The Search for a Successor
The Steam Deck is four and a half years old, and handheld gamers are eagerly awaiting a Steam Deck 2 — but Valve has consistently said it needs a new chip with a generational leap in performance and efficiency before building the sequel.
Steam Deck 2: Is AMD Gainsborough the chip Valve’s been waiting for?
There’s reason to be skeptical.
There’s reason to be skeptical.
There’s some reason to believe that chip has now broken cover: AMD Gainsborough. But I’m a tad skeptical.
Leaked Codename Sparks Speculation
Recent driver leaks have revealed the codename for a previously unknown processor: AMD Gainsborough. The first Steam Deck chip was named Aerith after Final Fantasy VII, and Gainsborough shares that naming convention. The chip appears to be a semi-custom design tailored for a specific customer on TSMC’s N3P process.
Import and export records indicate that AMD has been shipping test equipment for the Gainsborough chip for validation, suggesting a potential customer is evaluating it for an upcoming device.
Those same records show an FF6 package measuring 25mm by 25mm. Reports indicate AMD’s upcoming Ryzen Z3 and Z3 Extreme handheld chips will share these dimensions, with the Z3 targeting a 15-watt power envelope matching the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED.
Weighing the Evidence
However, this information is not yet enough to tie Gainsborough specifically to a Steam Deck 2.
Semi-custom silicon does not always end up in its originally intended device. Rumors suggest the original Steam Deck chip was not initially designed for Valve's handheld, and portions of it went unused.
Furthermore, Final Fantasy-inspired codenames like Aerith, Sephiroth, and Gainsborough originate from AMD rather than Valve.
The Aerith wafer I saw at Valve HQ.
Evidence that Valve is not strictly tied to these naming conventions includes Microsoft and Asus selecting the Ryzen Z2 A chip, which is closely related to Aerith.
At 25mm by 25mm, Gainsborough would be physically larger than the original Steam Deck's 19mm by 19mm Aerith chip before its Sephiroth revision, though efficiency improvements could factor into its deployment.
Valve was reportedly still determining how and when to approach a Steam Deck 2, indicating that any final hardware decisions remain under wraps.
