Steam Deck Users Agree This Once Popular Accessory Isn't Worth It

The Steam Deck is a popular option for people who want to play PC games on the go but don't want to drop over $2,000 on a gaming laptop. And like any gaming platform, manufacturers produce plenty of accessories for the console. However, for every dbrand Killswitch case that receives near-universal praise, there's a device like the JSAUX cooling fan (or heck, potentially many external Steam Deck cooling fans) that makes claims that don't quite match reality. Kind of.

External cooling fans, as their name suggests, are devices that you can attach to gaming platforms and help regulate temperatures. One of the more common versions is the laptop cooling pad, which can help keep your computer cool during gaming sessions, so hypothetically, the same should apply to external pads for gaming platforms like the Steam Deck. And technically, they do. When outlets such as Blogged Off and XDA reviewed the JSAUX cooling fan for the Steam Deck, they stated the device significantly cooled GPU and CPU temperatures. The lower component temperatures, the easier it is for them to render graphics, thus improving game framerate and performance.

Of course, JSAUX isn't the only company that sells external Steam Deck fans. While not all such devices cool the gaming platform to an equal degree, most are popular purchases if you want to keep your Steam Deck cool to the touch. However, some cooling fans are little more than scams that only waste battery power to spin worthless fans. But why is the JSAUX cooling fan not worthwhile? Because the company claims the accessory can help prevent a worst-case scenario that is rare at best.

The JSAUX cooling fan has two selling points: By cooling the handheld gaming platform, the device can "improve the gaming experience" and "prevent overheating." As we just went over, the fan can increase gaming performance by keeping components cool, which improves framerates, but overheating? Under normal circumstances, the Steam Deck won't overheat, but if you play during a heat wave or play in a poorly ventilated area, the device will throttle and reduce performance to avoid cooking its own components – or shut down as a last-ditch solution. But this isn't the fault of the Steam Deck's fans; it's just a product of thermodynamics. The higher the ambient temperature, the harder it is to cool electronics.

In the spirit of fairness, yes, a JSAUX cooling fan can keep a Steam Deck cool enough to avoid overheating during such scenarios, but they are rare to begin with. Once you start playing your Steam Deck outside of a hot box or when the weather cools down, the JSAUX's overheat-prevention capabilities become somewhat superfluous. It's like installing Avira on a PC that can't connect to the internet. Sure, Avira is an excellent antivirus suite for Windows, but you can't contract most computer viruses if you don't go online. Moreover, if your Steam Deck starts throttling at normal room temperature, there's probably something wrong with your console (e.g., the fans or the programs that control them are malfunctioning). If that happens, you should get your Steam Deck fixed because using a JSAUX cooling fan will only fight the symptom, not the cause.