Source: CNCDan via GitHub, Lucie Liz via Pexels (remix)

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Feeling Zen

Build the ZenDeck: A DIY, Open-Source Ryzen-Powered Gaming Handheld

by Matthew Mensley
Published Jul 30, 2025

Industrious DIYer CNCDan is at it again, this time completing and open-sourcing a DIY Steam Deck-like handheld gaming PC based on a Ryzen-based mini PC. Its name? ZenDeck. Clever.

We’ve covered CNCDan’s progress before with the Intel NUC-based NucDeck (I sense a pattern emerging with these names) last year, and already at that point a brawnier Ryzen-based system was being discussed as the next big step.

That next big step has now reached its ultimate end point in the open sourcing of the design files, BOM, and guidance from CNCDan the man himself.

While the point is that the system is adaptable to the equipment you have on hand, the reference build uses a Beelink SER 5 Mini PC, featuring an AMD Ryzen 7 5700U processor and 16 GB of RAM.

The build includes a long list of desirable modern gaming features for a handheld, including full-size hall effect joysticks, rumble haptics, hall effect triggers, and a trackpad. Customizable RGB lighting makes it that little bit more “gamery,” while fully 3D printed components, including shoulder buttons with living springs and rumble motor mounts, scratch the itch at the back of my mind about 3D printing being just so dang useful.

Over the span of a year, CNCDan has documented the journey on YouTube with a series of delightfully insightful and informative videos, starting with the project announcement, which sets out the lessons and improvements to inch toward following the NucDeck – chiefly, a more powerful computer, improved power management, and display, plus a fully functioning touchscreen.

If you’re the type to get your hands dirty and tinker your own electronic products into existence, you’re handy with a gamepad, and want a device you can enjoy using at the end of it, the series is well worth a watch. Details can be found at the ZenDeck GitHub repo.