Reading the specs list for the new OLED left me with a burning question: will the new display support VRR?

I’ve always said that proper VRR support would be a real game changer for portable consoles like the Steam Deck. We work so hard to lock FPS to 30, 40, 60 — whatever — but a lock is practically irrelevant if you’re running VRR. Locks are to maintain proper frame pacing, but VRR would allow the display to just draw new frames at whatever speed/rate the GPU cranks them out at. This can make not-quite-60fps games feel substantially better.

At the same time, I’ve always wondered… shouldn’t even the old SD LCD support VRR? I mean, you can control its frequency manually. Why can’t it accept a dynamic frequency on the fly?

I would love — LOVE — for the new steam deck to support VRR. Anyone else think it’s possible?

  • Framed-PhotoBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    I mean, you’d want to lock frame rates even with VRR available because it can drastically lower power consumption, which in turn increases battery life and makes the thing run cooler and quieter.

    Even if the deck had VRR (which it should not gonna argue there), you’d likely still want to run at a capped frame rate under pretty much every circumstance.

    • NonEuclidianMeatloafOPBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      As someone who uses their Deck almost exclusively plugged in, I don’t think I’ve ever imposed an FPS cap except to stabilize frametimes in one or two games.