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Unboxing a Steam Link 11 years later.

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And a Steam Controller too.

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Written by Gardiner Bryant.

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You can find more articles just like this

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over on The Bryant

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Review, gardinerbryant.com.

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Head over there, get

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signed up, and become a member.

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It's all greatly appreciated.

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Here's something cool.

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My friend Peter gave me a

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Steam Link and a Steam Controller.

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He had intended to use them to stream

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games from his office

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PC to his living room TV,

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and then never got around to it.

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This was back when Valve discontinued

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them both, and they were offering a steep

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discount to clear their inventory.

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The sale was in 2018, so these devices

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have sat unopened on his shelf for the

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better part of a decade.

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With that being the case and considering

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the new upcoming Steam hardware,

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I figured now would be a great time to

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open these up and give them a spin.

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The Steam Controller.

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Let's start with the Steam Controller.

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I've already got two of them in my

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possession, but I wanted to document the

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unboxing process here in 2026.

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The sticker holding the

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outer sleeve in place was aged.

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This had grown stubborn.

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Pulling it up felt like sacrilege, even

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though I don't really

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find new old stock that holy.

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I removed the outer

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sheath and set it aside.

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Folding open the box, I was greeted with

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a factory fresh

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original steam controller.

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There are a few things

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to note with this device.

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Despite it being new old stock and

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totally unopened, there

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was some evidence of wear.

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Not from use, mind you, but from living

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in a box without a protective bag.

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Also from age.

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The soft rubber coating on the one analog

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stick is very clearly

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starting to decroad.

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This is just what rubber does over time.

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I tried to get a good photo of this, but

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it doesn't photograph well.

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My friend Peter has moved at least once

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since acquiring these devices,

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and that means that the controller has

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bumped up against the

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inner packaging while shipping.

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And given the age of the box itself, the

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inner coding has

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started to degrade with time.

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That's left to find dust

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all over the controller.

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And the controller has also left an

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impression on the

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inside of the box's lid, too.

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The controller came with

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some packed-in goodies.

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A USB A to Micro B cable, a USB Micro B

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to A adapter, a USB A

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2.4 GHz wireless dongle,

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and a pair of AA batteries.

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These were all in factory fresh shape,

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except for the batteries.

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Those were labeled as good through March

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of twenty twenty six.

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Hey, what a coincidence.

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But they were also corroded and leaking

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inside their plastic packaging.

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I genuinely didn't think batteries could

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corrode unless they were in circuit.

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So I guess you learn

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something new every day, huh?

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Like I said, though, the rest of the

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accessories were great.

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[Music]

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Use with a PC

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The Steam Controller is still

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eminently usable on your PC.

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I was expecting the gamepad would need a

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firmware update when I

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plugged it into my computer,

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but it seems to be on the latest version

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right out of the box.

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It may come as a surprise to some, but

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there's also a bespoke advanced

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configuration screen

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for the Steam Controller

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in modern big picture mode.

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It's pretty nifty to see.

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You can calibrate the touch pads, the

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joystick, and even the gyros.

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You can enable gyro smoothing, you can

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control the LED brightness,

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the startup and

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shutdown chirps, and more.

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Big picture mode even offers a

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pre-configured control

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profile for Steam Controller 1.0.

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None of that is a surprise to me though.

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I am a controller nut and I still use my

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existing Steam

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Controllers with some regularity.

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So let's move on to the Steam Link.

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[Music]

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The Steam Link.

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I have zero

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experience with the Steam Link.

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That is to say, this is an entirely new

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device to me, and I'm kind of excited.

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Again, much like the Steam Controller,

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the sticker that holds the outer sheath

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in place was decidedly aged and crusty.

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Removing it was pretty simple.

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I just lifted up on the

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unstuck part and it came right off.

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Once I negotiated the sticker free, I

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removed the sleeve and opened the box.

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There sat a brand new

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and unused Steam Link.

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Cursory inspection revealed similar signs

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of age as the Steam Controller.

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Mostly the box's inner coating was

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crumbling and it had left another fine

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powder on the device.

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There were a few scuffs on

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the top of the link as well.

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Pretty ugly, but I think a

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little bit of elbow grease

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should be able to redress that.

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Pulling the egg carton-like cardboard

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that secured the Steam Link

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in place and setting it aside,

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the box remained unexpectedly heavy.

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And that's minus the weight of the

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already hefty for its size device.

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There were a few goodies underneath.

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First, an HDMI cable,

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about six feet in length.

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Also included was a flat,

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what appeared to be CAT5 cable.

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It had no markings on the six foot cord.

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And while stylish, I've

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always found these flat cables

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to be far less reliable

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than their normal twisted pair sisters.

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Finally, there was a power adapter,

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rated for 5.1 volts and 2.5 amps,

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with a 3.9 millimeter

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barrel jack connector.

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This accounted for their

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remaining weight in the box.

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And thankfully, the adapter

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should be relatively simple

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to replace if needs be in the future.

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The link has a power adapter jack,

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two Type A USB ports, an

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RJ45 port, and an HDMI port.

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On the right of the device, there's

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another Type A port.

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I wired everything up,

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including an ethernet cable.

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The link turned itself on

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once connected to the mains.

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It detected that a

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firmware upgrade was available,

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and it prompted me to install it.

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I connected my new steam controller

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via the provided USB cable

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and confirmed the upgrade.

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This process took a little while,

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over three minutes to complete.

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Once it was done, it found my PC,

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which had steam open

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and asked me to connect.

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The link performed some network analysis

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and determined that my

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10 gigabit home network

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would not suffice for

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streaming in high quality,

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but I insisted that high

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quality mode be used anyway.

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Since I was doing all of

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this right here on my desk,

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I watched as the link petitioned my PC

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to jump into big picture mode.

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Then I was controlling

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the link on one monitor,

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and it was forwarding all of

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those inputs to my desktop.

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There was the tiniest amount of lag

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between input and

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display through the link.

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And I think that the majority of that

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was actually due to my use

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of the ATEM Mini Extreme ISO

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to capture the HDMI signal from the link

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and then split it off to my monitor.

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The ATEM Mini Extreme ISO is

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notoriously bad for gaming.

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It has so much lag that

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playing first person shooters

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actually makes me nauseous.

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Consequently, I played animal

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well to try this out at first.

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Using the steam

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controller is not an ideal choice

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by any means, but it is serviceable.

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Then I swapped out the steam controller

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for the Ghoulikit TT Max

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using its included wireless adapter.

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Connecting it was an absolute breeze.

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Just plug the dongle into the

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link and jump into the game,

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simple and straightforward.

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I was able to play

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Spelunky, my go-to lag test app,

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and it was actually pretty manageable.

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There definitely was some lag,

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but it was entirely playable.

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Though I did lose multiple hit points

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and later ended my run in

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stage four of the jungle

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because of the lag.

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Not because I'm a bad gamer by any means.

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Nope, I'm screwed.

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I'm fricking screwed.

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I can't believe I didn't get impaled.

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We got the shotgun, guys.

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Now, grab it.

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Oh, man.

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I was like, I know this is

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gonna be the death of me.

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I knew it.

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I fricking knew it.

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The fact is the link performed admirably

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and it's still relevant

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and capable hardware in 2026.

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It's able to output a

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1080p 60 Hertz signal,

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and that's fine.

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Now, there are better ways of doing this,

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like getting a Raspberry Pi and

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installing the native app,

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or using an Nvidia Shield

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or another Android device

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with the Steam Link app.

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These will all allow you to

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stream higher quality gameplay

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from your PC, but that's

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neither here nor there.

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Other things.

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Now, I'm curious what other things

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we might be able to do with the Link.

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Some cursory searches

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yielded promising results.

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Valve commendably did

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not lock this thing down.

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You can get root shell access here,

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but I haven't found a

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practical use case for this.

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I'd love any input you

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have, if you have any.

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Conclusion.

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So what can we glean from

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this unboxing experience?

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Well, firstly, it was fun.

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New old stock is always

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such a trip down memory lane,

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but also, and more importantly,

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that these devices still work.

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That's huge.

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Over a decade since their introduction,

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and over eight years

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since they were retired,

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Valve's maintained

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compatibility with this hardware,

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despite massive

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infrastructural changes to Steam,

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like a new big picture mode, new

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streaming codecs, and more.

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And I can't see these devices

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falling out of support anytime soon.

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I'm excited to see how

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Valve's upcoming Steam machine,

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Steam Frame, and the new

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Steam Controller are received,

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but also how they're supported

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in the Steam ecosystem going forward.

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You can find more articles just like this

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over on The Bryant

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Review, gardenerbryant.com.

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Head over there, get

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signed up, and become a member.

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It's all greatly appreciated.

