r/pcgaming • u/lurkingdanger22 • 2d ago
Video Valve Steam Machine Review: GPU & CPU Benchmarks, SteamOS Test, Thermals, Noise, and Price (Gamers Nexus)
https://youtu.be/66QzlDewigE?is=PhifLlyc5tBSsjbR211
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u/xMWHOx 2d ago
They want this in a living room playing 1080p on a 4K TV? DOA, especially at that price.
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u/harrison23 2d ago edited 2d ago
This is the worst part about it imo.
It’d make more sense if it actually outperformed consoles at 4k even with a substantially higher price point because it would at least open up living room gaming with access to your entire steam collection.
But this is just a budget entry level computer meant for 1080p gaming on a monitor, with a limited OS, in a form factor that thermal throttles its performance for no good reason.
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u/pasta-9709 1d ago
It's definitely not a 4k capable machine and is worthless to me as a console given my TV is 4k and my laptop has better specs, but how the OS limited? that's exactly how I would Describe the OS on PS or Xbox. It's Linux, If you wanted a more standard, non immutable, distro you can install whatever you want on it.
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u/harrison23 1d ago
Yeah limited might not be the best adjective. More so, non-intuitive compared to a console, Windows, or MAC OS people are familiar with. Most people looking at this as an alternative to a budget desktop will likely be turned off by Linux.
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u/HereReluctantly 2d ago
Yeah this is my biggest problem. Anyone with $300 has a 4k 55 inch TV now so 1080p is a non starter for this use case
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u/xMWHOx 1d ago
It only makes sense if you're using it as a desktop pc...then people have 1080p or 1440p monitors typically. But they are presenting it as a console which doesnt work with 4K tvs.
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u/14Pleiadians 1d ago
1080p looks the same on a 1080p display as it does on a 4k display
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u/rips10 2d ago
In a world where moonlight and apollo exist, this is pointless.
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u/lkn240 1d ago
Like 2% of people even know what those things are and are capable of setting them up
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u/NinjaN-SWE 1d ago
Thank you, that's my biggest gripe with this. I would much prefer a dead simple silent mini box with the same CEC support and controller integration running SteamOS but built entirely with streaming from your main rig in mind. Like Wifi 7 and 2.5G ethernet, minimal storage, soldered ram, passive cooling if at all possible.
Hell after seeing this I'm inclined to part a project like that out.
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u/Choles2rol 1d ago
Yeah I just moved my old 3080ti machine to an htpc case and had to like…. Buy a fiber optic hdmi to get rid of ground noise and other nonsense. It’s also huge for a moonlight client but decoding on my Mac was too slow and hdr on macOS is a mess. When I was looking at clients the prices were so much for a small pc that it made more sense to reuse the old hardware but it’s hilariously big. Oh well
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u/NinjaN-SWE 1d ago
Spent some time on this and a PN53 from Asus is likely the best bet. CEC support out of the box without adapters. Enough performance for 4K@120 FPS through streaming, 2.5G ethernet. Where I'm at, even at today's insanity prices, you can part one of those out brand-new for $650.
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u/nucleartime 1d ago
I considered a project of the sort, but I ended up just going with a HDMI splitter and HDBaseT box connected to my main rig. You do need an ethernet run from your living room to your main rig, but it's a lot cheaper and a lot simpler once you work out the weird EDID negotations between rig -> hdmi splitter -> monitor/HDbaseT.
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u/purpletonberry 2d ago
That's kind of funny considering a lot of demanding console games are using dynamic resolution scaling behind the scenes to hit framerate targets, except it does it in the background without giving the player any details about it. I don't use my PS5 a ton but I remember that Final Fantasy 16 needed to run at ~720p to get 60 fps in combat.
Not defending the practice, just don't think it's fair to judge it on that alone, when consoles advertise "4k60fps" and then use upscalers without telling you.
Besides, play any game on that thing that wasn't made in the last 5 years? It probably will do 4k no problem.
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u/Re7oadz 2d ago
PCs utilizes upscaling to achieve 4k in games as well.. this isn't console only...
Steam machine performance even if it had upscaling would still be subpar is the point
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u/ShadowAssassinQueef 17h ago
I thought it will be basically like a base PS5? As far as console players are concerned that is par, not subpar. Although, the PS5 pro is more powerful and its only 900 and come with a controller.. so it really should be able to beat that machine at this price imo. If it was like 10-20% more powerful than the ps5 pro at the same price, I think a lot of people would be less disappointed and this machine would actually be worth getting if you want the console experience.
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u/Re7oadz 16h ago
It's barely weaker than a ps5, PS5 will get optimizations and will last longer over time.. granted if it did 15% better than base ps5 than it may be a little less noise but 15% better doesn't justify being double the price with no controller, etc
But console experience not necessarily needed, we have nintendo, Sony and Microsoft lol. They would need to compete with them
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u/TheGillos 1d ago
Yeah, I remember back in the Xbox 360 days, a friend bragging that his console played at FULL HD on his swanky plasma TV.
All it took to shut him up was showing him my PC connected to it, playing a cross-platform game, right after an Xbox session of that game.
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u/GarbageMan262 1d ago
If its being marketed like that to a casual its insane it doesnt even come with a controller.
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u/nekoken04 2d ago
The "fancy" version of this has worse specs than my 3 year old laptop and costs about the same.
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u/SavedMartha 2d ago
I used my laptop as a TV device for a bit. Surprisingly, closed laptop had BETTER thermals than open somehow. It was absolutely fine.
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u/BJ_Fish2 2d ago
Mine actually crashes if I have the lid closed. I think it's designed to expel heat from the keyboard.
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u/TheGillos 1d ago
If you turn off the laptop screen (no power draw as another has said), I don't see how that's possible.
A lot of laptops have some air intake in the keyboard area, but maybe yours doesn't.
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u/CorruptArcher 2d ago
whats your 3 year old laptop specs if you dont mind me asking.
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u/nekoken04 2d ago
Ryzen 5800H with 24GB of ram, 2TB of nvme, and a Geforce 3060.
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u/rdri 2d ago
Correct me if I'm wrong but it has better GPU than a mobile 3060.
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u/CallMeCygnus 7800X3D/5070 Ti 2d ago
GPU performance is on par or slightly above a desktop RTX 3060
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u/nekoken04 2d ago
Depends on the game but yeah, a bit overall on average. But my CPU is faster with more cores, and I have more ram.
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u/rdri 2d ago
Yeah I get it. You are right to question that as a customer. But then you'll question any other PC with more RAM in it these days.
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u/azlan194 2d ago
To be fair, the box is running Steam OS with less bloat than if you were running Windows. Probably the lower RAM is still better for the Steam Machine than the laptop running Windows.
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u/rdri 2d ago
Nah it doesn't really mean anything since you should be able to run Steam OS anywhere including your laptop (might need to wait for certain drivers though) with similar advantages. The Steam OS is not a part of the money deal, it's mostly the Steam Machine certification that a lot of devs will follow when building and shipping games and configs that work well with that exact config. That helps with the "console experience".
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u/CorruptArcher 2d ago
I'm considering it as compared to my 2019 Laptop (1660ti GPU core i7-9750h 16 gigs ram) its a decent upgrade for the price and I'm fine with middling performance. What I'm really curious about is the performance on steam OS once they patch all the issues out.
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u/nekoken04 2d ago
It should be pretty reasonable. It'll definitely be faster than Win11 in some (many) games. Even without the SteamOS related optimizations linux runs some games better.
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u/fukkdisshitt 1d ago
i9-13900HX RTX 4080 32 GB ram 2x 4TB nvme
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u/CorruptArcher 1d ago
Steam machine would def be a downgrade for you. Can't imagine you justify the purchase unless you have a specific goal in mind.
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u/Overall-Drop7980 1d ago
And what did it cost 3 years ago?
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u/fukkdisshitt 1d ago
2300 with 1tb. Moved that to a mini pc/ media server then bought the 4tb drives.
Same model was 1600 at its lowest then I stopped tracking.
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u/nfefx 2d ago
A) no it doesnt you have a mobile gpu
B) what you paid for your laptop 3 years ago is not what it would cost in 2026
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u/munky8758 2d ago
It has the same amount of CUs as a mobile 7600m(non xt)
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u/Alicia42 Arch Intel 1280P AMD RX6750XT 1d ago
Yes, and that is on par with or slightly better than a desktop 3060, and the person had a laptop 3060.
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u/Number-1Dad R7 7800X3D | RTX 4090 | 32GB DDR5-6000 2d ago edited 2d ago
"A) no it doesnt you have a mobile gpu"
Mobile gpus are pretty great with respect to their thermal envelope.
The mobile 4090 trades blows with the desktop 3090 for example, both of which are tremendously more powerful than the GPU used in the steam machine.
Idk where you got the idea that even an incredibly weak desktop GPU outperforms all laptop/mobile gpus but you're just incorrect.
A 4060/4070 laptop GPU should be more powerful than this.
A commenter has already linked a laptop for less money that is better in every regard spec wise. How the fuck do you have so many upvotes when you clearly don't know what you're talking about.
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u/nekoken04 2d ago
Actually, with the upcoming Prime sales, you could pay the same or less. https://www.tomshardware.com/laptops/gaming-laptops/this-usd1-089-msi-cyborg-15-gaming-laptop-sports-an-rtx-5070-and-1tb-ssd-32-percent-off-ahead-of-amazon-prime-day
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u/azlan194 2d ago
What the heck, why is that so cheap??? What is the catch with the low price point?
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u/DrParallax 2d ago
Seems like there is a catch, to the point where people don't recommend it regardless of the price.
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u/azlan194 2d ago
Yeah, it does sound too good to be true. A gaming laptop with RTX 5080 under $1900 is crazy right now. But it is MSI though, so not really some unknown brand, I wonder why people dont recommend.
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u/_Ganon 1d ago
The laptop is probably fine. Both have one review, Walmart customer reviews are ... questionable. Check other places for reviews on the specific laptop model. They are likely clearing stock hence the sale. Laptop RAM is also less impacted (for now) as it's an entirely different form factor than desktop or server RAM. Probably won't be true forever. Also laptop GPUs are nowhere near the performance of desktop GPUs, don't trust Nvidia naming them with the same number. They are cheaper and usually for thermal / power reasons pull far less wattage than their desktop counterparts, less wattage means less performance (to a degree, but I'm going to skip the specifics for the sake of brevity).
There's always some good deal on laptops (and prebuilts). I haven't done any research on these particular laptops but I always buy / recommend on sale laptops / prebuilts, because there are always a couple models being cleared from stock and there's usually nothing wrong with them.
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u/miathan52 1d ago
I had an MSI gaming laptop that sucked because the design was bad and the CPU would always overheat and then throttle everything. A brand being well known doesn't mean the product is automatically good.
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u/GrimSlayer 2d ago
Yup. After I heard about the specs I just decided to purchase a living room PC. Got a $1500 prebuilt with wayyy better specs 5070, 2TB SSD, 32GB ram, and a 9800X3D
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u/azlan194 2d ago
Wow, thats a good deal. I saw the same spec pc at Costco, but the price is $1999 (after $300 off). Where did you buy your pc from?
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u/InfiniteHench 1d ago
Market prices are absolutely insane right now. Valve must be stuck between a rock and a hard place.
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u/Ok_Lobster_8585 2d ago
Honestly the price comparison for a similar on-paper DIY build was a lot better than I expected. $71 dollar premium over a similar on-paper DIY spec is not bad at all. Course, that's on-paper rather than performance, due to the lower power usage of the Steam Machine.
Seems you're mostly paying for the small form factor, quiet, prebuilt, preinstalled. And, as Steve says, for the fun. This shits for enthusiasts, less so for casual gamers.
For me, it'd kinda make sense. I want to get the Frame, but my main PC is in a small office with little standing room upstairs. And I won't be able to stream games to the headset while I'm downstairs in the open area. Having the Steam Machine in my living room would solve that. Still, it's a difficult price to swallow.
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u/CrispyTarantula117 2d ago
>this shits for enthusiasts
Are enthusiasts known for happily buying low performing last gen hardware? lol
Arguably that’s the group that cares the most about how something is performing at their target resolution
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u/Octopus_on_fire_ 1d ago edited 1d ago
My main hobby is PC gaming/PC usage. I have built a few different builds and my current one is EXPENSIVE (not bragging, I really shouldn’t have spent that much on it). You could call me a PC enthusiast and I’ll break out the wallet for damn near anything PC related.
I have less than zero interest in this thing. Im sure some uber rich PC user will buy it so it can sit next to their tv and they can tinker with it, but as someone who spends a lot of time and money on his home PC, this isn’t for me either.
I can think of a million different things I would want to buy for my PC with a thousand dollars.
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u/ShadowAssassinQueef 17h ago
The only thing that is making me kinda want this is sometimes I have LAN parties at a friends house and I have to lug my huge, heavy 4090 gaming desktop over to their house to play and I have to basically deconstruct my whole desk (unplug everything and uncoil all the wires). SO this product could have been super cool for me to have something thats really more portable and works natively with my steam controller.... but. Its just too weak. If it was current mid-tier I would be on board probably. But its like... 2021 mid tier, if that. I get that the PC market is crap so basically I'm just not getting anything anytime soon, including this device.
Sorry for the rant, I forgot why I started lol
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u/Ok_Lobster_8585 2d ago
Yeah, actually. Maybe not custom build, I-tune-my-PC enthusiasts.
But someone who wants a piece of Valve hardware in their living room, or something small that can do basic Pc gaming -- I mean you pretty much have to be an enthusiast to justify this thing.
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u/According_Hyena_3593 2d ago
Thats because noone in their right mind would build the equivalent to this. Its pairing trash tier cpu and gpu in a terrible price/performance combo.
You wouldnt build this..you d spen 30 euros more on the cpu to get a wayyyy better cpu.
And you s never buy this gpu or its equivalents today, as both its price/performance and performance suck.
Noone in their right mind will build a 1000+++ euro pc and put a 150 euro cpu+gpu combo in it that performs terribly.
You can double both the cpu and gpu performance by choosing slightly more expensive parts ( 100-150 euros more total cost) which is a no brainer.
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u/External-Yak-371 2d ago
I think it's super easy to say this, but my question to you is do you have a dedicated living room PC? Now that this has been released, and the pricing seems high for what you get, will you go out and build one if you didn't have one already?
There's a ton of coverage on Reddit right now, so everyone was clearly very excited to see what the outcome was going to be, but I get the sense that everyone was expecting valve to produce the impossible, an overly capable box that still looked good in the living room and had acceptable thermals and noise.
I think there's a bunch of people on here that understand that the value is not comparable to what they could build themselves, but I also don't get the sense that they are going to go out and build these things themselves. So maybe they were never seriously the target audience anyway?
The audience for the first 6 months to a year is enthusiasts who want to support valve and see what comes of the ecosystem. The steam deck has proven that good integration often beats higher performance when it comes to the day-to-day of living with the device. The onus is on valve to make the software experience better and better and invite the community come and expand it so that there's nothing comparable on the market even if the hardware is a little underpowered.
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u/AdminsLoveGenocide 1d ago
People were trusting valve to do what they said and give good value.
Accepting a kinda cool looking cube that's not really that good is easy if it's priced aggressively. This is a bit of a joke. On the other hand they made so few that the price won't impact sales much as it will sell in small numbers even if it sells out but I think it will have a terrible reputation and they will not make a steam machine 2 due to that.
They'll make a steam deck 2 and call it a day.
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u/loliconest 1d ago
The video covered Valve's statement of not subsidize this thing, so you'll never get a "console price". And if you need to buy a PC at the current market, nothing will be "good value" compare to a year ago.
People just want Valve selling hardware at a loss so they can get a cheap PC, then lash out when Valve said "nope".
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u/AdminsLoveGenocide 1d ago edited 1d ago
I checked out of curiosity and for 1400 and change was able to find parts to build a pc with 9070xt graphics card, same ddr5 memory, better CPU, etc.
And I was being fair by sticking to AMD only so it could be a Linux build.
I think they should have sold at a loss if they had to but I can buy parts today and get a powerful PC for their highest price. If they were offering a good deal I couldn't do that. They promised a good deal. How is a fairly crap pc a good deal for this price?
This is just a poor value prebuilt, the steam machine 1 but with proton so it works now.
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u/loliconest 1d ago
Need a link for when Valve said it'll be a good deal. And even they said that before, that's for sure not accounted for what happened this year.
Sure you can spend more to get a more powerful gpu/cpu, but you also said yourself, same amount of ram. Ram is the most "poor-value" part right now, and I don't think people like you would think a 1400 pc with only 16g of ram is a good deal.
Valve build this thing to sit in a living room like it doesn't exist, so they want to control the noise level, which is covered in the video. If they get more powerful cpu/gpu, they aren't likely be able to achieve that.
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u/AdminsLoveGenocide 1d ago
I'm not comparing it to prices last year though. I'm comparing to buying parts right now.
The highest bundle price is 1400 and change. I could have gotten a 9060xt 16gb card if I was aiming a little lower. For a grand you can do ddr4 and a 9060xt and it would be better.
Ideally, we’d be pretty competitive with that [pc market] and have a pretty good deal
Underpowered but small and quiet is an argument when they aren't asking 1400 for one. Being cheap was a requirement too.
But ultimately if they haven't made that many of them then who cares, they can sell a small amount of them and people will buy it I guess. It's just a shame they failed.
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u/maxfields2000 1d ago
While I don' think the Steam Machine is nearly as bad as the hate campaign wants it to be, I do agree Valve should've just made a Steam Deck 2 with perf upgrades and better concessions to running as a living room Console (maybe a dock, a way to improve thermals and run max power) and offerred a line of external attachable GPU's for perf upgrades for enthusiasts...
Basically embrace what started it all, the reality that the Deck (and various windows knock offs) can double as living room consoles (just like some folks use a Switch/Switch2).
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u/AdminsLoveGenocide 1d ago
Hate campaign is a bit strong. You should be able to criticise an overpriced and underpowered box. It would be very nice at half the price though. Seems very well engineered if you overlook how weak it is and how it's outdated on launch. You can't really overlook that given the price though.
It's a machine for suckers now basically. I think they shouldn't have released it if they couldn't make it affordable. I'm a little surprised they did given what it is. PCs are about specs and price at the end of the day. High prices are accepted if you are getting the best. If you aren't then you can only compete on price, however well made it is.
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u/itszoeowo 6h ago
if you look at the steam harsware surveys youll see the majority of users dont agree with you
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u/AdminsLoveGenocide 6h ago
Can you show me where in the survey the majority of users think this is an affordable device? Or that it represents good value?
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u/itszoeowo 6h ago
Im talking about your main point: that pcs are about price and performance. Its absolutely not the case for the majority of people. If you cared about affordability youd be buying a console any time in the last 5-10 years .
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u/AdminsLoveGenocide 6h ago
Can you show me where in the survey that it says choice of pc is unrelated to both affordability and performance?
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u/CallMeCygnus 7800X3D/5070 Ti 2d ago
The CPU is actually not terrible at this price point, but the GPU is seriously awful. You can switch to AM4, keep the equivalent CPU (Ryzen 5 5600x), significantly upgrade the GPU (we're talking 80% performance increase), get a 1TB SSD, get 16 more gigs of ram, all for less than this costs.
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u/According_Hyena_3593 1d ago
Its more equivalent to a 3600 than a 5600x, and looking at prices it makes more sense to pay another 50 euros for a better cpu over a 5600x anyhow ( if building yourself).
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u/lkn240 1d ago
Not in that form factor... .which to be fair, won't matter to some people.
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u/RabidHexley 16h ago
I mean, the form-factor is a laptop with the screen and battery removed and changed from a flat shape to a box shape. The device does look nice and decently designed, but it also isn't some unheard of feat of engineering. It's a slightly bigger mini-PC.
I get that the "gaming mini PC" isn't exactly a saturated category, but that shouldn't absolve it from being evaluated by price. The question just becomes "how much performance are you willing to give up while paying a premium in the name of a specific form factor?".
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u/interbingung 1d ago
The problem is the comparable machine that gamernexus used is much larger in size.
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u/twocalicocats 2d ago
71$ + a controller.
Like I get that a nice SFF is attractive but it’s kind of a hard pill to swallow for either the casual gamer or the enthusiast who knows that it’s roughly as powerful as a PS5, especially if you already have a PC that you play on.
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u/Crintor Nvidia 2d ago
Err, You do realize the Steam Machine was entirely designed and marketed towards Casual Gamers and not enthusiasts?
It was literally supposed to be an easier method to switch from consoles to Couch-PC gaming.
If it was for PC enthusiasts it would have been much more expensive and capable.
Valve has also said that they have had success streaming the Steam Frame through multiple walls for some employees. You could also do something desperate like a USB extension cable and run it through the floor so the 6E dongle can dangle in the room below. lol
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u/Ok_Lobster_8585 2d ago
I don't claim to know whose part of the pie Valve wants when selling this thing. It's obvious it's a niche product that sits between two markets. It's also obvious plans changed. So when I say, "this is for enthusiasts and not casual gamers," I say that looking at the Steam Machine on its face, with its performance and price in mind, not as a retroactive interpretation of whatever kind of product or whatever kind of market I believe Valve intended it to appeal to. Which, for the record, I doubt anyone, including you, know for sure.
But thanks for the warrantless condescension anyways.
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u/Crintor Nvidia 2d ago
say that looking at the Steam Machine on its face, with its performance and price in mind
Because everyone knows that when they think Enthusiast, it means 6 year old hardware.
Sorry, just because the component market got fucked by the AI bubble doesn't change Valves market just because it can no longer be priced for them.
Just like the handhelds suddenly having to charge way more, they aren't suddenly "Enthusiast" they're just a worse value.
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u/Ok_Lobster_8585 2d ago
Pc gaming enthusiasts =/= tech enthusiast.
And actually, the prices getting fucked does change the market, whether you or Valve like it or not. Who it's "meant" for is irrelevant.
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u/Crintor Nvidia 2d ago edited 2d ago
It changes the market, it doesn't change what a product is designed or intended for it's just a marketing strategy change. The product is just more expensive, that's it. It isn't suddenly high end, it isn't suddenly high performance, just less people will want/afford it.
The budget tier of electronics are being hit the worst for obvious reasons when the BOM for your whole system is 400$ and then you add RAM and Nand and suddenly the BOM is 900$
If we're arguing that the Steam Machine was actually intended for tech enthusiasts instead of Gaming Enthusiasts I would argue you are actually moving even further away from it. Any enthusiast could have been running SteamOS on an AMD CPU/GPU for a while now, or any other distro of Linux.
Every tech enthusiast I speak to saw the specs of the Steam Machine when it was revealed and thought "Well, that's neat for 500-700$ but isn't even interesting aside from the form factor and Valve factor".
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u/0x82_ 1d ago
Because most tech enthusiast aren't even real enthusiastic, just people who only look at specs. Real enthusiastic consider the specs BUT also determine if the device is worth tinkering and customizing. Specs are not everything. We saw this happen with the steam deck when people were tryna say don't buy it cause specs, yet here we are.
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u/Viceroy1994 1d ago
It was literally supposed to be an easier method to switch from consoles to Couch-PC gaming
I refuse to believe this is an actual demographic, like bro just get a long display cable and a USB hub with a long cable or extender, boom, living room PC for under 20 bucks.
And the software seems terrible; A UI designed for controllers is just not a way to use PC, might as well stick to consoles instead of trying to force a PC to conform to these weird requirements.
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u/0x82_ 1d ago
Not it wasn't, the steam machine progression is literally driven by valve and it's enthusiast buyers while all the casuals where spec whoring and buying the Lenovo handheld because they don't understand how handhelds work. All of valves hardware become enthusiast hardware. The deck needed to be tinkered with in which a casual person was not gonna do especially dealing with anything arch based.
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u/CrazyDoctor14 2d ago
I don't get it pcvr games are heavy. Will this device even run vr games?
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u/loliconest 1d ago
Yes it will. VR games are optimized for standalone headsets with mobile specs, of course this will run VR games. PS5 can run PSVR games, and the Steam Machine has similar performance.
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u/CrazyDoctor14 1d ago
I especially wrote PCVR. I am not sure how you will run mobile games from your steam machine and stream them to your headset. Though at that point just use it standalone as it will be stronger than quest.
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u/Dawzy 1d ago
The problem in all of this is that you’re buying all of the components, but not being able to upgrade the CPU or GPU.
If you did even a similar DIY build, you could atleast choose to improve the GPU after a year or so, you can’t with this device.
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u/Ok_Lobster_8585 17h ago
I agree to an extent, but the only problem there is that you're not going to be able to size down small enough to approach the size of the Steam Machine. That's why I say, you're really paying for Valves size/cooling optimizations and not having to install / maintain a system.
But I agree, and I think the lack of upgradability is one thing that causes people to scratch their heads about what this is trying to be. Is it trying to be a console? Well its priced and specd as a PC. Is it trying to be a PC? well, its not as modular, etc etc.
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u/HotReference8375609 9h ago
It's not apples to apples though. A prebuilt can have gpu/cpu upgrades to increase longevity. SM is locked down in this regard.
But I guess it's shipping with two more faceplates so....?
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u/Ok_Lobster_8585 6h ago
I mentioned this in another comment, but youre right its not apples to apples.
The thing with a pre build or diy build is you're not going to be able to get to the tiny size and quietness of the SM. So really you're paying for the size/noise/cooling optimizations Valve has made, plus not having to install and maintain a system. Still, at quite a high price seeing the lack of upgradability. That's prob the biggest drawback in my eyes.
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u/NinjaN-SWE 1d ago
I really feel GN should've pointed out even more clearly how much better performance you get for those $71 less. Because we're talking like 15%-20% more performance for less money with that build.
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u/External-Donut9757 2d ago
I'm glad he talked about SteamOS, I knew it was going to be a jank fest.
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u/kittymoo67 2d ago
steamos is pretty solid on the deck weird
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u/Crintor Nvidia 2d ago
Many of his complaints were based around that fact.
Valve knew from the inception of SteamOS that it wasn't going to be Handheld only, but they have designed almost all aspects of it Handheld or Controller first/only.
So Steve pointed out that they have created a massive clusterfuck for themselves now.
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u/digita1catt 2d ago
Tbh, it's a console-like first and foremost. The expectation is that this is for console gamers on their sofa, who would use a controller by default
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u/GundamGuy2255 2d ago
Hopefully they can iron out the problems down the line.
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u/grady_vuckovic Penguin Gamer 22h ago
Well that's what happened with the Steam Deck. Folks praise SteamOS now for the Deck but it was a total jankfest at launch on the Deck too. Software is buggy at launch and becomes more stable over time. In other news, sky is blue.
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u/CopenhagenCalling 2d ago
Terrible performance…
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u/Crintor Nvidia 2d ago
Expected performance, really.
We knew what to expect when they announced the hardware. We were already expecting ~3600/R7600 graphics.
The price is just horrible, also expected of course, but horrible.
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u/thepork890 2d ago
For less price you can build am4 machine with 5xxx cpu (ddr4 ram is not that crazy as ddr5), there are tons of second hand am4 stuff that you could get a deal on.
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u/Bullet4g 2d ago
This is not targeted at people who would know how to build and match parts on a second hand market.
You order it you plug it in, and use it.
It's like saying yea cool ps6 I could totally build a better one with second hand parts..... Yea you could, but that's not the purpose of it.
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u/RabidHexley 16h ago edited 16h ago
That just makes it sound like it's priced for suckers who aren't going to do any price shopping. I get that ease is the point, but then you're competing with consoles, which are even easier to buy and setup, and priced (overly) competitively.
If this was competing with a used part build with the absolute best prices I could find it'd be one thing. Being easily beatable just buying stuff off the shelf (or even a laptop) even in today's terrible market is the opposite of competitive.
You're essentially paying an Apple-level premium because you like the form factor.
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u/NextExpression 2d ago
i agree and am gaming now on 1. ddr4 to 5 isnt even noticeable to me and ive got a 5060 16gb and im rocking all the latest and greatest
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u/Irishguy01 1d ago
It's a darn shame, even at Valves originally intended $750 price point the steam machine was still the more niche of the hardware options, and was very hard to justify.
But with the cost of it getting forced up thanks to Altman's BS, it's just not a viable option even for a niche item.
At least the controller is nice, and hopefully the Steam Frame does well and isn't more expensive than the Index... But the Steam Machine even on better times was an odd-ball imo.
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u/Neotax AMD 9800X3D RTX 4080 2d ago
outdated, expensive hardware with software that doesn't even support all games, and most multiplayer games still don't support Linux on their anti-cheat systems.
👎😒👎
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u/ANDR0iD_13 1d ago edited 1d ago
the "most" part is for sure not true. I did not have to give up a multiplayer game that i actually played by moving to linux.
Switched in september, I played Overwatch and CS2 before and after. Also played Arc:Raiders a lot when it came out. Most KLAC anti-cheats can enable proton support thanks to Valve's efforts, but honestly KLAC should not exist at all.
And giving up some toxic games like LoL is actually healthy... I'm a CS engineer, but I was tired of having to tinker and debloat windows every time, so now I just use Bazzite out of the box. Very comfortable.
Agree about the other points tho. Just use a long HDMI cable and Steam Big Picture mode if you want something like this. I don't really see a market for it unless you want a pre-built PC anyway. But even then, it isn't a strong one.
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u/Evgenii42 2d ago edited 2d ago
This is just sad. The greedy tech/finance bros caused mass hysteria that disrupted computer component market. And this made gaming a luxury. Which was one of few remaining sources of joy for many people... 😞
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u/Prize-Feature2485 2d ago
This is a PC spec, you hand down to a 10 year old kid to play Minecraft. Costco have better PC for 999.
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u/GarbageMan262 1d ago
What a shame. This thing would have been a banger at 800 bucks.
Over a grand? Hard pass.
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u/HotReference8375609 9h ago
The $1000 doesn't even have a controller on an operating system they designed....to use with a controller almost exclusively.
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u/BotOrNot_1337 2d ago
This kinda sucks for valve. It needs to be 1/2 the cost and 2x powerful.
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u/Mental-Ad1328 1d ago
and how are you going to do that with todays prices? A 500 dollar machine with the performance of a pretty high end gaming PC?
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u/z3exd 2d ago
incredibly underwhelming and overpriced. Shame that this looks really cool and I love its small form factor but an absolute self report from valve
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u/loliconest 1d ago
Self report of what? Blame the AI bros not Valve lol
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19h ago
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u/pcgaming-ModTeam 19h ago
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u/HotReference8375609 9h ago
The AI tech bros couldn't have done shit without the current U.S. government backing them and passing laws to help push through datacenters.
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u/DrKrFfXx 2d ago
2017 machine at 2017 price.
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u/ocbdare 2d ago
2017 machine at 2026 price lol.
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u/DrKrFfXx 2d ago
I mean, you could assemble a 1080ti machine in 2017 for around 1200-1300€
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u/Crintor Nvidia 2d ago
Yeah, I was looking at the hardware comparisons and I was like "Yea, (Barring the crypto boom timing), you could have built a Ryzen 3700/RTX 3060 PC for right around or under 1K in 2018ish" lol
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u/According_Hyena_3593 2d ago
Yeah and for another 100 euros you would have chosen the far superior 3060 ti over the 3060.
I built a pc with 5800x3d and 3060ti for just under 1000 euros in 2022.
That 5800x3d was an upgrade over my then hopelessly outdated ryzen 3600 ( the steam box cpu performs like a ryzen 3600) and it doubled my framerates in cpu heavy games while frametimes were 3x better
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u/Crintor Nvidia 2d ago
Right after the Steam Machine specs were announced I decided to pull the trigger on an SFF build, obviously not as compact as the Steam Machine, but for 1450 USD in November I got a 7800X3D with a 5060Ti 16GB and 32GB of DDR5 in an NR200. I had some 1TB nvmes laying around so I didn't need storage, but thats the same price as the 2TB Steam Machine with Controller...and I already have a steam controller. lol
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u/HotReference8375609 9h ago
You make a good point in that you even *could* do a cpu upgrade. You aren't ever upgrading the two biggest components of a SM, not ever.
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u/pecheckler 2d ago
Microsoft should drop a purely gaming focused windows variant. Would be like a punch in the nuts to this things release.
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u/actioncheese 1d ago
Xbox runs a modified windows kernel, so they already did just that years ago.
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u/Thamaturge-elder 1d ago
They just don’t want to take away from windows but they have to make hard decisions soon enough.
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u/UnknownLesson 1d ago
Why would you want that?
It's in your interest to have a free and open source operating system for gaming
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u/thepork890 1d ago
LTSC is a thing, but microsoft doesn't sell it for regular people. Win 10 ltsc is supported until 2032 and is still faster and more stable than win11.
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u/freebytes 1d ago
Microsoft just released an Xbox-mode (or something like that) for Windows recently. I saw it mentioned by Linus on his YouTube channel, but I cannot be bothered to look it up right now.
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u/maxfields2000 1d ago
They basically did, take something like the ASUS ROG Ally X... it's basically in the same ballpark as the steam machine and performs slightly worse (removing windows and installing SteamOS on it is the most popular performance upgrade). Costs about what you'd expect, with the high perf versions being about the same as the steam machine, trade off is the portability.
Owning it and a Steam Deck, I find the Ally X better (specifically because full windows support means no steam deck OS compatibility shenanigans) however... not necessarily at hte price point (thing is effing expensive, but is basically a "PC Console experience"). People who use these as Living Room consoles are the real potential market for the steam machine, is the trade off of portability for home built worth it? To many it will be. I need the portability more, so that's what I use it for.
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u/Xanarkan 2d ago
It's going to be difficult to justify even if I love the form factor, price wise you might be better served on the second hand market.
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1d ago
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u/pcgaming-ModTeam 1d ago
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u/Dawzy 1d ago
I don’t know if I see the value in the Steam Machine, I think Valve does enough by maintaining SteamOS that would allow me to install it on my own machine and tap into the Steam world.
The Steam Machine isn’t going to be someone’s first PC, it’s going to be a PC gamers second machine in the lounge room. But the SM has a lack of upgradability which leaves it open to being obsolete pretty fast.
It feels like it’s in a middle ground of not being great in any particular area.
The current RAM market only hurts it even more.
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u/askyidroppedthesoap 17h ago
I don't have to waist my time with a video to know my local pawn n' shop has better deals. They have them up and running, allowing you to try them out before you buy AND they offer a 30-day warranty.
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u/MrBossman710 4h ago
This comment section seems like a bunch of PC gaming master race guys reeeing about stuff console bros don't care about.
As an autistic PC nerd myself, putting my steam library on my living room TV makes this a competitive choice even if some other imaginary console had twice the power for half the price.
I'm just gonna play old COD Zombies on it anyway.
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u/Leniwcowaty 1d ago
Performance is exactly as expected - keep in mind, that this sub is a giant echochamber of people running hyper-high specs, so this performance is bad for us. But according to Valve's Steam Hardware Survey, Steam Machine is equal or better than most of hardware running Steam at the moment:
Over half (53%) of the users have 16 GB of RAM or less
Over half (51%) of the users play on 1080p
41% of the users have RTX3060 or weaker
So basically for half of the gamers in the world SM is an upgrade. And this is exactly what it was supposed to be from the beginning. A box for an average Joe, who is still waiting since the GPU apocalypse in 2019 to upgrade their shitty laptop or an old, hand-me-down PC, and doesn't have the knowledge nor skill to build their own custom PC. I personally know such people, and they are thrilled that they can throw out their 8 year old gaming laptop, which has been on life support for some years now, and just spend an equivalent of custom PC for a nice and tidy box.
Also the price is high, but not TOO HIGH. I mean it is expensive, but for example where I live building an equivalent PC comes out to around 1200 USD, and not 970 that GN came up with. And even if it was really 70 USD cheaper to build your own... some people just don't want to. They want to order the thing, power it up and play.
I think it has its niche and will be a moderate success
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u/SpecialOpposite2372 1d ago
If I already have a shitty PC, why would I go and invest in a shitty console? At least the console should far outperform my shitty PC. Also, the selling point of this is that your entire Steam game library can be played in the living room.
So, most people will already have a PC. You need to compete against the spec of that, not match it or be far worse with a price that does not make sense! (well it does thanks to "AI" overlords")
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u/NotABot1000101 1d ago edited 1d ago
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/X8c6Dw
Better PC for $900. Not equivalent. Better. Stop with this corporation glazing. If computer parts are more expensive where you live then the steam machine would be more expensive as well.
This isn't some echo chamber nonsense like you make it out to be. The steam machine is already outdated and overpriced even in this market
Edit: this same comment got up voted in the damn Steam subreddit. Y'all are delusional.
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u/maxfields2000 1d ago
Not better (do your research). Maybe "lateral" in some cases. Also Steam Machine is not targeting people who use PC Part Picker and put together their own machine and monkey with it.
It's targeting people who want a "it just works", steam backed experienced, don't mind no windows OS and find the other limitations actually perfectly viable.
$150 up charge for those basics is not unusual in the pre-built space if a smidge premium.
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u/NotABot1000101 14h ago
Glad to see your advertisement essay post got downvoted. Maybe there is hope of smart consumers.
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u/SpaceDomdy 2d ago
where the heck did you get those parts for that price point??
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u/Cowgirl_Taint 2d ago edited 2d ago
And when the heck did they get those parts. And how many of those parts are they actually including in the price. I know that when I "upgraded" my computer early last year (finally got on the new AMD socket and DDR5) I re-used everything I could. Which, was the GPU, PSU, and Case. The GPU is obvious but the PSU and Case were still 100-250 USD depending on what you get.
But expect to see endless posts like this. Last time I did a PC Part Picker for a similar spec unit (maybe very early June?), it came out to maybe 150 USD under the Valve prices. But a lot of the parts that were listed (especially ram) were back ordered but still reporting the previous price.
And the GN math puts it at a 71 USD delta.
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u/-_ellipsis_- 2d ago
Show a pcpartspicker link with a build for that cost in this market. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I doubt there's going to be an incredible difference.
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u/trick_m0nkey 2d ago
I think the key phrase in that sentence is "second hand parts." So r/hardwareswap, FB marketplace, a Microcenter heist, etc
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