Rather than purchase one of Valve’s Steam Decks or a similar handheld gaming PC, Dan McKenzie decided to make his own. The result is the NucDeck: an open-source machine powered by Intel’s now-discontinued Next Unit of Computing (NUC) that features custom PCBs and 3D printed housing.
McKenzie’s NucDeck runs on a seventh-generation Intel Core-i5 CPU with 16 GB of RAM. That means the device isn’t necessarily a Steam Deck-killer, although it can be upgraded with a more powerful NUC that would ostensibly allow it to keep up.
In its “stock” iteration, the NucDeck can run most games released pre-2013, McKenzie says – as well as more recent titles that are less demanding – which users can enjoy on the device’s seven-inch touchscreen display. There’s also gyroscopic aiming, two analog sticks, a D-pad, and shoulder buttons – basically anything you’d see on a pre-made, retail gaming device.
McKenzie is documenting the process of building the NucDeck in an ongoing series of YouTube videos, as well as in an associated Discord where he’s created a small, close-knit community of users invested in the device’s creation. The NucDeck is still a work in progress, McKenzie said in an interview with All3DP, but it’s coming along steadily.
“Prototyping PCBs is a painfully slow process, unfortunately,” he said. “Every time I discover a mistake, it’s another two weeks of waiting while I fix the mistake, order the boards, and wait for shipping. [It’s going to be] maybe another couple of weeks for a final controller design to be ready, and then the power management could take a few more weeks, depending on how the prototype goes.”
Those looking to create a NucDeck of their own can check out McKenzie’s GitHub, where there are STLs for the device’s housing — which comes in RGB and non-RGB versions — a bill of materials, and assembly instructions.
“As far as print difficulty goes, it’s not too bad,” McKenzie said. “[Users will] need their printer calibrated fairly well to get all the parts to fit properly. Then some sensible print orientation, and it shouldn’t be too hard.”
Pricing is where things get a bit trickier. Because the NucDeck isn’t technically a finished product, McKenzie can only throw out a rough estimate. He says there are about $120 in parts like the screen, display driver, and joysticks, with the PCBs costing another ~$130. There’s also the variable cost of the NUC itself to consider, which depends on user preferences.
“[And] the power management side is still mostly incomplete, so that could easily blow the budget out a bit,” he added.
All told, aspiring makers are looking at a device that could hover around the $400 range – essentially the MSRP of a brand-new Steam Deck. But that’s missing the point; the NucDeck’s all about the build, baby. And in that regard, it’s got a lot going for it.
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License: The text of "This Open-Source Handheld PC Can Rival the Steam Deck" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.