Liam Squires-Hand reported 1 hour 24 minutes of standalone Beat Saber and 1 hour 52 minutes streamed on a 1TB Steam Frame running SteamOS 0.4. Both tests used 90Hz, 100% brightness and 100% volume. The results appeared in a first-hand account published by GamingOnLinux on October 13, 2026.
Steam Frame runtime by game and mode
Squires-Hand also tested Beat Saber at lower refresh rates and brightness, plus standalone Ball x Pit and streamed Dead by Daylight. His results were:
| Mode and game | Refresh rate | Brightness | Volume | Reported runtime |
| Standalone Beat Saber | 90Hz | 100% | 100% | 1 hour 24 minutes |
| Standalone Beat Saber | 72Hz | 100% | 100% | 1 hour 29 minutes |
| Standalone Beat Saber | 72Hz | 80% | 80% | 1 hour 36 minutes |
| Standalone Ball x Pit | 72Hz | 80% | 100% | 1 hour 19 minutes |
| Streamed Beat Saber | 90Hz | 100% | 100% | 1 hour 52 minutes |
| Streamed Dead by Daylight | 90Hz | 100% | 100% | 1 hour 38 minutes |
The headset in these tests was a 1TB model running SteamOS 0.4. Squires-Hand streamed from a PC running Fedora KDE 45 with an AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT.
The matched Beat Saber results differed by 28 minutes
At 90Hz, with brightness and volume both set to 100%, streamed Beat Saber ran for 112 minutes and standalone play for 84 minutes. That is a 28-minute difference, or about 33% of the standalone runtime (28 ÷ 84 × 100). The calculation applies to this matched pair of results.
Reddit users have also described shorter sessions in their own setups. u/CaramelDinosaur reported about 60 minutes of standalone play at high-performance settings and 144Hz, stopping at 5% battery. u/advancedalias reported 45–60 minutes standalone and 75–90 minutes streamed. In a separate discussion, u/Jangowuzhere said they had expected roughly two hours of streaming and viewed a shorter session as a drawback. (Battery-life discussion; streaming-runtime discussion.)
For broader product context, read NeoTeo’s earlier Steam Frame review.
Charging time in the shutdown test
With the headset fully shut down and connected to a UGREEN 65W charger, Squires-Hand recorded 48% charge after 26 minutes and a full charge after 2 hours 32 minutes. He noted that charging slowed as the battery approached full. He also reported that Valve recommends a charger rated at least 45W. GamingOnLinux’s account describes the test conditions and results.
The reported Fedora KDE 45 route for VR streaming
On his Fedora KDE 45 host, Squires-Hand initially encountered an OpenXR Runtime error when launching Beat Saber for VR streaming. Setting SteamVR as the default and trying Proton 11 and Proton Experimental did not resolve it; launching SteamVR directly also did not initially make the headset appear.
He then selected Steam’s “Stream VR Without Game” option in Advanced Options. SteamVR detected the Frame, allowing him to proceed with VR streaming. Squires-Hand said he had to select the option again after quitting each game. His GamingOnLinux report details the steps on that host.
