John Paul M. Joaquin Tech 07.29.2022 04:Jul AM EDT

Is Your Steam Deck's Fan Too Noisy? Here's a Solution From iFixit

Steam Deck is hailed as arguably the best handheld console ever manufactured by Tom's Guide, and it shows. Playing PTA 5, God of War, and other modern games is an absolute joy, according to PC Gamer, but it also has its faults. One of them is a noisy fan which could affect people's immersion in the game they're playing.

Thankfully, iFixit has a solution for that problem.

The repair company recently received a large shipment of Steam Deck fan replacement kits which refilled its stock, making the dream of a more silent Steam Deck easier to obtain.

Steam Deck iFixit Details

Sean Hollister of The Verge was able to replace his Steam Deck's fan with a fan he bought from iFixit. According to him, the handheld console's fan made a loud whining sound, which he described as jarring and annoying enough to make him buy a replacement fan from iFixit.

This purchase is even though Steam already made an update available that would make the noise from the Steam Deck's pre-installed fan to be quieter than before.

The failure of the software update to remedy the noise means that the noisy fan is also due to a hardware problem - to be specific, the problem lies in the fan itself.

Boiling Steam mentioned in its article that Steam had two fans to choose from: one from Delta and another from Huaying. Unfortunately, Valve decided to use both fans for Steam Deck's commercial release, which led to people discovering that their Steam Deck is noisier than others.

This discovery was made more apparent by Gamers Nexus' YouTube video, wherein the publication's Editor-in-Chief, Steve Burke, tested Steam Decks with either the Delta fan or the Huaying fan to determine which of the two was quieter.

His test revealed that Delta's fan was noisier than Huaying's despite having the same symmetrical design. According to the test, Delta's fan reached a 41.4 dBA noise level when the fan reaches 7500 RPM while the Huaying fan only got a 41.1 dBA noise level at the same RPM. However, the main difference is that from the test's start and end, there is one deviate difference between Huaying's fan and Delta's fan.

Meanwhile, Hollister's test revealed that Huaying's fan, which was the fan he used to replace his Steam Deck's fan, measured 2 to 2.5 decibels lower than the electrical tape trick he featured in April and the Delta fan in the quietest room in his place.

As such, when iFixit announced it had a bunch of Huaying fans for Steam Deck, many were more than excited to grab one for themselves.

How To Replace Steam Deck Fan

If you wish to replace your Steam Deck's fan with Huaying's fan, you'll have to purchase a fan replacement kit from iFixit, which could cost $30 depending on where you live.

Once you have one and you have made sure it is turned off, remove the handheld device's SD card and unscrew its bottom. Then, remove it by using the kit's picks.

Next, disconnect the battery cable and then remove the heat shield.

After that, remove the stickers that are holding the fan to the heat pipe, which is just above the fan. Don't remove them entirely, though.

Afterward, unscrew the Steam Deck's fan and detach its cable from its port to remove it. Once removed, take out your replacement fan and install it into the handheld console.

Once that's done, replace and reconnect everything you took out and put back the Steam Deck's bottom.

Congratulations. You now have a significantly quieter Steam Deck.