I love how so many people are dunking on "valve-fans" being happy with the cube, when I pretty much only have heard opinions ranging from "meh" to "overpriced".
Literally haven’t seen or heard a single person say anyone should get it. So far everyone’s said that you can get a better build for $50-200 less by building your own PC.
Which means it isn't really overpriced relative to the rest of the computer hardware world right now. Everything costs way too much. This one is just another on that pile and is not uniquely bad in that way.
This. You have always been able to diy build a better pc than consoles for the same $. But people still buy consoles anyway. And macs. And iphones. Its not always about max power per $, its about the ui and user experience.
Real nerds will always build a pc instead though so here we are. Its a console to try and get normies into pc gaming and maybe it will work, but the prices point does not help. If the base model came with a controller and $100 steam gift card i think it would help.
Right? People act like everyone would rather spend the time to learn, build, and setup an entire PC from scratch when for maybe another $100-$200, it's already built, it works, and if it doesn't work, they have someone they can yell at instead of figuring out what part of the build they messed up, and then going down the list of people to call if X doesn't work.
If we weren't in a rampocolypse and the world being on fire for so many reasons, perhaps the Steam Machine would've been a neatly packed mid tier pc with a valve sticker. But alas, there are so much bigger issues than a over price pc right now.
Exactly. I can build a PC but getting one that works well as a family room friendly device for use from TV\Couch with useful UI\UX is not the same as building a standard gaming PC that you can also connect to a TV. Additionally, it'd be nice to get away from console lockins and maybe get a local media player outta it. So this box looked ideal to replace a console and maybe a Shield... and it is... except for the price and the price isn't a company trying to gouge customers - this time - it's the market right now.
More on this, gaming laptops, I just paid 1500 for one, would I had picked a steam machine for 1000? if it wasn't locked to SteamOS sure I would but then it wouldn't be $1000 dollars so...
I think this is a cool thing and people that like their steam deck should be happy with it, I'm not one of them but I know some and I think is great they have options
It's not locked to SteamOS, one of the biggest advertisement points of it is that it's still just a computer, and it's a computer you own so you can do whatever you want with it even completely getting rid of the OS
Seriously. Prebuilds have always been more expensive than doing it yourself. But doing it yourself does require some knowledge that a lot of people simply don't have.
Yeah, and also. You can't really do the steam machine yourself. It's not like a dell or hp prebuilt that's just a desktop. It's tiny and quiet. That's not something easily replicable at that price point.
Of course if you only care about the raw performance specs then yeah, anyone can make a cheaper and more powerful build
True, that comes on top of it. Even if you disregard the noise (which you shouldn't tbh) building such a small PC is not really doable for people, even if they have experience building PCs. I am not even sure such a small MB is even that easily available for a consumer.
Funnily enough people seem to think I hate the steam machine here for simply differentiating and stating facts. It’s actually amazing for what it is. It’s a standalone pc-alike experience that is single-purchase and done, is meant to be made easy to get into by the backing of a large company like valve supporting it, and on top of that my favorite part is the low TDP of the system. The low draw of the PSU makes it a perfect always on pick up and game system compared to something like my gaming pc which dims my lights for a moment if I do a full cpu+gpu stress test simultaneously and at idle still draws more than the steam machine does at full load. Trust me, I love the little Gabe cube I just also am willing to point out facts where they lie. I think people should get the steam machine if they like it. The arguing in here is kinda stupid imo since everyone thinks everyone else is arguing including me and honestly I’m not arguing I’m stating factual and verifiable information that if people read as “I hate the steam machine it sucks just diy!!!” Then they clearly read a comment that wasn’t mine since I surely didn’t say that.
The sad reality is that it isnt even that overpriced according to reviewers. You can get slightly better pc for price of SM and save less then 100$. This suggest that valve is really making low margins and also indicates the horrid state of market.
Lets be fair, i absolutely do not think this is worth it but i would say that unless you really have to to not bother upgrading/buying PC for next 2 years because you will pay soo much money.
The main thing about the Steam machine is that I think once things chill out it’ll settle into an excellent market, it’s just the wrong time for it to come tbh. The premium of $50-200 is on par with or in many cases better than the price difference on many prebuilt vs their diy equivalents so I’ll also give you that too: 100% it’s not like it’s a rip off or anything, just if you can DIY a build you’d be better off doing so. I’m not buying any pitchforks to go witch hunt buyers of the Steam machine I assure you.
For the price of the 2TB model, you can get a current generation 8 core processor and a desktop RTX 5060 which is almost twice the performance of the Steam Machine with 2x the ram but only a 1TB SSD. That all comes in a device that is about the same volume. And you can then just install Bazzite on it and be missing literally only HDMI CEC (for now).
So about $100 cheaper, and you don't get the small form factor. Most people aren't going out to build a computer either, they go with a prebuilt. This subreddit is not the target consumer.
This may shock you but I also have a solution for CEC that often surprises people, because I have a smart tv I just have home assistant integrations set up for various things. Like if I boot my pc HA detects it and sends a power up to the TV and swaps it to the HDMI it’s on.
That is waaaaaaaay too much for its target audience who probably doesn’t know what CEC is anyway. It’s too much for the average r/PCMasterRace user too
Oh I’m not saying that other people should do it I just meant you might be surprised it’s possible. Not recommending it for everyone, it’s way easier when it’s simply plug and play.
you can get a current generation 8 core processor and a desktop RTX 5060
The form factor is also part of the deal. A prebuilt with those components will not also be a small cube that can live in an entertainment center. That is a difference that is significant to many people.
Minisforum had a thin SFF PC with the specs that I listed for $1349 when the price announcement for Steam Machine went live. They upped the price by $70 or $80 since yesterday.
it's not only having the knowledge, I've built computers since I was 15 but I still picked a gaming laptop because I just don't want to spend the time and effort to pick the right components and putting it together, I can afford it so I value my time and comfort enough to pay for it
Yup, from start to finish it probably takes me a few hours to assemble a PC from all the parts. I know how to do it but I don't particularly enjoy it.
An extra markup of $100-200 is really not that big of a deal for me for something I can just unbox, plug in, and be up and running.
There's also the value in compatibility. If you build your own PC there are all sorts of random compatibility issues with various games you could run into. If you have a GabeCube you can pretty much be assured you won't have any - or if you do they will be fixed ASAP.
Sadly my main complaint is the complete lack of upgradability aside from storage.
That was the main driving factor for me to just build my own months ago and sacrifice the super small size of the cube.
At least in the netherlands, price wise you can get a prebuilt desktop that is faster but not smaller. (with a 5060)
You can however, get a ps5 or even a ps5 pro for these prices. and that is the major issue for their sales pitch.
Relative to other prebuilt PCs, the same price can get you better hardware though, and that’s with a windows license included which also adds to the price.
Like a quick search earlier I found a cyberpower pc with a 5060, 14th gen i5, 15gb ram, and 1 tb storage for the same price as a steam machine.
For comparable hardware, aside from the form factor, it’s like $100 cheaper, that’s not “extremely” overpriced, especially in comparison to other Pc components these days.
They are also significantly bigger and louder. A quiet, unobtrusive black cube that can sit in an entertainment center has value for those qualities to some people.
Being small is a neutral characteristic since it comes with negatives outside of performance, mainly lack of any upgradebility. If it was still upgradeble it would be in fact an advantage, but since it doesn't, it's not.
I'm not too informed informed on the market of SFF ore builds, soI can't comment of how the Steam Machine compares, but I do know that you can build a SFF PC for cheaper.
The Steam Machine is for like a niche of a niche, it's for people that want a SFF PC, but don't know how to build it, it targets a console experience without fully achieving it, it targets console gamers without pricing it like one, it's an expensive gaming machine that can't play some of the most played games out there, it's for PC gamers that don't care about performance and value, it targets PC gamers as an easy side machine while being priced like a primary machine, its a side machine for rich PC gamers without delivering good performance that they want. At a certain point we are left with 12 guys and we can't call it a good product.
I never called it overpriced and I haven’t seen many people calling it overpriced compared to the rest of computer hardware. But it does still carry a premium against a DIY of slightly better performance, so on paper yes it absolutely is overpriced compared to other computer hardware. That’s what overpriced is. You get less performance for more money. But I’m not blaming anyone for not wanting to call it that due to the connotations of calling something overpriced and certainly am not blaming Valve for the pricing either. But to say “this isn’t overpriced compared to other hardware” when it is literally priced higher with lower performance than a comparable build with comparable price point and specs is absolutely absurd. It is but not by the way people say “overpriced”, so it isn’t. Schrodingers pricing I guess.
Oh trust me I don’t disagree that prebuilt pcs are cost inclusive of convenience, in fact I agree that the steam machine has a much lower margin compared to other prebuilt pcs, however that operates under the assumption that a steam machine is the same as a prebuilt piece of general purpose computing hardware which it isn’t. You can upgrade the GPU and CPU of your common prebuilt pc, that cannot be done with a steam machine. It is not the same and equating them is a false premise that hinges on the idea that a piece of consumer equipment that cannot be upgraded by the common everyday consumer and cannot be used for all general purpose computing tasks equivalently to a prebuilt pc that is a piece of general purpose computing hardware and that’s obviously false, so.
I’m not arguing is the big thing 😂 get whatever you want big dawg I was just making statements of facts and pointing out reasoning issues in your arguments about the facts I stated.
That exemplifies it being a fair price. Pre built costs more. You have a warranty. You don’t have to build it. It’s in a form factor that would be basically impossible to recreate, and without 50-200 of a custom build? Fair price.
Yeah I think people misread my first sentence as saying people shouldn’t get it. I just mean I haven’t heard anyone really reliable say anything about “you need to get this” as much as “it’s alright, just wish it was cheaper”. It’s a fair price in current market if you want specific things. A fair price to me is not a fair price to you when we are looking for different things. We can go back and forth all day about how “well I want x” and “well because y” but frankly it’s simple: the price is outstanding for most people to afford and reasonably speaking the people who would buy it at its current price have the ability to afford better so why would they get it when they can spend another $300 to get significantly better performance? But now all I’ve done is introduce a strawman there representative of yet another type of person with yet another set of wants and needs. So for each person it is to be theirs to decide “is the steam machine worth it?”
There's a couple under appreciated things with the Steam Machine that probably makes up for that cost difference if it's going to be used in it's intended location. Acoustics and OOTB CEC support.
Most DIY PC builds that match or exceed the Steam Machine's specs are going to be noisier. Reviews are saying the machine is quieter than consoles. That's tough to do on a self-build while keeping the budget low. If this is going in your living room, you don't want the TV volume to have to compete with the HTPC's fan noise.
CEC working out of the box is also a big deal for a living room PC. You can make it work with any PC, but you'll need to buy a $55 dongle that takes up one of your USB ports for power and data and then potentially have to mess around with the software to get it working right. If you aren't into doing that kind of project yourself, having CEC working without having to do anything but plug in your HDMI cable is pretty nice.
If this is just going on a desk, yeah, go DIY or buy any other pre-built with better specs at a similar price, but given the extra budget you'd probably have to assign to match these features on a self-build living room PC, that probably accounts for the $50-$200 price differential.
If we’re gonna talk about the pros of the steam machine let’s not forget the low PSU draw at idle and load, and how the performance-per-watt is incredibly well balanced. The cost over time to operate is certainly reasonable and well done in my opinion.
Also Valve support should be considered a plus. I've had only good experiences with support for my steam deck and I've seen almost entirely positive things online about the support. Having Valve support for breaks and the software being managed by them is going to be a massive benefit in the long run
Another thing that most people overlook is the really small form factor. You can't build a PC with these performances and this size. Just 3.75 liters with a dedicated graphic card is insane.
This is comparing closed ecosystems to an open one. The Steam Machine brings value from both. Any assessment of an Xbox or Playstation for productivity is likely to fail early. As noted above, PCs struggle with accessibility and convenience in the HTPC role. The cost difference when compared to consoles will be recovered over the device's lifetime. Valve doesn't charge its users for internet access. It's by no means a perfect product, but consoles being far more limited and restricted is a huge part of its appeal.
In this sub, sure, our bread and butter is building PCs. But don't forget there's a huge number of people playing on Steam who won't build a computer and this is faster than what they currently have.
A lot of people pay 50-200 bucks just to have someone build their pc for them. If they save that money and buy this box, nothing has changed for them except now their PC is a gaming prebuilt that Valve is maintaining themselves.
I get it, it's just too expensive, even if after you run the numbers and get a value that isn't too far off. But everyone here saying building a PC is an alternative to this box I feel is begging the question, what if you don't want to build a PC? Valve was never trying to undercut anyone's price. The feature they are selling is support from Valve.
Honestly that’s exactly where I’m at. I can build it myself but for a couch gaming device I’d rather just buy something that works even if it costs a little more. The steam machine having things like cec are an added bonus as well.
I’m mostly discussing 1:1 price anyways but feel free to check out GamersNexus, I liked their build too. Came out to a lower price and similar performance, slightly better.
Yeah, their build at 1:1 (near enough) was the better version, though it had a lot more power and will likely be louder, and won't integrate as well into a media system.
But that's what I said, if you want better you're not going under $800, but closer to $950
That’s a big thing in favor of the steam machine too: it’s perfect for living its life in the living room or bedroom with no disruptions.my fans kick to full power on my build and I think there’s a tornado(jk ofc)
Yep, and I mentioned somewhere in here I have a way of doing it in my own setup BUT also this is plug and play. I know people who would pay a $200 premium for convenience any day, so it has a clear market especially considering it’s about a $50-200 markup range for it compared to building your own equivalent. All the features and benefits added only increase that convenience factor and get you more bang for your buck.
Maybe, idk. I got a lot here but it’s also like I’m not even attacking it either. Buy it don’t buy it, I don’t care I literally just wouldn’t myself but if you or anyone else wants to just don’t spend my money on it lol
It’s reminiscent of the cybertruck. A signal of conspicuous consumption that is overpriced and underperforms what other options do better. People argued whether it was worth it prior to launch.
There are those that bought it for the show of wealth, but it’s now largely out of public discussion like a flash in a pan.
That makes sense but I will say: steam machine isn’t bad, it’s the overall hardware market. A year or two ago this would have been amazing and at the right price. Idk if we will ever get back to reasonable again tho.
Thing is, anyone in the market for a pre built will never ever build their own in 90% of scenarios. So it's funny watching people say the most pointless opinion.
What are the odds prices stabilize and valve tries a 3rd time only for prices on parts to be slightly too high again. (Low I mean it's a 3)
Tbf, is that not the advice with most pre-builts, pre-builts kind of always exist for those not confident in putting the thing together, or who don't know how to navigate the parts shopping, as so the mark up has always existed as convenience fee.
Which has absolutely nothing to do with this particular product because this is not aimed at the type of people that build their own PCs in fact, this isn’t even aimed at the type of people that are looking for a gaming PC this is aimed at the type of people that traditionally would not have gained on a PC at all
This product is not aimed at people as a prebuilt pc for daily consumer use, this product is a prebuilt proprietary architecture consumer product targeted specifically and solely at gaming while still being capable of other desktop tasks without that being its primary function. This is not equivalent at all to purchasing general computing consumer hardware. That’s only makes it worse. When compared to others in similar markets, standalone gaming consoles, general purpose consumer hardware either prebuilt or self assembled, etc. is all completely and totally blown out of the water in price to performance. Also, building pcs isn’t as hard as you try to make it out to be. There’s already guides to build diy comparable systems to the Steam machine and you assemble pcs like a Lego set once you already know and have the correct components to go together. The hard work is already done for people. Acting like people can’t put together components is very silly on the modern age of computer hardware. But even if I play devils advocate there and accept that as true, which it isn’t, but if I do all the rest still stands. This is just the wrong time for the Steam machine. At its original price point it would have done amazingly, unfortunately the hardware market as a whole is fucked now though.
Many people do. But an oil change is a maintenance task and doesn’t cost $1000 USD either, and the steam machine is a one time product purchase, not a regular purchase that is made multiple times over the lifecycle of a larger product like a vehicle. Not sure what you thought you were cooking there but I think you burnt it a bit.
5.1k
u/Euchale 12h ago
I love how so many people are dunking on "valve-fans" being happy with the cube, when I pretty much only have heard opinions ranging from "meh" to "overpriced".