SteamOS is now reportedly bootable on Intel's newest Arc G3 SoCs, making it possible for users with these handhelds to switch from Windows 11 to SteamOS. YouTuber ETA Prime tested the handheld in several light and heavy titles and found the Arc G3 is capable of producing playable frame rates in all the games they tested, despite SteamOS not having full optimization for the Arc G3 series.
The YouTuber tested six titles: Silksong, Left 4 Dead 2, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, Spider-Man 2, Hogwarts Legacy, and Forza Horizon 6. The lighter titles, Silksong and Left 4 Dead 2 unsurprisingly ran very well, with Silksong running at over 110 FPS and Left 4 Dead 2 running at well over 250 FPS.
The heavier titles ran anywhere between 60 and 100 FPS; Spider-Man 2 at 1080p medium settings with FSR in balanced mode achieved nearly 100 FPS. Doom: The Dark Ages at 1080p medium settings with FSR in balanced mode achieved just above 60 FPS. Hogwarts Legacy at 1080p high settings with FSR in quality mode achieved around 65 FPS, and Forza Horizon 6 at 1080p medium settings (native resolution) achieved around 70 FPS average.
- Read more: SteamOS now works on the Intel Arc B580 without workarounds on the latest beta
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Performance was not without its issues; however, ETA Prime noted that SteamOS does not handle clock speeds well on the Arc G3 Extreme and was forced to use SimpleDeckyTDP's performance mode to keep the CPU clocks high while gaming. Another issue is the lack of support for the XMX engines built into the Arc G3 Extreme's B390 iGPU, preventing the native version of XeSS from working. The DP4a version of XeSS works as a fallback, but does not run well and looks worse than the version designed to run on Intel's XMX units.
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What steps are needed to install SteamOS on an MSI handheld with the Intel Arc G3 Extreme?
How can SimpleDeckyTDP be configured to keep Arc G3 Extreme CPU clocks high while gaming on SteamOS?
What battery-life and temperature trade-offs come with SimpleDeckyTDP performance mode on the Arc G3 Extreme?
How does Intel Arc G3 Extreme gaming performance compare with AMD Ryzen Z2 handheld APUs?
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Despite these issues, the Arc G3 is capable of providing a good gaming experience with SteamOS in its current state if you are willing to install SimpleDeckyTDP. Intel support is still ongoing, but SteamOS 3.9 is the version that finally saw the OS work without workarounds on Intel hardware, including on the Arc B580, making it viable for more than just the most tech-savvy people to use on Intel GPUs. The Arc G3 series is Intel's first SoC lineup designed specifically for handheld gaming PCs, and competes directly with AMD's Ryzen Z2 handheld APU lineup.
