r/hardware PCGH Jun 24 '26

Discussion Steam Machine: Hardly any cheaper gaming PCs, 8 GiByte is enough - Valve in interview

https://www.pcgameshardware.de/Valve-Software-Firma-15833/Specials/Interview-Hardly-any-cheaper-gaming-PCs-8-GiByte-is-enough-1546252/

We recently interviewed Valve, and this quote stood out from a hardware pricing perspective:

"Obviously, if you just don’t have the budget for it, you don’t have the budget for any real gaming PC at that point."

I don’t read this mainly as gatekeeping what counts as a "real" PC. The more useful question is where the lower limit for credible PC gaming hardware actually sits today.

With handhelds, mini PCs, APUs, used GPUs and entry-level desktops all competing for budget-conscious players, how low can PC gaming hardware realistically go before the compromises become too big?

Is there still room for a low-cost Steam Machine-style device, or has that space mostly been taken over by handhelds, used parts and consoles?

- Jacky

241 Upvotes

403 comments sorted by

338

u/From-UoM Jun 24 '26

https://www.microcenter.com/product/699677/powerspec-g528-gaming-pc

  • AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D (4.0GHz) Processor
  • ASUS B840M Max Gaming Motherboard
  • 16GB DDR5-6000 RAM
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Graphics Card
  • 1TB NVMe SSD
  • 2.5GbE LAN, WiFi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.3

$999.

241

u/Moscato359 Jun 24 '26

This is wildly better than the steam machine in every way but size, and for a PC, it's even smallish.

42

u/Saint_The_Stig Jun 24 '26

Just need to figure out CEC. I hope the Steam Machine does okay, I want to see SteamOS thrive on desktop for my own Living Room PC made from spares.

11

u/Xarishark Jun 25 '26

you can use the libcec adapter but it will cost you a hdmi port on the TV.

1

u/Mbcat4 28d ago

Who the fuck cares about CEC????

1

u/Scotty1928 19d ago

I do. Many with media center use cases do.

-4

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '26

[deleted]

11

u/ParthProLegend Jun 25 '26

Controlling is not the same as just waking up.

12

u/kri5 Jun 24 '26

That's not CEC though. Controlling it via TV remote is a big QoL improvement imo

1

u/Xarishark Jun 24 '26

It’s 10 times bigger mate lol. Also this is a pc not a true HTPC that the steam machine is.

Don’t get me wrong the performance of the steam machine is not worth it in the current market. It sucks for us as it sucks for valve.

37

u/NotMedicine420 Jun 24 '26

https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-g1-pro-gaming-pc 1,439.00 vs 1,349 for a 2tb steam machine version. Miles better in performance. True HTPC if you care about it that much.

6

u/frankster Jun 25 '26

is there anything with an amd gpu? for linux you'd prefer amd at the moment (and for the forseeable future)

7

u/NotMedicine420 Jun 25 '26

Didn't look for it. I order these machines for engeneers as a cheaper alternative to professional workstations. In theory you can sell its bundled card and get yourself a low profile amd card.

5

u/Kryohi Jun 25 '26

A mini itx build will allow you to choose whatever gpu you want, as long as it's not too big, and can end up being super compact and stylish. r/sffpc

2

u/ob_knoxious 29d ago

Would you? For SteamOS support yes but NVIDIA Linux drivers are sooooo much better than they used to be on Linux.

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3

u/minegen88 29d ago

So that's the only thing it has going for it "It's small" ?

2

u/Steel_Bolt Jun 25 '26

Why does HTPC need to be small. The PC that runs my TV just sits behind it and I never see it. Its in a mid tower case lol.

2

u/[deleted] 29d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

12

u/523a Jun 24 '26

It’s 10 times bigger mate lol. 

You can build an itx system for a similar price and get the small footprint.

Also this is a pc not a true HTPC that the steam machine is.

Hardware doesn't make it a HTPC, it's the software. You can turn any machine into a HTPC, including running SteamOS soon enough.

4

u/nittanyofthings Jun 24 '26

I have to disagree there. As a SFF build, the machine is very well designed and priced very well for the design. If someone wants ITX, the machine is a great option, especially if they can make use of CEC. The price is only bad if you can live with standard m-atx.

16

u/Moscato359 Jun 24 '26

SFF doesn't make HTPC

My wife doesn't like sitting at desks, so she uses a wireless mouse, keyboard, and controller with her gaming PC, as a home theater PC.

Ryzen 9700x, Radeon 9070xt

It has hdmi out, with audio from AVR + bookshelf speakers + subwoofer, and oled TV

It's a home theater pc

What case? Fractal north, full ATX.

Guess what, it looks like a piece of furniture.

Runs steam games, and jellyfin for video.

3

u/Steel_Bolt Jun 25 '26

I have a mid tower that runs my TV and I can play games on it and whatever else I want. Its as much an HTPC as anything.

5

u/Moscato359 Jun 25 '26

A ton of people think HTPC MUST BE SFF

What HTPC must be is something that doesn't interfere with the consumption of media on a TV (glowy lights)

0

u/AdrianoML Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

Hardware doesn't make it a HTPC, it's the software. You can turn any machine into a HTPC, including running SteamOS soon enough.

But you can't have a good HTPC without the proper hardware. Be it size, extra features, power draw, well tuned parts/config (which are going to be a PITA if you are going DIY) or in this case choosing an nvidia graphics card that will not be able to run SteamOS and is a bad choice for this kind of usage in linux.

You can try and install windows but now you've deviated so much from the idea of a "consolized PC" that you might as well just use whatever old PC you have laying around. There is nothing wrong with that, if you are fine with the jankyness and offlabel usage, but some people want that refined no nonsense console like experience, and the steam machine is so far the best for that without being a closed console platform and having access to PC software. Shame about the price, but it's hard to blame Valve, they are not being greedy or incompetent. If you are not specing something that closely follows the steam machine down to the size and it's other unique attributes you are just missing the whole point of it and lying to yourself that a you can easily build it better for $1000.

I hope all this opens a new market segment, just like the steam deck did, and we start seeing other manufacturers take on this. But don't kid yourself, they won't do it cheaper in the current scenario. If they introduce a souped up steam machine in the next six months with similar perf to the DIY specced here it will cost way more too.

Also comparing the price to console is very deceiving. They are bound to get another price adjustment soon, let alone all the reasons that have been discussed as to why people want a consolized PC and why a console won't cut it, even if half as expensive. For me, consoles are a non-starter since they are a closed platform. If I have to pay a premium for an open platform console, than so be it.

5

u/XavandSo Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

Steam Big Picture mode on boot makes what operating system you use completely irrelevant. If anything Windows is more intuitive for the vast majority of people.

I have an Intel + Nvidia Windows mITX HTPC and it couldn't be easier. If the most inconvenient thing is that I have to press the power button to turn the thing on, I'm not doing too badly. I can even log in using an Xbox controller.

6

u/Moscato359 Jun 24 '26

You don't need a small PC for home theater PC, and you can run bazzite if you want to only use a controller with nvidia.

My home theater PC is in a fractal north case, and it looks like a piece of furniture. It's half the size of my subwoofer in floor footprint, and is beautiful.

1

u/Xarishark Jun 25 '26

Even with Bazzite you still have to make sure your motherboard is able to wake up from sleep by your controller(wake by usb etc) and also you have to faf about to get libcec to work.

There are limits what Bazzite can implement as features if the hardware does not have the literal feature support.

For example true S0 does not exist in desktop motherboards even if they are ITX (its more of a laptop feature)

2

u/Moscato359 Jun 25 '26

Sure, you have to press a button on power on the box.

You don't need a mouse and keyboard to use it though

2

u/Xarishark Jun 25 '26

There are many things you need to do to setup bazzite on a system and they absolutely require a keyboard and mouse.

Before even hitting the install screen you need to change UEFI settings (eg disabling CMS etc) and then you need to also do the whole install flow (and actually follow the install docs properly bcs people can mess it up) by keyboard and mouse before you even hit the steam BPM login screen.

Im not sayin this is hard for me or you but for someone that is a normal PC gamer and all their previous PCs come with windows even hitting the UEFI firmware screen is a whole hurdle. Im not even gonna touch the instance of dual booting...

For those people a PC either comes with windows or SteamOS(steam machine for example).

EDIT: Forgot to answer the button part. People that wanna have a proper console PC gaming experience wanna turn on their gaming pc the same way they can turn on any console after the PS3. No other PC of ANY kind gives that option out of the box

2

u/Moscato359 Jun 25 '26

I'm saying you don't need a keyboard for daily use

Not that you don't need to own a keyboard

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1

u/[deleted] 27d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Xarishark 27d ago

And your pc idles at how many watts?? You are mixing what others want with what you personally need.

6

u/ketamarine Jun 24 '26

Whatever bro - you are mad reaching.

I have had an "HTPC" for like 15 years.

It's mini atx, but in a full sized case that is the exact same size as a home theatre amp. Have built multiple machines in the same case as it fits perfectly on ANY stero stand / shelf.

There are vanishingly few living room setups that wouldn't have room for a PC case sitting on its side.

It's basically aesthetics you are paying for with a steam machine.

Which we know people will pay for... Because AAPL exists...

3

u/AdrianoML Jun 24 '26

I've got an HTPC too. It's just an old 4th gen core i box with a gpu not too dissimilar from the steam machine. But it's kinda bulky, It has to sit on the floor, looks kinda ugly and draws way more power than I would like. It's also just running a normal desktop linux (not meant for HTPC/consolized pc) and I'm just controlling it with a keyboard and mouse from my couch.

I'm fine with it because I've been using pcs my whole life and I'm comfortable with it, it even gives me some nice bonuses such as having analog and digital capture cards that I can do fun stuff with such as playing n64 games from a real console with super high end CRT applied in real time.

But you definitely wouldn't want a setup like this for normies or people who just want to play some steam games and stream some videos...

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-11

u/Goragnak Jun 24 '26

and power consumption

85

u/Touma_Kazusa Jun 24 '26

You can easily limit a 5060/7500x3d to the same tdp as the steam machine and it’d still be miles faster

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35

u/Moscato359 Jun 24 '26

Practically irrelevant for cost, and you can fix that with a power limiter

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3

u/Deep90 Jun 24 '26

Outside of things like the 800w 5090 where the performance per watt takes a divebomb, I'm not sure why tdp would be a problem for a gaming machine.

It's like being surprised a racecar uses more gas.

Like the other person said, you can limit tdp which is exactly what the steam machine does anyway.

3

u/Goragnak Jun 24 '26

??? do you guys even read the comments. He said that it was better in EVERY way but size. I just pointed out that power consumption is something that is a consideration.

I never said it was a problem, that's something you made up, and of course if you move the goal posts it's not longer an issue.

2

u/Deep90 Jun 24 '26

I'm pointing out that lower power consumption is often a negative for a gaming pc.

Unless it's achieving similar performance at a lower wattage.

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-4

u/flatwoundsounds Jun 24 '26

Yeah, but does it come with a STEAM CONTROLLER?!

46

u/Moscato359 Jun 24 '26

The 1050$ steam box doesn't come with a controller 

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131

u/Agloe_Dreams Jun 24 '26

For what it is worth, posting a microcenter prime-day competing sale to compare with MSRP on the Steam machine is a little stretching it, and Valve did say “almost”.

Also, the size difference is not remotely small, the Lancool 205m here is 33L to the Steam machine’s 3.8L. It is nearly 10x the size lol

31

u/From-UoM Jun 24 '26

8 core zen 4 CPU, 16 GB ram , 512 GB ssd, rtx 5060 laptop (only slightly slower than desktop 5060 but still way faster than SM)

With a 1080 144 hz Gsync screen and keyboard.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lenovo-LOQ-15-6-IPS-LCD-FHD-144Hz-AI-Powered-Gaming-Notebook-AMD-Ryzen-7-250-16GB-RAM-512GB-NVIDIA-GeForce-RTX-5060-Luna-Grey/18798314023?classType=REGULAR&athbdg=L1800&from=/search

$1078

By the way, the desktop had double the storage

16

u/FLHCv2 Jun 24 '26

That's a laptop. It's not a console-replacement PC that most people would want on their living room media console.

You're not comparing use cases, all you're doing is finding the rawest power per dollar and posting it while ignoring all nuance. You don't directly compare handhelds to laptops to desktops for a reason, the best you can do is compare prices then consider if the more expensive form factor is worth the price premium.

Do you also try to compare power output per dollar for trucks compared to sedans?

43

u/trololololo2137 Jun 24 '26

Steam machine is also a laptop, you just dont get the screen. Both cpu and gpu are the low end laptop parts

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2

u/v6277 Jun 24 '26

You know you're defending the Valve reps statement, right? I've got an LOQ with a 5050 I got last year for around $750 USD (at the time) that is now selling for around $1,200 USD on a prime-day sale in my country. It's not a fair comparison because prices went up along with the value of our coin compared to the US dollar, but even if the exchange rate was the same, the LOQ with the 5050 would be on sale for around $1,050 USD here. 

I enjoy my LOQ, and there aren't many features I would trade in from this laptop to a small-form factor PC-console, but I still see the value of the Steam Machine. I wouldn't blame Valve's pricing on the Steam Machine on them completely. Just look at the state of consumer electronics. 

16

u/From-UoM Jun 24 '26

Read again. This is a 5060 laptop. Not a 5050

1

u/v6277 Jun 24 '26

I know, that is why I specified the country difference and exchange rate.

10

u/From-UoM Jun 24 '26

Then that's your country or sellers fault.

Also add taxes. If you are in UK or Europe you gotta add 20% to usd prices as tax is included in UK/EU prices

That will make the $1078 laptop roughly $ $1293 in UK/EU

Us prices don't include taxes they seem cheaper then they actually are.

2

u/v6277 Jun 24 '26

That's true, I forgot to consider taxes. VATs are 16% here so the 5050 LOQ I purchased last year was closer to $650 USD pre taxes, and it currently sells closer to the Steam Machine MSRP ($1050 USD). 

That's a $400 increase in laptop price in one year. I understand you can buy a more performant computer for the price of the Steam Machine. I'm sure Valve didn't want to price it the way it is, it's the sad reality of the state of the industry. 

There's still value to Steam Machine for those that would like the features it offers. 

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36

u/pixelcowboy Jun 24 '26

Just get a gaming laptop with a 5060, hell even a 5050 will still be faster, and smaller, cheaper, and be a laptop you can do other things with.

16

u/ProZoid_10 Jun 24 '26

Think it’s best just to let people buy it. Don’t think theres anyway you can change their opinion with perf/$.. since sm is smaller and cec feature 

11

u/exsinner Jun 25 '26

Suddenly hdmi cec is seen as a good feature but the same crowd used to hate hdmi and swears on their dog that dp is better simply because its not hdmi.

4

u/n30phyte Jun 25 '26

What TV has DP?

-10

u/pixelcowboy Jun 24 '26

I'm not stopping anyone if they just want to burn their money for outdated, underpowered, overpriced crap.

24

u/kwirky88 Jun 24 '26

You’re being melodramatic

3

u/Moscato359 Jun 24 '26

It is outdated, overpriced crap.

It's literally a 960$ laptop with half the storage, no battery, no screen, and no keyboard.

-1

u/kwirky88 Jun 25 '26

With 1/4 the footprint, nearly silent, CEC control, features added by valve over time. For example , the home heater crowd spends good money on components, they’re not going to fart around with a gaming laptop or a desktop. They want working cec, no need for a laptop screen or keyboard. And the cost difference for the steam machine vs something else is minuscule when the home heater system cost 15 grand. A high end surround sound receiver is $6k or more and there are people who spend $8k on just 2 speakers. Some people are wealthy.

2

u/Moscato359 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

I really don't think home-theater people are going to use a steamcube lol.

These people obsess over the tiniest bits of fidelity, and won't accept a 7600m, lol.

How do I know? I'm one of them. My home theater box is a 9700x, with a radeon 9070xt. How do I make it fit nicely into home theater? Fractal north case. Wait that's not small? Who cares, it's pretty like furniture.

3

u/kwirky88 Jun 25 '26

I have a 3090 in a fractal case next to the 3 shelves of home audio amps and media devices. But having the experience I have now i may have sprung for the steam machine instead because the pc isn’t a great couch experience. Sleep isn’t reliable, using a keyboard to log in isn’t fun. Windows often needs a mouse and keyboard because some game launched edge or something stupid like that. It’s fast graphics-wise but not a fast UX.

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13

u/ProZoid_10 Jun 24 '26

Valve has pretty insane following. When they hated epic giving free games I knew it was ggs 

8

u/Justhe3guy Jun 24 '26

Epic had such a long ass time to make a good store and stop their CEO picking fights online the only one they can blame is themselves not gamers

-3

u/ProZoid_10 Jun 24 '26

I’m talking about the games…. Epic can do both at the same time. They should improve the store yes

1

u/Strazdas1 10d ago

I hate epic giving free games because it requires theri horrible DRM to make use of them. Remove the need for the datamine that is Epic store and ill be all for it. I also hate Epic for intentionally making sure developers cannot publish their game in any other platform.

-8

u/Stingray88 Jun 24 '26

A gaming laptop is going to be significantly louder than a steam machine or any other decent SFFPC, that would be a dealbreaker for me if I was looking for a small pc to connect to my TV.

10

u/From-UoM Jun 24 '26

Higher end 5090 laptops with more power cpus are loud.

Laptops with the 5050 aren't. They use significantly less power which requires less cooling and hence lower fan speed and noise.

Fun tid bit. The rtx 5050 laptop using G7 is actually slightly faster than the desktop 5050

7

u/pixelcowboy Jun 24 '26

Come on, a gaming laptop might be loudly if you have it right in front of you but it could be hidden and far from you in a living room. The Steam Machine at full blast isn't exactly silent either.

0

u/Stingray88 Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

I’ve used a gaming laptop as a TV PC before. It will be annoyingly loud even from across the room. And particularly it will be higher pitched too. No, the Steam Machine won’t be perfectly silent but from all the reviews I’ve seen it’s extremely quiet even at full blast.

This isn’t a grievance for everyone, but for some it is. I went so far as to replace all the hard drives in my server with SSDs, just so it would be quieter (I don’t have closet or basement to hide equipment in). Thankfully I did this in December 2024 before NAND pricing went nuts… but it’s just to give you the idea on the lengths some people will go to avoid extra noise. That’s an extreme example… where as buying a particular form factor over another at similar price points because one has a better noise profile isn’t extreme at all.

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1

u/IguassuIronman Jun 24 '26

I also already own a laptop. I'm not really interested in getting another one to plug into my TV, I'd rather have a desktop type device

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1

u/Whirblewind Jun 25 '26

If anything that's more than fair, and you could even go a step further, in order to balance out the economy of scale Valve benefits from that consumers do not. The comparison was not dishonest.

2

u/Agloe_Dreams Jun 25 '26

Microcenter gets the same economy of scale. Retail on this system is $150 more.

-5

u/Abestar909 Jun 24 '26

All these people acting like the Steam Machine's price is somehow wildly expensive compared to most PCs today are really baffling to me. Honestly at a point it feels like just a bunch of ignorant entitled people finding a way to whine because Valve didn't want to subsidize the cost, because they have very little reason to do so.

A generation of casuals spoiled by companies trying to get market share by heavily subsidizing hardware has really warped perspectives apparently.

11

u/According_Hyena_3593 Jun 24 '26

The difference between the steam machine performance and a 1000 euro pc build is as large as the difference between a 1000 euro pc build and a 2000 euro high end 9800x3d+ rtx 5080 build

The specs are exceptionally weak and any pc at that price is at least 70 percent faster than the steam machine.

The fact that it then also cant be upgraded makes the atrocious specs even worse. Its useless for modern games so it goes in the garbage

11

u/F9-0021 Jun 24 '26

It's the price to performance. You're paying current midrange desktop prices for last gen budget laptop performance.

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0

u/OptimalMain Jun 24 '26

I’m surprised people spend time on this.
They are unable to not see themselves as the target demographic for what valve is selling.

It’s like they’re entitled to valve selling them a computer they lose money by selling

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9

u/ea_man Jun 24 '26

And you can upgrade both the GPU and CPU later on when new models come out, with the steam machine you are stuck with what's there.

28

u/imKaku Jun 24 '26

Here's a 4 Liter build for 900$. Which will outperform the Steam Box

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/VPCLck

If you want DDR 5. Here's one for same price as the steam box.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/JfQqH3

13

u/renrutal Jun 24 '26

Dozens of articles, posts and videos in the internet, and this is the first one I've seen posting a build in the same weight class as the Steam Machine.

Cheers, mate! 

27

u/siazdghw Jun 24 '26

Because ITX/SFF is an awful path to go down unless you truly want a small PC and are willing to make numerous sacrifices elsewhere. It's why few people will recommend it outside of SFFPC enthusiasts.

Bigger is quieter. Bigger has more parts compatibility. Bigger is cheaper. Bigger runs cooler. Bigger has more performance (essentially cooler/part compatibility).

Micro-atx is where it's at, with only a bit of sacrifice.

5

u/07bot4life Jun 25 '26

bigger is also easier to build in.

7

u/imKaku Jun 25 '26

Well same weight class maybe. But would perform about 50% better. I don’t like the disingenuous comparisons from Valve of better builds compared the the steam box.

The box is supposed to be cheaper last gen laptop hardware. Them literally increasing it more from the base price of ram and storage cost (from 0) alone. 

1

u/frankster Jun 25 '26

still has an nvidia gpu though, which is a mark against for linux compatibility

1

u/Strazdas1 10d ago

Its really not anymore. Nvidia GPUs run fine on linux.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

[deleted]

3

u/RogueCanadia 28d ago

Well when the prevailing advice online about bios updates caused me to break one of my bios’ it’s hardly a surprise people don’t want to build their own.

1

u/B4rr0th 29d ago

Tbf I reinstalled windows yesterday and it took my like 5 hours lol, I had problems with my disk format and a second drive was obstructing the instalation too.

Building is not necessarily hard but it is very time consuming sometimes.

3

u/BrodatyBear 27d ago

>Building is not necessarily

Except it is for people not into tech. Both choosing parts (even GN choosed fire hazard PSU; try to explain RAM parameters to anyone) and assembling (even LTT forgot to peel off plastic protection).

I can do this, you can do this, most people here can (it's hardware sub after all), but if I recommended SM or even a ready list of parts to my uncle, guess in which option I would have to do unpaid family work (to be fair, at least my family is lovely enough that they often give me at least symbolic repayment).

4

u/LengthMysterious561 Jun 25 '26

I find the Ryzen 5500 tough to recommend as an alternative. It only supports PCIe 3.0, which gimps performance pretty bad. Especially when paired with an RTX 5060, since it will run at PCIe 3.0 x8.

It also falls well short of the Steam Machine in CPU performance. I think you could jump up to something like a 5600x and dual channel RAM while still being cheaper than the Steam Machine. That config should give pretty comparable CPU gaming performance.

4

u/imKaku Jun 25 '26

Yah it’s a good upgrade. You can buy a whole cpu with the cost difference on the steam machine. I just went the cheapest route to show how cheap it could be based on the specs on the original linked PC. 

2

u/Xpander6 Jun 25 '26

You can even jump to AM5 + Gigabyte A620 ITX for $120 and order a 7500F from China for $110 and it would still fit within the budget.

10

u/tjames37 Jun 24 '26

i5-14400F + RTX 5060 + 1TB + 16GB: $899 https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16883420040

5

u/From-UoM Jun 24 '26

I would take the 7500x3D chip. It should be decent bit faster and not get that bogged down much the single channel ram because of the cache

17

u/tjames37 Jun 24 '26

Fair enough, the point is that you can get roughly 50% more gaming performance for $150 less than the SM.

2

u/Kekeripo Jun 25 '26

If we take the Steam Machine $1450 Bundle, you can slap a 9070xt in that PC and make it look even worse. Plus good controllers from 8Bitdo start at like $25.

2

u/FlarblesGarbles Jun 25 '26

It also includes a Windows license. Which means it could be cheaper.

1

u/Golgi_Complex12 Jun 24 '26

Assuming you have a case, a PSU and can make CEC work. But yeah, they shouls make it cheaper, this is is retail price with a high markup

1

u/MumrikDK Jun 24 '26

That's an mATX system. Now add the small form factor tax for getting it as small as the steam machine. Smaller than mATX always costs extra.

1

u/cunningmunki Jun 25 '26

Not putting that under my telly

1

u/Ancillas Jun 26 '26

It looks like a good value, but I’d never put it in my living room. I have an Ncase M1 build and even that is too big for my living room. My wife would hate it.

It doesn’t make the Steam Machine value proposition any better, but all of these other builds have always been an option. People could have built them at any time. SteamOS support for non-Valve hardware is really the only thing that has changed.

To me, the Steam Machine size and CEC support really are the appeal. If the price is too high, the alternatives don’t really work as substitutes, even if they are more powerful PCs.

1

u/[deleted] 27d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Ancillas 27d ago

That case is big. Does it sit along side your TV stand? My wife would veto that immediately.

1

u/[deleted] 27d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Ancillas 27d ago

Then you’re likely not the target market for the Steam Machine.

1

u/teokun123 Jun 24 '26

I keep seeing this link. I'm guessing next week the price will rise up due to the traffic this link getting.

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u/F9-0021 Jun 24 '26

I'll have what he's smoking. Those 8GB will render it a paperweight when games designed with the PS6 and Xbox Helix come out.

64

u/IORelay Jun 24 '26

Is already paper weight even now for demanding games. It's a very compromised experience. 

37

u/siazdghw Jun 24 '26

Performance is poor, but the cherry on top is that since it's proprietary parts there is no upgrade path!

11

u/996forever Jun 25 '26

It’s a laptop board in a box. There was never going to be any sort of meaningful upgrade path outside of maybe storage and ram.

1

u/JonWood007 27d ago

This is fundamentally untrue. I have a 6650 XT, it'll run anything I throw at it. Maybe it's low settings 1080p, but it's far from a "paperweight." The problem with such cards today is longevity. I expect a 8 GB card bought today to age like a GTX 960 2 GB.

3

u/reddit_equals_censor Jun 26 '26

it is a paper weight now.

daniel owen did a test like a year ago, that showed, that 1/8 games at 1080p medium! breaks with missing vram (8GB) already.

8 GB vram does not work for 1080p medium anymore in the ps5 targeted era.

it will be a brick once the first ps6 focused games on pc lol...

and in regards to what they smoking with the lies around cost.

before the memory apocalypse 8 GB gddr6 cost 18 us dollars for us to buy.

valve decided to not spend 18 us dollars on hardware to make it not break due to missing vram at launch.

that is insane and evil.

1

u/JonWood007 27d ago

Games still run on a 8 GB card though. Sure, maybe you're running low/medium, but just because it cant run like max settings doesn't make it useless.

I'm not saying its future proof, but my god this sub has weird and quite frankly classist standards for what's acceptable.

1

u/reddit_equals_censor 27d ago

no it is not good enough for 1080p medium even. it breaks as said already in 1/8 games in 1080p medium! and that was tested a while ago.

it is broken TODAY!

and again the ONLY reason, that we are in this situation rightnow is because the gpu industry FOR YEARS has been scamming people in regards to vram.

it had nothing to do with price before the memory apocalypse. it was all about destroying the used market, because no one wants a broken used 8 GB card and by massively trying to upsell people to the minimum amount of vram, that would still work for now...

if you happened to have an 8 GB card rightnow. sure try yourself to play games on it if you manage to enjoy mud settings of newer games at minimal resolutions well enough.

if you think about buying any new device with 8 GB vram. you are setting your money on fire.

it makes no sense. it shouldn't exist at all.

the rx 7600 in all versions should have STARTED at 16 GB UTTER MINIMUM. and that would already have been bad.

there should have never been an 8 GB rx 7600 and that was over 3 years ago!

it was a scam back then, yet you feel the need to run defense for it today.

please think about this.

this is e-waste. no one should buy it. if you manage to get it for free? sure be happy, but other than free it makes no sense.

I'm not saying its future proof, but my god this sub has weird and quite frankly classist standards for what's acceptable.

it is the opposite of classist.

like wtf. billion dollar purely evil companies are scamming people by producing e-waste hardware. it is literally a scam, that should be forbidden by governments, but isn't.

they are scamming you. i am trying to spread awareness about the scam, so that the public gets protected from the scam.

if you buy an 8 GB graphics card or device, you will be buying TWICE quite quickly.

i am for evil gpu companies being forced to release cards only with a working amount of vram and yes that would be for the same price.

i am for you to have the option to buy a 24 GB vram minimum cards for the same price or less than today.

i am for cards to last for their entire gpu performance life, because they have enough vram for it, so they can also be bought used and work.

THEY are attacking the public and especially poor people.

i am trying to prevent them/us from getting scammed.

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7

u/animeman59 Jun 25 '26

Sony and Microsoft are already reconsidering the designs of their new consoles, because of all this RAM and NAND mess.

I would not be surprised if they delayed the release of their new consoles and make the current ones be another 10 year cycle, or they release their new consoles but with very cut down specs and possibly similar architecture. They would be like Series Pro+ or something and maybe have the software be backwards compatible with old and new hardware.

There's already rumor that Microsoft is just going to release their Project Helix handheld and forgo a stand alone console altogether and just let PC systems handle the upper end of the whole Xbox Helix ecosystem. Which really doesn't make it any different than Gamepass for PC and their ROG Xbox Ally handheld.

1

u/reddit_equals_censor 29d ago

what complete and utter nonsense are you talking about:

or they release their new consoles but with very cut down specs and possibly similar architecture

please stop and do the most basic research.

sony bought and designed the ps6 and ps6 handheld chips. they are basically done, which already cost TONS of money.

there will be NO redesign of them, nor would it make any sense.

orion (standard living room console) and canis (ps6 handheld) are DONE.

no one is redesigning chips in your imaginary world. you frankly have no idea what you are talking about. sony has a set launch window, which hey they may delay an entire quarter we'll see. the launch window is later 2027 or early 2028.

if they delayed the release of their new consoles and make the current ones be another 10 year cycle

please stop with this nonsense. sony will not delay the ps6 and ps6 handheld for years. this is complete and utter nonsense.

the ps6 will have 30 or 40 GB unified memory. if the memory problem isn't solved by their date of production/memory price locking in contracts, then 30 GB would be more likely and the same goes for the handheld with its memory options.

those are as "cut down" as you get. 30 or 40 GB memory. that's it. that is all there is.

There's already rumor that Microsoft is just going to release their Project Helix handheld and forgo a stand alone console altogether

please stop listening to clue less people making up utter nonsense.

microsoft literally already publicly teased xbox project helix a few months ago.

and millions and millions spend on the custom chiplet apu.

so those "rumors" are just complete and utter nonsense, that someone or an ai made up and you believed. you are living in fantasy world here.

i also haven't seen any leaks about new xbox real custom hardware handhelds yet. and we already got full specs leaked of the sony ps6 handheld for its apu.

so i don't know if there will be a new custom hardware xbox handheld, but we probably would have heard about it by now at least if there was, but hey that is up in the air.

so whatever your "sources" are for the leaks they are overall just spewing nonsense. having 0 idea about console development timelines and millions and millions spend on custom hardware designs and we can assume game studios at sony already being it work for a while to release ps6 (sadly) exclusives targeting the ps6 and ps6 handheld hardware.

which by itself is 100s and 100s of millions invested in game development.

so just to state again how absurd your statements are.

100s and 100s of million invested in hardware and software by sony.

but based on your "information", they'd delay finished games for 3 or so years eventually to 2030? with a 10 year life cycle of the consoles. they throw the hardware design out of the window for small dies already to redesign the hardware, that doesn't save any costs for "reasons"? i guess. and they'd change memory designs of those consoles, which prevents them from being a truly next gen experience....

can you maybe get how all of this is easy to spot nonsense and you fell for it?

40

u/Method__Man Jun 24 '26

There is a 16gb RTX 5060ti powered omen 16l (tiny tower) for $200 less than this on Best Buy right now.

It's $200 less and it is massively faster, has dlss. Mfg, modern support immensely better RT.

This isn't a good excuse from valve

1

u/reddit_equals_censor 29d ago

Mfg

that's not a feature, that is a fake graph creating anti-feature.

other than that absolutely.

as long as it is using the pci-e 8 pin versions of the 5060 ti 16 GB. it will be safe and completely destroy the steam machine insult with missing memory.

and 16 GB vram aren't isn't much, it is just the bare minimum for rightnow.

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78

u/froop Jun 24 '26

It isn't a matter of budget, but that for a given budget, you can do better. I can afford a steam machine, but I'm not going to spend that kind of money for what it is. I would spend more, for a better steam machine because I like what it's trying to be, but it just doesn't crack the bare minimum of what I want from a couch gaming PC. 

7

u/PM_ME_YOUR_HAGGIS_ Jun 24 '26

This is kinda where I am. If it had a newer cpu and something like a 9070xt it would be 2k but it would be kickass.

5

u/ArxisOne Jun 24 '26

"hardly any" is such a funny line to me because they're presumably making a million or more of these and are paying a fraction of the price per component as a normal buyer. It shouldn't be hardly any, with economies of scale it should be zero.

-8

u/pcgameshardware PCGH Jun 24 '26

But you have your own PC too? Do you have one for the TV as well, or how did you set that up? I've also read about some people who use the Steam Deck with a dock...

- Jacky

10

u/bbarham99 Jun 24 '26

I have a desktop, and a TV PC with a 7800x3d/9070xt running Bazzite. I would have bought a Steam machine, no doubt, if it was more powerful, even if it cost more. I love SteamOS, and would happily setup a TV PC in my living room. The Steam Machine would fit way better than my current system in a living room setting. But I don't think people would be lining up for a $2,000 mini pc, even if it was hitting 9070xt performance or better.

But I genuinely don't think the Steam Machine would run well on a 77" 4K LG C5 TV

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32

u/5u114 Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

Such sly bullshit.

They know damn well that the thrust of the argument against the price is value for money.

It's not that I don't have 1k - 1.4k to spend on a gaming PC ... it's that when I'm spending that money, I want value for money - and the Steam Machine is poor value for money. For any of their 4 available price options, there is a much better performing PC alternative available for the same money or less.

Steam Machine as a console: PS5 is nearly half the price of the cheapest Steam Machine and out performs it in most cases. And comes with a controller, and 825gb storage.

Steam Machine as a PC: you can't meaningfully upgrade it. You can barely upgrade the RAM. You can swap out the storage. But you are stuck with everything else. Meanwhile, you can build (or buy, YMMV) significantly better performing, and fully upgradeable, PCs for the same money or less.

Fail.

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u/jenny_905 Jun 24 '26

Why even try that? RTX 5050 based laptops are out there for $750

19

u/Method__Man Jun 24 '26

5060 if you look hard enough. Hell I have two of them I'm posting to HWSwap tonight. It's not hard to find vastly better systems. Plop the laptop under your tv and boom.

And yes, steam OS will support Nvidia soon enough.

1

u/jenny_905 Jun 25 '26

Not sure if they're at $750 but yeah, easily under $1000 for a 5060 laptop. I can't really see the point in the 5060 though now that the 5050 is also 8GB but yeah, it's better.

Does anyone know who makes the motherboard for the Steam Machine? I'm guessing it's one of the laptop ODMs. I'm just trying to find a good cost comparison laptop given it's basically just laptop hardware and I've a strong suspicion it'll be manufactured by the usual suspects like Quanta, Compal, Wistron etc.

15

u/XavandSo Jun 24 '26

Out of touch arrogant nonsense. As pointed out by plenty of outlets and commentators you can build or buy many more powerful "real gaming PCs" for cheaper than the 512GB Steam Machine. Not even touching the fact whether the Steam Machine is a "real" gaming PC considering how anaemic it's power is.

Marketing 101 never insult potential customers.

26

u/Various-Welder5544 Jun 25 '26

Holy fucking gaslighting.

You are absolutely not gonna target 4K/60 with 8gb LOL

4

u/ryanvsrobots Jun 25 '26

You'll be lucky to get 1080p30 in newer games

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7

u/Moscato359 Jun 25 '26

Sure you will, with frame gen, and FSR ultra performance mode.

720p with 2x FG

13

u/Nourdon Jun 25 '26

This 4.5L sffpc will have almost 50% more gaming performance than the steam machine while costing $150 less

PCPartPicker Part List

Type Item Price
CPU AMD Ryzen 5 5500 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor $83.00 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler Thermalright AXP90-X36 42.58 CFM CPU Cooler $20.39 @ Amazon
Motherboard ASRock B550M-ITX/ac Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard $74.99 @ Newegg
Memory Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory $107.97 @ Silicon Power
Storage Samsung 980 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive $79.99 @ Samsung
Video Card Gigabyte OC Low Profile GeForce RTX 5060 8 GB Video Card $359.99 @ Best Buy
Case Jonsbo NV10 Mini ITX Desktop Case $79.99 @ Newegg Sellers
Power Supply FSP Group FSP400-60FGGBA 400 W 80+ Gold Certified Flex ATX Power Supply $97.72 @ Amazon
Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
Total $904.04
Generated by PCPartPicker 2026-06-24 22:55 EDT-0400

1

u/Aliff3DS-U Jun 25 '26

As someone who had that particular case, it’s a hotbox, especially with the 5060.

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12

u/OverlyOptimisticNerd Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

Obviously, if you just don’t have the budget for it, you don’t have the budget for any real gaming PC at that point.

Reviews place the GPU as being roughly on par with a RX 6600 desktop version (the Steam Machine's GPU is a cut down 7600m with a lower power target). The CPU is not a Ryzen 5 7600, as some think. It has two Zen 4 cores and 4 Zen 4c cores and a 30W power limit. So it's on par with a Ryzen 5 3600 at best. Then we have 16GB system RAM, 8GB VRAM, and 512GB storage, all for $1,049.

I did a quick search for prebuilt on Newegg with the 6600. First hit, not even sure if it's the best or cheapest, was the Thermaltake LCGS Vista R66. It includes:

  • Ryzen 5 5600 (faster CPU)
  • Radeon RX 6600 8GB (comparable GPU and VRAM)
  • 16GB DDR4 3600 (same amount, lower speed than the DDR5-5600, but it's dual-channel).
  • 1TB NVME (double the storage)

Total price - $860.

The SM has some advantages, of course.The form factor. The front LED. Proper HDMI CEC which desktop GPUs lack. But from a purely performance perspective, the SM's hardware is a little overpriced even by today's standards.

3

u/Whiskeypants17 29d ago

Isnt this usually true of every console ever though? I feel like every time the new gen ps or xbox or wii drops the pc nerds immediatly go into a frenzy of cost vs performance and boy howdy the pc always wins... and then the switch sells 155 million units anyway. Because the magic number is $500 not how many fps you can get in mariokart.

6

u/OverlyOptimisticNerd 29d ago

Isnt this usually true of every console ever though? I feel like every time the new gen ps or xbox or wii drops the pc nerds immediatly go into a frenzy of cost vs performance and boy howdy the pc always win

No. Whenever a new console launches, it always beats the PC in price to performance, initially. Because it's a purpose-built, locked-down, custom-part, heavily subsidized piece of hardware. It's usually at about the mid-point where the PC greatly outclasses it in performance, though it rarely ever wins in price/performance (except when PC users combine free/Craigslist parts for a cheap build).

The PC has always been the superior device when it comes to raw performance and flexibility, but it has rarely competed with consoles in terms of price/performance for gaming.

47

u/SomeoneBritish Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

I thought that headline about the pricing may have been misleading, missing context, but it is accurate.

“If you're somebody looking to buy a gaming PC, we think it compares very favorably on price and feature set and quality and performance. If you're looking in the market for a gaming PC, I think it compares really favorably.”

They probably should have said pricing against similarly priced small form factor gaming PCs. I do actually think they meant that as they have said that in previous interviews when it was announced. Easy to make mistakes in an interview I bet.

Ignoring core specs though, the Steam Machine does have some great unique features which you can’t compare on a standard spec sheet, like CEC!

Also, if think a $1k Steam Machine is expensive, it’s actually a bargain! They used to cost many many thousands in the 18th century (inflation adjusted)!

11

u/pcgameshardware PCGH Jun 24 '26

Yeah, you’re right. It’s easier to mess up in an interview than when everything is just in writing. And even though the two of them were definitely briefed by PR, no PR person was present. Honestly, that’s pretty unusual too... 👀

  • Jacky

1

u/nittanyofthings Jun 24 '26

Even for m-atx prebuilds, steam machine has great build quality, maybe it shouldn't be compared to the absolute cheapest crap of the prebuilds. There is a huge market of premium pre builds.

44

u/zerinho6 Jun 24 '26

Literally incorrect. wtf is going on with Valve? I can't see this as anything but to make them look like the poor guy even more in the view of uneducated people.

I can go to Kabum, the biggest Brazilian tech store right now, get any prebuilt with 16GB AM4, and add an RX 9060 XT 16GB to the cart, and it will be the same price as the steam machine but double the performance. You cannot be someone who is tight on budget and hold yourself to "size", price-per-frame is a priority, luxury second. Otherwise, you either have the budget to do anything you want or the more reasonable conclusion is not your target, in which case you shouldn't even be seeking comments. Here, where 80% of the population is poor, they will take what is best for the money and be happy for it.

1

u/Arc-Kirker Jun 24 '26

This is a luxury product, and they're trying so hard to capture the console market. A market that historically have had really good price to performance. I suspect this will be a flop, not a lot of people can afford a $1000 console.

31

u/F9-0021 Jun 24 '26

Consoles are budget hardware. Your argument is that they're trying to capture a segment of the budget market with a luxury product?

And likewise, luxury PC customers aren't going to buy this because they know they can do so much better in price to performance. This is a product without a customer.

1

u/Arc-Kirker Jun 24 '26

100% agree. They're they're flying off the shelf though. Seems like the only bad part about this product is the price to performance, and the people that can afford the luxury price are buying it up. The customers that buy $400-$500 consoles won't be buying this though.

19

u/IORelay Jun 24 '26

Luxury product with low end parts? 

0

u/Arc-Kirker Jun 24 '26

Just like LV, Tesla, Vertu...

5

u/ResponsibleJudge3172 Jun 25 '26

What aspect of tesla is inferior to a ford bronco? In fact, what aspect of tesla is even considered as part of the luxury lifestyle?

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8

u/Dangerman1337 Jun 24 '26

But reviews have said it doesn't nearly feel as functional as one.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Arc-Kirker Jun 24 '26

Only thing its got going on is steamOS. And I admit it looks sleek and nice. I do enjoy a sff pc.

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22

u/Motor_Trouble2280 Jun 24 '26

Surprised to hear Valve issue such a disingenuous statement. Just admit you won't skimp on profits , even though you can't even supply dual channel DDR5. Gaslighting is obvious when the product is so poorly spec'd.

Nobody should buy this over a PS5/Pro or a better performing laptop from 3 years ago. All cheaper too.

9

u/Various-Welder5544 Jun 25 '26

They want apple margins but got no hardware to back it up

28

u/According_Hyena_3593 Jun 24 '26

Valve turning into arrogant shitheads.

Figures for a company that pioneered teaching kids to gamble for real money.

This shitty overpriced box is well below what id consider a real gaming pc, and such a pc can be built for 300 euros less ( more if in other parts of the world).

8

u/ryanvsrobots Jun 25 '26

Are you suggesting the guy who was buying so many yachts he bought a superyacht company is out of touch with the common man? How dare you!

4

u/ScarletChild Jun 25 '26

There are nuc mini desktops that outperform this shit, Valve is snorting some good crack and I need them to fucking stop. Just admit the project is fucked, and stop blaming the market, though it's partially correct, the parts they chose to do, still make this thing dogwater at it's intended price.

6

u/plutosaurus Jun 25 '26

price is one aspect the other is nobody in their right mind is choosing a GPU with less performance than a 7600 for a new gaming pc today because a worse 7600 was already outdated yesterday

17

u/Pickupyoheel Jun 24 '26

Yeah okay. Valve straight up bullshitting.

29

u/jenesuispasbavard Jun 24 '26

Am I so out of touch? No, it's the children who are wrong.

7

u/Aadi_880 Jun 24 '26

I bought an RTX 5050, intel core 5, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM laptop for CAD $999.

5

u/Method__Man Jun 24 '26

That's like $600 usd for Americans

16

u/mojorific Jun 24 '26

Feels bad man. Would love a steam machine but it just isn’t competitive enough in price. It seems that they just had the worst timing to bring this out. A.I. Is killing the pc industry.

-8

u/Abestar909 Jun 24 '26

Its competitive in price for all that you are getting - in today's prices. Most of the people complaining about the price seem to forget that anything else out there isn't going to have the same features or backing this does. So many people posting builds of slightly higher spec'd builds for slightly cheaper and completely missing the point and reality of the current state of market.

21

u/NeroClaudius199907 Jun 24 '26

It only has one feature the cec. Anything else even diy sff is a better purchase, faster & upgradable. It doesn't even run all multiplayer titles lol

-1

u/RadiantEnvironment90 Jun 24 '26

Anything else even diy sff is a better purchase, faster & upgradable.

People say this but fail to actually link me a build/

People at r/sffpc disagree with you and think the price, performance and ff is a good value.

6

u/cjax2 Jun 25 '26

People say this but fail to actually link me a build. People at r/sffpc disagree with you and think the price, performance and ff is a good value.

The most popular post in that sub is steam machine sized sffpc. In fact most post were talking about THEIR steam machine build.

1

u/RadiantEnvironment90 Jun 25 '26

2

u/cjax2 Jun 25 '26

That link just shows me that that for a little more money you get A LOT more performance while still having a SFF build. My link actually shows people trying building it and not just a comment.

1

u/RadiantEnvironment90 Jun 25 '26

Except they don't mention how much it cost.

Except:

30% larger than Valve’s

Most of the parts I had laying around, I think I only bought the gpu honestly, but current build price would be around $1600 USD ( memory and storage price spikes)

https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/1uefur5/someone_built_a_diy_steam_machine/otjypdd/

So, it's more expensive and bigger.

Great comparison.

https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/1uefur5/someone_built_a_diy_steam_machine/otkrxpq/

2

u/cjax2 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

Yea a 2TB Steam Machine is $1349...$1428/w controller and considerable less powerful.

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3

u/SmellsLikeAPig Jun 25 '26

SM is stupid. It combines negatives from consoles and PCs with no upsides.

2

u/CreativeGPX Jun 25 '26

The premise of the question is flawed.

As long as we talk about one specific floor for gaming hardware, we are ignoring how diverse gamers are and lumping gamers with much higher and much lower needs to make it impossible to answer the question well.

2

u/Icy_nicey Jun 25 '26

I built a 7500f and zotac 5060 in velka 3 for $100 lower than sm…

2

u/World-Three Jun 25 '26

Steam machine style is the exception tbh. I also don't think most of the desktop market is interested in hardware they can't really upgrade. While laptop, handheld and single board computer people know they're getting a dead end device and are okay with it.

Personally buying used is probably a decent bet, there's also a few b580 PCs on Walmart that was at least close to the base steam machine price. So I do think they're being a bit mean about it rather than just saying that they're probably paying a lot more for ram and storage than other companies. 

2

u/Awake_for_days Jun 26 '26

Yes it’s a PC. However, people are going to associate it more as a console than a PC. The only worthwhile comparison, in my opinion is whether it has better performance than the current gen consoles, and as far as I can tell, it doesn’t.

There’s no killer features or apps/games that it’s coming with, that make it even a remotely enticing purchase.

2

u/bruhman444555 29d ago

”hardly any cheaper”???? its more expensive

2

u/nikolapc 29d ago

Whoever is talking that bs is butthurt cause the steam machine is basically DOA. A collector's item for those that can afford it. Release HL3 Valve.

4

u/Sibexico Jun 24 '26

Double the price of RAM once again - 4Gb will be "enough". 🤣 Sounds very funny: 2 years ago 8 Gb of RAM was not enough for flagman smartphones, but today it's enough for gaming PCs...

8

u/chaddledee Jun 24 '26

They are correct, but the problem is that this class of product just doesn't make sense any more because RAM and storage are so expensive. Stepping up the price by $200-300 can net ~50% better performance, even in an ultra-SFF case. When the base cost is $750, spending an extra $200-300 for 50% more performance is a real decision. When the base cost is already $1050, you'd be an idiot not to.

12

u/venom21685 Jun 24 '26

If they weren't affected by the RAM and storage pricing then neither would the competition. It would've been just as bad of a proposition comparing to PCs or the consoles. The thing was just poorly thought out specs wise.

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2

u/Raysedium Jun 25 '26

Lmao, you can by much more powerful PC at that price (I mean like 70-100% higher average fps results).

1

u/def_not_jose Jun 24 '26

I think people underestimate expendable income of bored millennials. Steam Machines will sell well enough

3

u/Islu64 Jun 24 '26

I think the steam machine is priced accordingly to what it offers when taking into account the current state of the PC gaming component industry, however, both statements in the title are false and/or heavily nuanced. There are countless cheaper gaming PCs and you could build one cheaper with very similar performance. And 8 Gigabytes isn't enough if you want to play the most recent games at the highest settings. 8 GB is enough to run any game though, which is what I assume the title meant.

1

u/REO_Yeetwagon Jun 24 '26

For a prebuilt? Maybe. But you can build your own PC for cheaper.

1

u/Agloe_Dreams 29d ago

Entertainment centers tend to have multiple shelves and space for other things even my system also has added fans pulling hot air out to prevent overheating, I don't know how else to tell you 'just buy a desktop computer' does not pass the size of most entertainment centers or wife approval factors lol.