Valve is partnering with iFixit to sell Steam Deck replacement parts

Steam Deck with X-Ray vision — (Image credit: iFixit / Creative Electron)

Last week Valve released the CAD files for the Steam Deck so that anyone can 3D-print their own system shell, but what good is a shell without the parts to put in it? Today we got some news on the parts front: Valve is following through on its promise to sell replacement parts for the Steam Deck, allowing users to do their own repairs at home, through a partnership with iFixit. As the happy owner of one of iFixit's fantastic toolkits, I'd say this is very good news.

"iFixit will be one of the authorized sellers of Steam Deck replacement parts – as well as replacement parts for the Valve Index VR kit," Valve wrote in an update on Steam today. "We are still hammering out the details, and will be sharing more info on this soon."

If you hop over to iFixit's parts store you'll find a variety of components on sale for game systems and other gadgets, from old iPods to Dyson vacuums. The Steam Deck and Index aren't in iFixit's store yet, but it sounds like that'll change not too long after the Steam Deck's launch. If you somehow snap off an analog stick or melt a trigger, iFixit will be one of apparently multiple places Valve will offer replacements.

Here are some highlights from iFixit's observations as it pulls the Steam Deck apart:

The joysticks being removable with no soldering is a big plus, so if joystick drift ever crops up, it's not a huge ordeal to replace
You can do the whole disassembly with just a Phillips screwdriver and a plastic spudger (assuming you're not also trying to remove the screen)
The Steam Deck's components are labeled particularly well, which makes reassembly a lot easier
If you're a chip nerd, you can read about everything on the motherboard here
Replacing the battery is technically possible, but definitely won't be easy

I appreciate how deep iFixit goes when taking electronics apart and documenting how to repair them, especially when it means I can focus on testing games on the Steam Deck rather than opening it up myself. We're currently reviewing the Steam Deck at PC Gamer and will have more to say about it on February 25th.

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Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he'll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.

When he's not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (it's really becoming a problem), he's probably playing a 20-year-old Final Fantasy or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be specific).