Regular restarts still pay off on gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally

According to the outlet, a simple restart can resolve a surprising range of problems: games that keep crashing, sudden frame drops and lag, and lingering audio issues. Restarting is listed among the first troubleshooting steps on Valve's Steam Deck support page. It will not fix everything, but it clears out whatever has built up in the background and gives the system a clean slate to work with.

The first benefit of making restarts a habit is memory. The more a handheld is used, the more RAM is consumed, and over time some games and applications fail to release memory back to the system after they are closed, or leak it outright. Those leaks and memory-hogging processes slow the device down, and there is no way for a user to prevent them. Restarting regularly keeps those effects from accumulating.

A second benefit concerns updates. A restart lets the system properly integrate what an update package contains, including bug fixes, security patches and performance improvements, so the device stays current. Regular restarts can also resolve software glitches before they cause a freeze or a crash.

Powering the handheld off delivers the same benefits as restarting, since the two are essentially the same operation, Engadget said. Hibernation does not. It instead saves the exact session to storage and lets the user pick up where they left off, with little to no battery drain. Powering off or hibernating a handheld when it is not in use is widely recommended, particularly when the device is carried in a case or in a bag with poor ventilation where it risks overheating.

There is no fixed or universally accepted number for how often a gaming handheld should be restarted. Engadget said a reasonable starting point is once every few days, or at least once a week.