The latest Steam beta lets you give Valve your frame rate data, focusing on SteamOS devices to 'learn about game compatibility'

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Anything that improves SteamOS is a win in my book.

SteamOS on multiple handheld gaming PCs
(Image credit: Future)

With the oncoming approach of multiple Valve devices and the wider adoption of SteamOS, Valve is looking to collect frame rate data in the hopes of improving compatibility.

As mentioned in the recent Steam client beta patch notes, it has "Added the option to provide anonymized frame rate data. When enabled, Steam will collect gameplay frame rate data, stored without connection to your Steam account but identified with the kind of hardware you are playing on."

Steam's Client Beta update for February 12

(Image credit: Valve)

Valve has a full list of SteamOS-supported devices on its website, alongside a guide on how to install the OS. PC is, unfortunately, missing from that list. While we don't have official PC support for SteamOS, you can install it if you're willing to tinker, and Bazzite does approximate the experience (in the words of our own Joshua Wolens).

In order to join the Steam client beta, you simply have to go into settings, then hit 'Interface', followed by 'Client Beta Participation' and 'Steam Beta Update'. You then must restart Steam to join the beta. It's pretty simple.

As well as this change, the Steam client beta adds the option to attach hardware specs to user reviews, which means you can pick out users with similar rigs to estimate your performance (or guess when someone is blaming the game instead of their underperforming rig).

Overall, these are two big changes that will likely add to the quality of Steam long-term.

Legion Go S SteamOS edition
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James Bentley
James Bentley
Hardware writer

James is a more recent PC gaming convert, often admiring graphics cards, cases, and motherboards from afar. It was not until 2019, after just finishing a degree in law and media, that they decided to throw out the last few years of education, build their PC, and start writing about gaming instead. In that time, he has covered the latest doodads, contraptions, and gismos, and loved every second of it. Hey, it’s better than writing case briefs.

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