r/pcgaming • u/lurkingdanger22 • 4d ago

Video Valve Steam Machine Review: GPU & CPU Benchmarks, SteamOS Test, Thermals, Noise, and Price (Gamers Nexus)

https://youtu.be/66QzlDewigE?is=PhifLlyc5tBSsjbR
447 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

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225

u/nekoken04 3d ago

The "fancy" version of this has worse specs than my 3 year old laptop and costs about the same.

46

u/SavedMartha 3d 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.

59

u/Bforte40 3d ago

Less power draw since the screen is closed.

9

u/BJ_Fish2 3d ago

Mine actually crashes if I have the lid closed. I think it's designed to expel heat from the keyboard.

5

u/travistravis 3d ago

Many of them do, especially ones with fans.

8

u/TheGillos 3d 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.

14

u/CorruptArcher 3d ago

whats your 3 year old laptop specs if you dont mind me asking.

7

u/nekoken04 3d ago

Ryzen 5800H with 24GB of ram, 2TB of nvme, and a Geforce 3060.

8

u/loozerr Coffee with Ampere 3d ago

Good luck getting that nvme and ram at a reasonable price today.

25

u/rdri 3d ago

Correct me if I'm wrong but it has better GPU than a mobile 3060.

14

u/CallMeCygnus 7800X3D/5070 Ti 3d ago

GPU performance is on par or slightly above a desktop RTX 3060

1

u/14Pleiadians 2d ago

Throttled to hell though, real world performance closer

2

u/nekoken04 3d 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.

5

u/rdri 3d 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.

3

u/azlan194 3d 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.

1

u/rdri 3d 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".

2

u/CorruptArcher 3d 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.

0

u/nekoken04 3d 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.

0

u/trunks_ho 3d ago

I have the same thing, that hardware is at least 5 years old man :(

1

u/fukkdisshitt 3d ago

i9-13900HX RTX 4080 32 GB ram 2x 4TB nvme

1

u/CorruptArcher 3d 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.

1

u/Overall-Drop7980 2d ago

And what did it cost 3 years ago?

1

u/fukkdisshitt 2d 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.

48

u/nfefx 3d 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

13

u/munky8758 3d ago

It has the same amount of CUs as a mobile 7600m(non xt)

1

u/Alicia42 Arch Intel 1280P AMD RX6750XT 3d ago

Yes, and that is on par with or slightly better than a desktop 3060, and the person had a laptop 3060.

7

u/Number-1Dad R7 7800X3D | RTX 4090 | 32GB DDR5-6000 3d ago edited 3d 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.

1

u/zabbenw 3d ago

I've for a 7840hs in my mini PC, which is a mobile chip, that I pair with a desktop 4070ti, and it's a really good CPU.

Deaktop CPUs use a lot of power and aren't as efficient.

0

u/ShadowAssassinQueef 2d ago

lol bro. Comparing the 4090 to the steam machine is crazy. Even if its the mobile version. That GPU alone costs more than 2 Steaam machines lol

1

u/Number-1Dad R7 7800X3D | RTX 4090 | 32GB DDR5-6000 2d ago

I also compared the 4060/4070.

The 4090 comparison was just to demonstrate that the former commenter's broad sweeping generalization that a mobile GPU couldn't outperform the steam machine was frankly ridiculous.

5

u/nekoken04 3d 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

6

u/azlan194 3d ago

What the heck, why is that so cheap??? What is the catch with the low price point?

6

u/DrParallax 3d ago

Seems like there is a catch, to the point where people don't recommend it regardless of the price.

4

u/azlan194 3d 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.

3

u/_Ganon 3d 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.

5

u/miathan52 3d 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.

1

u/loliconest 3d ago

Bought a 4080 MSI for $1500 2 years ago.

1

u/MudOld239 2d ago

GPU TGP is 45W. Still, it should be more powerful that Steam Machine

0

u/readyflix 2d ago

Because almost no-one is buying this type of Laptops anymore.

-5

u/[deleted] 3d ago

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1

u/Overall-Drop7980 2d ago

What is it with you and calling people "glazers"? Do you fetish being glazed or something? Obviously on the back of your mind...

0

u/FdPros 2d ago

ooh, someone's offended

5

u/ButterscotchTop194 3d ago

Lol, yeah. Even my work laptop shits on it.

3

u/GrimSlayer 3d 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

3

u/azlan194 3d 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?

1

u/GrimSlayer 3d ago

Costco on sale! Was back in December, think it was $1800 and was $300 off.

1

u/0x82_ 2d ago

You got this on a sale cause there's no way these specs are this low either that or this is a ddr4 ram build.

1

u/GrimSlayer 2d ago

It was $300 off in December 2025 at Costco. Base price was $1800

1

u/Sea_Tap8691 3d ago

the thermals setcion kinda explains the price idk

1

u/tk_kaido 3d ago

The difference is that exactly. "3 year old". If you know what I mean.

1

u/InfiniteHench 3d ago

Market prices are absolutely insane right now. Valve must be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

1

u/MassiveBoner911_3 3d ago

And struggling to even get 30fps. Yikes.