This Steam Deck dock has a thermoelectric cooler

If you’re blessed enough to observe down a Steam Deck, probabilities are you have now professional the sweaty palm syndrome with this handheld console — just as our quite own Jess Conditt did in her evaluate. Worse yet, the device is prone to throttling or even crashing thanks to overheating, to the point where by modders came up with their very own imaginative options. For the relaxation of us who do not want to void the guarantee, while, Hong Kong-centered Unitek is now providing the Cooler Dock Pro for Steam Deck. This is primarily Valve’s formal dock boosted with a thermoelectric cooler — like the just one that arrives with the ROG Cellular phone 6D Supreme — on the back again, if you will not brain spending the more $30.

Much like the formal dock, Unitek’s model cushions your Steam Deck — or any moveable device, for that make a difference — with a strip of tender silicone, and you can find a short USB-C cable dangling from the again for connecting to the console. The thermoelectric cooler, RGB-lit admirer and metallic get in touch with plate are all housed inside of a hinged module, which enables for insignificant tilt angle adjustment when supporting the Steam Deck.

The Cooler Dock Pro will come with a set of ports identical to those on Valve’s dock, but with some positioned at the entrance as a substitute — the latter include things like two USB-A and 1 USB-C (up to 10Gbps), accompanied with two RGB lights. On the again, you get a USB-C PD socket (up to 100W passthrough), HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 and Gigabit LAN. It’s worth noting that this dock supports Multi-Stream Transportation i.e. daisy-chaining several monitors in the console’s Linux desktop mode. If you’re making use of just just one online video output, you may get up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 120Hz but if you are employing both ports, then it truly is possibly dual 4K at 60Hz, or 8K at 30Hz on one and 1080p at 60Hz on the other.

Unitek has added one particular extra USB-C port on the still left, which is focused to the cooler module. If you want to use just the cooling functionality even though on the go i.e. no shows nor add-ons related to the dock, you can basically plug a energy bank into that 10W USB-C socket.

Unitek claims that whilst working Apex Legends, the Steam Deck’s ordinary area temperature was close to 46°C (114.8°F), but when made use of with the Cooling Dock Pro, this determine dropped down to 34.5°C (94.1°F) — slipping inside of the proposed ambient temperature vary. For a a lot more severe take a look at, we ran Forza Horizon 5 on extremely graphics options, in which case the Steam Deck would typically are unsuccessful to start a race, but it managed to final for all-around 6 minutes on the Cooling Dock Professional. The business included that when decreased to substantial graphics configurations, the sport would crash immediately after all-around 45 minutes of gameplay, but with its dock, it kept managing even soon after an hour. Of program, your mileage may possibly vary from just one recreation to one more, but it is extra about prolonging your Steam Deck’s lifespan.

The $119 Unitek Cooling Dock Pro is now obtainable for pre-get, with shipments starting up from all around mid-December. You will find also a less expensive $89 Cooling Dock for individuals who only need an HDMI 2. port (capped at 4K at 60Hz), while it won’t be transport till Q1 2023. It should really be pointed out that you can find no power supply incorporated with either design (but they do arrive with a 2-meter 100W USB-C cable), when Valve’s $89 official dock features a 45W brick. Chances are you may perhaps by now have a suitable electric power source Unitek recommends that you are going to have to have 60W or above to get the most out of the Cooler Dock Professional.