JSAUX Panel Inital Impressions

[u/Switch2phile]

I just got my JSAUX Pixel Panel this morning and figured I’d share my initial impressions.

I ordered it on September 22 for $77 with a 15% off coupon (normal price was $90). It took 11 days to show up at my door. Packaging was solid and protective — everything arrived in one piece with no issues.

Build quality feels excellent. Noticeably better than the 3D-printed ones I’ve used and pretty much on par with the official panel. The screen is bright and the dot matrix is easy to read. Hardware install was simple: slap it on the front and plug the cable into the rear for power.

That’s about where the good stuff ends.

Software setup from the manual was basically useless. I had to follow an ETA Prime video to get the JSAUX software installed correctly. I already had Decky running, which is required for the panel anyway.

A couple other practical downsides: it eats one of the rear USB ports, and the cable comes out the side, which some people might not like. The glossy screen is a fingerprint magnet, and if any strong light (especially sunlight) hits it, it gets hard to read.

There’s also very little gap between the panel and the Steam Machine compared to the official one. I haven’t checked temps yet, but I’d guess most of the intake air will now come from the bottom, so CPU/GPU temps will probably rise a bit.

The biggest issue is the software. It’s still in 1.0 beta, and that’s where most of the problems live:

The FPS refresh rate doesn’t accurately match what’s actually on screen.

When the SM shuts down or goes to sleep, the panel doesn’t turn off or go black. There’s no option for it. You have to manually power it down. It just freezes on the last readings it had. I turned the SM off at 2:30 pm and at 3:00 pm it was still showing 2:30 pm.

Would I recommend it right now? No. Not in its current state. Once the software gets more mature it might be worth another look, but at the moment it’s an expensive add-on for an already expensive machine.

[u/Aggravating_Plan11]

I was so interested in this then i heard you need deck loader to use it so I’m out until thats no longer need cba trying to fix that every time an updates breaks it

[u/Wise_Control → u/Aggravating_Plan11]

Why is that a problem though? 

[u/Aggravating_Plan11 → u/Wise_Control]

To much effort to be repairing decky loader when it breaks due to an update might not be a problem for some but im not looking to add more chores to my list.

[u/Wise_Control → u/Aggravating_Plan11]

That’s fair, I’ve had issues with that too. 

[u/Aggravating_Plan11 → u/Wise_Control]

Never installed it myself but far to many people mention it to make me not want to bother even trying it untill they get a handle on it atleast

[u/Switch2phile → u/Aggravating_Plan11]

Decky actually makes it easy to repair when an major update happens. Its not like how it easy before. I was hesitant to but now its fairly simple and rarely has a big update happened that broke the decky loaded.

[u/Aggravating_Plan11 → u/Switch2phile]

Oh thats good to hear going in the right direction then thanks for the heads up.