Solutions:

  1. Manual set your GPU’s clock speed.
  2. Use Decky PowerTools to limit your CPU’s frequency between 400 to 2800mhz
  3. Revert your Deck back to the 3.4.1 update.

Most active Steam Deck Bug Report Community Threads on the issues

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/discussions/0/7529517132617601916/?tscn=1700480355

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/eventcomments/7529517132614912523?snr=1_2108_9__2107&ctp=10

Has been an issue since the 3.5 beta/preview builds on October 20th. 0 response from the Valve Team. Not even a “we’re working on it”.

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamOS/issues/1176

Steam Deck OLED is also affected.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/discussions/0/7529517132622363506/

​

I’ve been closely following this ongoing issue with the Deck since the release of the 3.5 beta/preview builds and the release of SteamOS 3.5.5 Stable. It seems like this bug has been a persistent thorn for many LCD users, and surprisingly, it’s also affecting the new Steam Deck OLED models.

For those unaware, if you are on 3.5.5, your unit may be affected by a GPU clock cycle bug in which the clock speed of the GPU will cycle between 200 and 1040 mhz. This can reduce performance and battery life in some games. You can verify if you have it, and test the performance loss by using the performance overlay, running a heavy game, and manually setting the GPU above 1040.

Associated with this bug is an audio crackling glitch, where it sounds like the Deck was submersed in jelly, with popping and laggy audio. There are also a bug with the Official Dock, in which the DisplayPort does not work for customers.

What’s more concerning is the lack of response from Valve. We’re yet to hear even a basic acknowledgment like “we’re working on it”. Valve has always been receptive and open to their customers, and strange to see, especially for an issue that’s been active for a while now. It’s not just in one place – the Steam Community thread (most active bug report thread for the Steam Deck) and GitHub issue tracker both highlight the severity and spread of this problem. Many users on the community forum feel that the update was rushed out in preparation for the Steam Deck OLED, and are even on the fence of refunding their OLED due to the software issue.

I believe it’s time Valve addressed this. The community’s frustration grows, which is understandable. A little communication can go a long way in this situation.

  • 10hrsAwayBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I thought the audio crackling was just because I was running emulation games. Guess not.

  • cirotheb5BEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I think the 200/1040 MHz is just a visual bug, for me actually it happens when the GPU is not used so much in a game and the battery life counter goes up, so it shows more battery life

  • jack-of-someBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Hi.

    You have 0 reason to believe me when I say this, but here goes: At least one person at Valve is aware of the issue and is thinking through what might be causing it.

    I will update here if I know more.

  • VijuaruKeiBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Yeah. I have the issue since I updated. Both the mhz and audio bug, it crippled my performance and enjoyed of the game I was playing on deck… Really baffled by the lack of support from steam.

  • dopeytreeBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I haven’t noticed this specificly yet but did notice the default for some reason on some games out the gpu clock on lowest setting as if the main default for all games has been overridden. As soon as I changed it games all back to normal and I carried on playing cyberpunk2077.

    I presumed it could be a bug to do with deck loader.

  • jack-of-someBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’ve been trying to reproduce the 200/1040 issue and could use some help. While I see the clock speed behavior in some games (not all, only less demanding games) I can’t get it to create an actual problem (i.e. stutters or audio glitches).

    Can someone please post the specific game and settings they’re seeing this issue with? This includes your TDP setting, framerate cap, and if you have screen tearing enabled or not.

  • SunlighthellBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    But hey, Pierre tweeted that they attempted to fix not working microphone in 3.5.6 preview, and all this sub was busy downvoting almost all post with these concerns while hyping OLED.

    • ThreeSonBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Also I want to point out on all “tech” “analytics” and reviewers who were also silent about these issues.

      Or maybe they didn’t encounter them?

  • Like20BearsBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Did you read the GitHub issue? There are developers responding on it. It’s not being immediately“fixed” because it’s a difficult to test semi subjective performance decrease which some people notice and some don’t that may be one issue or could be a bunch of small issues combined. The move from 3.4 to 3.5 bumped the kernel through years worth of updates, so it’s hard to even say whether this is a bug or this is just how things are intended to work in the new kernel. It’s not a simple fix and it’s not one simple bug.

  • DoorFacethe3rdBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Could this be why I’m getting micro-stutter in some titles? I reverted back to 3.4.11 and it went away.

  • SunlighthellBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Update: Valve is actively communicating in the GitHub thread, currently working on pinpointing the issues with frequency scaling and audio issues. Valve Employee Nephyrin on GitHub states:

    I don’t know where you found “actively communicating” considering that Valve was completely absent from these threads (they answered only after several threads including your popped out on reddit), but his answers seems more like damage control. He stated things that are not true (that 200/1040 bug is just slow drawing from overlay) while you even have video in your post that proves otherwise.

    The thing is: probably this bug affects much more people but some of them just don’t really bother with overlay and state that they don’t have it (sorry but people like that are the worst, because they lack any tech knowledge but still voice their opinion), similar to how people pretend they have “smooth” (no stutters) framerate on some games where even people with 7800x3d and 4090 (like Dead Space remake) have issues and when asked to enable RTSS overlay they disappear from thread.

    I perfectly understand people’s desire to defend Valve and tbh I think Valve will figure these issues out and actively working to resolve it, still they picked this update for almost a year then suddenly released it with few major bugs only because they wanted to ship OLEDs before holidays in USA. People were also actively downvoting all threads listing these issues as I stated here, like they do with almost every thread listing issues if it’s not made into stupid meme.

  • Corgiiiix3BEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Wow this is worrying considering I’m waiting for my deck to come in 💀

  • BorkSnorkelJrBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    My deck has been a big ol bucket of shit since the update. Stopped recognizing my sd card, audio crackling, and now this bullshit where it won’t fully go into sleep mode, just the screen goes black and it keeps playing the audio. Wtf

  • thejoshfooteBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Hilarious end of world post. Bro they are a massive company and generally silence from them is nbd as I’m sure they are racing to get this tackled before the majority or most ppl receive there oled deck.

    Calm down u really think they don’t know? U really think this post gunna be the 1 that gets them to work harder? Lol 😂

    Just stop being such a Karen. 5$ days u ask support they say yes we know bro…