Steam Frame Teardown Reveals Problem With Its Future Repairs

While the Steam Frame is too expensive and too late to bring VR to the masses, it does a lot of things right. This includes its repairability. But iFixit’s teardown pointed out one component that’s not quite easy to reach: the cooling fan.

The problem ? This fan is buried deep inside the helmet. To get there, you have to walk past the optical assemblies and make your way through a dense jungle of thermal hardware, cables, and other components. Although the fan and heat pipe are separate (a good thing), getting to them in the first place is more problematic.

That’s a lot of disassembly for a part that may need cleaning over time. After all, fans accumulate dust and eventually wear out. Burying one this deep makes the Steam Frame a more difficult repair than it might otherwise have been.

Fortunately, repairs elsewhere are much more encouraging. The Steam Frame’s headband detaches via quick-release latches, making it easy to work on the rear battery without touching the screens. In the interest of hygiene, sweat-absorbing parts are replaceable, including the bridge of the nose and the face and headrest cushions.

The lenses attach magnetically to the headset’s IPD rail, making display and eye-tracking repairs relatively simple. (Removing them still requires some disassembly, including screws and cables.) Overall, this is a pretty accessible repair by VR standards. No need to dig up the motherboard.

There are a few other pitfalls. The headset battery does not have release tabs. (iFixit removed it using isopropyl alcohol and some gentle prying.) Additionally, the controllers’ thumbsticks are soldered to their boards, so replacing a broken controller would be more complicated than you’d hope.

You may be able to purchase replacement parts from the iFixit store. (While iFixit is also Valve’s repair partner, it says the headset manufacturer had no influence on the teardown or editorial process.) However, the company says replacement batteries won’t be available when its Steam Frame parts store goes live. This seems like a pretty significant omission, and it’s one that iFixit says it hopes to change. Replacement screens will also not be available at launch. Of course, Valve offers warranty repairs and replacements for covered devices, but that doesn’t take away from the importance of DIY support.

Overall, iFixit’s teardown reveals a surprisingly serviceable VR headset. But whether you want to buy one is another matter. Starting at $1,059, the Steam Frame costs considerably more than the Meta Quest 3. And it does so without offering an equivalently improved experience.

To be honest, this is a powerful and comfortable headset with many advantages. It supports many Steam games standalone, including the excellent Half-life: Alyx. It also offers wireless PC streaming and microSD expansion. But overall, this feels like a headset that would have made more sense several years ago, when developers were investing more resources into VR software. The high price of the Steam Frame (thanks, RAMageddon!) combined with this late arrival makes it a tough sell, despite its solid repairability.

You can read more about the Steam Frame in Devindra Hardawar’s review.