How to improve Steam Deck performance using CryoUtilities
Want to dive deeper into CryoUtilities and its synergy with Steam Deck? This guide thoroughly explains leveraging CryoUtilities to amp up your Steam Deck’s capabilities.
Don’t let the complex name scare you; CryoUtilities is a handy new app that can seriously boost your Steam Deck’s performance through optimization tricks and makes it easy to tap into extra power.
It uses the Steam Deck’s open Linux OS to stretch your gaming power further and lets you tweak settings most Windows apps can’t touch to get more out of the onboard hardware.
While it looks simple on the surface, CryoUtilities can do way more under the hood than basic apps like Decky. It digs deeper to maximize your Steam Deck’s capabilities.
The app gives you granular control to allocate CPU/GPU resources however you want per game for the best performance. It also unlocks options Windows blocks off to optimize battery life, fan curves, refresh rates, and more.
Yes, squeezing out that last drop of power requires some technical know-how. But if you want to elevate your Steam Deck to the max, CryoUtilities is a must-try utility. Here are a few quick tweaks that could supercharge your gaming experience.
How to install CryoUtilities on Steam Deck
Download CryoUtilities and save it to the desktop. Make sure you have a sudo password set.
Double-click the new icon and set it to the recommended settings. You can experiment with them after the fact, but the default install will ensure maximum use of the hardware.
That’s about it for what you need to do. The software has told the hardware what to do. Once you start customizing your game settings, whether directly in the game or via the Steam settings in the triple-dot menu, you’ll start to see the benefits.
CryoByte actually runs their own YouTube channel, where they go in-depth with the various settings options they’ve come up with as they work on the project.
What is CryoUtilities for Steam Deck?
CryoUtilities allows you to alter the ‘swap file’ on Linux. It’s a portion of storage that the Steam Deck sets aside for when the RAM is overloaded. However, CryoByte has pointed out in-depth, that some games will never actually utilize the hardware properly.
With the specs onboard, some games shouldn’t be running like they do, and can often be found not taking advantage of the 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and the custom APU that is housed inside.
Essentially, some games are over-reliant on the swap file, rather than the hardware. This can lead things like emulation, or certain games to hitch, stutter or lag behind their usual performance.
CryoUtilities allows you to not only shrink down the size of the swap file but also how much your device actually relies on it. With this out the way, your games will often default back to the hardware, rather than the software.
It’s an easy install, and you might not immediately see a massive difference. However, with the various things you’ll be throwing at the Steam Deck over its lifetime, getting better performance out of your games won’t always hurt.