Hi,
I bought a JSAUX transparent backplate back in January. It was one of the early models which came out before there were other color options. I bought it not for the looks, but for the extra cooling it provides to all components under the aluminum shield. I always use a case over it (with a homemade cutout for cooling around the metal plate).
I noticed my backplate is getting “stress” cracks at the edges of the metal cooling plate. My guess is that these are caused to the repeated heating cycles the Steam Deck goes through in normal use. I’ve read some posts dating from a few months ago telling the same story, but no recent ones (or where they banned or smth ?)
I’m about to buy another backplate to have it in stock at home in case the current one ultimately fails, since there’s a sale going on.
I have a few questions for those who bought the newer variants :
Do they also crack ?
Which color is less likely to develop cracks ? (My guess would be cristal, since there are no coloring agents in the plastic)
Is there anything to do to prevent this ? (apart from “Don’t use the Deck, duh !”)
Do the cracks develop to the point the metal plate “falls off” ?
Has the quality improved overall ? (I heard stories about plastic inserts not being installed properly, causing issues with the back buttons. Mine unfortunately don’t have this issue…)
Thank you.
no cracks on mine yet, tho i have a 60mm usb fan velcrod to the heatshield as that helps cool it (cut thin triangular bits to the shape of the corners of the usb fan) and more importantly it’s 60x60mm so covers the whole heatshield meaning my fingers cant touch hot metal. Just needs a slim/thin battery to power it which i have and thats also velcrod to the back along with a usb voltage governor which lets you slow down the fan or speed it up, handy to hit that sweet spot where its just as quiet or quieter than the internal fan.
https://i.imgur.com/2SUt81F.jpg
Thankfully everything weighs almost nothing and as its all velcro’d on i can pull the battery+fan off and put them in my bag and the deck fits into its own bag no problem.
If your backplate it splitting and others arent getting the issue as much (i think ive seen 1 more person ask?) then maybe you got a backplate from a bad batch or maybe your thermals are abnormally higher than most other peoples?
I haven’t put an extra fan on because I didn’t feel the need, I don’t overclock. The internals are already significantly cooler thanks to the backplate and fresh high performance thermal paste alone.
I emailed JSAUX and they agreed to send me a new one. I’ll keep the old one on until it ultimately fails and I’ll have a spare to fix it quickly.
i dont overclock either, the fan is just to cool the plate which can shift more heat which helps lower the speed/noise the internal fan makes, expecting a performance boost is like chasing a mythical pink unicorn.
Interesting insight ! I never thought about that tbh. I’ll check around at home, I may already have a fitting fan.
I don’t play really intensive games (maybe Forza 4 once in a while) but I like the idea that components may survive for longer if I get them cooled better (I have a 120mm dual fan tower cooler for my 65W Ryzen in my main build, if you see what I mean lol).
I also quite like the hand warmer ability of the JSAUX backplate. Really neat when playing in colder areas…
