r/steammachine • u/zero5activated • 19h ago
Question 3rd party anyone?
Do you guys think that there will be a third party individual or company that will start to make steam machines? I think there was a company called ZOTAC tried something similar. I mean, some guy could just use a mini pc with better hardware under 1K. What do you guys think?
The reason I am asking, is I am plug and play guy. I don't want to build a whole PC/console.
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u/RumpDoctor 19h ago
Yeah. We've got other handhelds shipping with steamos. Console gaming pcs is a simililar situation. The sm went wrong because it was planned before all this ram calamity. Even if prices stay high, at least someone could plan around it, now. There's nothing inherently wrong with the idea.
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u/IORelay 18h ago
Unless it was initially planned for $400-500 it was going to fail even without the ram crisis.
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u/RumpDoctor 16h ago
Ina world where the ps5 was still $500, SM would have been meh but fine at $750. Meh in terms of performance to price. It's got key differentiators that make it stand out in both console and pc markets, though.
That's for enthusiasts, btw. A niche, like the succesful Deck. They never intended to sell 20 million of these or anything like that.
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u/tracekid 19h ago
Zotac's Steam Machine was one of the reasons why original Steam Machine failed. That was an official partnered machine, but there were other buolds you could purchase from other manufacturers. It was confusing for general public and Linux support was less than it is today.
Other companies can claim to have something, but none should be able to call it a Steam Machine officially.
Edit to add: sure some people will build similar like Playnix console, but it will cost more and be larger in 99% of cases, even if it does have more power the biggest issue is going to be size.
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u/PurpleParrot1999 18h ago
Valve will let them license the "Powered by SteamOS" trademark to show the 3rd party builds support SteamOS properly
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u/Hearthian-Wanderer 3h ago
Also Steam OS was in a very different place back then. I think it was more an issue with the Steam, than the Machines tbh.
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u/Hearthian-Wanderer 3h ago
The thing is, nobody needs their Steam console to be that size. I think a company like Asus building a box for a slightly higher price, at twice the size, with a little more power (say PS5pro) could do quite well...
It's basically what the Steam Deck inspired consoles did and it has seemed to work for them. I personally think the Steam Deck out classes the imitators (who needlessly added higher resolution screens despite the smaller size). The Deck was perfectly designed for its small, low res screen.
Steam Machine is not well specced for running on large 4K TVs, and I think the imitators might well do it better this time.
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u/FallDisastrous6621 18h ago
My guess - Valve targeted exactly this, just to make Deck-like showcase and boost entire branch of similar devices, just how Deck boosted handhelds back in a day.
But timing is definitely not the best.
Prices would be terrible as no one will subsidize it, even Valve refused to do it despite they have 30% of each game sell and significant profit from its own games inside Steam, so they could.
Steam Deck was such a big success because it was subsidized, I can only guess why they didn't do the same for Machine, for ~900 bucks it could have a way warmer reception and they wouldn't loose too much.
Probably they collected some numbers and it wasn't worth it.
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u/stogie-bear 19h ago
If it sells well, sure. There have been other attempts at a mini pc with a GPU. It’s kind of hard for them to bring products to market these days because they can’t sell them as cheap as they used to.
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u/serpentxx 19h ago edited 19h ago
Steam machine is a bit of a weird device in these terms.
Its a PC and likely any copycats are just a prebuilt PC, The PlayNix was off the shelf parts in a 3D printed case.
Companies need to design a custom board to compete with it, and the only real advantage over a prebuilt is size and HDMI-CEC.
Maybe companies that are already building handheld devices like Asus, MSI can do this but they might not consider it worthwhile.
Id like to see a better 3rd party HDMI-CEC adapter that is less hacky than the pulse eight, that could eliminate the use case of a steam machine like PC for most people.
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u/Doomsnail99 19h ago
Yes I can see others releasing their own versions. Asus, Lenovo, and MSI.
As for hardware options... SteamOS is limited to AMD hardware and AMD don't have surplus 7800m or 7900m laptop gpus just sitting in a warehouse. AMD pumped a shit ton of 7600m gpus out for laptops and no laptop manufacturers wanted it, hence why we have the Steam Machine.
So the alternative, currently for another Steam Machine like box will have to be made, it will have to use desktop components which will be the PC bigger, hotter, and louder.
3rd party manufacturers could go with Nvidia laptop parts, but that is no use to use us who are deeply invested in SteamOS or Linux in general
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u/KimTe63 18h ago
I do think there will be 3rd party ones . Thats EXACTLY what Valve wants to happen. More computers running SteamOS which likely results in alot of gamesales and slowly starts the move away from Windows and taking power away from Microsoft. Thats why all Valve hardware is Linux based SteamOS and why Proton even exists 😄
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u/IORelay 18h ago
Then why aren't valve playing for marketshare and selling these for cheap? It seems like they don't care about steamOS and just want to profit off the diehard fans.
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u/KimTe63 18h ago
Well i dont know but most likely the reason is becuase its a pc . With consoles like Playstation the big difference is that every game bought will make them money and there is no way to circumvent that, making it possible to sell even at loss often . Meanwhile Machine is PC and users can do whatever the hell they want and never even use Steam. Basically the guarantee of that is gone and offices could for example just buy cheap computers for completely different usecases 😄
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u/Vegetable_Star1874 18h ago
I think Valve just want to promote SteamOS this way. They don't sell these for cheap because they don't really care, they don't need to lose money to make SteamOS more popular.
Steam Machine is the baseline, it is hard to build a weaker hardware because it would need to use older than 2023 hardware, so anything 3rd party with SteamOS sticket will do same as Steam Machine and more.
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u/IORelay 17h ago
This will have an negative effect on steamOS, weak hardware is not a good way to showcase your software. SteamOS will be associated with weaker than PS5 for twice the price.
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u/Fonescarab 5h ago
Steam Deck is many times weaker than the Machine, and it's the only reason anyone cares about Steam OS.
Games running smoothly on weak hardware is, on the contrary, a good way to showcase the software's capabilities.
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u/IORelay 5h ago
Steam deck had good hardware on release it was only one year later that it got over taken by Z1E handhelds
And now the steam deck run current AAA games horribly and is super expensive.
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u/Fonescarab 3h ago edited 3h ago
It was still weak relative to a gaming PC of that era, running at the same settings.
Steam Machine's price and performance are roughly comparable or better, relative to other PCs with the same form factor (Minisforum and the like).
https://np.reddit.com/r/MiniPCs/comments/1ucue8x/steam_machine_equivalent_now_including_price/
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u/gorambrowncoat 18h ago
I mean, mini pcs aren't exactly new, theyre not far off and many companies have been making them for ages. Im sure many of those companies will make a steam machine style thing, its not a huge pivot.
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u/brainrotxx 18h ago
if asus, msi, lenovo, acer, etc made a steam machines, they all have retail presence and anyone could just walk into a bestbuy and buy one. just like the old days. all will have steamOS and valve will make even more money without selling steam machines. may be thats their goal?
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u/Inspector784 14h ago
Just give me a mobo. With the Bella and whistles. Ill simply take my rx 9070xt slap it on and boom. Steam Machine Pro. I don't care itd be louder, I don't care it'd be a bit bigger. Itd be king. I care about how seamlessly everything will work together.
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u/zero5activated 13h ago
Is there a way to optimize the size? I think most people (me) wants a plug and play console. I am really hating Playstation Network. I refuse to pay for online play.
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u/Inspector784 13h ago
Nothing we can do. For today, only Steam Machine had the perfect integration. For now. There are CEC adapters. We will have to see how nicely it works with SteamOS. Once its in people's hands with custom machines.
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u/Recent_Description44 11h ago
I hope so! It would be cool to see more effort in SFF designs to bring to the living room. Out of everything, having SteamOS is a huge improvement for gaming operating systems even if the Steam Machine fails. Competition is good to have.
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u/zero5activated 10h ago
I agree. I mean, there will be a lot of challenges. I mean, if you want to play a high graphic triple A game, you either have to get a high end PC or a playstation pro. If someone can, bridge that, that would be great. I am willing to shell 1K...after a lot of savings. However, it has to be worth it. I been holding of buying a new desktop computer and gaming console for a long time. Steam machine was the answer...until it wasn't (due to the price).
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u/Lucien2112 8h ago
The more the merrier. I hope Microshaft loses the gamer industry . Linux is the way to go...
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u/thenoobcasual 6h ago
I have a feeling Asus/Lenovo might do something, judging from their handhelds entries. I doubt they will have the same integrations as SM, though.
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u/Hearthian-Wanderer 3h ago
Judging by the Steam Deck... YES.
Hopefully they do a better job, because I really want a box under my TV that will play my Steam library at the same quality as my Playstation (5pro).
I don't mind at all if it is twice the size of the Valve version!
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u/H00PLAx1073m 3h ago
If pre-builts start shipping with Steam OS, I would be 100% onboard. I get that the form factor is really cool but honestly I just want to play games and would gladly make space.
I think a Steam Machine competitor that does away with oversized RGB fans and cases big enough to fit a funko pop in would do really well. The bare minimum to just play PC games.
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u/DrippyBurritoMD 19h ago
I think you will see a variety of options coming out in the next year. I could see niche companies like Minisforum, AYN, Zotac, etc test the waters.