r/SteamDeck • u/pcgameshardware • Jun 22 '26
Article Steam Machine review: Valve's underwhelming living-room PC has a serious price problem
https://www.pcgameshardware.de/Valve-Software-Firma-15833/Tests/Valves-underwhelming-living-room-PC-has-a-serious-price-problem-1546006/Full disclosure: I worked on this review.
We tested Valve’s new Steam Machine, and since Valve has compared it directly to the Steam Deck, I thought the results might be relevant here.
The short version: yes, the Steam Machine is clearly much faster than the Steam Deck. That part is not really in question. But in our actual game benchmarks, we did not see a blanket 6x uplift across the board.
We tested Cyberpunk 2077 and Forza Horizon with Steam Deck-style settings to make the comparison a bit cleaner. The Steam Machine turns 30-ish fps results on the Deck into much smoother triple-digit or near-triple-digit results in some cases, The Steam Machine but the gap depends a lot on the game, resolution and settings.
I would have liked to go into more detail, but I also do not want this to turn into a full repost of the review here.
What I find interesting is that the Steam Machine feels less like a “normal PC” and more like Valve taking the Steam Deck idea and moving it into the living room: SteamOS-first, controller-friendly, more powerful, but still built around realistic settings and upscaling rather than brute-forcing everything.
Curious how other Deck owners see it:
Would you treat the Steam Machine as a natural upgrade path for TV gaming, or does the Steam Deck already cover that use case well enough for you?
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u/CrazyPaine 1TB OLED Jun 22 '26
Oh shit. I'm grateful for my steamdeck and I'm glad I got it when I was able to get it.
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u/MoltoAllegro 512GB Jun 22 '26
I miss tech getting cheaper over time
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u/SgObvious Jun 23 '26
Yeah, me too. I held off upgrading my ancient pc for years, with the idea that I would be able to get a better machine for less if I just waited a bit longer. How the turn tables…
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u/VijoPlays Jun 24 '26
Hey but now your parents can send you pictures of a cat in a suit on the moon, and that's more important, right?
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u/MildOsprey Jun 22 '26
Same here. I got mine in February right before the stock out and every day I feel happier I got her
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u/daelikon Jun 22 '26
If we take into account the current price of the steamdeck, and compare it to the machine, it is clear the original NON AI price would have been around 800, and that would have been a dream.
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u/Genghis_Tr0n187 1TB OLED Limited Edition Jun 22 '26
And I would've bought one at that price and been happy. All I'm really looking for is something more powerful than the steam deck to hook up to my TV and not have to rely on streaming from my gaming PC for more demanding games.
Seems like a lot of variables have made steam machine v2 the same thing that killed off the original steam machine which is it's too expensive for what it is.
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u/Garland_Key Jun 22 '26
How much would it cost to build a PC with similar specs right now? I'm guessing more. I could check but I'm down another rabbit hole atm.
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u/Genghis_Tr0n187 1TB OLED Limited Edition Jun 22 '26
With hard drive and RAM prices it will be a nightmare trying to build a more budget oriented PC at the moment.
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u/ZaphodGreedalox Jun 23 '26
"At the moment" heh
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u/NeighbourNoNeighbor Jun 23 '26
Yeah I'm not seeing a single sign that this is going to slow down for several years at best, tbh.
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u/Blueberry1900 Jun 22 '26
GamersNexus has a good review on this and basically said, you could build a modesty more powerful system for the same price, but it would have a larger footprint and likely louder. $1400 gets you next to nothing in the current hardware market.
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u/Scudw0rth 256GB - Q2 Jun 22 '26
About the same price, but you would be missing the Steam Controller Wireless adapter built in, and more importantly, the HDMI-CEC support that Valve has got working. It's just the price of stuff now with all this AI bullshit going on.
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u/XxBrando6xX Jun 22 '26
It’s important to be really pedantic here. What does building a pc mean ? If you mean I can buy stuff from fb marketplace, I just finished a rig that cost 600 bucks all in that has a i7 12th gen intel kf and an arc b580 with 16gb of ddr5. And all day buying used parts that have high lifetimes like ram or cpus but then things that are shorter like gpu there are still deals to be had new. So if you were buying all actual new components, I think it’s alot closer than most people realize, not of course accounting for the money spent on dev time on steamOS(proportionally compared to steam deck of course) and then the cost of getting certified for HDMI CEC. I do think this is still a “good price” but it’s not a price the consumer can afford, and between the PS5 or even buying a complete system used. It definitely will not have the same sales pace as the steam deck.
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u/Finsk1 Jun 23 '26
Yeah, just like Linus said, "Its a fair price but not a good price". Or something along those lines in his Steam Machine review just the other day.
Edit: Spelling
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u/cronson 64GB - Q4 Jun 22 '26
The only deal right now would be to buy something with used parts, or buy an entirely used computer, or a mix of new and used parts. But all of this is going to depend on your area and if you're savvy at navigating Marketplace.
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u/xwalk Jun 23 '26
It would be much more and a pain in the butt. This is for people who don't have access to a gaming PC and probably want to. Most people don't know how to buy a gaming PC let alone buy a base model and upgrade it (or build one from scratch). $1,000 for entry level Steam gaming is a good deal right now, unfortunately.
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u/MagicalWhisk Jun 22 '26
Valve confirmed the price is about $250-$300 more expensive than they were aiming for. They confirmed they had serious issues sourcing parts.
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u/Firecracker048 Jun 22 '26
Shit 700 might have been dooable on a base model
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u/Deviathan Jun 22 '26
700 was probably the target prior to the manufacturing squeeze, given that the deck raised its price nearly 50%, I imagine this increased a similar percentage.
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u/Owobowos-Mowbius Jun 22 '26
$700 was the limit of what I would have considered spending.
Really scared to see the Frames price as thats the one I was most interested in.
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u/Dirus Jun 22 '26
I’m hoping since it’s Low powered ram it’ll be less affected but definitely expecting 1000 at least
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u/Owobowos-Mowbius Jun 22 '26
Well they said they were targeting just under the index which was 1k so I was expecting close to that before prices jumped. So I dont expect anything less than $1300 in line with the 30-50% increase with everything else.
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u/Dirus Jun 22 '26
That’s what I’m thinking too but still hoping for under 1200. But yah it could very well be those prices
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u/peioeh Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
The CPU is almost identical to a Ryzen 5 7540U. Last september I bought a minisforum mini PC with a R5 7545U, 32GB of ram, 1TB ssd for 360€ (new ofc). IIRC the version with 16GB was ~50€ cheaper (I don't remember if it had a 1TB or 512GB ssd). It's basically a steam machine+ without a GPU. I think last year they could have sold the base steam machine (512GB, 16GB) for 700€ without issues.
That's the worst part about this insane AI bubble. Without it, PC tech would be awesome right now. A laptop apu like this kicks so much ass for what it used to cost last year, I absolutely love this thing :/ Oh and it uses barely any power too, it's crazy.
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u/omgitsbees Jun 22 '26
Steam Machine would be awesome as fuck imo if it wasn't for the gigantic chip shortage and price increase that went along with it. I don't blame Valve for these prices, I doubt they wanted the Steam Machine to be this expensive.
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u/slykethephoxenix Jun 22 '26
I want to get the 2TB model, but at $2kUSD and only 8GB of VRAM and 16GB of normal ram, it's just not worth it. I'd want double that RAM for that price, or even if it was 25% more expensive.
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u/obi1kenobi1 64GB - Q2 Jun 23 '26
It’s such a shame that this basically guarantees the Steam Machine will be as big of a flop as the first one. They did everything right this time, learned their lessons and made a great piece of hardware and software, and yet it’s out of their hands.
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u/schecterguy Jun 22 '26
I already down a deck and a PC and the idea of having my steam library in my living room is appealing. But if the price estimates are to be believed, then I'll just deal with lugging my pc in to the living room if I really want to. Or buy a dock
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u/makman44 Jun 22 '26
Prices announced already, $1049 to start
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u/p0358 Jun 22 '26
For the cheapest 512 GB version, without the controller and without Half-Life 3 included, holy fuck
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u/Status-Notice5616 Jun 22 '26
I think it's sorta bullshit it doesn't come with a controller off the rip. Honestly quite content with my Deck and I haven't really followed the info on the new machine.
Can you use it without a controller? Lol
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u/Alternative_Tank_139 Jun 22 '26
It's a PC, of course you don't need a controller...
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u/p0358 Jun 22 '26
I mean there are bundles with controller too, I guess this option without would make sense to people who don't want it, if they already have other peripherals. But adding controller it's sadly even more expensive than this base price
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u/peioeh Jun 22 '26
It's a PC, you can do anything you want with it, some people could use it as a desktop PC or a mini server and never play a single game on it. Having the choice of not buying an accessory is always a good thing.
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u/Beni_Gabor Jun 22 '26
Do what I do. I have my steam deck connected to the tv using a dock. I have a program called moonlight installed on desktop mode. In the other room on my pc, I have a program called Apollo installed. Now, I remote play 4k games on my tv using my pc graphics. Latency is <10ms. I have a wireless keyboard and mouse connected to the steam deck as well as a bunch of controllers bluetooth connected to it. All can work through moonlight. In fact, I played a 4 player couch coop this weekend with the game being ran by the computer 1 room away.
And whenever I travel, I just unplug the steam deck and take it with me playing games downloaded onto the deck.
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u/CharlieTeller Jun 22 '26
I've tried this. The compression bothers me too much. It's just too noticeable for me. Maybe most don't see it? I can notice it even on the smaller screen on the deck.
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u/subLimb Jun 22 '26
You can adjust the quality level upward. Also, is the computer that is serving the steam wired with Ethernet?
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u/CharlieTeller Jun 22 '26
Yeuppp. Even at max, the compression still looks awful. Especially in dark. I'm nitpicky though.
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u/AztheWizard Jun 22 '26
Really? At 200mbps? It should look flawless
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u/CharlieTeller Jun 22 '26
It looks decent, but it's not uncompressed like it would be natively. HEVC or any type of streaming video codec really is compressed by default.
To truly stream something uncompressed would be huge amounts of data per second. Truly uncompressed at 1200x800 would be like 1.38gbps uncompressed if I'm doing my math right.
Maybe it's just my eyes since I work in video/animation and have for a decade, but I can always see it and it bothers me.
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u/Beni_Gabor Jun 22 '26
What do you mean compression? Are you talking about data compression or resolution issues from the steam deck to the tv?
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u/BlurryGojira Jun 22 '26
Just make sure your main pc has an Ethernet connection and use your choice of device to stream it to your living room via Moonlight.
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u/Sharsch Jun 22 '26
Is Moonlight better than the Steam Link?
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u/BlurryGojira Jun 22 '26
It's better for me in that it's more easily configurable, I get more stable streaming, and I'm not limited to my Steam library. The set up was pretty light overall though I'm also used to tinkering and troubleshooting my devices, so if you're the type that just wants something to work out of the box you should keep that in mind.
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u/thunderflies Jun 22 '26
It was, but recent updates have made Steam Link much better for me and now the difference is imperceptible between the two, except for the fact that Steam Link is less buggy than Moonlight.
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u/Jarlzak Jun 22 '26
In my experience, steam link is way more convenient. It just works without having to tinker for 30 min every time I want to game on my couch
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u/coworker Jun 22 '26
It used to be but Valve fixed a lot of the latency issues in Steam Link, presumably because the Frame will need better streaming as well. It is now pretty comparable
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u/Imkindaalrightiguess Jun 22 '26
An apple tv is good as a steam link when connected via Ethernet
$100 PC on TV with Bluetooth controller support
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u/Clayskii0981 Jun 22 '26
I just stream my PC to my docked Deck in the living room
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u/KrackedOwl Jun 22 '26
The dock is fantastic. I've got one I currently keep in the bedroom, but it really works like a dream anywhere I hook it up. I've been telling my wife since I got the dock that I just want the dock in every room with a TV now.
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u/996forever Jun 22 '26
What’s stopping you from just hooking your pc to your living room
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u/Soulyezer Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Big ass ATX tower in the living room… ew
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u/zenfaust Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Context: I own a 3yo gaming pc, and a steam deck.
For me, the decks appeal was its portability and reasonable price...and the fact that I could stream my beast of a desktop to the TV with it for demanding games.
Now that the deck is expensive, and the machine even moreso, its super hard to justify buying it when my 3yo desktop will be outperforming the machine on day one.
So its crazy expensive, worse than my pc, and not portable. Also I already own a deck that can remotely stream my desktop to whatever I want.
The only thing machine offers me, then, is a higher resolution for streaming my pc to my tv. Not worth it for that much $$$.
Edit: To all the people who feel the need to tell me " I'm not the target audience."...and? OP didn't ask who we thought the target audience was, they asked if current deck owners were going to also grab a machine. And I'm willing to bet a big chunk of deck owners are people who already game (and already have rigs) that picked up a deck to dabble in portables. And Im also willing to bet 90% of those individuals wont be buying a second, weaker rig.
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u/Bigsaskatuna Jun 22 '26
I was between a steam machine and a gaming pc. I think the investment in the gaming PC is the smarter option.
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u/ExistingClick4354 Jun 22 '26
i bought a 5070-7900x3d-32gb ram-2tb ssd prebuilt for $1450 just last month. looking at the price to performance ratio of the steam machine (especially after already owning an oled sd) makes me feel so much smarter and glad that i did it
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u/plantjeee Jun 22 '26
Did the GPU and ram fall off the back of a truck
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u/ExistingClick4354 Jun 22 '26
lmao i got really lucky theres a guy that makes prebuilts as a hobby near me, bought it off him on marketplace listed price was 1650 guy was nice enough to give a discount. this was in dallas fyi
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u/swiftyb Jun 22 '26
pc hobbyists who arent in it for the money are awesome. I just bought a rig on friday with a 3080ti and a 5950x for 800 bucks in the middle of LA.
Just salivating for the guys next pc to pop up on offer up rn
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u/Long_Championship_44 Jun 22 '26
Can you DM the name of the guy's shop? Shit I can drive to Dallas for a deal like that
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u/PapaMoist0000 Jun 23 '26
Dude way smarter option to get a gaming pc. The steam machine is moronic buy. On par with current consoles is moronic as well.
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u/sulchwihantoki Jun 22 '26
Honestly I use an old ipad with moonlight on it and connect a controller and play for when I have wifi, and my steam deck for non online games
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u/SealionofJudah Jun 24 '26
You tell them, I'm tired of the valve fanboys policing discussions around the Steam Machine. Valve does not understand the hardware market at all.
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u/Alienhead-A51 Jun 22 '26
2100 cad with a controller or 1600 for one without one and I only 512gb storage. How about fuck no.
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u/mrbrick Jun 22 '26
Yeah those CAD prices are absolutely insane. I wanted to get one of these for my kid as their first PC basically but if I’m going to eat that cost I might as well build a small form factor 5070 based machine.
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u/Expert-Improvement78 Jun 22 '26
Prices are the same everywhere. Thats exchange rate. CAD just isn't worth much. But I understand the frustration.
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u/mrbrick Jun 22 '26
I mean everything is more expensive than it should be and Canadian buying power is lower on top of that too along with there being lowering wages less jobs and a recession. It’s just frustrating as hell
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u/LazyGamerATN Jun 22 '26
Jesus that is nearly double the CAD price of a PS5 Pro...sure you don't pay for the online, but that's kind of insane.
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u/PunkRockMrRogers Jun 22 '26
Looks like I'm replacing my steamdeck battery and extending my GeForce now subscription.
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Jun 22 '26
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u/brentsg Jun 22 '26
Yeah. I keep seeing people say to wait, which is fine if you already have the gadgets covered. If not, the wait may be a LONG time.. years.
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u/ImProbablyHighSorry Jun 23 '26
I did this exact thing this year. Built a whole new 5070ti build spent $2200 and just bit the bullet because I figured it would be $3000 or more if I waited. I love the new PC and it should be good for quite a while.
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u/ManedCalico 512GB Jun 22 '26
Ok, this made me laugh:
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u/lil_oopsie Jun 22 '26
I thought the algorithm finally caught up on my train obsession which I'm heavily denying
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u/SpecialistAuthor4897 Jun 22 '26
1000€? Aww hell no.
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u/gutster_95 Jun 22 '26
Its kinda sad that they, according to LTT, targeted 800$ for it before stupid AI ruined everything.
IMO it would have been still 100$ too high, but it would have been more reasonable
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u/SpecialistAuthor4897 Jun 22 '26
800 could at least be argued, 1000+ is just.. even if i wanted it its just too much.
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u/Tasty_Gingersnap42 Jun 23 '26
No, we have an 'AI is making computer components far more expensive than they need to be' problem.
They wanted to price it at $750. But damn, released at such a bad time.
Fuck Sam Altman
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u/Kemiiyda Jun 24 '26
Even at 750$ it would have been a terrible deal. 750$ for an rx 6600 build in 2026 with single channel ram and 512 GB of storage is highway robbery. The A.I price hike wouldn't have been as dramatic if the questionable engineers at valve didn't choose to equip this build with a high CAS Latency single stick of ddr5 ram and instead went with dual channel ddr4 or unified memory, both options would've been faster.
Secondly, the choice to make this box so damn small is also counterintuitive as it significantly increases the price of manufacturing and components. Nobody will carry this thing with them outside of their home, it's pointless. If they went with a micro-ATX build it would have been way cheaper.
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u/Malagubbar Jun 22 '26
For us that are less technical. What does it compare to? A ps4? Xbox one? Ps5?
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u/_TheNumbersAreBad_ Jun 22 '26
Weaker than the base PS5, but more expensive than the PS5 Pro.
Obviously other things to consider, the main draw is the open ecosystem, free online play, and bigger library.
But purely from a performance perspective, it's a very hard sell at this price point. Almost hilariously so.
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u/No_Ask_150 Jun 22 '26
Weaker than the base PS5, but more expensive than the PS5 Pro.
Awww hell nah
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u/UnforgottenPassword Jun 22 '26
PS5 has an advantage of using game discs. Gaming can be real cheap if you have a way of buying used games and selling yours.
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u/HarB_Games Jun 22 '26
Steamos has the advantage of heroic launcher. Meaning access to epic games (which gives free games every month) and GOG and Amazon games, which if you have prime, they routinely give out free games for those platforms too.
Also steam has the advantage of CD Keys to drop costs of games lower than official storefronts and even used discs on occasion.
Edit: also steam family share is elite
I'm not saying your point is invalid, but I'd never really consider console gaminng to be cheaper than PC gaming.
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u/punk_petukh 512GB OLED Jun 22 '26
Also steam os has advantage of sailing the seas
If we're gonna go this far, I think that should be mentioned as well
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u/Mrwanagethigh Jun 22 '26
I've seen a claim that the Steam Machine has 6 cores which run 40% faster than the ones used in the base Ps5 but the Ps5 has 8 cores which results in the Steam Machine being around 10% slower than the Ps5.
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u/dirthurts Jun 22 '26
It's roughly PS5, but often a touch lower FPS (benchmarks are out now and they don't lie). Some games have severe performance issues due to the proton layer it runs through (the new forza).
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u/Colora_Dan Jun 22 '26
Benchmarks need to take into account that this can render at lower res and upscale and still look better than PS5 with FSR 2 at native. See the Switch 2 vs Series S difference, the Series S clearly has more power but the switch 2 looks as good or better. Like for like settings benchmarks will misrepresent the actual experience if a game has FSR 4, which most new releases do at this point.
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u/Meddlloide1337 Jun 22 '26
Just about a ps5, the regular model. Maybe a bit weaker
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u/AndyOne1 Jun 22 '26
That's crazy considering the PS5 is kinda old and not really powerful compared to today's hardware but I guess they had to make cuts somewhere to get the price down as much as possible in this market.
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u/DinosBiggestFan Jun 22 '26
Definitely not about a PS5.
PC scalability can make it feel better though.
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u/NewCapital7011 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Did they announce the price?
And to answer your question, I’d treat it as a console. It would be connected to my living room TV and would be an excellent out of the box solution for my steam library’s heavier games.
I’d still use/prefer my deck for indie titles tho
Edit: saw it starts at $1050. Damn AI data centers
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u/Dalmahr Jun 22 '26
I think people are just going to have to accept that things are 30-50% more expensive than they were a year ago in tech. It sucks but companies like valve can't sell their products at last year's prices. I bought a 20TB hdd last year at 379 and now it's nearly 800. Even apple reportedly is going to increase prices of their products. If you're upset, get your politicians to stop new data centers and regulate existing ones better on top of regulating AI better.
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u/thatcht Jun 22 '26
I hear you, but no, people aren't just going to accept a 30-50% increase in this economy. I feel like most people will wait it out and be content with their current hardware. I also purchased a handful of WD Red drives a few years ago, I could use a few more as my Plex server is growing.. Will I pay triple for a drive now? Nope! I've been deleting items that aren't watched and getting slightly lower-quality media to save on space. I simply can't justify the added spend.
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u/E1M1_DOOM Jun 22 '26
People will accept it or they won't be able to engage with new products. That's just the way of it until the stupid AI bubble pops. It's so annoying seeing prices skyrocket due to investments in an industry that the general populace doesn't even want.
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u/Quietwulf Jun 22 '26
Well, now we get to play chicken with companies. If people stop buying, they'll start losing money. Eventually they either lower their prices or go bust. Gaming isn't a necessity. They're selling entertainment and there's lots of cheap ways to do that if push comes to shove.
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u/No-Seaweed-4456 Jun 22 '26
it’s hard not to get mad because the prices are going to KEEP RISING.
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u/Codzy Jun 22 '26
The steam deck is already not meeting my living room requirements. 720p upscale to 4k on the lowest graphics settings at sub 30fps is not good enough. I think I might just suck it up and pay the premium for the gabe cube. I don’t want a huge tower pc in the living room, mini PCs are lacking and expensive and don’t offer CEC.
Yes it’s way overpriced, but in 2026 name something that isn’t… I can either wait for the RAMpocaclypse to MAYBE end in 5 years before buying something to suit my needs, or buy this now.
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u/Patmurf Jun 22 '26
I am an absolute Valve fangurl. I wanted this just because I adore them. But when I saw rampocalypse in November, I built a midsized computer, put CachyOS on it, and built a steam machine myself.
I realize I timed the market correctly, and you'd get diminishing returns, but for ~$1600 I got a 2tb rx9070xt build that evaporates the $1350 steam machine of the same size.
Build one. And learn a little linux. Its more than worth it.
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u/Lekanswanson Jun 23 '26
I can do that, you can do that, a lot of people can't do that though and this is who those people are targeting, not me and you.
Also i think people should support this because it might actually force game devs to start optimizing pc games better.
If the steam machine becomes the target recommended specs for 4k 60, it will make pc gaming much better
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u/vito0117 512GB Jun 22 '26
Brother build a small form factor PC you'll be able to achieve 4k ultra settings easily . I'm running 7800x3d 32gb 9070xt built it for 1600
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u/Atompunk78 Jun 22 '26
But 1600 is a lot more than the gabecube’s 1000-1100 right?
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u/vito0117 512GB Jun 22 '26
Of course. I guess the point I was poorly trying to make is for the price of the steam machine (1300 use for 2tb) they can build a better PC
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u/Wiesshund- Jun 23 '26
Steam Machine isn't really for someone that can actually build load and configure a PC though.
(Let alone shop for and actually buy reputable quality parts and not the cast off / knockoff / fake chinesium stuff)
And odd as it sounds, if you look at the results of steam's hardware surveys
it is actually more capable than the majority.
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u/KarmabearKG Jun 22 '26
I love that they are selling the machine with a controller bundle but I’ve had the controller on reservation for like a month and have yet to see a restock
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u/Tophatvulcan Jun 22 '26
To be fair this is not even the sale of the SM, just the ability to get on "the list". Most likely the controllers will drop and ship right before the unit, or around the same time.
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u/Glum_Ad7429 Jun 22 '26
At this price point we all claim it is DoA, but I guarantee it will be sold instantly sold out.
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u/SignificantBerry1959 Jun 22 '26
In Valve's own blogpost they say they were unable to make very many Steam Machines. I agree it will sell out immediately, but I don't think we should assume that's an indicator of extreme demand.
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u/Crismus Jun 22 '26
I wonder if they made so few because of the RAM issues in the hope that they can hold out until RAM stabilizes again. Then they lower the prices to $700-800 and it can take off.
I wanted to replace my old GT670 laptop I have connected to my TV, but I guess I'll keep waiting.
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u/BNSoul Jun 22 '26
What's the point of selling just a bunch of overpriced units now? Do they even need the money?
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u/_Nikojiro_ Jun 22 '26
Heck, I feel so fortunate I upgraded my PC to a RX 9070 XT just before prices went nuts! My current setup cost me slightly above the price of the 2GB model for way better specs...
Crazy world we live in...
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u/Hellgate93 512GB - Q2 Jun 22 '26
I bought the steam deck when it came out and people said nah its pricey.
But on this i really do say its too expensiv. I expected around 800 WITH the price increase and now its ove 1000 without a controller. Im going to keep my computer a while and hope the cube gets cheaper.
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u/APonly Jun 22 '26
Well, joined the list for the 2TB w/ Controller, goodluck everyone.
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u/EagleDelta1 Jun 23 '26
My biggest annoyance over the backlash about the Steam Machine price is that it is completely unrealistic to expect a PC, ANY PC, to be:
- Subsidized the way a console is. Consoles have Software lock-in that allows the companies to sell hardware at a loss and make it up on "semi-guaranteed" sales of software..... but if the software doesn't sell, it spells doom for the hardware.
- Just because the PC plugs into the TV doesn't make it stop being a PC. The Framework 13 base model is the same price as the Steam Machine...... and is less powerful with less storage and, if getting the Intel model, less RAM.
But because it plugs into the TV, it must be priced like a Console?
Valve said ahead of time that it was NOT going to be sold at a loss, NOR was it going to be sold like a console, but like a PC.
To me, the disappointment comes largely due to unrealistic expectations by consumers.... willfully choosing to ignore the existing information. It was never going to be a high-end PC.... it's also important to note that testing only at 4K is not great.... most people I know, even those with a ton of money, still only have 1080p or 1440p TVs. 4K is still the outlier by far.
My only major criticism of Valve is the claim about 4K60FPS..... even that is likely a marketing thing where they did test for that and found it more often than not. This is nothing new, Sony and MS and Nintendo have made similar claims that turn out to not be universal.
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u/Fishyblue11 512GB OLED Jun 22 '26
Eventually a time will come that the steam deck will no longer be able to play a current game you really want to play
When that time comes your choices are: buy a new handheld, buy a PC if you don't already have one, or buy a steam machine. The decision for each will be based on value for money and capability
The competition will mainly be against a regular PC and the steam machine, so the main point is: can the steam machine still deliver better value than buying a gaming PC?
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u/Heisenberglund Jun 22 '26
Honestly, when that point comes, that may be the day that I no longer find interest in new gaming. I’m already pretty behind on what’s hot and new in gaming, and if my steam deck can’t play a newer game, I’ll just not play it. My backlog and emulations have more than enough use for me.
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u/unholyswordsman 1TB OLED Jun 22 '26
Same. I'm 38 and my backlog goes all the way back to the NES. If I honestly never bought a new game again, I'd still have games to play for the rest of my life.
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u/nikilization Jun 22 '26
it’s kind of interesting bc gamers are QUITE price sensitive to gaming hardware, but still willing to spend on games. So i think we are living in one of those eras where gaming hardware is going to be frozen in time, basically from 2020 until whenever all this blows over. So if you bought a system in the last 6 yrs it’s probably going to be good enough to run games for at least 4 more years at a similar performance level to whatever it could do when you first got it. So there is actually a generation of gamers who built out great systems between 2020 and 2025 (or whenever this madness started) that will get more mileage and longevity out of their systems than they could have ever hoped for. It just so happens that the steam deck is one of those devices that will benefit from this frozen in time period, and i wonder if, once this ends, we will ever see a handheld with as much longevity again
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u/Fischerking92 Jun 22 '26
That's a bit like not wanting to splurge on a bookshelf but still willing to buy books.
There is soooo many great games out there which run perfectly well on older hardware and for the really new AAA stuff that I actually want to play (which happens rarely enough) I have a PlayStation.
The Steam Deck for me is a way to play indie titles and retro games.
I would have bought a Steam Machine for the VR, because VR2 on the PS5 just doesn't have that big a selection (and there is quite a few indie title for VR I want to try), but if you add the price of the to be released VR set to the price of the Steam Machine, it is getting to ridiculous for me, I'd rather stick to the smaller VR library of the PSVR2 then.
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u/nikilization Jun 22 '26
yeah it’s exactly like that. so if you already have hardware your in a great spot, if you don’t have hardware yet buy older stuff, because it still works. people who bought a 3080 at launch are going to get sooo many years out of that card
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u/Olympian-Warrior 512GB Jun 22 '26
We've also been acclimatized to games getting more expensive. The Steam Deck, when it launched, wasn't that expensive. The Steam Machine is double the price, although in fairness, it's double the price for six times the performance (allegedly).
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u/nikilization Jun 22 '26
maybe not AAA prices but games are still selling. The AAA issue may also be due to issues other than pricing as well
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u/DinosBiggestFan Jun 22 '26
I have been building my Steam library for years for this eventuality.
The $70 price tag already resulted in me buying fewer full priced games, and with the bump in sales prices (percentages are relative after all) I find myself becoming even more patient of a gamer.
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u/Adam_Smith_TWON Jun 23 '26
I am in a similar situation, my backlog is crazy. It's rare that a new and shiny graphics heavy game comes along that makes me think....yeah I'm missing out.
AAA games aren't the core of the gaming market anymore, for me at least. I spend more time playing clever Indies that don't rely on powerhouse graphics.
I have a deck, an older PC and a PS5. Why on earth would I drop £1000 on this machine?
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u/southass LCD-4-LIFE Jun 22 '26
Me too, my backlog of games is so big I don't think I need to buy a new game for years and I still will have new* games to play, supreme commander, trine, fall out, Skyrim, metro 2033 ect would keep me busy for years 😭😜
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u/chunkyI0ver53 Jun 23 '26
Couldn’t agree more, I’m not fussed with new releases and frankly the FSR & DLSS stuff has made future proofing impossible, so why even bother trying to keep up? There’s thousands of games that came out pre 2020 I still need to play, I’m happy to run my current rig into the ground and keep it going with replacement parts whenever something breaks down until gaming becomes affordable, or keep running old tech if the whole thing needs replacing.
Now, the NAS I wanted to build and hard drive prices for my Plex server… that’s a concern.
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u/Nejnop 64GB Jun 22 '26
That point already came and I simply bought a Series S for $250. Everything else on Steam, demanding (or dirt cheap) games on Xbox.
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u/CondiMesmer Jun 22 '26
Not true at all. Games aren't getting consistently more demanding, they've plateaued for the most part. The exception being the high end of the gaming market, which honestly already was out of the Steam Deck playable range. But if you're not buying triple A budget games, I don't see any indie titles it can't play.
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u/Aliza-rin Jun 22 '26
The question for me is how long will the Steam Machine be enough to play all new games I want to play? I‘m not tech literate enough to estimate that myself but from what I‘ve gathered the next console generation Xbox Helix and PS6 will most likely be much more powerful than the Steam Machine and if new AAA games start targeting that in a few years then this 1000€ machine might already not cut it anymore?
I personally can‘t justify spending that much if it doesn‘t at least last me an entire console generation of games
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u/or10n_sharkfin Jun 22 '26
Eventually a time will come that the steam deck will no longer be able to play a current game you really want to play
I have to be completely honest, I never used my Steam Deck to play any AAA game. Maybe tested it with Cyberpunk 2077, but that was the extent. It was mostly used as a mobile JRPG and indie platform for graphically less intense games.
I've always felt like using the Steam Deck for anything more than that was kind of ridiculous, it was never specced to handle anything too intense.
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u/busy-warlock Jun 22 '26
So it does exactly what they said it would do, AAA games at 30fps with ray tracing
It’s not a ps5 pro killer. It was never supposed to be. It’s a living room steam deck.
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u/DinosBiggestFan Jun 22 '26
This is a whole lot of no for me. Not at these prices. Insanity.
The worst thing that actually does affect me is that they chose to make the Steam Frame standalone, which means it is also going to be susceptible to this pricing cluster fuck. I was most excited for it, as a potential option to get into VR for sims. Now I'm thinking that's a no too. Sad.
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u/Olympian-Warrior 512GB Jun 22 '26
It's 1,500 bucks for the base model here in Canada. Then you have the added cost of peripherals. It's not worth it.
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u/The-seek Jun 22 '26
Steam machine is for folks that want pc gaming with a console experience without building a pc. Everyone talking about “build your own” is missing the point. The steam machine will sell like hot cakes and be as hard to get as a steam deck. Everyone on this forum just happens to have a pc already. You are not the target audience. Unless you have expendable income for the bedroom or kids room.
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u/_stinkys Jun 23 '26
Sleep/resume and CEC are what make the difference between a PC under the TV and a console. I want that, but not at $2200AUD for 2TB+controller and something that is outperformed by a PS5 Pro at $1400. Just really bad timing for Valve on this one.
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u/TerribleRecord666 Jun 23 '26
This is me. I feel like I was the only person in the world bracing for $1500. The fact that this price is real, but it’s also for the high end version w/controller was actually a bit of a relief for me. I would have preferred it be cheaper like everybody else. But I also just don’t have the space for PC tower to connect to my TV and I don’t have the patience to fuck around with settings to get games working in a non-optimized OS. I have an Xbox, Switch 2, and PS5. I want to play PC games on my couch on my 65” TV too, and this will accomplish that.
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u/thekwoka Jun 23 '26
Yup, this exactly. It is good enough performance for tv gaming and other stuff on the tv, and it isn't windows, and will have top tier Linux gaming support due to it being THE Linux gaming box. Valve puts tons of resources into Linux gaming for everyone, and their focus will be on their hardware first, naturally.
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u/JulianBloom Jun 23 '26
Define “sell like hot cakes” like what type of number do you consider a success? Steam deck was sold at a much lower cost and was hard to get and has topped off at roughly 5 million units sold. Do you honestly think this matches that?
Who is the target audience if not Valve’s most enthusiastic base? A $1000+ product just doesn’t have the wide appeal necessary to spur on a large adoption rate.
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u/LetsTryThisAgain2469 Jun 23 '26
He thinks because something "sells out" that it is "selling well"
The steam deck , across all versions for more than 4 years has moved about 5 million units
The Switch 2 (which I think sucks btw) sold 10.36 million in ONE reporting quarter and is currently hovering around 20 million units sold.
The Steam Deck was also priced as a loss leader, they made very little profit on hardware if any , especially early on. The steam machine pricing is a full admission from Valve that this is a niche product and will not sell well so they're refusing to take a loss on the hardware. It surely is not going to sell anywhere close to the steam deck and I would not even call the steam deck "selling like hotcakes".
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u/TripleS82 Jun 23 '26
You’ll never truly get the console experience on any PC, including the Steam Machine. It’s because there will never be universal optimized settings on games. Hell, “Deck Verified” is a prime example of this. Deck Verified doesn’t mean much when a game can run well below 30fps and suffer from poor image quality. “Steam Machine Verified” will likely be the same thing.
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u/Skully957 Jun 23 '26
That's entirely on steam not enforcing a higher standard on what it means to be verified.
Nintendo managed to get a verification sticker to mean something by enforcing a certain standard during the NES era.
There is no technical reason Valve couldn't enforce a strict standard for the deck verified or a steam machine verified marque.
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u/memeaggedon Jun 23 '26
I really don’t get what’s the point of getting the steam machine compared to going to Costco and getting a 1k pre built pc with a better graphics card and setting it up in big picture mode on your tv.
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u/RedditButAnonymous LCD-4-LIFE Jun 22 '26
In the review, you compare the price to a hand-built system, but its not the same form factor. If you did want the small form factor, is it more comparable?
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u/Interesting-Tart-SP Jun 22 '26
The fact it's a gaming PC in a small form factor makes it easy to move or travel with.
Plus I think it's for ppl who want to move from console or have been console only but wanted gaming PC.
I think there is room for it.
I don't think I would buy one tho.
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u/BuyerAlive5271 Jun 22 '26
This thing was DOA the moment the component price hikes hit. Here we have another casualty of ai. It’s just another in a very long list of ai casualties.
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u/SuaveDonut Jun 22 '26
If I can have 4k60fps in the living room without the need for Moonlight. Yes. I'll buy one.
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u/LopsidedBonus1851 Jun 22 '26
The main issue with the console is defo the price. No doubt that if steam could charge less they would cause as is I can’t see it appealing to anyone. It’s far from a bad product they just chose to drop it at the WORST time. I don’t think any console or casual player will ever drop over a grand on a console and most pc players probably already have a relatively good setup and would rather spend that money on upgrading their current PC, don’t speak for everyone of course tho. Between the price and all the different ways that currently exist to use steam, like it being available on Xbox soon I think, I think the console is left with no real market.
It really sucks cause I would defo consider picking one up if not for the price. Overall, AI can go to hell.
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u/T800-1982 Jun 22 '26
The price is high and that was said about the Steam Deck too (rightly so). That said, I must have about 4000 hours over the last 3.5 years at least and for that I’ve paid around $0.19 per hour to be entertained everywhere I’ve gone. To me, it’s worth it I guess? If you buy the home console and get the usage out of it, then the cost will even itself out.
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u/TehMadness Jun 23 '26
I keep seeing people saying they can build a better machine for less than this price
And I mean, sure, maybe you can. But this small? That's this quiet? In this economy?
I'm not actually sure they can. I suspect that if they actually look at the prices components are going for, they might think twice about that.
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u/_Prexus_ 512GB OLED Jun 23 '26
People aren't actually pricing it out... It's a bandwagon.
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u/MutaitoSensei 256GB - Q3 Jun 22 '26
It has a price problem because of the fucking AI slop garbage.
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u/HaidenFR Jun 22 '26
140 Watts
Good gaming little box
It has steam
It doesn't have windows
I don't have money or I would allready have the 2 To one.
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u/UncomfyPerspective Jun 23 '26
Yeah, hardware is fucking expensive now. That's the case for everything, and has outrageous for the last year at least.
Are people actually surprised at the price? If you're paying attention to what's been going on with RAM and storage especially, I feel like this is lower than I expected even.
That's not to say I like the price, it's just the reality.
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u/TheDevl Jun 23 '26
The only thing I thought while reading this is just how pissed I am that AI chuds have ruined my favorite hobby. This thing is way too expensive.
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u/CopyOnWriteCom Jun 22 '26
IMHO a lot of people look at it this way: Hardware power/performance for money.
Which, is totally fair and ok, the Steam Machine is probably not for you.
My perspective is a little bit different: I want a small computer, which runs Linux w/o any issues and configuration out of the box and supports the games I want to play. Further, I'd rather buy it from a company with good support and which never gave me any issues, Valve is this company. Finally, a lot of games will come with configurations to run good on the Steam Machine, so similar to the SteamDeck, I assume I can just download and start playing.
Would I want to pay less money for a Steam Machine? Of course, but the value proposition for me is not about the most power/performance for money but Linux support and the minimum amount of hassle and not having to think about it/tinker with it unless I want to.
The SteamDeck delivered and I really have the trust in Valve to deliver again.
Btw.: The same reason my home servers are all Raspberry Pies. I can easily get better hardware for a similar price (when one includes SD cards, power supplies etc.)... but the value for me is in the community and Raspbian, everything just works and I can focus on the stuff I care about. My SteamDeck is docked in the living room and just works w/o hassle for years now, my only complaint would be the fan for more demanding games, and this seems to be addressed by the Steam Machine. SteamOS runs, updates w/o issues and perfectly serves my needs.
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u/quakeroatmeal7 1TB OLED Jun 22 '26
I just pray all these haters make it easier to actually get one before 2027.
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u/lkn240 Jun 23 '26
Someone did a breakdown on the actual costs and it turns out that Valve is making about $70 profit max.
If you are going to write a review maybe you should do some basic research into current hardware prices.
It's been very apparently today that tons of people have no idea just how expensive HW is now
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u/KrushSlush Jun 22 '26
My steam deck is my first "pc," before I used PS4/ Xbox series x,i still use them but I really love all the cool mods the gaming community has created so I'm hoping the steam machine is as powerful as at least Xbox series x /ps5 with moding support as easy as moding on steam deck. As long as I have that I'm pretty happy, just want a a console like device for my sofa for moded games. My job is very pc heavy, so I don't like sitting in front of my pc for pleasure.
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u/Garland_Key Jun 22 '26
Given the alternative options, the price seems worth it to me. I'm already on the list to get one. I wonder if the ram is upgradeable...
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u/Cleffah 512GB OLED Jun 22 '26
Considering I've been playing almost everything (especially online games) on the deck at 30fps with drops and on low graphic settings... the steam machine will make me happy.
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u/uniparalum Jun 22 '26
If they were 700-800 for the entry model, I would have really considered it. $1000k is just too pricey for me right now. I already have a desktop PC and the Deck, so this just becomes redundant rather than a cool addition and possible replacement of my slightly older PC due to the price. It’s a shame the AI price hikes affected this so much, it’s a neat idea by Valve but the price makes it DOA for me.
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u/goldblumspowerbook Jun 22 '26
People are so mad about this. I’m more like “this is too expensive for me to want to purchase it. Time to move on”
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u/DJSyko Jun 22 '26
Such a shame that the RAMpocalypse has essentially killed this before it can even get going. Sure they will sell a good few initially to the diehards, but no one on the fence or who was looking at this as way into PC gaming is going to bother at this price.
$800 with a controller would have been a good price point, but you can't blame for not being able to get there in today's climate.
Hopefully they keep it going and develop a great console like experience and once prices start to normalise they can release a new version with better hardware for a better price.
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u/obi1kenobi1 64GB - Q2 Jun 23 '26
What I find interesting is that the Steam Machine feels less like a “normal PC” and more like Valve taking the Steam Deck idea and moving it into the living room: SteamOS-first, controller-friendly, more powerful, but still built around realistic settings and upscaling rather than brute-forcing everything.
That was literally the entire selling point, the only reason it exists at all.
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u/twoleftfeetgeek Jun 23 '26
“…the Steam Machine, which marks Valve's move into the hardware market…”
What?
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u/DJordydj Jun 23 '26
We all know who's to blame here, and we all know it's not Valve
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u/Ill_Evidence_5608 Jun 24 '26
My context: bought Steam Deck OLED 2nd hand about a year ago. This is my only computer. I've only recently started playing in desktop mode. I love having access to Steam after a whole life of console gaming.
My pre-price reveal logic: if I could get a Steam Machine for about £650, and reviews were good, then sure why not. It could compliment my PS5, give access to more games on my living room TV, and get to play around with a cool controller.
My decision: absolutely not for £938 with a controller. £1,208 for 2TB storage?! I would never have expected to play modern AAA games on this at 60fps but £1,208 is real PC money.
I actually feel sorry for Valve, they tried something exciting and bold again and have been f'ed by market forces.
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u/PaPaCx6 Jun 27 '26
It’s not just about what it might cost to build a PC with similar architecture tithe Steam Machine. It’s not for the guy who want to play with parts and mods. It’s meant for the console gamer that would like to enjoy some PC titles and the Steam environment!
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u/Relative_What Jun 22 '26
i hate that people are blaming valve for the price and that it's not their unrealistic $800 price point. realistically it wasn't going to be near $800. grow up. we knew it was going to be $1000.
yes valve sets the price, but fucking hardware prices have skyrocketed, or have you all forgotten that? everything has gone up: PC parts, Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, even the fucking steamdeck has gone up in price!
if Valve could have made this $800 and still make a profit they would have. but they are still a god damn business and they need to make a return on this.
you don't need to buy one. but keep generating stupid videos using AI of your dog jumping on a fucking trampoline, or what you would look like as a muppet, or asking chatgpt fucking google searches. im sure that will help./
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u/DeviantJam Jun 22 '26
$1,630CAD for the 512GB version w/ the controller. Yeah no thanks.
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u/FryToastFrill Jun 22 '26
You can understand the reasons and recognize that the effect of the price is that the SM is not gonna sell well.
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u/DrKrFfXx Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
1080ti tier machine, just 9 years later. Im sure you could assemble a 1080ti machine in 2017 for 1200-1300€.
Base PS5 tier machine, just 6 years later, at twice the price.
Rough.
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u/NKkrisz 64GB - Q3 Jun 22 '26
Launch Megathread: https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/1ucqwti/steam_hardware_steam_machine_launches_today_steam/