Steam Deck 2: Is AMD Gainsborough the chip Valve’s been waiting for?

Steam Deck 2：AMD Gainsborough 是 Valve 一直在等待的芯片吗？

There’s reason to be skeptical. 我们有理由保持怀疑。

The Steam Deck is four and a half years old, and handheld gamers are eagerly awaiting a Steam Deck 2 — but Valve has consistently said it needs a new chip with a “generational leap” in performance and efficiency before building the sequel. Steam Deck 已经发布四年半了，掌机玩家们正热切期待着 Steam Deck 2 的到来——但 Valve 一直表示，在打造续作之前，他们需要一款在性能和能效上实现“代际飞跃”的新芯片。

There’s some reason to believe that chip has now broken cover: AMD Gainsborough. But I’m a tad skeptical. 现在有一些理由相信这款芯片已经浮出水面：AMD Gainsborough。但我对此持保留意见。

As leaker Moore’s Law is Dead and IT Home report, the latest AMD drivers have leaked the codename for a previously unknown chip: an “AMD Gainsborough.” The first Steam Deck chip was named “Aerith” after Final Fantasy VII’s heartbreaking love interest, and Gainsborough is her last name. Plus, the chip appears to be a semi-custom one (read: designed for a specific customer) on TSMC’s relatively recent N3P process. 正如爆料者 Moore’s Law is Dead 和 IT 之家所报道的那样，最新的 AMD 驱动程序泄露了一款此前未知的芯片代号：“AMD Gainsborough”。第一代 Steam Deck 芯片代号为“Aerith”，取自《最终幻想 VII》中令人心碎的女主角，而 Gainsborough 正是她的姓氏。此外，这款芯片似乎是一款采用台积电较新的 N3P 工艺制造的半定制芯片（即为特定客户设计）。

IT Home checked import/export records and found that AMD’s already been shipping test equipment for the Gainsborough chip for validation, suggesting that a potential customer might already be testing to see if it’s suitable for their device. IT 之家查询进出口记录发现，AMD 已经开始为 Gainsborough 芯片运送测试设备进行验证，这表明潜在客户可能已经在测试该芯片是否适用于他们的设备。

Those import records also show the Gainsborough chip will be fairly small, with an FF6 package measuring 25mm by 25mm. Today, leaker Gotou_3rd seemingly revealed that AMD’s next handheld chips, the Ryzen Z3 and Z3 Extreme, will also be 25mm by 25mm chips. Gotou also published a possible fragment of an AMD slide deck that suggests the Z3 is targeting 15 watts, the same power envelope as the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED. 这些进口记录还显示，Gainsborough 芯片体积相当小，采用 25mm x 25mm 的 FF6 封装。今天，爆料者 Gotou_3rd 似乎透露，AMD 下一代掌机芯片 Ryzen Z3 和 Z3 Extreme 也将采用 25mm x 25mm 的封装。Gotou 还发布了一份 AMD 幻灯片片段，暗示 Z3 的目标功耗为 15 瓦，这与 Steam Deck 和 Steam Deck OLED 的功耗范围相同。

This isn’t quite enough to tie Gainsborough specifically to a Steam Deck 2, though. 不过，这还不足以将 Gainsborough 直接与 Steam Deck 2 联系起来。

First, a semi-custom chip doesn’t always wind up in its originally intended gadget. It’s long been rumored that the Steam Deck’s own semi-custom chip wasn’t originally designed for the Steam Deck, but rather a Magic Leap headset, and that it was shopped around for tablets (including this canceled Microsoft tablet, the story goes) before Valve took advantage. There are portions of the original Steam Deck’s chip that went entirely unused. 首先，半定制芯片并不总是会最终用在最初设想的设备上。长期以来有传言称，Steam Deck 自身的半定制芯片最初并非为 Steam Deck 设计，而是为 Magic Leap 头显设计的，在 Valve 采用之前，它曾被推销给平板电脑厂商（据传包括一款被取消的微软平板电脑）。原版 Steam Deck 芯片中甚至有一些部分是完全未被启用的。

Second, you should know that “Aerith” (Steam Deck), “Sephiroth” (Steam Deck OLED) and “Gainsborough” are not Valve’s codenames. When I visited Valve’s headquarters in late 2023, I commented on this Aerith wafer hanging on the wall — and Valve designers told me they didn’t really want the Final Fantasy codenames. AMD was the one that chose them. 其次，你应该知道“Aerith”（Steam Deck）、“Sephiroth”（Steam Deck OLED）和“Gainsborough”并不是 Valve 的代号。2023 年底我访问 Valve 总部时，曾提到墙上挂着的 Aerith 晶圆，Valve 的设计师告诉我，他们其实并不想要这些《最终幻想》相关的代号，是 AMD 选择了它们。

Some extra evidence that Valve isn’t tied to those names: When Microsoft and Asus picked the “Ryzen Z2 A” chip for the vanilla $500 Xbox Ally, they were choosing an “Aerith Plus” chip. 另一个证明 Valve 并不执着于这些名称的证据是：当微软和华硕为 500 美元的标准版 Xbox Ally 选择“Ryzen Z2 A”芯片时，他们实际上选择的是一款“Aerith Plus”芯片。

Third, 25mm by 25mm might be small, but it’s actually large for a Steam Deck! The original Steam Deck’s “Aerith” chip, before it shrunk to remove the unused components in its “Sephiroth” revision, reportedly measured 19mm by 19mm. But perhaps Gainsborough is efficient, and perhaps it’s more affordable if this apple doesn’t fall too far from AMD’s 25mm x 25mm Ryzen Z3 tree. 第三，25mm x 25mm 虽然看起来很小，但对于 Steam Deck 来说其实很大！据报道，原版 Steam Deck 的“Aerith”芯片在通过“Sephiroth”版本移除未使用的组件并缩小之前，尺寸为 19mm x 19mm。但也许 Gainsborough 的能效很高，而且如果它与 AMD 的 25mm x 25mm Ryzen Z3 属于同一系列，或许成本会更具竞争力。

Lastly, Valve was still figuring out “how and when” to do a Steam Deck 2 as of last month, after it would have theoretically received these Gainsborough chips. But I guess Valve might just be trying not to overpromise, after this year’s RAM-forced hardware delays. 最后，截至上个月，Valve 仍在研究如何以及何时推出 Steam Deck 2，而此时他们理论上应该已经收到了这些 Gainsborough 芯片。但我猜，在经历了今年因内存问题导致的硬件延期后，Valve 可能只是在尽量避免过度承诺。