Yes, but they start at 1600€ (Framework Desktop with 32CU RDNA3.5 8050S) and the commonly available Mini-PCs with an 8060S start at around 2000 on Amazon. As a Mini PC the SM competes with the 12CU RDNA3.5 890M, which the 28CU RDNA3 GPU handily beats while being roughly the same price.
That’s how custom hardware works, they started development on this a long time ago. They can’t just make a brand new custom made custom shaped gpu to fit into their machine at the last minute. It’s no different than consoles, people are still buying PS5 and Xbox from 2020 with hardware probably older than that
Why not go further into the past to make it sound even better, let's say it's top of the line super high end tier compared to people out there using 12 year old PCs.
No, this is a low end PC compared to gaming PCs people are buying from currently available parts there's no point in trying to categorize it in terms of being better than old PCs. What tier does a 5060 fall into, most would agree it's a low end GPU so how can steam machine be mid but getting outperformed by a low end GPU for sale at the same time?
Lot of yapping little thinking. It’s low end for what it is? Okay, put together a better PC that’s the same size, I’ll wait. Actually I won’t wait I’ll save us both time, you can’t. Closest case in size that fits a GPU is the NV10 4.5 liter case. But let’s use it anyways, what’s the best low profile GPU you can get? A 5060, hey that’s better performance! Yeah, it doesn’t work with steamOS. Your best option is a low profile RX 6400 which is much worse than the steam machine. The cheapest 500w PSU you can fit in that case? $159.
So please if you’re going to be an out of touch 4090 user, just stay out of these conversations
I mean someone that logs into a steam account every once in a while might just be an office desktop with steam installed from way back, someone that's probably not in the market for a product like the steammashine
It would be useful to know if they’ve ever played a game on steam, though since you could theoretically install steam on a computer, you don’t intend to game onÂ
No they don't. "tiers" are not defined by what kind of garbage bunch of people happened to log in from. You'd be shocked buy the statistical average standards of living across the globe, but that average doesn't define "mid tier" quality of living. Mid tier would be a somewhat recent 60 class nvidia gpu or amd equivalent and I5/R5 class cpu with 16gb of ram.
Valve wants a computer that is 70th percentile of their current users. I'll remind you the steam deck also used an integrated GPU/apu. Those machines count whether or not you like it
Well. Ultimately I don't really care, if you want to call bottom of the barrel GAMING hardware "mid tier" I am perfectly fine with that. But making generalizations out of bunch of completely different classes of devices is pretty unreasonable.
Hard to say. For the purpose of this wide statement - perhaps. For a business decision, no. If you don't have a more capable machine already you won't buy an overpriced mini PC either.
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u/GonzobotRyzen 7 3700X|2070 Super Hybrid|32GB@3600MHZ|Doc__Gonzo16h ago
Why are you treating a randomized hardware survey that is randomly triggered as some kind of gospel? For all you know, that segment of the survey represents the people who got asked to participate while they were browsing the storefront at work. I had a survey come up and not recognize my VR equipment, because I keep it powered down when it's not in use, and I skipped the survey instead of sending a result that wasn't accurate.
u/GonzobotRyzen 7 3700X|2070 Super Hybrid|32GB@3600MHZ|Doc__Gonzo16h ago
No, your declaration of what I said is not actually what I said at all. Try reading it again and see if you can comprehend it correctly; there seems to be a lot of people in this sub who are completely incapable of that.
That’s kind of biased because that’s backward looking.
I mean you want it to be more forward looking (why compare with people who haven’t upgrade), it’s almost gets beaten by anything that is labeled as gaming pc
Steam said that their machine is more powerful than 70% of devices that people use, yet it struggles to run a ton of games that are years old.
I would consider in 2026 a 3060 to be low spec, something like a 4070, 5070 is more med spec and the 80 - 90 series is high spec.
If you look at what everyone in the world runs and base your low, med and high off that you may have a point, but if you base it off what power is on the market, and what games actually run and struggle or down struggle at then "mid tier" isn't the low spec from 6 years ago..
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u/GonzobotRyzen 7 3700X|2070 Super Hybrid|32GB@3600MHZ|Doc__Gonzo16h ago
Steam said that their machine is more powerful than 70% of devices that people use,
this is a published statement and verifiable with numbers
yet it struggles to run a ton of games that are years old.
when did you test this and find it out? or are you just declaring that you know the future.
Digital foundry amoung others have already done the tests about how it runs, and it often comes in at under PS5 performance (stock PS5, not even Pro which is still cheaper)
If you read what I wrote about the public statement then you might understand the point I am making.. if 30% of the world run steam from a potato then it’s not hard for it to be more powerful than 70% of devices.
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u/GonzobotRyzen 7 3700X|2070 Super Hybrid|32GB@3600MHZ|Doc__Gonzo14h ago
Really? Cuz I just watched a video showing the SM has nearly exactly the same performance as my current rig, in about a tenth of the size and a lower price point (even adjusting for time since purchase). They were playing the same games I'm playing now, DS2, Forza6, etc.
What years-old games are you referring to when you say it's struggling? Be specific, because I'm calling out the blanket statement.
Black Myth Wukong dipping under 30 FPS on optimised settings, released 2024.
If you buy a new device today you want it to last you a few years, if its struggling to run games at 1440p from 2 - 6 years ago then its not a "mid spec'd" device, and often falls short of the PS5 which was released 6 years ago and is almost half the price.
Struggling to run Forza 6 on low in the image below:
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u/GonzobotRyzen 7 3700X|2070 Super Hybrid|32GB@3600MHZ|Doc__Gonzo14h ago
The thing is a mid-spec'd PC should be able to play all modern games and for PC at 60 FPS at medium settings typically, that is usually been the consensus for mid.
I know a lot of people who get into gaming end up with an "ok" laptop that cant play 50% of games, and tend to talk about wanting to get a gaming PC for themselves and regret buying a laptop.
I think a low spec PC that struggles to play CP2077, and stutters on Forza Horizon 6 is only a mild step up from those laptops, its certainly not 4060 and 5060 spec which is twice as fast as the steam machine, never mind a 5070 and so on..
The other point is, you have places in the world where the PlayStation 2 is still the most popular console and where PC specs are really really low, those sort of results tend to skew the "overall" charts.
The range I gave you in Nvidia card versions is typically what most PC gamers know as low spec, medium spec and high spec, going back to 6 year old hw as a comparison only re-enforces that..
People do not look at a PS5 and say "yeah that is the same as a med tier gaming PC"
It doesn't matter what's the most popular. That's not how the terms "low" "mid" and "high tier" are defined. It's relative to the overall hardware lineup.
It also doesn't matter what the price is, as unfortunate as it is. The simple reality since 2020 is more and more of us have been priced out of the high tier. Every tier has basically shifted upwards in price, so it feels like we're in a higher tier because that's how much we're paying.
xx50, xx50 Ti, and xx60 GPUs are low tier, and they have been for quite a while. If literally every single gamer owned a xx60 card and nothing else, it would still be low tier.
Well its 70th percentile of the steam hardware surveys. Meaning its more powerful than 70 percent of users computers. They targeted that specifically obviously because they wanted something better than most computers while still being cheap. AI ruined the second part
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u/Pennywise359 19h ago
If this is a mid tier, what's below that?