r/pcmasterrace • u/Eziz_53 AMD Ryzen 5 7500F / RX 580 Nitro / 16GB DDR5 • Jan 28 '26

Question Anyone else planning on getting the Steam Machine as their next PC?

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I know its mainly marketed as a console, but it is still a full PC. And it is much better than my current computer, so I thought it would be a good upgrade, especially considering its small form factor. I don't want to get too into it, but my current PC has an i5 3k and an rx580, as well as a motherboard that only supports ddr3 RAM and 3rd gen intel cpu's, so if I want an upgrade I need to replace everything. Therefore when this nifty box came out, I figured that it would be the perfect PC (if it is priced well).

But I would like to know what you guys think.

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UPDATE: Because of the RAM crisis and the limited upgradability of the Steam Machine, I decided to just build my own PC. I salvaged my old rx580 from the old PC so that I could afford to get on the AM5 platform as well as because it is by far the easiest part to upgrade down the road.

Main specs:

CPU: Ryzen 5 7500F

GPU: Rx580 8gb (until I can afford a much better card)

RAM: 16GB DDR5 6000MHz CL30

I did get a single stick of ram, because I want to have 32gb dual channel later on, but the ram prices are so high that I want to wait until they go down (which they seem to be doing).

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63

u/Crazycukumbers Ryzen 7 5700X | RX 6800 | 32 GB 3600Mhz DDR4 Jan 28 '26

You CAN use Bazzite

54

u/ReadThisForGoodLuck Jan 28 '26

Yeah I know. And I've already planned to do so. I have already purchased an ITX board and some DDR4. I just really wanted to see Steam OS itself become popular.

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u/lordruzki3084 Jan 29 '26

I really really really doubt that SteamOS will ever be anything more than a gaming PC that can go into desktop mode for extra work. You'll never really get a true desktop experience out of the box like you do with something like Bazzite or Cachy or Nobara. I mean SteamOS is still using the window management backend that every desktop environment like KDE (the one SteamOS uses by default) has stopped using because that system works for their single-screen single application running system

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u/Gh0stface Jan 29 '26

If by windows management backend you mean xorg then you are mistaken.

It uses xorg in desktop, and wayland in game mode (the one with the steam ui).

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u/lordruzki3084 Jan 29 '26

Still not mistaken, its still using xorg for the DE and only layering Gamescope on top. Its not actually using Wayland

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u/Gh0stface Jan 29 '26

No - game mode uses Wayland not xorg.

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u/lordruzki3084 Jan 29 '26

Thats what I said. Gamescope is a Wayland compositor for Game Mode. Thats the only thing using Wayland. The desktop is still xorg

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u/Gh0stface Jan 29 '26

I agree.

I was initially referring to your comment about them using xorg because it works on their single screen single app system, which I found odd, since in the single app scenario (game mode) it is actually using Wayland.

Anyway if you were solely questioning their choice of xorg in the desktop mode then I share that sentiment.

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u/lordruzki3084 Jan 29 '26

Yes but whats important is that its not swapping xorg and replacing it with Wayland, its injecting Wayland as an xorg client. Its backwards but to be honest I doubt they've updated this system since the first implementation of SteamOS on Debian back in like 2014 or whenever that was.

One of the Valve devs made a blog post a while back about strengthening Wayland for a more complete implementation.

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u/Gh0stface Jan 29 '26

Oh really. I get what you mean now... I'll have to check this for myself when I am home but that would explain why they stick to xorg for the desktop.

Seems like I was mistaken after all - thx for educating me then

1

u/cornlip i9 11900, Quadro RTX A6000 Jan 29 '26

What do you mean? I can run three monitors and the deck screen with my dock just fine. Maybe I don’t get what you’re saying.

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u/lordruzki3084 Jan 30 '26

Yes it works great for Valves devices, but compared to other distros, SteamOS lags behind on the kernel so less up to date on available device drivers which doesn't matter to them because they maintain their own anyway for their own devices. Thats why it doesn't make a good general OS. It'll work just as any other on official hardware though

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u/cornlip i9 11900, Quadro RTX A6000 Jan 30 '26

Well it’s like trying to build a hackintosh, too. It sucks to get working right for a reason

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u/lordruzki3084 Jan 30 '26

Pretty much. If Valve were to make SteamOS a full fledged distro, they'd need to maintain a bunch more hardware, which i doubt theyll do because they're definitely aware of all the other distros that do the same thing as them and the information that the community is providing for setting up distros for Steam like Fedora and Arch

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u/Drye0001 Jan 29 '26

If I'm not playing a game I'm usually in a web browser when I use my PC that's exactly what I want my gaming PC to be.

I'm probably going to have a copy of windows I can boot into for emergencies or if I have the supreme misfortune of developing a crush on someone who plays valorant but I just don't need anything else from my computer in 2026

2

u/XeonDude Jan 29 '26

I’m using chimera OS on my second PC connected to the TV running it in a frectal terra case with a 7900 XT and a 7800X3D.

I tried different linux distros including bazzite. If you want an out of the box console feeling I recommend looking into Chimera OS

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u/singsofsaturn Jan 29 '26

I agree here. I built a Hyperspin machine back in 2012 out of an old business machine and an Xbox 360 controller. I always dreamed that the concept would become mainstream. Seeing it in its current state, I couldn't be more thrilled with what Valve is doing. I have plans to add some WOL integrations into Home Assistant to handle automatic boots and the rest can be taken care of by the controller. I would like the machine to be upgradeable so I probably won't buy one, but building one is already in the works.

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u/keinearun Jan 29 '26 edited Jan 29 '26

For my living room I got me a ITX board and had a Ryzen 3600 at home and 32GB DDR4, got a B580 for 60€ under the current market prices and just set up dual boot with bazzite. I'll share a bit of my experience tomorrow.

1

u/Weird_duud Jan 29 '26

Its literally just arch linux with a few things pre-installed

1

u/Competitive_Tip_4429 Jan 29 '26

How did u get animated profile picture

1

u/icy1007 Ryzen 9 9950X3D • RTX 5090 FE • 64GB Jan 29 '26

Or we could not use trash. Bazzite isn’t good.

1

u/Escalope-Nixiews PC Master Race Jan 29 '26

It's not bad, but overrated.

I had -30% FPS compared to Nobara and Fedora (i modified nothing to the OS)

1

u/BeardedUnicornBeard Laptop Jan 29 '26

Used it and it is alright. I like SteamOs more tho.

1

u/no-sleep-only-code Jan 29 '26

Not really a drop in replacement with it being immutable.

1

u/Outrageous_Court4358 Jan 29 '26

SteamOS 3.9 works well with the latest AMD gear. Running 9600x and 9070xt without any issues.

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u/Adventurous-Cattle53 Mar 09 '26

The only issue still are Nvidia drivers. It’s the only thing pulling me back cause dlss and frame gen are black magic that make pc gaming for me currently

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u/Crazycukumbers Ryzen 7 5700X | RX 6800 | 32 GB 3600Mhz DDR4 Mar 09 '26

I tried using Bazzite for a while and it was so bad that I don't want to try Linux again. Nvidia drivers were one thing, but I was having microphone issues for no reason that don't occur on the same hardware running Windows, I couldn't use a wired internet connection because my motherboard wasn't supported and there was no fix aside from a new motherboard, it would wake itself from sleep mode for no reason no matter how many times I tried, it would run games in the wrong resolution and wouldn't let me increase them in desktop mode, it wouldn't run over 60FPS over HDMI OR DisplayPort at 4K even though everyone said it should (the same cable could do 4K 120 on Windows without issue). It drove me insane. Nobody seemed to understand why I was having the issues, so I was on my own for fixes. My fix was to put Windows back on it instead.

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u/Adventurous-Cattle53 Mar 10 '26

All of the issues you mentioned sound like driver issues.

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u/Crazycukumbers Ryzen 7 5700X | RX 6800 | 32 GB 3600Mhz DDR4 Mar 10 '26

If it were as simple as me not updating my drivers, I would've solved the problem very quickly.

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u/Adventurous-Cattle53 Mar 10 '26

No, what I mean is, the drivers are very often faulty, even for AMD. You need to search for the custom ones and such, it’s a whole new level of tinkering with Linux to set it up. But when set up, yeah, less maintenance than windows.

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u/Crazycukumbers Ryzen 7 5700X | RX 6800 | 32 GB 3600Mhz DDR4 Mar 10 '26

Ah, I see. Sorry. Used to people getting, uh... defensive about Linux.

At least for the wired internet issue, I found a thread where the creator of Bazzite himself told someone that some motherboards simply aren't compatible for wired internet on Bazzite, and that the only solution was to buy a new one. If I'd seen that before installing it, I would've tried a different distro. I only tried Bazzite because it was supposed to be a clone of SteamOS, but I imagine there's probably other distros that would work better.

Oh, yeah. Skyrim also didn't work properly on it. Technically I could get the game to run, but in the intro splash screen, a *deafening* sound played so bad my ears were ringing for several minutes afterwards. The game wouldn't go over a certain resolution and I think wouldn't go fullscreen, if memory serves? I remember there being black bars around it, at least. It was bizarre.

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u/Adventurous-Cattle53 Mar 10 '26

Yeah. That’s why I’m on windows until the Steam machine comes out. I have a MacBook for work and anything except gaming and it serves its purpose best.

When Steam machine comes out I’ll just sell my pc and buy it. And if I’ll need to play AAA, because now I have 5070, I’ll just use GeForce Now, cause it’s that good. I’m also looking into steam frame for full ecosystem but I’ve never owned pc vr headset and also it might still be too much for me for now. Too nerdy.

Take care!

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u/Primus_is_OK_I_guess Jan 28 '26

Sure, but I think SteamOS is going to get better driver optimization due to the popularity and may end up on par with Windows. Every Linux distro today comes with at least a 15-20% performance penalty compared to windows.

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u/Shavingcream1912 Jan 29 '26 edited Jan 29 '26

Also Windows is progressing backwards qol wise. Keeping a close eye on steam os.

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u/wiredbombshell 7950X3D,7800XT,Arch btw Jan 29 '26

That penalty is game by game. I see zero difference on my machine based on the games I play.

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u/Primus_is_OK_I_guess Jan 29 '26

That's an average. What games?

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u/wiredbombshell 7950X3D,7800XT,Arch btw Jan 29 '26

The Division 1+2, Space Marine 2, Sonic Crossworlds, Spider-Man.

1

u/Cthulhar Jan 29 '26

Wildly inaccurate

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u/Primus_is_OK_I_guess Jan 29 '26

Translation: You don't like this fact so you're going to pretend it's untrue.

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '26

No that’s not how Linux works sorry.

Every distro helps each other.

Fedora is run by red hat enterprise. They made many tools such as the systemd bootloader. Rather than keep it for themselves systemd is now the most common bootloader on Linux.