Steam Deck (OLED) vs Steam Frame
Deck: The mature handheld. We don't re-rank what ProtonDB and SteamDeckHQ already own — Deck appears here as a comparison baseline and a first-party data source (real measured FPS power 215 game pages).
Frame: Streaming-first standalone VR headset. Two answers per game: native on the mobile Snapdragon chip, or streamed from a host PC/Steam Machine over a dedicated 6 GHz link. Eye-tracked foveation keeps the bitrate down. Price and exact date still unconfirmed (DRAM shortage).
| Spec | Deck | Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $549 | TBA |
| Type | handheld | vr |
| Platform | SteamOS | SteamOS |
| Release | OLED: November 2023 (LCD: February 2022) | Summer 2026 (date unconfirmed) |
Bars are relative — longer is stronger. For price & power draw, lower is better; power draw is neutral (handhelds trade power for battery).
- $549
- Price
- TBA
- AMD RDNA 2, 8 CU (~1.6 TFLOPs)
- GPU
- Adreno (standalone) + wireless PC / SteamVR streaming
- —
- GPU equivalent
- —
- AMD Zen 2 'Sephiroth' (6 nm) — 4 cores / 8 threads
- CPU
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (ARM64)
- shared (16 GB unified)
- VRAM
- 16 GB LPDDR5X (unified)
- 16 GB LPDDR5 (6400 MT/s)
- Memory
- 16 GB LPDDR5X
- 800p handheld (1280×800)
- Realistic target
- 2160×2160 per eye · 72–144 Hz
- SteamOS
- Platform
- SteamOS
The mature handheld. We don't re-rank what ProtonDB and SteamDeckHQ already own — Deck appears here as a comparison baseline and a first-party data source (real measured FPS power 215 game pages).
Streaming-first standalone VR headset. Two answers per game: native on the mobile Snapdragon chip, or streamed from a host PC/Steam Machine over a dedicated 6 GHz link. Eye-tracked foveation keeps the bitrate down. Price and exact date still unconfirmed (DRAM shortage).
Frequently asked
What's the difference between the Steam Deck (OLED) and the Steam Frame?
Steam Deck (OLED): The mature handheld. We don't re-rank what ProtonDB and SteamDeckHQ already own — Deck appears here as a comparison baseline and a first-party data source (real measured FPS power 215 game pages). Steam Frame: Streaming-first standalone VR headset. Two answers per game: native on the mobile Snapdragon chip, or streamed from a host PC/Steam Machine over a dedicated 6 GHz link. Eye-tracked foveation keeps the bitrate down. Price and exact date still unconfirmed (DRAM shortage).
Which should I buy — the Steam Deck (OLED) or the Steam Frame?
It depends on what you want. The Deck is positioned as: The mature handheld. We don't re-rank what ProtonDB and SteamDeckHQ already own — Deck appears here as a comparison baseline and a first-party data source (real measured FPS power 215 game pages). The Frame is positioned as: Streaming-first standalone VR headset. Two answers per game: native on the mobile Snapdragon chip, or streamed from a host PC/Steam Machine over a dedicated 6 GHz link. Eye-tracked foveation keeps the bitrate down. Price and exact date still unconfirmed (DRAM shortage). Take the quiz to match your priorities to a device.
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