It’s worth setting your refresh rate according to your frame rate limit. Setting a lower limit may help extend the Steam Deck’s battery life and reduce fan noise too.

If the frame rate is inconsistent (stuttering or struggling to load in demanding in-game locations) it might be worth capping the maximum frame rate. Returning to the Performance settings menu from the QAM button (see above), you can customize the following options for your game: Once you’ve enabled per-game profiles, it’s time to customize the performance settings for individual games. If you’re after the full performance package, however, selecting 4 will display a comprehensive view of the GPU and CPU usage, temperature, VRAM usage, RAM usage, battery, FPS, latency, gan RPM, FSR, and Gamescope.

This will display the FPS in the top left corner of your screen and provides minimal to no distraction. If you’re just interested in the frame rate, you can leave the Performance Overlay Level on 1.

Slide the toggle across the different options to choose the amount of information you want to be displayed (options between OFF and 4).

Scroll to Performance Overlay Level and press A.

Scroll down to the battery icon and press A to open the Performance menu.

Press the Quick Access Menu (QAM) button (located on the right-hand side of the Steam Deck, underneath the right touchpad).Here’s how to access the performance overlay when in-game on the Steam Deck: If you’re having Steam Deck performance issues when playing demanding games, then enabling the performance overlay can help you to identify which settings need optimizing.

The performance overlay will show useful details including frame rate (FPS), CPU and GPU usage, as well as the temperature of the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck’s performance overlay is a feature that shows real-time performance information displayed over the game you’re currently playing.

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