Rare Steam Deck Prototype Sold for $2,000 on eBay — Includes 6-Year-Old AMD Picasso APU with Zen+ and Vega Graphics

Console prototypes and their accessories, especially ones that captivate a broad audience, often command hefty prices when they appear on the second-hand market. Recently, a Steam Deck prototype became available on eBay, catching the attention of a keen-eyed member of the r/SteamDeck community.

This particular prototype looks strikingly similar to the Steam Deck images shared by Valve, featuring an AMD APU with Picasso silicon dating back to 2019. Although initially priced at $3,000, the bidding concluded with a sale at $2,000.

Internally referred to as “Engineering Sample 34,” this version of the Steam Deck stands out with blue highlights, a pronounced curved design, uniquely circular trackpads, and a curious sensor attached to the right joystick.

Despite a bold “Not for resale” sticker slapped on its back cover, it evidently didn’t deter the seller one bit.

In the development stages, Valve crafted numerous engineering samples for internal examination. Pinpointing the exact age of this unit can be tricky, although the previous-generation APU hints at its use for testing mechanical configurations, likely before finalizing retail specs around 2019 or 2020.

Interestingly, the seller pointed out that the prototype lacks an operating system, specifically SteamOS. However, images of the BIOS shared by Notebookcheck provide valuable insights. They reveal that Valve was experimenting with older prototypes, featuring a yet-to-be-named AMD Picasso (Ryzen 3000 mobile) chip, equipped with up to four Zen+ cores and a GCN 5.0 (Vega 3/8/11) GPU. This architectural gap contributes significantly to the performance disparity compared to retail units.

Furthermore, the prototype’s 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD pale in comparison to the current standard configurations of 16GB and 512GB—unless you’re eyeing the 64GB eMMC variant. Today’s AMD Aerith and Sephiroth APUs significantly outpace what’s packed into this early sample.

As we await the revelation of the buyer’s identity, there are a couple of exciting possibilities. If acquired by a reviewer or a hardware analyst, we could anticipate a detailed breakdown of this custom Picasso chip, shedding light on how the Steam Deck evolved into its present form. Alternatively, if snagged by a collector, we might just see it quietly vanishing into a private collection.

Valve has also clarified that those eagerly awaiting a successor to the Steam Deck will have to bide their time until more exciting processors hit the market.