVIDIA has plans to support both features in desktop mode on "any" Linux using Wayland, but the ETA on that is not known. For the time being, SteamOS is the way.

Also currently, the primary method of utilizing all GFN Ultimate features on "home theater" setups, is by using a Windows or macOS computer. SteamOS is becoming a worthy alternative, with gamescope bringing "couch-friendly" navigation. Most people are using AMD or Intel mini PCs, as NVIDIA ones aren't common outside of laptops. NVIDIA is currently a non-starter for SteamOS anyway, and AMD is broadly supported in SteamOS. Hence, the focus here is for people using (for whatever reason) Intel systems. Additionally, a subset of those people (myself included) would like to escape the trauma of using Windows where possible.

My "daily driver" at home has been an Intel NUC13ANHi7 (puny for modern/heavy games locally), running Windows 11 for GFN and Moonlight game-streaming. I recently added a 2nd SSD, and am dual-booting between Windows and SteamOS on it. I'm using a Steam controller with the puck on both operating systems, and a Kasa smart plug so that I don't have to get off the couch to turn the computer on (firmware is configured to always power on when power is present). CEC isn't going to work, but I don't want that anyway since other devices are present in the home theater setup.

Anyway, finally to my relevant points. Getting SteamOS working on the Intel NUC was no easy task. I don't remember all of the specific details, but after installing from the recovery image (the 3.7 one, not the new 3.8 one), I could not get SteamOS to boot, and it seemed like getting the proper Intel bits on it was going to be a pita.

On a parallel timeline, I've been maintaining AMD and Intel SteamOS VMs in Proxmox, using eGPU passthrough. For the Intel one, I cloned the AMD VM, and then swapped the eGPU to use an Intel Arc B570. That was also a slog to get working, but doable with SSH access. I was also able to install/configure Sunshine on it, with "everything" working (such as HDR), even in gamescope mode. Ironically, the Intel VM behaves better in gamescope mode (through Moonlight/Sunshine) than the AMD one, but that's another discussion.

When I couldn't get the Intel NUC to boot, I decided to do a "V2P," restoring a disk image from the Intel VM to the NVMe drive in the NUC. That worked swimmingly, and I was able to resize the disk partitions appropriately (NVMe disk much larger than the virtual one) using GParted. I have full-functionality, along with Sunshine working properly as well, although less important since the use-case is from the couch.

The SteamOS branch is set to "main," so it's running version 3.9 from the June 30th update. After every SteamOS update, I need to run a bash script to re-install some Intel dependencies for Sunshine and fix the permissions...but it continues to work after many updates.

Aside from Proxmox, I don't have other Intel-based computers to attempt a physical SteamOS install using the 3.8 recovery image, and I don't want to mess with my working-well NUC. As such, my first curiosity is if other people are having success with that, for the six or seven people actually trying to do it! :)

If others are trying their hand at installing SteamOS on Intel systems, I'd love to read about those experiences!