Steam Deck’s Storage Space is Going to Become Less of a Problem

One of Steam Deck’s biggest problems has been the size of its shader cache, which takes up a lot of the storage space. The problem isn’t that bothersome in the 256 and 512GB Steam Deck models as they can support large cache build up over an extended period of time. But that is not the case with the 64GB variant.

Even though the lowest spec 64GB variant has an attractive price, a considerable portion of the device’s internal memory ends up getting spent on shaders, which hinders players’ experiences as their game libraries build up gigabytes worth of shader cache. 

Steam Deck’s storage space should be less of a problem once the much-anticipated SteamOS 3.5 update drops. The new update features a Vulkan shader pipeline which, when combined with the Deck’s single-file disk-caching technique, will reduce most games’ cache size by 60%.

“That’s our expectation for pre-built shader caches,” said Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais. Each users’ shader storage reduction will vary, depending on the games that are installed on their device, but they should still see a substantial improvement overall.

Griffais did add that some of the games won’t see their cache files shrink dramatically, as the update “Won’t change anything for the size of transcoded video depots, which are also marked ‘shader pre-caching’ in the UI.” 

This news has already proved to be beneficial for SteamOS users, as shader buildup has proved to be one of the most common causes of micro stutter on PCs. By sharing the cache files between Steam Deck users, this problem is hugely reduced, at the very least. If you still think that this update won’t be enough for your Deck’s storage space, then we suggest upgrading the Steam Deck SSD. 

About Steam

Steam is a video game digital distribution service by Valve Softwares. It was launched as a standalone software client in September 2003 as a way for Valve to provide automatic updates for their games and was subsequently expanded to include games from third-party publishers. Steam also serves as an online web-based and mobile digital storefront.