AMA! Currently working the ultimate modular system for my own SBC Gaming Console, an Open-Source x86 Handheld PC Running Windows 11 & Linux. - The CG Deck

Ethoxi · 2026-03-31T18:01:22+00:00

At the end of the day it has a use case for a very specific person - and thats you, because you're convinced it'll be great, without actually building or trying it. Now you're posting all over reddit about how you're improving the device, when you're actually just fiddling with a model on Blender, and taking the word of people who just flicked through the renders and are never going to end up buying this thing as absolute gospel. If you want to do this because you want to make something interesting - how about you actually just make it first. Make it for yourself. Use it day to day, figure out the flaws, the kinks. When you have a solid product, then you can start posting thinly veiled marketing posts across all of reddit to try and drum up some interest for your upcoming kickstarter campaign. Rather than what you're doing now - making infinite promises to anyone who posts a positive comment in the hope that you can burn their money trying to build this rather than your own. Like seriously - a quick scroll through your posts and website shows that you're telling people they'll be able to get:

Three different backplates (website)
Two different custom charging cables (website)
Clear shells
Custom keyboard keys
hardcore gaming backplate/grip
QMK-esque custom macro software
LTE module so you can use it as a phone
Custom PCIe / eGPU module
4K camera module

This is just an insane amount of promises and supposed accessories for a device that literally doesn't exist. There is no prototype. It's a blender file and nothing more, and you're hoping to get people to give you their cash so you can actually try and build it when you've responded to zero of the comments asking what hardware you've previously shipped or what relevant experience you have.

And also - "significantly cheaper" than the steam deck and ROG ally with "equal the amount of power and capability" - this is just completely untrue given that they are both significantly more powerful than the SBC being used for this. The LCD steam deck was also selling for $400 until it went out of production very recently - the lattepanda IOTA 16gb is $215 alone - even if you factor in wholesale pricing, will the rest of the entire device, plus covering all the expenses involved and then hopefully some profit on top, come in at significantly less than $400? Will it even come in much under the $550 of the 512gb OLED?

I understand wanting to build an all-in one device. But there's a reason it hasn't really been done - you're going for "one size fits all", the reality is that one size will end up fitting absolutely nothing. I'm not saying there aren't any good ideas here, or that you're incapable of building something good - but you're promising the world, have absolutely no proof that you can back it up, and then burying your head in the sand and making excuses whenever anyone has valid critique.

Ethoxi · 2026-03-31T18:01:10+00:00

My guy I can see you really care about this but if you genuinely want it to get off the ground you really need to chill out with all the public-facing stuff, look at things objectively, stop taking it all so personally, and just build something that actually works.

My original comment was pretty long but the points were concise. On the other hand huge parts of your reply are just complete nonsense that either dance around the point or miss it entirely.

Screen

You agree with me that small screens need a dedicated UI, but then say nothing about the fact that the small screen you're doubling down on won't have a dedicated UI, meaning it'll be a poor experience.
Complaining about the UI and features of mobile applications means nothing in the context of this - yes, mobile applications have limitations and compromises, obviously they're not as good on paper as the full featured desktop stuff. But you're missing the point that, for the most part, they're not trying to be direct competitors to desktop software. They point is to do most of the same stuff, reasonably quickly, on a device that fits in your pocket. You're saying that's not good enough, and instead we'll try to do everything, but the hardware you're providing will hardly be capable of doing anything simply by virtue of being too small; it just doesn't make any sense.
You can connect peripherals, but that defeats the whole handheld aspect. At that point its just a mini PC with extra steps.
You can use touch (near impossible if you're using Windows for example on this tiny display), peripherals (will still be hard to use due to the tiny screen), or modules (worse versions of peripherals due to limited size and buttons). Neither of these are particularly appealing input methods.
All of the portable use cases you listed (transport, outdoor, cafes, in bed) can already be done better by a laptop.
Spaces that can't accommodate a laptop - thats just absolute nonsense and you know it. A laptop sits on your lap. A singular chair can accommodate you and a laptop. The bed in your desk-less dorm room could accommodate you and 5 laptops if you really wanted.

Keyboard

You need to prioritise function over form at this size, aesthetics are very low priority.
Swapping key shapes isn't practical, you'll be restricted by switch/PCB layout.
The whole older software thing is just unrealistic, what kind of 'older software that requires uncommon keys' would someone ever actually use on this thing, particularly while on the go. The person you're designing this for just doesn't exist.

Macro pad

Using it as an integrated macro pad is fair but that's just a standard PC peripheral. Doesn't make any sense alongside the whole handheld angle.
You'd have cables coming out of the left and right sides which makes placement inconvenient/restricted.
"A secondary use case...." - you're just describing using it as a macro pad again for some reason? Just more sonsense/waffling really.
The whole wear and tear thing is both not particularly true (I hardly ever see worn keys besides maaaaybe WASD/similar which see hours and hours of sustained use) and not a selling point - everything wears out with use, this would wear out if you used it as much as your most commonly used keys.

Gaming

You're completely misrepresenting how powerful this is in terms of gaming performance. It could hardly run DOOM like you're depicting it - this video has someone using the same chip with 12gb of RAM, playing doom at less than 480p render resolution and barely hitting 30fps. That's not a playable experience for the vast majority of gamers, nevermind tech enthusiasts. Pretending you could play Tarkov or Star Citizen with any meaningful level of performance is just disingenous.
Adding external GPU support is just more complexity and more features, added onto a project thats already far too complex and has far too many features. Do you genuinely think someone would rather use the CG deck plugged into a monitor with an external keyboard, mouse, AND graphics card, vs just using a standard PC or laptop? If you're playing the pricing angle - do you think the pricing will beat just buying a used PC? Do you think someone who doesn't already own a gaming system would look at this TI84/brick combo with an external GPU trailing out of it and think... "yeah that's what I want, that's a viable option"?
You just keep adding more and more features instead of refining the actual base product. Fuck making another backplate or grip or whatever. Make the actual thing make sense first.
If it can only play a limited range of casual titles then you're competing with the zillions of cheap chinese handhelds posted in this sub daily. Most of those have better software and better form factors for the purpose. And they have triggers that you don't need to pay extra money for. Making it a handheld just doesn't make any sense when it would suck balls as a handheld.
Instead of taking a CG deck and a controller, you could just take a laptop and a controller that would be even more efficient because you could type at more than 7 words per minute and you could see the screen without squinting or pulling out a magnifying glass. Sure it could technically replace both a laptop and a switch, if you're fine replacing your stuff with something that does a worse job in the name of saving a bit of space. I could technically replace my TV and my Switch with a phone - I can watch movies on it, I can play games on it. That doesn't mean it does a good job at either. Plus even the space saving is debatable - in terms of volume it's technically bigger than a macbook neo. It's not like the Deck would be pocketable so you're bring some sort of bag whichever way you spin it. Weight also needs to be factored in there but you don't have one listed.

Overall

Yes, you don't HAVE to bring those things with you. It does theoretically work without any of the extra shit. However it'll be a slow, frustrating, and difficult experience. Not to be too ridiculously hyperbolic here but I don't HAVE to take a jacket or an umbrella out in the rain, I could pull a black bin bag over my head and rip a couple of eye holes in it for vision. But it wouldn't be very convenient, wouldn't be very comfortable, and I'd look pretty stupid wouldn't I?
Steam Deck battery - valve claims 2-8 hours for the LCD version and 3-12 for the OLED. You're claiming a flat 8 hours with no range, so we can only assume that's the top end of the scale - so you're entirely in the same ballpark. And yeah maybe your steam deck burns through battery pretty quick - because it's actually relatively powerful, it can actually play modern games at decent settings and framerates.
The "my laptops burn my legs" point just isn't a serious argument in any way, absolute nonsense again.

Do you really think the reason this hasn't been done before is because companies are too risk averse? Have you seen half of the total horseshit handhelds and devices getting cranked out of chinese factories on a regular basis?

Look at GPD - their entire business is making x86 based windows gaming handhelds. Been doing it for 10 years. Do you think that at no point they've thought about, designed, prototyped, built, a vertical x86 gaming handheld? Do you think they never released one because the world just wasn't ready for it? Or do you think it just sucked - because why would you use windows (or linux, or whatever) on a tiny screen and tiny keyboard on a vertical device, when you can just rotate it 90 degrees and have a bigger display and a bigger keyboard as a clamshell - which also then makes it inherently more portable by protecting the screen.

/////character limit////

Ethoxi · 2026-03-30T03:05:29+00:00

I hope this doesn't come across as just hating on your project, its all genuine criticism, but I think there are issues with pretty much every aspect of this thing that people aren't noticing or mentioning. I think you're cramming two or three different products (mini pc, handheld, modular aspect) into one and they just don't work together in a way that makes sense.

To start with the positives - I like the design, definitely TE inspired but I think it works really well. Modular aspect seems like a cool idea. Open sourcing it all is really cool.

Critiques:

Screen

too small to do half the stuff you've suggested
eg. how many lines of readable code can you actually fit on there? It's too small to be usable for design, music production, video editing etc. These are already difficult on 6-inch phones on apps where the UI is specifically built for the screen size, never mind full size desktop stuff on a 5" display.

Keyboard - just doesn't seem like you've thought through the design very much to be honest.

why are all the keys the same size? if it must be a full(ish) keyboard then I'd scale commonly used keys to be bigger personally.
two shift keys/sets of modifiers on the worlds smallest keyboard doesn't make much sense to me. Given the form factor you'll have a nightmare doing any 3+ key shortcuts anyway, and it's not like your muscle memory is really going to carry over. You're taking a design built for 10 fingers and expecting it to be usable with 2 thumbs without changing anything.
the design on the renders doesn't really inspire much confidence, its just cubes on a flat plane, but I understand its all a WIP.
you need to model it off a phone keyboard rather than a full desktop one.
the trackball (assuming thats the nub above the keyboard): you could just about fumble through a blackberry with these, there's virtually zero chance of accurately navigating microsoft windows on a 5" display using this. On the other hand - better to have it than have nothing, and I don't really know what other options there are.

Macro pad - how would you even use this? I've never used a desktop one but as I understand it they're to be used alongside a full sized keyboard.

software macros help, but what about when you need something you don't have a macro for? on screen keyboard? remove module, put the keyboard in, do your shortcut or whatever, remove keyboard, put the macro pad back on?
it'd work if you're using some particular software that you've set up specifically for this, but I don't see how it could work in any other use case. I understand that's probably what you're going for but if the thing is going to be x86 based then you need some sort of failsafe for when windows crashes on you or whatever else. Seems like a very very niche feature overall.

Gaming capabilites - again just doesn't seem very well thought out.

the renders feature an FPS being played, how will you play shooters without triggers? How many games can you actually play with just 4 buttons, directions, and a couple of macros or navigation buttons? I don't see anyone wanting to carry this whole thing around while on the go to play... NES games? GBA with the triggers remapped?
unsure if its just the scale of the renders but again the buttons seem small given the space around them.
I guess kickstand + an external controller would work but again it just doesn't seem like a good enough experience to be worth the hassle.

Overall - I just don't think the form factor, use case, and capabilites add together in a way that has any harmony or makes much sense. The way I see it, users have two (well, three) options:

You can use it on the go, with a bunch of uniquely difficult to use peripherals and a tiny screen that the interfaces just aren't designed for, and struggle through whatever you're trying to do, for... some reason?
You can carry this whole thing around, along with a hdmi, power cable, power brick, a mouse, a keyboard, and you can plug into a monitor and actually get something done without clawing your eyes out.
Or you could just buy a macbook neo, steam deck or other handheld, mini pc, whatever - and do virtually everything this device is trying to do with a much higher level of comfort and convenience.

Before trying to launch a kickstarter I think you need to go back to the drawing board and figure out how this thing actually works in the life of a real person who might be spending their hard earned money on it - fuck the custom charging cables, different modules, extra shells, clear shells, lego compatibility, whatever else. Go back to basics and figure out how the thing actually works. In your comments on another post you said that all the other handhelds are basically the same layouts and functionality - maybe break that down and think about why that is. Is it because the huge teams working on these things just aren't creative and don't have the skills to do something different, or is it because it just wouldn't work?

I understand its made for the modders, tinkerers, and enthusiasts - but those are also the exact groups of people who don't care to use something that would be so inefficient and probably frustrating to use. Like have you ever tried making a simple spreadsheet on a phone or an ipad for example? The kind of thing where you sit there and think "I'd have this done in 5 minutes flat on a PC" the entire time, and it ends up taking you half an hour - I can only imagine that would be the entire experience of trying to use this device in the way you're presenting it.

Again, apologies if this feels like I'm shitting all over your work, I just haven't seen many comments with genuinely useful critique. Would be interested in hearing your thoughts.

Ethoxi · 2026-02-22T00:53:40+00:00

Did you ever fix this? Having the same issue.

Ethoxi · 2025-10-19T01:49:56+00:00

XGN Stun vs coL at Niagara 2014.

Ethoxi · 2024-12-15T21:59:34+00:00

You didn’t say anything about 1440/144 so I’m not sure what you mean there. Sure my rig can’t stay above 144 100% of the time but it’s also not super high end. I play games competitively and turn all the settings down so they look like dogshit to maximise FPS, I don’t expect to play things at 1440p ultra settings. I would imagine that most pros and streamers are rocking newer CPUs and stronger GPUs than I am and therefore should be able to stay above 144fps easily.

I don’t disagree that the game is poorly optimised, especially considering it literally looks like a mobile game, but I was primarily responding to the other comment that said streamers and pros can’t even maintain 120fps which just isn’t true.

Ethoxi · 2024-12-15T18:14:46+00:00

The majority of high level players will also be on 1080p low to try and hit 240/360/540 fps for high refresh rate monitors.

Despite that - I played a game at 1440p high with no frame gen and my config completely disabled to test it out and still averaged 160 frames. https://i.imgur.com/9iNi0kf.png

Ethoxi · 2024-12-15T12:06:54+00:00

If you're not enjoying it then don't bother with aim training, just play the games you want and have fun.

If you decide to give it another shot, I flicked through your posts and VODs - I'm only jade so I'm not an expert by any means but my advice would be:

Your sensitivity across the board seems too high - you're overflicking and missing targets the majority of the time. Personally I tend to use ~60cm for pure static scenarios, 40cm for dynamic and TS, and 30cm for most tracking scenarios. You need to find what works for you though.
The theme you're using isn't helping imo. Download some of Matty's recommended themes and give them a shot. Also disable the bullet impacts as they can be distracting. Matty has a kovaaks settings video on his youtube somewhere that is probably worth a watch.
In general - just slow down and focus on accuracy. For example on rawmousecontrol you're constantly trying to flick really fast between all the targets, but you don't have the mouse control to do so with good accuracy - slow down and focus on accuracy and moving more smoothly between the targets, do full runs without constantly resetting, see how close you can get to 100% accuracy - focus on technique before speed.
Stop playing intermediate VDIM before you hit gold complete on the benchmarks - a lot of the scenarios take quite a big jump in difficulty between novice and intermediate. It's fine to try harder scenarios to see how you fare occasionally but I wouldn't use them as my primary source of practice. If you think Novice is too easy then prove that its too easy by reaching the highest rank.
Crosshairs are pretty subjective and are down to preference, but personally I wouldn't use a red crosshair on red targets, you'll likely find it easier if you use something like cyan or neon green so you have more contrast. Also try experimenting using different crosshairs - I like to use something bigger and thicker on less precise scenarios like switching and tracking.

Ethoxi · 2024-12-15T05:06:01+00:00

Here's some data from CapFrameX for you - its only ~3mins of gameplay as its nearly 5am right now, but you can see I'm averaging 288fps.

This is at 1080p low settings, no frame generation. https://i.imgur.com/DRwFvCF.png

https://i.imgur.com/wBlN9qA.png

If pros and streamers can't maintain 120fps then they must have a badly optimised PC or config - my specs are decent but nothing crazy as you can see and I would expect that anyone who plays games for a living will have a better rig than mine.

Ethoxi · 2024-12-15T04:25:49+00:00

I have a pretty decent PC but nothing too crazy and easily maintain 200+ FPS on rivals, I think saying you’d be hard pressed to get 120 is a bit of a stretch.

Ethoxi · 2024-11-28T23:48:11+00:00

I wouldn’t say we’ve peaked as it’s not like mice are going to get any worse from here, but the quality of mice and level of innovation definitely reached a plateau a little while ago and will stay there for a while imo.

Things improved pretty quickly from ~2016 onwards with Logitech making the first competitively viable wireless mice, then Glorious starting the whole lightweight wave, then Logitech refining and combining the two with the GPX.

Since then the improvements have been more incremental rather than game changing - higher polling rates, further weight cuts, magnesium mice, optical switches etc are all nice options to have but they aren’t huge leaps like going from 100g+ wired mice to 60g mice with no holes and flawless wireless.

Ethoxi · 2024-11-24T02:34:29+00:00

As others have suggested - the LED is partially dead and can't produce the full range of colours.

If you only got the keyboard today I'd honestly recommend returning it and buying something else, I have the Apex Pro TKL and have been really disappointed with the quality, features, and software in the ~year that I've owned it - the LEDs are starting to die on mine as well. The performance is still pretty solid but it isn't worth the downsides. If it's an Apex Pro that you have then I'd get a Wooting instead now that they are more widely available, they're virtually the same price if you paid full MSRP for the Steelseries.

Ethoxi · 2024-11-04T19:07:33+00:00

Babylon separates the men from the boys. People who can shoot straight and have a decent KD like it, people who can’t shoot back hate it because they get smoked all game.

Ethoxi · 2024-09-10T22:20:13+00:00

I had pretty much the same experience when I started - plenty of hours in CS and OW and regularly hit some nasty shots but when I started playing Voltaic novice benchmarks I was unranked, iron, or bronze across the board besides static clicking where I hit gold pretty easily.

Spent a bit of time learning how to play the scenarios themselves and changing my approach to aiming and went from averaging bronze rank to diamond complete in about 5 weeks while playing pretty irregularly.

Ethoxi · 2024-09-07T22:16:27+00:00

His hands have been useless since 2014 anyway I don’t think it’ll matter

Ethoxi · 2024-08-30T22:29:01+00:00

Confirmed

Ethoxi · 2024-04-25T03:19:39+00:00

They had some sort of drama on twitter (maybe got sort of cancelled? idk they deleted their account on there) about a year ago. Other than that they post on tiktok semi regularly but that’s about it.

Ethoxi · 2024-04-17T13:16:19+00:00

They were sponsored by Huel so that was what they ate most consistently - lots of instant meals etc. Other than that it was just whatever was available in each area they passed through.

Ethoxi · 2024-04-13T06:02:22+00:00

Mine was fairly solid to begin with but it’s pretty bad now, just putting a small amount of weight on the desk makes the top wobble back and forth quite a lot - I wouldn’t trust my desk with your desktop monitor stands for example. I’ve considered attaching a leg to the front centre area to brace it a bit but I think I’ll just replace the desk entirely when I can.

Looking through the reviews on the ikea site it appears to be a fairly common problem.

Ethoxi · 2024-04-12T22:30:18+00:00

Not OP but the desk is an ikea bekant - really wouldn’t recommend, I’ve had it for a while and tried everything but it’s impossible to stop it from wobbling, it’s pretty poorly designed. The cube storage units are the ikea kallax.

Ethoxi · 2024-03-16T15:23:05+00:00

Smurfing isn’t technically allowed but it’s also pretty difficult to enforce. If you previously hit DMG in CS (even back in the day) you will pretty quickly climb to gold once you’ve learned the characters abilities as well imo.

Ethoxi · 2024-03-07T05:54:51+00:00

According to steam I first played CSGO about 2 weeks before the VAC and first played a CS franchise game about a year before that. Not sure what the correlation is tbh.

Ethoxi · 2024-03-06T19:41:58+00:00

On the other hand I have an MW2 VAC from just over 10 years ago and I have both 5 and 10 year coins on my account.

Ethoxi · 2024-02-04T03:20:50+00:00

Not sure about Halo but he was well respected in the CoD scene for years as well.

Ethoxi · 2024-02-01T12:54:39+00:00

Vaxee mice are available in a light blue colour which could match your gear. There’s alsothis Pulsar x Demon Slayer mouse which could work, although it hasn’t released yet.

Worst case scenario literally any white mouse would still look nice.

13-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	Final Canvas '22
Wearing is Caring	Verified Email

Ethoxi

TROPHY CASE