eXtremeRate Gradient Translucent Green Blue Custom Faceplate

Very satisfied by this kit. Which is unexpected. I frequently thought to myself that it was probably the least necessary upgrade to my deck. That it wouldn’t make that big of a difference or wouldn’t be worth the money. Wrong!

I’ve owned my baseline model lcd steam deck since it launched. And one thing about it, is it’s a very big, bulky and ugly device. Not at all sexy or desirable looking except to the very hardcore nerdy like myself.

After the upgrade, I wish I had done it sooner. My steam deck is now incredibly sexy looking and I would now consider my device officially complete, having already upgraded the hard drive and SD card to dual performance drives with over a terabyte of high speed storage. Your Nintendo Switch may be sleeker and thinner, but it doesn’t sport a translucent case

The kit comes with everything you need. Screwdrivers, suction cup, extra screws incase you strip the ones you have, etc.

I’m not gonna lie, the install is quite complex. I don’t think I’ve ever done a more complicated install on any device than the one I had to do for this one. It involves hitting your screen with a heat gun and prying it out of the case which, needless to say, could go wrong in a million different ways if you’re impatient or don’t possess gentle hands and/or experience.

I consider myself skilled at repairs and DIY and even I made several mistakes during the installation. First time I slapped it back together, after the lengthy install process (the video is an hour long, and he goes much faster than you likely will) both my trackpads and all my joy pad controls were kaput. Opening it back up again and going over the entire process step by step again, I was missing two wires. One very small wire which connects to the BACK of the main mobo, underneath the copper heat pipes etc (difficult to reach) was what was controlling the trackpads and the joy controls. And I also forgot to plug the tiny wire into my left trackpad which controls the haptics. This tiny haptics piece ended up snapping clean off of my daughter board while I was trying to unplug it with a pair of tweezers in order to reseat the connection because at the time I thought that was the problem/connector I was missing. The fact that the piece can snap off while you’re trying to pry the plug free is a major production oversight in my opinion. And they don’t sell the board on ifixit or anything meaning it’s pretty much just broken and unfixable at this point. The left trackpad only controls scrolling and panning, as well as right clicks, so tbh this isn’t a deal breaker for me. It’s hardly noticeable as a matter of fact. The left trackpad still works fine. It just doesn’t vibrate anymore. The haptics on the steam deck are both weak and they rattle my trackpads (even fresh out the box) so honestly I’ll hardly miss this feature.

I was simply elated and overjoyed when, after reconnecting the tiny cable on the back of my main mobo, the trackpads and controls began to work again. My screen protector also snapped in two when lifting it off my screen. But it interfered with touch sensitivity when it was on. And I found that the screen is tougher than I thought, not to mention incredibly thin, and I’ve gone back to using it without. I’ll simply keep my deck away from grubby hands and it should be fine. It seems to be made of durable gorilla glass anyhow. And my right trackpad, the main one I use, still vibrates and functions as desired. I was just afraid that I’d bricked my device and would have to resort to leaving it in the steam dock from now on. I was panicking and trying every software fix I could find. Reinstalling drivers, reflashing steamOs etc. I’m happy to report the software isn’t the issue. It was a missing cable like they said it was. I feel like it was a noobish mistake yet, it’s very pleasing to know the hardware isn’t so delicate as to be thrown off balance by a shell swap. I’ve read numerous things about how sensitive the trackpads are. Their calibration etc. If you are observant and dutiful about plugging all cables back in, especially the tiny easy to miss ones, it’ll be fine.

As well, I’m extremely lucky that the video connection cable on the back of the screen did not snap or get cut. I got excited when it was coming loose and yanked it free only to realize I’d forgotten the cable on the back like I was warned about. It disconnected itself cleanly and I was able to reinsert it without problem. I was extremely lucky in this case. Please be careful during this step. Extremely careful.

It also came with double sided adhesive strips to reglue everything back into place but do you want to know the craziest thing? I didn’t use any of it. If you’re gentle enough, the adhesive holding your screen in will still be there when you’re finished. I simply popped my screen back into place, and it’s held itself together very sturdy since, with no additional glue or tape being necessary.

So. I did damage my deck a tiny bit with this installation. It was a long and stressful process.

But now that it’s done? My deck is a showstopper and a head Turner. My biggest complaint about the deck was that its a large, bulky and unsexy device. But no longer. It now looks incredibly cool. People desire my steam deck lol. I get a lot of questions about it and a lot of attention. A lot of compliments. And the experiment itself was very challenging and informative. Having pulled my deck apart and slapped it back together again some odd 7 or so times in this process, I now feel like I know every bit and screw in my device like the back of my hand. For educational purposes for other tech bros like myself, I’d recommend this kit.

I would strongly recommend against anyone buying this kit who doesn’t have lots of experience pulling apart and fixing electronics. I’ve fixed countless ipads and cellphones and computers across my years and this was still one of the most complex and difficult installs I’ve ever done. I hesitate to even think of doing it again and I’m not certain nothing would break during the process. Needless to say, now that it’s finished, I don’t plan on ever opening my deck up again. The screws are threaded during the install meaning everytime you open up the deck you’re doing irreversible damage and your deck will never be the same again after this. For better and for worse.

However, if you’re like me and you realize that the competitors are quickly overtaking the older lcd deck model, and in 5 or 10 years the device may become obsolete anyway, what do you have to lose? I feel upgrading the aesthetics of my device has greatly expanded the shelf life of my device. If I ever have to sell it in the future, I know my deck will still be desirable, having been modded to utter perfection.

I’m not sure what else I can say or add here. I’m extremely satisfied with this kit. The price was great. The value is great. And I feel like a true king of tech bros having successfully completed my own installation. The deck is a tinkerers dream come true. Don’t miss out on modding your shell. You’ll only regret it if you screw it up
-Ck

My friend and I both bought shells, he got one with a hazy purple and I the gradient (see last photo). The hazy has a better texture but is harder to see the internals, while the gradient is very slippery and smooth plastic but can see though it better. They both look great on, I didn’t consider the texture when buying but you might want to if you want to match your glossy or anti reflective screen. I didn’t use any of the buttons that came with my kit and reused the originals as the kit buttons were very glossy black. The only ones I had to use from the kit were the underside ones (they aren’t removable from the oiginal).

To put them on, independently it took both of us 4 hours each. Maybe just a little under. Don’t underestimate the complexity of these devices on the inside, I thought it might take an hour when starting but was very wrong. The kit comes with everything you need (except a hair dryer for heat) but you would do better with your own electronics dissasembly kit. It’s probably not suitable for absolute beginners but if you have ever pulled a laptop apart you can probably do this. There are video instructions for every step if you need them so it’s pretty hard to go wrong until you start doing the anxious stuff like pulling off the screen (be super careful and use a lot of heat).

This is going to be a long review so let me give a TLDR before I get into it. This is an awesome product that transforms your steam deck if you have patience and great organizational skills. You will need a form of thermal paste and the guide is good, but mark your screws.

So for the full review:

Packaging:
The shell came securely packaged in a nice box. The company listened and sent plastic opening picks instead of the metal one. It came with everything needed except thermal paste which I will touch on during the installation section.

Installation:

So let me start by saying I have been a lifelong tinker and this is a tough installation. I don’t want to scare or deter anyone from attempting this, but I want to be transparent. If you attempt this you will need to be extremely organized and patient. This took me 6 hours to complete so if you plan to do this in one setting be ready for a slog. The teardown portion of the video is good and does its job. My recommendation is that you notate what screws go to which components as the assembly section does not follow the same teardown steps (my first complaint).

Since you are opening the steam deck up and the guide says the remove heat sink you will need to reapply thermal paste, I used PTM 7950 pads (BTW got a 10c drop but I’m not reviewing that). This is my second issue with this guide/product. If I didn’t do my research beforehand I would be stuck with a disassembled steam deck until I could get some paste. This is also a good time to install any other mods/upgrades as it’s the most open your steam deck will ever be again (hopefully).

The hardest part about disassembly is the screen, be slow and steady. I used a hair dryer and it worked fine. Make sure your opening picks are plastic so you don’t scratch the black off the edge. Even with plastic ones I scratched one very small spot that was fixed with a black sharpie. Check it with a flashlight once all the adhesive is off. (The guide tells you to clean the adhesive off the screen, but also clean the frame).

Finally reassembly was easy, just mark your screws and you will be fine. It was minorly frustrating that they didn’t mirror the teardown, but it’s fine. Lastly you will be forced to change the back buttons which I didn’t want to do, but you can’t remove the stock ones.

My thoughts:

I love the look of my steam deck and it was a fun project. I put this at an 8/10 in the difficulty aspect. Before you go through with it touch the shell and decide if you want to because it is more “slick” than the stock case.

NOTES:

If you do attempt this, for the love of everything use a proper screwdriver with magnetic tips (I used ifixit kit). You could do it with the provided tools, but why make your life more difficult. Also before starting confirm it comes with plastic picks not the metal one.

Ultimately I am giving this a 4/5 star due to the guide not being the best and no mention of needing thermal paste.

I also installed a deckHD screen when I did the shell, and total weight was 20g heavier, though I don’t know for certain if that was the deckhd screen, or the shell.