Prototype Steam Deck with 6-Year-Old AMD Picasso APU Fetches $2,000 on eBay

With excitement brewing in gaming circles, engineering samples of consoles or accessories often fetch steep prices, especially when they hit the open market. Recently, a keen-eyed member of the r/SteamDeck community spotted a Steam Deck prototype listed on eBay.

This rare prototype, which strongly resembles images previously released by Valve, uses an AMD APU with Picasso silicon from 2019. Initially tagged at $3,000, the prototype eventually sold for a slightly more palatable $2,000.

Labeled internally as “Engineering Sample 34,” this prototype differs from the standard Steam Deck. It features distinct blue accents, a curvier design, round trackpads, and what appears to be an unfamiliar sensor on the right joystick.

Disregarding the “Not for resale” sticker on the back, the seller managed to auction off the device. Valve likely produced several such engineering models for internal testing, making it difficult to determine the precise age of this unit. Still, the older APU hints at its early design role before Valve finalized the retail specifications, possibly dating back to 2019 or 2020.

Interestingly, the seller noted that this prototype lacks an installed operating system like SteamOS. According to images of the BIOS shared by Notebookcheck, Valve experimented with a Picasso (Ryzen 3000 mobile) chip in earlier units, featuring up to four Zen+ cores and a GCN 5.0 (Vega 3/8/11) integrated GPU. These architectural elements highlight a notable performance gap compared to the specs in retail Steam Decks.

In terms of memory, the device has 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, which contrast with the more robust 16GB and 512GB options available today, barring the 64GB eMMC version. Today’s models, running on AMD’s Aerith and Sephiroth APUs, significantly outperform this original configuration.

As for the new owner, an exciting journey awaits. If they’re a reviewer or tech analyst, we might expect a detailed breakdown of the custom Picasso chip and insights into the Steam Deck’s evolution. Of course, if it’s a collector, the prototype might end up as a cherished secret.

Meanwhile, Valve has set the stage for an eventual Steam Deck upgrade, though they indicate that more advanced processors must arrive in the markets before any new releases can be expected.