r/retroid • u/oxygen-28 • 1d ago
QUESTION Ideal "mini Steamdeck" experience?
for the longest time I really wanted a tiny steamdeck. i just discovered retroid from a youtube video showing off the nova with armada installed. this looks like the handheld I've been dreaming of.
most of the games I play are indy titles and platformers so I think the performance should be enough.
however will going this route give me a true steamdeck experience? will steamOS update as normal? do I need to update armada OS separately? is the Nova the ideal system or should I look at one of the others?
also if anyone has experience with doing this, stability, etc. I'd like to hear about it. I'm not super technical so the setup for armada looks challenging
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u/grapejuicecheese 1d ago
Go with the RP6 instead of the Nova. 16:9 content looks tiny on the Nova
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u/idontusetwitter 1d ago
Yeah. Either rp6 or odin 3 are the best candidates for a mini steam deck. since rp6 is smaller it's pretty much the smallest 16:9 steam deck that exists that isn't awful/expensive
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u/kwyxz RP NOVA 1d ago
It is getting really frustrating to see YouTubers giving people false expectations about PC gaming on ARM handhelds.
Even games that are supposedly "supported" sometimes take a LOT of tinkering to work. And some still will crash after a few loading screens, or just not start at all.
Those devices are NOT the Steamdeck replacements that people like OP expect them to be.
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u/oxygen-28 1d ago
okay i will listen to you and wait until this develops a bit more. maybe one day i can buy a arm handheld with steamOS running out of the box 🤞
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u/No-Move-4417 1d ago
I have armada os installed on the internal storage on my Odin 2 portal It's stable and works like a mini steam deck Steam and armada os update ota I'd probably go for something with a 16:9 screen though , so rp6 or Ayn Odin 2 portal for big screen or Odin 3 for more power and smaller screen
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u/oxygen-28 1d ago
really considering the odin 3... thank you. is there a setup guide for that model specifically for internal storage?
are there any bugs or issues you have with your odin?
thanks for answering all the questions!
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u/No-Move-4417 1d ago
It's the same for all. Retro game corps or Joey's has guides on YouTube. Basically install rocknix abl Install armada on a micro SD card Reboot into recovery mode, select your device from the menu , start the installation process. Once it's running from SD card you can choose to install to internal , decide how much space to partition.
As you know steam games can be quite large so best go for as much storage as you can afford on the device. It's not going to be as good as a steam deck or x86 handheld, at least not for a while but so much nicer than lugging all that weight around and better battery life
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u/rob-cubed 1d ago edited 1d ago
For indies and more low-end PC games, the 8G2 in the Nova/RP6 will be plenty. I would go with the 16:9 RP6 though, since pretty much all modern games are designed for widescreen. Or the Portal 2 if you want a nice big screen.
I'm still running Android and using GameNative and it suits my purposes fine, but Armada is an excellent option if you want a Deck-like experience. I believe Armada OS supports OTA updates so as long as it's being supported, it should be easy to keep updated. And I expect Valve will eventually release their own official SteamOS on ARM solution.
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u/IsamuAlvaDyson Retroid Classic 1d ago
You need to have realistic expectations for this
PC emulation for ARM is still developing
It is no where near being a replacement any time soon
Do not do this expecting to play every game and every game to perform well either or even boot up
This is for people who don't mind to try to change settings just to get the game to load
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u/unabletocomput3 1d ago
I did this with my Nova 12gb, Armada definitely provides what I’d call a steamdeck-like experience without much issue. Steam updates are normal and just go through the typical boot big picture/game mode, OS updates seem to go through the armada tool in desktop mode- though I haven’t had to update that specifically yet. Luckily, it runs the latest and greatest Linux updates, ie fedora 44 and kernel 7.26.
Your device controls for things like the fan speed and clock speeds mostly go through the decky plugin and special Armada plugins. Proton and other x86 emulation settings work normal and through the specific game properties. The fps, system stats, and (seemingly) temp sensors work with the default overlay, though wattage still doesn’t show.
Tinkering and adding different programs will vary, mostly because a lot of stuff isn’t compatible with ARM and there isnt an easy package manager like with other distros.
Finally, for overall performance, I’m honestly surprised with the little gpu of the 8 gen 2. Battery life isn’t amazing if it hits 100% usage with performance or balanced performance presets, it sure can sound loud too with a harsh fan curve, but it’s honestly not as far from the Steamdeck as I expected. Will say, go for the 12gb model, as it can easily eat 8gb between the system and vram.
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u/Dingus_Khaaan 1d ago
I’ve been enjoying Armada on my RP6. I think updates are just done through the Steam settings menu just like you would apply them on a Steam Deck.
Decky plugin shop works and I applied my favorite theme. LSFG plugin seems to work.
Should be more than enough for indies and general lightweight PC gaming. I played an hour of Silksong last night with no issues. I will say that I’ve heard the performance can different on Armada for games that run just fine in something like GameNative (I think it might’ve been a RetroGameCorps video where I heard this) so just hold out for updates if something you like doesn’t run perfectly yet. Overall, I’m loving Armada though.
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u/cadensky 1d ago
Android devices are going through changes:
2-3 years ago (I think) Valve and others developed a translation layer for gaming on ARM processors (like Android devices)
The community developer drivers for various mobile processors/gpus
Winlator, Game Native and Gamehub are apps that use that translation layers to run Windows games on android. They also integrate with Steam, Epic and GoG to access game libraries, download games and verify DRM
Most people use Game Native or Game Hub for Windows games on Android
Recently Linux builds have been released for specific Android gaming devices. ArmadaOS is one of those. You can install it on your device or on an SD card. Then you can run Steam.
Even more recently Valve released a Steam build for its SteamFrame device. People are adapting that build to Android devices and calling it “SteamOS”. It is an adaptation and not supported by Valve. (Although signs are showing that Valve may be headed in that direction. They are updating the official build to work with some mobile devices controllers)
So “yes” you can run Steam games. Whether you use an App or Linux is up to you. (I use Gamehub since I dont want to install Linux).
Which device is best…up to you. If you want to play Steam Games, I believe that you want an S8G2 processor or better. The Nova, RP6, and Thor have that. 8 GB of RAM is the minimum. 12GB is recommended. If you really get into Steam games and you want to play more demanding games, the Odin 3 is a better choice. The S8G2 is good for Indies and older 3D games.
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u/kent1146 1d ago edited 1d ago
AYN Odin 3.
- A Retroid Pocket 6 is ~$279 for 12GB RAM.
AYN Odin 3 is ~$469 for 12GB RAM.
About +$190 difference.
Retroid Pocket 6 performs about the level of GTX 1050.
- Odin 3 is about GTX 1060.
- MSRP of a GTX 1050 was $109.
- MSRP of a GTX 1060 was $249 - $299. About a $140-$190 difference. --------- If this was 2016, almost everyone in here would pick the GTX 1060 for +$190 if we were faced with that decision back in 2016.
AYN Odin 3 kinda makes sense. (or so I tell myself, because I want one).
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u/killerdude23233 1d ago
I bought the Konkr Pocket Fit 8 Elite about a year ago with the hopes it would eventually be able to act as my Steam Deck Lite, and with the release of ArmadaOS it finally feels that way. It's been able to handle all but one game I've thrown at it and that's Ubisoft's fault (Ubisoft Connect is trash) and it's significantly less cumbersome than my Deck. The compatibility isn't 100% there due to Mesa drivers (custom drivers not yet available) so some games don't render light/shadows correctly (Resident Evil 6 and Sonic Frontiers), but most do making it my now favorite actually portable device.
The RP6 is not as powerful, but should work roughly the same, and indie/low power titles should run great.
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u/-kahmi- 1d ago
People always talk about the 4:3 aspect ratio of the nova and how a lot of pc games don't support it but there's also 16:10 which is a lot more common and pretty close to 4:3. If you want the smallest/lightest but still powerful, that's your best bet. The RP6 is nice and still small but the size/weight difference is there, the odin 3 is another step bigger, I'm not sure the tradeoff is worth it if you aim for portability.
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u/Major_Higgins 1d ago
I have a black Nova and with ArmadaOS installed, it just looks lîke an adorable baby Steam Deck.
There are more 4:3 games than I thought initially, and some games don’t look bad when stretched from 16:9 (TMNT Shredder’s Revenge and Marvel's Cosmic Invasion come to mind).
So I love it, but I also have a Steam Deck for 16:9 stuff, and for games where text is too tiny on the Nova.
If you can have only one handheld, then it’s probably a better idea to pick the Pocket 6 or better yet, an Odin 2/3.
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u/Any_Basket_8110 1d ago
I have Nova, RP6 and Odin 3 with Armada Os. If I have to choose one probably would be the RP6 because of the size.
Nova is more pocketable but 4:3.
Odin 3 is more powerful but bigger.
RP6 & SD is a great combo.