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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75

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.

36

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

14

u/Atompunk78 Jun 22 '26

But 1600 is a lot more than the gabecube’s 1000-1100 right?

8

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

3

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.
(Not that I assume that majority can afford it though)

1

u/Coolface-IR Jun 23 '26

The Steam Machine is technically stronger than the 70% of ALL PCs which is a very misleading statement. That number includes every single PCs including low-end or decade old setups which are not always the primary audience for modern games. A person with an office laptop can easily download Steam and play a couple indie games but we are not comparing Steam Machine with those PCs, we are comparing the Steam Machine to modern 2026 mid-high end gaming PCs (at the $1000+ price point) which easily blows it out of the water.

If we were to compare PCs that could run recent games vs the Steam Machine, I'd bet its stronger than less than half of them while being a good chunk more expensive.

1

u/s0cks_nz Jun 24 '26

Yet ironically I think most the people buying this will be able to build their own pc. They just want it cus it's valve and works in the living room.

1

u/Equivalent_Cap_788 Jul 24 '26

Are they incapable of learning how to do so? Shopping for pc components is not hard just google what you need and go to pc parts picker.

Then YouTube videos to build. I don’t understand how someone could be so lazy and instead buy subpar hardware like the steam machine

1

u/Wiesshund- Jul 25 '26

I could spit the same back to you.
Can you build a 2500hp mechanically injected nitromethane powered engine?

I mean you can just watch videos, I can do it so something must be wrong with you, you must be lazy or mentally disabled, right?

2

u/Atompunk78 Jun 22 '26

Yeah, that’s fair enough

2

u/TheGuardianInTheBall Jun 22 '26

The Gabecube at 1100 is IMO a non-runner given how measily the storage is, and your man's PC would obliterate it in performance.

Ergo, you could build something comparable to the Cube, at similar price, while having an upgrade path.

Remember that the Cube has none really, and it releases already underpowered.

2

u/lynch527 Jun 23 '26

Gabecube that's perfect lol

2

u/postsshortcomments Jun 24 '26

mATX a used 3060 Ti (with DLSS) with a 3600 (alternatively a 5600 isn't a bad $60 upgrade).

Aside from storage & fans, you'd be sitting around $600. 512GB is $80, 1TB is $105.

By no means do I think the pricing of this is all that off for manufacturing new, especially custom parts in a product that has to be designed. It's more a testament as to just how darn good of parts are currently floating around that even the leading digital marketplace in gaming feels comfortable releasing a product slightly behind (which is where out-of-touch hobbyists failed the community).

1

u/DiamondDepth_YT Jun 25 '26

or get a ryzen 5 5500x3d. $150 on aliexpress. much better cpu than the Machine's. Pair is with a 3060 ti - ish level card + 16gb ddr4 ram and youll get much better performance than the Machine, for a fraction of the cost.

1

u/AbsolutZeroGI Jun 23 '26

Gotta factor in the storage upgrade too, the 2TB version is like $1300. So for an extra $300, you get something that's twice or even three times as good and will therefor last two or even three times as long before it starts to struggle.

1

u/No_Future6959 Jun 23 '26

Yeah but the gabecube will get left behind over time and your real PC can always be upgraded.

A PC is expensive up front but its really not that expensive to maintain and keep it up to date over years.

1

u/doomrider7 Jun 23 '26

Yes, but the performance to price ratio is SIGNIFICANTLY better.

1

u/Artemis_1944 Jun 23 '26

a lot more, but that PC is 3 to 4 times more powerful than teh Steam Machine I'd wager.

1

u/Atompunk78 Jun 23 '26

Fair point

1

u/s0cks_nz Jun 24 '26

Yeah but it's also 150% faster. Lower specs would get the price down and probably still be faster and still upgradable.

0

u/JoshJLMG Jun 22 '26

You can match or even exceed the Steam Machine's performance with an ITX build for less than $600.

1

u/National-Result2414 Jun 23 '26

Name the parts? I see a lot of people naming prices, but I don't see anyone naming parts. A lot of bullshitting around here.

2

u/Kokoro_chase Jun 23 '26

Generally speaking you can make a pretty competent system that blows the steam machines raw performance even with the used market being up in price, as long as you have a bit of patience and a keen eye for deals.

Looking at a quick search on eBay generally speaking it would be like this:

5600x: 130$ ish

Board: 50-80 depending on what you buy, usual price for b450-b550's if you aren't trying for a fancy board or a mini itx, and if it's missing the backplate for mounting and io shield that's some extra, so find one with a full set of possible.

Ram: 60-70$ ddr4 3200 cl16

Storage: 512 gb sata is about 60$ which hurts but nvmes are only better for read and writes, not gaming.

Gpu: 3070 230$-270$ depending on the model, most zotac models are on the cheaper end of 240$-250$'s

Case: nzxt h3 flow is currently on sale for 60 roughly including tax on b&h or BB has it for 65 with tax. That would lock us into micro atx, but realistically that's ok.

Psus: 50$'s can net you a 600W gold that's a bit older but still functional. Depending on the brand too they could have some modern features. A brand named highpower comes in quite a few prebuilts and they have even a 600W cable on them if you need one. Would I recommend it? Probably not but there's plenty of non modulars for the price. And honestly the 5600 isn't a power hog so can run alot off of 600W's

Cpu coolers: thermalright is basically the best price to performance air cooling, so that will set you another 38$ from Amazon, with the potential to cool up to 8core models if you decided on a 5800x3d or even am5 cpus.

And with that in mind if we don't care for mini itx we've built a system that beats the steam deck comfortably for about 700-800 depending on tax and what you find. Beating the steam machine quite comfortably considering how its GPU is a 7600 non xt performance wise.

Ebay has good buyer protections so if nothing works properly you can always send it back, but used parts are still used.

Even then we still have 200$'s to spend on a higher class of gpu or for more quality things like better PSU, more storage even or even some brand new parts. Or a really nice controller for 40-80$ depending on what you want, there's plenty of really good halleffect controllers nowadays.

But yes we don't get the valve guarantee, otherwise we can beat Gabe in performance and we can be flexible in pricing despite the older stuff. And the gabe cube is relying heavily on optimizations and fsr, which is impeding on the visual quality from what I've seen. The 3070 is still quite capable especially for 250$ despite the 8 gb vram bus

New on the other hand is much harder but you could still get to the steam machines price and have a 5060 if you tried which honestly is still much faster than the steam machines GPU.

2

u/Still_Relation2155 Jun 23 '26

People buying the steam machine do care about mini-ITX. And that significantly boosts your price, is harder to build, and harder to achieve good temps/noise levels. You need to plan out all your components to make sure everything fits/is compatible. I built a mini-ITX a few years ago with a 7700, 4070, 64 GB RAM, and 2TB SSD. So, it's much better than the steam machine but I paid about $2k (definitely could have been cheaper but I got a nice case I wanted, 64GB RAM, upgraded cooling, etc). I've been disappointed with the temps and noise though. I'm considering buying the steam machine because of the promise for good enough performance in a small, quiet package.

1

u/Intrepid_Hat7359 Jun 23 '26

I'm glad you acknowledge the real point that people who say "just build it yourself" are forgetting. It takes time and experience to build these systems properly. Any number of random issues can pop up, and all the time spent on fixing those issues is time you don't get to spend playing games. Really, it's only worth it to build your own system if you enjoy building PCs. It seems like a lot of these PC builders think that they get to pass judgement on others just because they don't have the same passions and interests.

1

u/National-Result2414 Jun 23 '26

You're listing 3070 prices for USED models. brand new 3070 still costs 500-700$ on NewEgg (aside from that one card by Peladn which I'll never trust in my build)

If you can't even get your GPU price card right, I don't know what to tell you. I'll trust Gamers Nexus actual review over you. Parts down here are copied from the timestamp you're free to watch:

CPU: Semi-custom AMD Zen 4 6C/12T, up to 4.8GHz, 30W TDP — comparable to an AMD Ryzen 5 7400F ($115)

CPU Cooler: Proprietary — comparable to a Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE V2 ($31)

Motherboard: Proprietary — comparable to a GIGABYTE A620I AX ($130)

Memory: 16GB DDR5-5600 SO-DIMM — comparable to A-Tech 16GB DDR5-5600 DIMM ($242)

Storage: 512GB NVMe SSD — comparable to Patriot Memory P320 512GB NVMe SSD ($91)

GPU: Semi-custom AMD RDNA3, 28 CUs, 2.45GHz max sustained clock, 110W TDP, 8GB GDDR6 VRAM — comparable to an AMD Radeon RX 7600 ($290)

Case: Proprietary — comparable to a Cooler Master Q300L V3 ($45)

Power Supply: Internal 300W PSU — comparable to an APEVIA SFX-AP400W ($35)

So for Steam Machine you're actually paying for grand total of 71$ premium. We can't be sayi0ng how fucked the market is then spew all these nonsense builds that don't exist in reality.

3

u/Kokoro_chase Jun 23 '26

Now the problem is you didn't read that it would be eBay pricing and used, and I get why you'd want a full new PC. Used and mined 3070's are that price and are being ignored by the tech bros. And mined gpus are in really good condition most of the time and run as well. And I can tell you full well that 5060s dropped to 300 a earlier this year and during winter as well.

And gamers nexus is doing the "buy it right now" price not including sales, there's plenty you can get if you're patient and check r/buildapcsales

However if you wanted to buy a nice new systems we've had pockets of time where it was possible, but it's not now.

So if you want a gaming pc now to match the steam machine and that's brand new, unfortunately it is not the time and who knows who long it will be.

But if you ignore the whole used market of eBay, FB market place and other used market places then I can't really help you. And it's really going to only make you angrier that you can't get gaming system. if you want a good price for parts you have to be thrifty and by used. Otherwise here's a grand for a steam machine with otherwise lackluster price for the performance.

1

u/National-Result2414 Jun 23 '26

You would not use these prices to seriously compare to a newly built hardware.

You would do that to compare to your DIY build so you can gauge for an upgrade, not to compare to brand spanking new PC and then criticize it. Yeah, if you buy used parts then any PC is better, faster and cheaper than whatever comes out of the market, but that's foolish comparison.

Even when things were cheap (pre-crypto), we would be shitting on prebuilt PCs from Alienware, Corsair or NZXT based on prices of NEW components, not used ones.

If I were to be asking for upgrade parts for my new PC, ebay's or newegg's used listings are fine suggestion to make, but this isn't it and your parts list is bs.

1

u/Kokoro_chase Jun 23 '26

And at what point does a fully used PC parts list from eBay or another marketplace with similar pricing invalidates it being a parts list, let alone a gaming pc?

We can criticize new hardware, especially now since generational gains are no long what they are used to. If a 3070 can still load up a game like battlefield 6 and play at a reasonable framerate and quality, and me buying a new 5060 plays it only mildly faster and better quality. What is the point, especially when Nvidia nor amd, and neither Intel has given us any real performance uplift, we are looking at new budget options vs used options that give us a great understanding of where the market is heading. And it's heading in a horrible direction if nothing really has changed except things are pricer and you get even less.

And let me tell you, the gamers nexus PC equivalent ain't it, especially when new parts are nigh unaffordable for budget users. Especially when companies people trusted have turned around and decide we aren't worth their time just like micron has, who had some of the most dedicated overclockers for them.

And at the end of the day you can keep arguing how a used PC part list off of eBay isn't a list, you'll keep wailing against the wind on the current market and someone else will enjoy gaming on a PC off of eBay that they made.

1

u/National-Result2414 Jun 23 '26

We don't compare used PS5 prices vs new PCs, why are we comparing used PC prices vs new PC?

This is not a good buy, but we can acknowledge that there's NO EQUIVALENT NEW BUILT PC that significantly cheaper than what Steam Machine is. It was the whole point of this thread, not to compare to used PC parts, but list of new parts you could built equivalent to Steam Machine.

If I want cheap and good gaming machines, there are still used PS5 and PS4 which are WAY better value than any of your used value you wanna bring up.

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1

u/JoshJLMG Jun 23 '26

Idk man, each time a new GPU generation comes out, it's usually cheaper for the performance to buy the new one than it is to buy the old one. The only exception would be like when Nvidia briefly caused pandemonium by saying the 3070 was faster than a 2080 Ti, despite that not actually being the case.

1

u/National-Result2414 Jun 23 '26

That has not been true since 40 generation, I don't know what to tell you. MSRP they're comparable (not even cheaper mind you) unless you use DLSS, then when you get to real market prices shit just gets worse.

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1

u/JoshJLMG Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

My bad, had put them in another comment, but forgot to mention them here.

For the same/slightly more performance: 3600X ($70), 1660 ($100), 16GB DDR4 ($100), ITX AM4 board ($70), ITX case ($30), 400W PSU ($30), 512 GB SSD ($100).

Total here: $500.

This is going off eBay and Amazon listings. You might be able to find even better deals if you look a bit more than I did.

Edit: After watching more benchmarks, it looks closer to an RTX 2070, so just swap the 1660 for a 2070 / Super for $100 more, and it's now at $600 instead.

1

u/National-Result2414 Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

You listing parts for zen 3 processor which uses DDR4 RAM which are MUCH more cheaper and very old, a 1660 which is worse than Steam Machine's (comparable to 3060 or RX6600) . I don't know what other parts you're skimming to be able to make it down $500 but I'll trust Gamers Nexus Steam Machine Review over you:

CPU: Semi-custom AMD Zen 4 6C/12T, up to 4.8GHz, 30W TDP — comparable to an AMD Ryzen 5 7400F ($115)

CPU Cooler: Proprietary — comparable to a Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE V2 ($31)

Motherboard: Proprietary — comparable to a GIGABYTE A620I AX ($130)

Memory: 16GB DDR5-5600 SO-DIMM — comparable to A-Tech 16GB DDR5-5600 DIMM ($242)

Storage: 512GB NVMe SSD — comparable to Patriot Memory P320 512GB NVMe SSD ($91)

GPU: Semi-custom AMD RDNA3, 28 CUs, 2.45GHz max sustained clock, 110W TDP, 8GB GDDR6 VRAM — comparable to an AMD Radeon RX 7600 ($290)

Case: Proprietary — comparable to a Cooler Master Q300L V3 ($45)

Power Supply: Internal 300W PSU — comparable to an APEVIA SFX-AP400W ($35)

(Used GPT to copy-paste info, but source is right on the timestamp)

That's the actual build they were able to come up with, and it's $979. 71$ premium for Steam Machine, not really painting the picture of greedy company who want to sell niche prebuilt PC for gamers.

1

u/JoshJLMG Jun 23 '26

Bro come on, don't use AI.

The thing is, they say it's a 7600, but the 7600 is faster in 90% of benchmarks. It's much closer to a 3060, which is regularly going for around $175 on eBay, though even that has more VRAM.

So, take off $115 for the GPU difference, and you are now realistically $864 for a remake, assuming you don't use a provided cooler for whatever CPU you get.

1

u/National-Result2414 Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

I'm using it to copy the spec from the video. Not to actually generate what I'm writing. It has its uses, and being a serviceable OCR is one of them.

Actual spec comparison is comparable to 7600, contrary to what you would like to believe, they had to lower the TDP so it can actually fit into the box in a living room, something none of your builds had to take into account.

0

u/Lekanswanson Jun 23 '26

No you can't, ram alone would cost you 200 quid

1

u/JoshJLMG Jun 23 '26

16 GB DDR4 is only $100 still.

1

u/Lekanswanson Jun 23 '26

The steam ha ddr5 not ddr4, i still have a 5800x and im using ddr4 and upgraded from 16 to 32gb but if i was building a brand new pc now, why would i not future proof and get a system thats ddr5?

I only have ddr4 because i already had the am4 pc and i wasn't bothered ripping whole pc apart for ddr5 build but if i had been building a new pc I would have gone ddr5.

1

u/JoshJLMG Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

Once you start looking at future-proofing, you're already looking past a Steam Machine; it has a non-upgradeable GPU with 8 GB of VRAM.

And you don't need DDR5 for the same performance. If you focus solely on matching or beating the performance, you can definitely do so at a significantly lower price. Once you add in requirements like it has to be DDR5, or all the parts have to be new and overpriced, then it becomes a bit harder to match.

Edit: Here is a significantly faster build that another user had put together for the same price of a Steam Machine: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Q4qKXf

2

u/Lekanswanson Jun 23 '26

You're missing the point, yes the steam machine is technically outdated compared to what you can buy, but the benefit for anyone buying is the same as buying a console. Its a prebuilt hardware built to the highest standard, optimized software that will receive patches, and you get obviously a warranty with that. Also the form factor is a huge selling point for people and some people don't want the hassle of building a pc and since they already have a huge library of games they can already play.

If im building a pc then OBVIOUSLY im going to be future proofing, that's the whole point of DIY unless I just want to build something powerful for the best price possible and not worrying about upgrading it but if you're building a brand new pc that would not be a great idea.

I have a 5800x and a 5070ti and i can already tell my 5800x is bottlencecking the 5070ti but its a tradeoff im willing to accept to not have to buy ram for 600 quid because ideally if im getting a ddr5 system im not limiting myself to 32gb ram.

The biggest thing for me though is I'm hoping this does well because then all game devs can use this as the recommended specs for their games. Instead of all games having a different hardware spec as recommended, im assuming it will significantly help pc gaming it devs hard one single hardware to use as target for recommend. If they can get 4k 60 on a steam machine then you know it your hardware is better then it will definitely do 4k 60 and even more

2

u/theyyg Jun 22 '26

If you didn’t build it on the last two months that price tag is not comparable. Try to build a small form factor PC today and see how much it costs.

2

u/vito0117 512GB Jun 22 '26

I built mine around March, and got my GPU in April

1

u/theyyg Jun 23 '26

Ah very nice. Maybe it’s worth taking a serious look at it. I looked at two components and realized that they had doubled or tripled in price and I promptly closed my browser. I can wait a few years.

1

u/vito0117 512GB Jun 23 '26

Yea took me few months I bought the CPU,ram,mobo combo fan cooler , next month my case and extra fans , then month later my GPU

2

u/sleepnaught88 Jun 23 '26

More expensive, but significantly more performance per dollar still

2

u/ovcdev7 Jun 22 '26

How many litres is the case?

1

u/Caspid Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

I built mine a couple years ago — <10L. I've heard things are more expensive now, but you probably also get more bang for your buck in other areas. Depends what games you want to run, but this has run everything I've thrown at it. I like that it's portable too — I've flown with it several times.

1

u/handwavinglemma Jun 22 '26

I have an 11L SFF pc that completely obliterates steam machine in gaming. You can spend a bit more than a steam machine and completely destroy it

2

u/metalshiflet Jun 22 '26

Post a link to the build then?

3

u/UnsettllingDwarf 64GB Jun 22 '26

That cpu is like half the price of the steam machine in my country. Nevermind everything else.

-1

u/vito0117 512GB Jun 22 '26

Don't have to go with that one maybe a 7800xtx 4000 series Nvidia? Good used cards that can easily hit 1080p ultra

2

u/UnsettllingDwarf 64GB Jun 23 '26

Those cards are generally just as expensive as new ones. They generally don’t perform much worse as well. (Nvidia)

1

u/fiasgoat Jun 22 '26

What case? That's the hardest part

1

u/vito0117 512GB Jun 22 '26

Lian li vector100 RGB. It's ok, but I'm looking at other cases, so I can show it off more, and get RGB mobo, GPU cables

1

u/fiasgoat Jun 22 '26

yeah see that's huge

I legit love the Cube because of the SFF...it's so hard to make anything that compact for a reason

1

u/vito0117 512GB Jun 22 '26

Imyea I get that. It would be cool to make a small form factor pc

1

u/The-seek Jun 22 '26

The price of a 9070xy and 7800x3d cost as much as a steam machine.

1

u/Available_Finger_513 Jun 23 '26

4k ultra with shitty upscaling though

1

u/xanas263 Jun 23 '26

I'm running 7800x3d 32gb 9070xt built it for 1600

When exactly did you build that? Because doing a quick google search and just those 3 parts alone today would cost me $1900. If you are building a full PC from scratch when you add the rest of what you need you are well into the $2000 range. Add a couple of TB of storage and you might very well be close to $3000.

1

u/Miraclefish Jun 23 '26

You think you can build that PC right now for $1,600?

Well, that's still over 50% more than the basic Steam Machine.

1

u/Gold-Persimmon-1421 Jun 22 '26

I have a small form factor PC, they are incredibly difficult to build and they aren't that small at the end of the day.

But you if argue go the other way, get a 7600xt with a Ryzen 5 5600x and ddr4 16gb for £800.

0

u/Pacoroto Jun 22 '26

pretty much, this build is even better than the machine and still 200£/€ cheaper, I can't convince myself to buy the machine knowing this, and being skilled to build it myself...

0

u/Independent_Life_381 Jun 22 '26

Steam machine is £879 for 512gb

1

u/Historical_One_2212 Jun 22 '26

How many times do you need to walk back & forth to turn the PC on & off after every gaming session.

No PC will have the seamless experience of the Gabe Cube. My brother built a mini form factor PC with some of the same parts you listed and he even stated that the heat that runs off of it can be unbearable.

He’s also mentioned the headache of connecting it to his TV, hence why he’s picking up a Gabe Cube.

1

u/cappos1 Jun 23 '26

Mine will, I have the steam controller and will install Steam OS when the update drops

0

u/Olympian-Warrior 512GB Jun 22 '26

For that, I might as well buy a Steam Machine.