Project CoolerDeck: A Steam Deck Cooling Fan

While fumbling around the Steam Deck subreddit today, I came across a really cool modification that someone made. One of the aspects I feel most gamers and other game optimization channels overlook is temperatures of the Deck. Yes, it can handle some insane temps, but going too hot for too long can reduce the lifespan of the Deck or even affect battery life. So when I saw this modification, it spoke to me.

Created by Reddit user Nupp_Engineers, this little fan can attach to your Deck through a special hole that was made in the back cover of the Deck. From there, it plugs into the USB C port and bam, that's it! The fan can also be easily detatched and replaced with a grate that they made so it isn't just an open hole.

For reference, here is the fan just inside without the back cover on!

Because it is detachable, this means you can just take it off and use a normal case as you would like to! As seen in this video, Nupp_Engineer is taking the fan off, putting the grate on, and then just putting it in the carrying case as normal!

Now is this entire modification useful? Well I definitely think so! While we don't have a suite of benchmarks yet, Nupp_Engineer showed a rough one with two decks, one with and one without the fan. In it, the game is playing at the same area with supposedly the same settings, but wildly different temperatures and battery life:

The Deck with the fan, which is on bottom, is around 15c cooler than the one on top, which is without a fan. It is also getting slightly better battery life and framerate. I believe we do need more benchmarks to conclusively say how much more it would help the Deck, but it definitely makes some difference.

Regardless, I love seeing modifications like this for the Deck and think it is so cool, especially one like this that directly helps what I feel is an overlooked aspect of gaming on the device and optimizing! Good luck to Nupp_Engineer and if this ever gets released to the public, I will be first in line to try it!