Zuzu
Gold Member
I've only summarised the game performance sections and the battery life section. The video covers more such as a comparison of the displays and the two console's different form factors and controls.
Handheld game performance comparison:
Hogwarts Legacy
- Steam Deck OLED uses the PC version and has improved texture resolution, higher fidelity assets, better baked lighting & enhanced volumetrics. Can also have denser foliage if you bump up settings to medium.
- Switch 2 version is close to PS4 release.
- Switch 2 has better image clarity. It upscales 540p to 1080p using a lighter version of DLSS. The Deck on the other upscales from 480p to 720p using FSR 3.
- Switch 2 struggles with disocclusion breakup and the Deck fails to resolve clean foliage.
- Switch 2 has better performance with a decently stable 30fps with occasional drops. Deck has more frame time spikes.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
- Switch 2 is using the full version of DLSS (not the lighter version) in this game.
- Switch 2 runs the game at 360p internally and upscales to around 720p using DLSS. It compares well with Steam Deck's image quality even though it uses a lower internal resolution.
- Visual settings are better on Steam Deck OLED but Switch 2's image quality is superior due to DLSS and so is probably the better looking version overall.
- It runs at an unlocked frame rate on Switch 2 and without VRR.
Yakuza Zero
- Switch 2 runs at approx 864p while Steam Deck OLED can run it at 720p at max settings.
- Both run at a steady 60fps but Steam Deck can run it at higher fps if you uncap it.
Docked game performance comparison:
Hogwart's Legacy
- Steam Deck OLED can run 1080p in the game when you drop the settings to low but when this is done the Switch 2 output is sharper and clearer. Low settings brings great parity between Switch 2 and Steam Deck settings but it's still not identical.
- Steam Deck frequently drops frames from 30fps target during open world traversal. Switch 2 is smoother with rare dips below 30fps.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
- Steam Deck OLED can't push settings any higher. Switch 2's internal resolution increases to around 720p and sharper output. Switch 2 is delivering a much higher quality image.
- Both machines have similar performance but Switch 2 does pull bit ahead on average.
Yakuza Zero
- Switch 2 now renders it at 1080p natively. It's essentially a draw between the two consoles in this game.
- Switch 2 has some texture enhancements over Steam Deck which applies in both docked and portable mode. It's more obvious in docked mode due to the higher resolution.
Battery Life
- In legacy games, Switch 2 and Deck OLED players will get longer battery life. For example:

- However, Steam Deck OLED gets over 7hrs of battery life in Persona 4 Golden at roughly the same brightness settings. And the Switch 1 OLED get 6hrs, 7 minutes, 12 seconds at 2.6 Watts which is a fair bit better than Switch 2. Oliver theorises that the backwards compatibility isn't very efficient running on Switch 2.
- Here's an example of Switch 2 battery life in modern title running at max brightness:

- However Steam Deck OLED can run Hogwarts for nearly 4hrs. Its power draw is around 14 Watts in this game.
- Switch 2 has a much smaller battery than the Deck OLED and consumes a lot less power. Switch 2 efficiency is very impressive demonstrating that the SOC is very finely tuned.
And here's the written article:
Switch 2 vs Steam Deck: testing Valve's OLED model against the new Nintendo hybrid
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