Tesla is making some quiet but significant changes to its flagship vehicles as they head into their final production cycle. According to findings from well-known Tesla hacker @greentheonly, the company has substantially downgraded the infotainment hardware in the 2025 Model S and Model X. These changes mark a definitive end to Tesla's much-touted ambitions of turning its cars into high-end gaming rigs.
The shift appears to have occurred in units produced after June 2025. While the Model S and Model X have long shared a more powerful computer than the Model 3 and Model Y, the gap is narrowing as Tesla prepares to discontinue both of its pricier models later this year.
Downgraded Graphics and Storage
The most notable change in the 2025 models is the total removal of the dedicated GPU (dGPU). For several years, the Model S and Model X featured a separate graphics card that allowed them to process complex visuals. According to @greentheonly, the dedicated GPU is entirely gone.
In addition to the missing graphics hardware, Tesla has cut the internal storage for the infotainment system in half. The NVMe storage drive has been dropped from 256GB to 128GB, bringing it in line with the storage capacity found in the Model 3, Model Y, and Cybertruck. While the 16GB of RAM remains — which is double what you get in a Model 3 or Model Y — the overall system is clearly being lean-optimized.
Despite these hardware cuts, the cars are reportedly still capable of handling Unreal Engine implementations for basic UI and lightweight applications, but the heavy-lifting power required for serious gaming is no longer there.
The End of the Steam Gaming Promise
This hardware downgrade is the final nail in the coffin for Tesla's gaming dreams. When Tesla first launched the redesigned Model S and Model X, Elon Musk famously touted the cars as having PS5-level power and the ability to run AAA titles like Cyberpunk 2077.
In late 2022, Tesla officially launched the Steam app as part of a holiday update, allowing users to access thousands of PC games via a virtual SteamOS environment. However, the hype was short-lived. By mid-2024, Tesla began removing Steam support from new deliveries, even though the vehicles at the time still had the dedicated GPU required to run it.
It appears the company realized that most owners would rather scroll through their phones while charging than set up a controller to play a massive open-world game on their dashboard.
Looking Forward
These hardware changes suggest that Tesla is focusing on cost efficiency as it winds down the current generations of the Model S and Model X. With both models slated to leave the lineup in the coming months to make room for newer platforms, these final units are being built with utility in mind rather than devil-may-care gimmicks.
If you are a hardcore gamer looking for a car that can double as a PC, you might want to look at used inventory from 2022 to early 2025. For everyone else, the 2025 models still offer a premium experience, just without the unnecessary promise of high-end gaming.
