My favorite new Steam Deck mod is JSAUX’s $30 see-through heatsink backplate

I thought I had bought JSAUX’s transparent backplate for Steam decks to show off. Transparent gadgets are fun!But do you know what’s cooler than looking inside a Steam deck? Run cooler too.

After spending $30 on a transparent backplate for my own JSAUX PC0106 Steam deck, my initial skepticism didn’t pan out. actually Help manage heat in a $400 handheld gaming PC. With just eight Phillips screws and a little prying off of the original backplate, it’s easy to retrofit.

At first, I thought that just putting a sheet of aluminum on top of the deck’s electromagnetic interference shield wouldn’t create a real degree Celsius temperature difference. Still so. I’ve consistently seen Deck’s CPU and GPU cores running 1, 2, 3, sometimes even 4 degrees Celsius lower than his. Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

It’s not even the best part. My gaming sessions have been quieter since I installed the JSAUX backplate. That’s because the new passive cooling doesn’t require the Steam Deck’s noisy fans to spin as much.

I’ve seen it spin 500RPM, 600RPM, and even 900RPM slower when I push the deck all the way up. One example: while downloading a 35GB game to the internal SSD, I saw the fan max out at his 5674 revolutions per minute with the aluminum cooling plate.

It’s a bigger difference than you might think in terms of noise levels, as the small cooling fans on the deck become more pronounced near max speed.

Even with a light fare Trails in the sky, the entire system consumes only 6W, but a cooler can make a difference. The fans didn’t stop spinning, but I was able to play games longer before they started spinning all the way through. We’ve seen it in more intense games as well.

Don’t expect framerate differences. Shadow of the Tomb Raider Benchmarks sometimes showed exactly the same score with only 1 fps improvement. Also, don’t expect your deck to fix the whining Delta fan — it’s nice that it doesn’t spin too often or fast, but I still heard the whining after playing for a while.

The backplate gets hot during gaming, but I don’t think it’s a big deal. After running the benchmark for 20 minutes, he measured over 126°F (52°C), not enough to burn his fingers and require stretching to reach it. Meanwhile, the Steam Deck’s grip remains cool.

So what are you complaining about? Let’s start with the accessories included in JSAUX. You get a cheap screwdriver, a prying tool that doesn’t work, and three sets of back buttons in the box. This allows you to replace Valve’s shallow paddles with taller, bouncy paddles if you prefer. I immediately abandoned them when I realized they were also digging into my little finger.

The third set of back buttons is supposed to be the same as Valve’s, and I’m currently happily using it in my personal Steam decks. The Barge‘s Steam Deck review unit does not attach properly and one of the back buttons is always stuck.

I suspect it’s because the JSAUX backplate doesn’t fit as snugly as the original. For the most part it feels great, like the nearly identical texture to Valve’s black plastic, the screw holes all lined up, and the clip that stays neatly in place, but there are a few things that just seem wrong. Like the way the edge of the case is now brushed when you insert an SD card, or the sharp plastic point near the trigger on Valve’s model is smoother.

Primarily, JSAUX’s thermal interface is a bit It was too thick and had a slight bulge that required Valve’s self-tapping case screws to be tightened more than they could counteract.

Listen, you don’t need any of these. Steam decks work fine without it. But I’m very happy with my purchase: I now have a handheld that runs cooler and looks better, and it only costs $30 and 15 minutes of your time.

But there is one reason why you should wait. JSAUX is looking to create a new version of the classic Atomic Purple (and Green) with a touch of classic Nintendo flavor. I always take it over the Dbrand SwitchDeck skin.