This app boosts Steam Deck performance — but there’s a catch

Frame generation and upscaling via Lossless Scaling have come to Steam Deck, but you’ll need Windows running on your Deck to see it in action.

The Steam Deck is a pixel-pushing powerhouse in its own right. However, it’s already showing its age, especially when up against the juggernauts of modern-day graphics cards.

The Valve handheld misses out on Nvidia‘s frame-generating and upscaling tech, found on the likes of its RTX 40 series cards. However, thanks to a Steam app, you can now use Lossless Scaling on the system.

There’s just one big problem — running the ‘Lossless Scaling App’ on Steam Deck requires the help of Windows 11.

The Lossless Scaling App has been available on Steam since 2018. Developed for PCs, the app is designed to generate additional frames in games, similar to that of Nvidia’s DLSS tech, or FSR 3. to boost performance.

ETA PRIME

Before now, the app wasn’t compatible with the SteamOS. However, with more resources than ever regarding dual-booting Windows on the handheld, and the added benefit of the new Windows drivers provided by Valve itself, it’s finally compatible.

YouTuber ETA PRIME showed off what the frame-generating app was able to do for the OLED Steam Deck. According to the YouTuber, there was a “pretty nice jump in performance.”

Games like Red Dead Redemption 2, which saw an average FPS of 47 FPS natively on Steam Deck, were boosted into the 90 FPS range.

While this has already almost doubled the performance, the video also shows the game only reaching a TDP of 15W.

ETA Prime also tested out the performance-boosting capabilities of the app in Cyberpunk 2077. In the video, the YouTuber was able to boost the average FPS from 51 FPS at 720p to 91 FPS.

The app, when installed on the Steam Deck, can be pulled up from Windows 11, just like any other program.

In the video, ETA Prime chose Lossless Scaling’s built-in upscaler, LS1. However, the app has a range of upscalers to choose from, including AMD FSR and Nvidia Image Scaling.

Through the app, you can also select between your choice of frame-generating tech, along with its mode. This mode will affect the number of frames the app is boosting.

ETA PRIME

This goes all the way up to x4. However, the Steam Deck’s APU isn’t likely able to pull off that amount. But if you’re running Lossless Scaling through your PC instead, and have a high-end rig, you could experiment with those options.

If you want to try this out for yourself, the Lossless Scaling App is available on Steam for $7.72. However, as stated above, you will need Windows 11 running on your handheld to get it working.