I Spent More Than I Saved on this Refurbished Steam Deck

JordB · October 18, 2023

Between Steam sales and Certified Refurbished units, it’s easier than ever to save money on a Steam Deck. But what could you do with those savings?

Buy GuliKit Joystick Replacements for Steam Deck: https://geni.us/Y4kfAmL

Buy a Sabrent Rocket Q4 2230 2TB NVMe M.2 SSD: https://geni.us/Mg4MOse

Buy a Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2280 4TB NVMe M.2 SSD: https://geni.us/0GTPFwK

Buy a Sabrent Steam Deck Docking Station: https://geni.us/S3Mqy2

Check out the P3R "The Monoblock" Cooling Accessory - Wave 2: https://lmg.gg/0hbce

Check out the P3R "The Monoblock 2" Cooling Accessory - Wave 1: https://lmg.gg/7jOJ9

Check out Steam Deck Shells at eXtremeRate: https://lmg.gg/C9Fmh

Check out the DeckHD Steam Deck Screen Upgrade: https://lmg.gg/Tm9SX

Check out Deck Buttons: https://lmg.gg/McjJW

Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group.

P3R Monoblock Discord - https://discord.com/invite/uRhFDDK

Auto-Mounting Solution - https://github.com/scawp/Steam-Deck.Mount-External-Drive

GuliKit directions - https://www.gulikit.com/productinfo/1026071.html

DeckHD directions - https://www.deckhd.com/setup

eXtreme Rate directions - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tBE10fSYBc

OpenLight · October 19, 2023

at 8:40
(Noticed something on the latest LTT video so I created an account for this)
Doesn't seem like there was much contact between the P3R Monoblock and the memory at all! It also seems like part of the die was not covered by thermal paste (I'm not too sure on that...), could that account for the wildly fluctuating thermal results for the CPU?
Anyways, seems like the issue is one of(or more) the thermal pads being too thick resulting in uneven pressure on the whole assembly. You can spot that the thermal paste on the bottom-most memory chip right next to the light-grey thermal pad did not get squished at all compared to the upper memory chips. It seems like this thermal pad is the most likely culprit as it could be making the Monoblock sit at an angle on the memory and the die.

JordB · October 19, 2023

11 hours ago, OpenLight said:

at 8:40
(Noticed something on the latest LTT video so I created an account for this)
Doesn't seem like there was much contact between the P3R Monoblock and the memory at all! It also seems like part of the die was not covered by thermal paste (I'm not too sure on that...), could that account for the wildly fluctuating thermal results for the CPU?
Anyways, seems like the issue is one of(or more) the thermal pads being too thick resulting in uneven pressure on the whole assembly. You can spot that the thermal paste on the bottom-most memory chip right next to the light-grey thermal pad did not get squished at all compared to the upper memory chips. It seems like this thermal pad is the most likely culprit as it could be making the Monoblock sit at an angle on the memory and the die.

As we mentioned in the video, we got a sample from Wave 1 of Posseidon's 3 Rings' original Monoblock, and their CEO warned us in advance that they had experienced wildly varying results, ranging from 20 degrees below stock, to 10 degrees above stock due to some manufacturing issues. We followed the directions they provided, using the supplied pads, and unfortunately ended up with a poor result.

P3R also told us they are aiming for a more consistent "10 degrees below stock" for the second iteration of the Monoblock (Wave 2), and told us about some of the improvements they are planning, which include increased fin density, additional material over the APU to improve mounting pressure and thermal conductance, and some tweaks to improve leveling and mounting.

They also mentioned experimenting with a larger heatpipe, though at the time of this update that's still listed as 'Pending' for their original Monoblock, while it appears to be confirmed for the Monoblock 2. We look forward to trying out both Wave 2 and Monoblock 2 and seeing the improvements first-hand.

In the meantime, there's an active modding community on P3R's Discord who have conducted a ton of experiments aimed at improving the performance of the Wave 1 part, you can check that out here: https://discord.gg/uRhFDDK