The biggest question surrounding Valve's Steam Deck is how well it will run games. Sure, Valve has stated that the handheld PC will "target 30 FPS," but that doesn't make things super clear.

Thankfully, however, Valve's Pierre-Loup Griffais showed up and stated that the minimum frame rate Steam Deck users can expect from the game is 30 frames per second. Griffais tweeted, "The games we have tested and displayed have consistently met and exceeded that standard thus far."

This is good news, 30fps is the lowest frame rate I would want for extended gaming enjoyment.

I can put up with the occasional odd drop in frame rate that occurs with a loaded game like the Nintendo Switch. However, a sustained frame rate below 30 fps can make for an unpleasant game. And the new Switch's OLED doesn't promise better performance with respect to gameplay, mostly that it's a better display with the same guts.

Of course, avid PC gamers may not tolerate anything less than 60 fps. Especially in this age of high refresh rate monitors and powerful graphics cards like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080. But compromises must also be made to effectively carry the Steam library.

Speaking of which, Valve recently detailed how the use of SD cards allows users to effectively use a dynamically removable Steam library by simply swapping the SD card loaded with the Steam games they have selected for their Steam Deck This is also explained in detail.

With a minimum frame rate of 30 fps, Steam Deck specifically targets only 720p resolution output, so it also has the potential to run games at higher frame rates with some adjustment of settings.

However, Griffais also noted that the Steam Deck will feature an "optional built-in FPS limiter" that will allow users to fine-tune the balance between performance and battery life.

This is interesting, and for those with a short 30-minute commute, the chance to use the full power of the Steam Deck could be useful, especially if they are playing fast-paced games like Control.

This also seems quite promising, as it reinforces the idea that Steam Deck allows users to do a lot more than just stick to a specific configuration. For those who like to tinker, the Steam Deck could be a fairly promising handheld machine.

I'm not really into the world of tweaking and customization, like running N64 games on a PS Vita, for example, or Windows 10 on the Switch. However, the flexibility of Steam Deck is rather appealing. In particular, games that can run on Steam Deck also have access to Steam Workshop mods, which can greatly increase the amount of content available for games like Skyrim.

The Valve Steam Deck is available for pre-order now, but you will have to wait until 2022 to actually get your hands on the console.