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I imagine most of the more tech savvy people on Lemmy would scoff at this and say “Might as well build a PC” (me included, which I already did), but this is aimed at the consumers who do not have that skill set and are willing to pay that price point for a Steam gaming system /shrug
I wanted the tiny box format for playing my steam library on the TV without needing to run a cable from the PC. Wasn’t sure I could build one this small so I waited to see how much this was.
Around $800 for the 2TB model was my hope when it was announced. Stupid AI data centers screwing over memory prices.
I think $800 for 2 TB was still a bit overoptimistic, but I suppose we’ll never really know.
I mean, before the AI bullshit picked up, I managed to get a couple of used Samsung 4tb 990 ssds for $250 a piece. $800 for a nice console/PC with that much storage wasn’t much of a reach then, given consoles usually are sold at cost to get you invested in the ecosystem.
Not a fair comparison. You found a very special deal for those drives which were half the price of a decently performant one at half the capacity at normal sale prices.
But what I am implying is that if AI hadn’t jumped prices soo much, they probably could have gotten last gen 2tb drives for much less than $200, which would make them pretty price competitive. I got mine as the next Samsung pro line was launching (I believe I saw a few new ones for $300 at the time), and while they were a good deal at the time, they were not a unicorn. And given I’m pretty sure the steam machine only supports pcie4 drives, though I might be wrong about that (besides, almost no one needs pcie5 drives outside of very specific use cases), so again, if the AI madness hadn’t occurred, a $800 steam machine with 2tb of storage would have been a possibility. Which is yet another reason to say fuck AI.
A $600 difference seems way too steep - I still think $1k @ 2 TB would have been the best possibility if not for everything getting fucked by the slop machines.
Base price was supposed to be $750 for the 512GB model. I would expect $899 at most for a 2TB model back at pre AI bullshit prices to miss the “1k” negative headline they are riding now. The 150 upcharge for 2TB would have been totally in spec, if a bit expensive as those drives were going for under $100 for a while.
Not by the outlook at how cheap a 2tb drive would have cost by now if AI data centers didn’t fuck it up. A 2TB nvme drive 3 years ago was ander $110.
Versus around $300 now, so that would theoretically only represent a $200 price difference.
We’re getting down to a workable $800 pricepoint. You forgot to deduct the ram and other components that have also been vastly inflated, or taken into account that by all typical logic before the ai shit storm was that if a 2tb drive was $120 three years ago, by now it should have been about $75. Same for the ram having a price decline.
Not really, since the starting point for the 2 TB model is $1,349.
You could probably build a comparable machine for $800 or so today, but from that perspective you are paying a couple hundred bucks for the form factor and the convenience of not having to source all the parts.
Exactly, the small form factor is a huge draw. I’ve built as-small-as-possible cheap gaming PCs before and never gotten close to this size.
I currently use one with no video card that just streams my main PC, but the streaming sucks.
For a TV PC the cube form-factor is nice, in a “sit on top of the furniture looking pretty” sort of way. However, I think a short-depth 1U form-factor to stack with hi-fi equipment would be a good way to do it as well, and relatively easily achievable to DIY with off-the-shelf parts.
I don’t think I would have much success trying to build a SFF PC today for 1k or less. You pay a premium for mini-itx and really tiny cases, PSUs, everything. The only cost that is the same is the CPU really, even a heatsink often needs to be very specific to fit a case.
The last two SFF cases I picked up that are high quality were $200. Just look at minisforum stuff, their products are expensive and look nice, it’s all in the same vein.
You can definitely find better deals for desktop gaming performance, for sure, but I doubt people are going to find something that’s off the shelf at 27L or less and same or better perf for cheaper.
FYI, there’s STL files available for a 3d printable mjolnir case. Really small form factor and you can save a fair bit of money by printing it yourself
Yes, a completely different setup than I have would allow for other options.
Something like the Small Form Factor Optiplex computers fits nicely into any old home entertainment or stereo setup, but I suppose we already have about a thousand machines that will fit that slot and people that wanted to do that probably already did.
I mean, you can do the same thing with a steam deck if you have it. I got one of those anker docks with an RJ45 and ran CAT6 from where my fios ONT hits my network switch and where my big gaming pc is. The wireless streaming sucks big time and is completely unreliable.
I have a steam deck and have it hooked up to the TV. The machine is a little bit beefier and the cube format would be more convenient for my TV setup.
Plus there’s still latency, even if you’re streaming through sunshine/moonlight. That being said, streaming that way is definitly faster than the Steam Link software
I built a PC last year for my living room and I’m running bazzite on it. Works great. Slightly larger than a console but this is the case I used.
The Gabe cube is roughly 6x6x6 inches.
That case is nearly 15x16x4 which is far, far larger. I already have a case that size which is how I know the 6" cube form factor would be much better for my setup.
I wonder how many people there are that fall in that category but who wouldn’t just buy a much cheaper console instead though.
Honestly that makes me like Steam even more. Any company that is willing to put up that much money to serve a niche market earns my respect. Sure they’re doing it for the simple reason of Steam machine owners being guaranteed Steam gaming customers but it’s still serving a subset of their customers like few companies do these days.
Bless Valve for investing money purely for the goodness of making money
Sure, but they’re one of the only companies proving that consumerism doesn’t mean you have to be a complete asshole of a company. They make money, people get the product they want at a price point they are satisfied with.
Sure they’re doing it for the simple reason of Steam machine owners being guaranteed Steam gaming customers
That isn’t even the most important reason, IMO. I think they’re doing it mostly to actively push Steam OS and thus normalize Linux for gaming. Not because they care about Free Software in principle, mind you, but as a hedge against the existential threat of Microsoft locking them out of Windows.
Shit I’ll take that as a reason too and gladly back them for it.
Sure they’re doing it for the simple reason of Steam machine owners being guaranteed Steam gaming customers
Tbf, they can’t sell it at a loss because they aren’t guaranteed Steam customers.
If it was sold at a loss, businesses could easily buy a bunch of them as workstations. Plus, it’s just a PC with no lockdowns. If you buy a Steam Machine, there’s no reason you couldn’t reflash it with Windows and exclusively play games via EGS and Ubisoft Connect.
An existing PC game library, better pricing and flexibility for PC games, wider and more robust controller support …
All true. If you already have a large library of PC games, it wouldn’t make much sense to get a console. But then you probably already have a PC as well, and can ride it out until the AI bubble pops. That’s certainly what I’m doing, as now is probably the worst time in history to buy new PC hardware.
Of course, some may say it’s only the worst time in history for now…
They said this is more powerful than 70% of steam user’s PC.
I believe it. I’m sure there are millions of people using Steam to play Dota or CS2 on stuff like old laptops. But how many of those are willing and able to spend 1000+ for an upgrade?
Ultimately, stock may be so low that it doesn’t really matter though.
That means there are a shitload of potential customers, not “I wonder how many people there are that fall in that category but who wouldn’t just buy a much cheaper console instead though.”
If you ignore the price, sure.
And those people cant afford the steam machine. I just don’t see how the steam machine isn’t DOA.
… There are plenty in that group that can afford a steam machine. Why is everyone acting like that 70% is living on gruel.
If they could then they would have already bought better hardware for less money than the steam machine.
How many of those are Steam decks?
I know that Steam Deck is talked about a lot here, but the overall numbers really aren’t that high. And who knows if Steam took that number out for the steam machine analysis.
I have friends who only have consoles. This is who I think should be looking at this. People like me who wanted a second PC for the living room may pass on this because of the price, though. I don’t need a second PC that bad. But for my people with no PC, no monitors, no keyboards, this is pretty decent. Not to mention the it’s an alright deal when pricing out a build yourself.
Except a PS5 Pro is $1100CAD and this is $1500CAD ($2000CAD if you match storage with the PS5 Pro, which is 2TB.) That is a huge jump. This is too underpowered for enthusiasts, and too expensive for console only gamers. Early indication is that it’s also underpowered vs a PS5 Pro, so I think it’s underpowered even for console gamers.
I know why they have the price pressure they do. But I can’t say I’m not wildly disappointed. This had the potential to end the console market entirely and now it’s looking like another also ran.
I was almost definitely going to buy this. At this price vs performance, I don’t think I’ll even put my name on the list. Much of this is out of Valve’s hands, but maybe they should have just scrapped it until pricing is better. This might be worse than nothing.
One thing I will say is I love the form factor. If was looking to build a living room PC this would be a serious contender because the design is great. But it’s just not enough to pay $1500 for a PC that matches the spec of my $800 PS5.
Sure, it’s a huge jump. But it’s also a mostly lateral jump if you already have a PS5 or Xbox. That’s why I specifically state that this is for people who have a console but no PC. Software availability semantics aside, BeamNG coming to PS5 makes my desire to have one of these in the living room close to zero now. Unless it can run Cities Skylines 2.
I agree. their best play here would have likely been to just delay release until the hardware market stabilized. its going to flop at it’s current pricing.
Except there’s ongoing costs to have manufacturing equipment and warehouse stock sitting around doing nothing. Plus they likely had minimum quantity manufacturing contracts signed
If Valve decided to sign hardware contracts at the prices that are forcing them to do this, that’s on them. I’m saying they shouldn’t have done that in the first place. The project should have been held off until it stabilized.
clarification: There is no way they didn’t have some form of forecasting on how much they would be paying per unit prior to signing said contracts. I agree with you, they probably have contracts in place now, but there’s no way they agreed to these contracts without knowing the price of hardware they ate buying. It’s not like they can sign a contract, and then two months later, AMD can be like, hey, by the way, you know that hardware market issue we have? Yeah, so that agreed upon rate you’re gonna have. We’re adding $300/p unit to it. Usually it’s a I will buy X amount of units at Y cost over Z period, and then they renew/negotiate the contract as needed.
I mean, speaking for myself, I already bought the consoles back in 2020. I bought a Steam Deck to access non-console games.
This does what the Steam Deck does only moreso.
Yeah, but Steam Deck had an extremely attractive and competitive price when it launched.
“Equivalent” consoles are much more expensive now as well. The entire playing field is fucked.
“equivalent”, base ps5 has equivalent performance while being half the price lol.
PS5 pro is $900, champ, and it’s got vendor lock-in.
My point is that everything is more expensive. Sony jacked those prices up by hundreds of dollars already.
equivalent performance to a base ps5, lol
I just gave the neighborhood kid my xbox-s (with expanded memory), my switch hasn’t been touched since my deck arrived. I have everything I need already purchased on steam, I’m not building a second library, or paying 50% more than when I started for a rotating library, I’ll buy a few more games on steam but my catalog is insurmountably full as it is. And now I’ll get to enjoy it with slightly higher graphics on a much larger screen!
With today’s prices how much cheaper would you get building similar yourself?
I heard from a trusted colleague that the difference is about $70, but you also get a possible steam controller discount + a sweet-ass form factor + better compatibility guarantees.
I’m gonna say that’s next to nothing, especially when you consider driver support.
Agreed - that’s part of what I meant by “compatibility guarantees,” but I should have called out drivers more explicitly.
Don’t forget all the time you save not having to configure stuff and fight with drivers. I enjoy dealing with that stuff because I like to learn, but others might not.
I was going to mention that driver support for known hardware is pretty huge. I am not a tinkerer at all, so I personally find this appealing.
Tbh, it’s not a big issue for Linux in general. Device drivers are all baked into the kernel and get automatically updated alongside system updates.
I made the switch from Windows to Nobara a few weeks ago, and normal tasks have been fairly smooth
I have been on Linux for years now, but known hardware is the reason why things will tend to break less often with driver updates, and updates in general. With a PC that gets hardware upgrades semi regularly, that is much more of an issue in my experience.
I think he got that from Gamer’s Nexus. But that is when you use similar components. You can also easily find components for the same price that are better. Especially when you use the 2 TB model as your base.
But you won’t get CEC or the integrated Steam Controller dongle of course.
Still, while it’s not a great price it isn’t a bad price either.
But you won’t get CEC or the integrated Steam Controller dongle of course.
Or the small form factor.
I admit, I was hoping Valve’s production numbers would have brought economies of scale to make the smaller form factor a non-issue, but that doesn’t seem to be how it turned out
I wish they could scale up massively. They still seem to operate under the assumption that they’re a small player. Though according to one interview (I think with Tested) they couldn’t even source the numbers of memory they wanted. On top of the horrendous price.
They still seem to operate under the assumption that they’re a small player.
In terms of hardware, they kinda still are. They’re not shipping out nearly as many units as the Switch, XBox, or Sony. Sure, some of that is simply their lower volumes, but they also don’t have monopolies via exclusives due to PC being an open ecosystem. After the Steam Deck launched, plenty of other manufacturers either updated or developed new handheld PCs to compete.
Also, scaling up manufacturing is expensive and risky. Ram manufacturers rapidly scaled up production about 10 years ago to address a shortage, and they all got burned with overstock (and accompanying low prices) when the shortage ended. That’s part of why they don’t want to scale up again to deal with the current ram shortage, because they know they’ll get burned again in a year or 2 if they do.
Plus, Valve has already stated they don’t want to own the entire PC hardware market, they want to expand the ecosystem and have multiple manufacturers competing for customers. If the Steam Machine is enough to pressure XBox, Sony, Nintendo, etc. to turn future generations of consoles into mere prebuilt PC’s they’d be happy with that
In Poland with already high electronics prices and 23% VAT, I could build something similar for around $1000.
Woo $49 savings.
The thing is, 23% VAT applies to the SM too.
I think it depends on how much time and effort you are willing to put into sourcing and building everything and how important the form factor is. Lots of guys build pretty capable livingroom computers out of old Small Form Factor business computers, but once you have it all together its not a LOT cheaper than this.
It really comes down to how you value your time. You could beat this price, but if you value your time in doing so (i.e. if its not something you think is fun on its own) its probably not worth the effort.
i pieced together a comparable 2tb on pcpartpicker, using the cheapest reputable choices and vendors. it was about $200-250 less for the pc (without an os) in a standard matx tower form factor.
in a standard matx tower form factor.
That’s the main reason
That and you have to get the parts and build it yourself, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea
There are things this does that would be very difficult to achieve in a custom build. It’s very compact and quiet and has very good driver support without any tinkering. It’s a machine you hook up to your living room TV and for that it works very well, including CEC support which is not standard on PC hardware. The price is of course hard to swallow and performance isn’t great but i think this thing will definitely sell all the units they can possibly make.
It’s very compact and quiet and has very good driver support without any tinkering.
The first two are real advantages, but I think any random AMD-based system (CPU and GPU) would be damn near equal in terms of driver support.
Or people that just don’t want to bother with building another machine to put downstairs in the livingroom or whatever. There are a lot of middle aged people who have been PC gaming for decades, are perfectly happy to build their primary gaming machine, and have hundreds of games in their library, and the means to consider the couple hundred dollar price difference between $1000 and whatever they could spend to build a machine to be worth the convenience of not having to do it.
I was hoping for a miracle that I could recommend it to a friend’s son as a good entry into PC gaming. But they’re on a tight budget and I guess they could do better for the same money.
If their budget is tight enough yeah a Linux build-your-own is likely the cheapest way to go. It probably won’t be able to play high end games without getting close to the steam price point but you can go much cheaper and still play the majority of steam games.
Plus if you’re trying to start on a shoestring budget, you probably can do without the extra cost for something with this small of a form factor
What I wanted out of this was a product that’s a complete unit that I can just point people to and say get that. I’m not sure if I’m alone in this, but personally I find specking out PCs to be really boring, I spent forever trying to make sure all the components work together. And then inevitably someone else in my family will end up with a different spec.
This way everyone has the same system, I know it works, and if not there’s a big corporation to do tech support, rather than little old me doing it. It’s just a shame it’s kind of expensive.
I have the skill, I built all of my families PC’s through the early 2010’s, I’m done with that lifestyle. I don’t want to diagnose and send evidence of wether it’s the ram or the motherboard that needs to be replaced, argue with foreign customer service for weeks, and then wait months for a replacement piece (that now I know has a higher chance of failure) to be delivered.
I’ll trade a slightly higher investment for peace of mind, as long as it’s a good business (sorry apple)
Think about how much time and effort can go into selecting hardware, optimizing it, managing drivers, tweaking OS to play nice. I’m a masochist so I enjoy learning all that stuff - can’t really blame those who don’t. For them it is actually a bargain
It‘s not about lack of skill as prebuilt machines that go for roughly the same are more powerful as well. All the Steam Machine really has going for it is the size. That‘s it. Don‘t need your machine to be a tiny cube sitting under the TV? Get literally anything else. Want a Steam gaming system? SteamOS is free for everyone.
Really the most remarkable thing here is the software with SteamOS and Proton. By a long shot. Those are the big things we should be discussing.
The Gabecube will fade into obscurity in no time. It‘s unimportant and unremarkable.
You say “skill” but I would argue that personal motivation and interest plays an important factor.
When it comes to different things like fixing your car, cooking your food or cutting your hair, you have the option between saving money by doing it yourself or pay someone to do it for you.
Personally, I’m fine with building my own computer and I cook my own food, but I get a mechanic to fix my car and a hairdresser to cut my hair. I could definitely see the appeal for someone to get a “ready to go”-system instead of putting time and effort into picking components and building and maintaining their own custom PC.
Yeah, I’ve built PCs before, could do it again, but I’m busy and I can’t be arsed. Also, it would probably cost about the same as this machine, just with me doing the labour. Plus, this device looks nice and valve have so far got a good record of making quality hardware, at least IMO.
I have the skill, but no longer the willingness to maintain said PC for the enjoyment of everyone else who is less technical. Updates on Steam Deck has been dead easy, and compatibility fairly straightforward.
I’ll still muck around with my own bigger gaming rig, but for the “this goes on the living room” device the SM seems like a good balance.
It is aimed at people like me, but it’s too expensive for what it is. I have a PS5, would be happy to buy this to play PC only games, but it just doesn’t make sense for this price, given the performance benchmarks
unlocked, cec, full desktop, form factor, silent, plug and play, built in wireless for controllers and a base station for VR.
if you have disposable income and have those requirements i think it makes sense, especially since the market can remain irrational as long as it wants.
i really hope it sells out as it shows there’s demand for support on Linux and that game developers should at least target minimum specs to the steam machine which is a boon to the whole community
I think it’s more aimed at the people who will buy anything valve
Gonna get skewered for this take but… that’s slightly better than I thought it would be. I thought it would be 1500 USD at the minimum.
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OH NO brother they’re RAFFLING IT!? hahahaha that’s fucked
They will sell out instantly and this blocks the scalpers.
Oh yeah sorry, I don’t mean to say they’re wrong for doing it. I just mean that scalpers are now so prolific that this is the only way to ensure fair purchases, that’s the fucked part.
OH NO brother they’re RAFFLING IT!? hahahaha that’s fucked
I disagree. The Deck and Controller each had their queues announced at least a week ahead of time. The queue for the Steam Machine kinda just shadowdropped in comparison. Plus a raffle doesn’t penalize anyone for having work or living in a timezone where they’d normally be asleep.
Given the circumstances it’s pretty fair.
Even with an announcement ahead of time it’s so much better imo. Doesn’t penalize people for having to work or just living in a timezone where it’s the middle of the night.
Sure it feels like you have less agency over when you get it but it’s so much fairer.
Yeah 10:00 a.m. is perfectly reasonable but it converts to 6:00 p.m. UK time 7:00 p.m. for a lot of Europe, that’s kind of late in the day to be trying to order something and I think it’s the middle of the night in Australia. This does seem better.
It’s a one-per-household, vetted for bots and scalpers raffle, yup. Well, more of a first-wave-shuffling and then waitlist, really.
Each global region has separate quantities and lists, and each version of the box has their raffled/shuffled lists.
What’s nice about that is, not only are they going to actively try to limit to one household, but as long as you get in before the 25th, even if you get shuffled to the very end, you’re still going to be before anybody that comes in almost 4 days later, and have a chance to be literally first. Chaotic, but I think that’s kinda fun.
Each global region that’s supported that is. I wish they’d have some way for regions outside of those list to still try. There was essentially 0 chance I was able to get a Steam Controller being outside of those lists.
Yeah Valve only really believes in about three of the earth’s continents. Personally I think it’s payback for Asia keeping all the cool phones to themselves.
For all the talk about fighting scalpers, valve’s lack of global shipping and market means that scalpers are literally the only way I can get any hardware product. The billion dollar corporation won’t ship to my country, but Randy from Jacksonville will literally ship the product right into my doorstep. I don’t defend scalpers but this is ridiculous.
Yea, the annoying thing is that this used to be fine. I was able to order the Steam Deck with my non-US account and pick it up when I happened to be in the US. Now, I can’t even do that. I have a 15 year old account and spent probably more than a couple thousand bucks by now. Surely I’ve earned it?
randomization is to determine the order of receipt
… that’s high demand, sheesh
It’s not a raffle anyone who joins the list will get a device it’s just when you get it. It’s a countermeasure to stop bots from being used to scalp the machines. I’m sure if you’re not that bothered about getting it in the first week or so you can just hold off and then it’ll go to normal purchasing after that.
Valve seem to have been pretty good so far about keeping scalpers from becoming part of their distribution network. Compared to the shit we saw with the PS5, for example.
I remember being very difficult to get hold of the original steam deck. I don’t think they initially had any kind of limiting place, I feel like it was the second run where that was implemented.
i mean, i just entered a raffle. but it’s for free music tix at stern grove in san francisco. that’s the kind of raffle i’ll enter.
I actually wish they did concert tickets like this. I might actually occasionally be able to go to one.
My dude I am not bullshitting you. It’s free too
Entered the lottery a couple days ago to see the violent femmes, and the lottery for patti labelle opens Sunday.
I have a friend who listens to the radio at work. When there’s a contest, she calls in. Gets tickets to everything, because who calls in to the radio nowadays?
I’m a live music junkie though. Open mic nights are one of my favorite things.
So thats pretty much as expected - 7 months ago it would have been ~$700 as predicted
The sad part is that Valve really did price all the parts for pretty much as low as they could go:
AI pushed gaming 10 years back
AI did a number to gaming, but truthfully, gaming technology was probably about to stand still anyway. Barely any studios can afford to make a game that’s so technologically advanced that it pushes our current hardware to its limits.
Oh please, plenty of games push my top tier hardware to its limits!
It’s just that they do it by not bothering to optimize their software.
The handful of companies that can afford to spend $100M+? Sure. There are only so many of those, and plenty of them go bankrupt after spending that much.
Yet AI will actually be good at optimizing software, and might help push devs to do so. Both stifling and assisting.
And the GPU makers were already approaching a plateau around the first RTX cards.
Node shrinks have dried up. Gamers got use to those handing them major leaps.
Gaming isn‘t standing still though, it‘s reverting. You can‘t get the same hardware you got 5 years ago for the same price anymore. Hardware ALWAYS got cheaper until recently. This is truly unprecedented.
I’m not going to post what I almost did, but I’ll just say that I’m mad.
Wait til you hear about all the fucked up shit that isn’t related to video games and is actually consequential
It’s all consequential to me. Nothing is without rhyme or reason and it is all interconnected.
As did Covid.
Would be nice if it pushed back 20 years before steam become so popular
I’ll throw steam os on my mini PC and just pretend it’s a steam machine. I knew they were going to break $1k but yeesh, breaking it AND only 512gb is tough
I’d recommend Bazzite over SteamOS. Even if I was buying a Steam Machine, I would still just use Bazzite.
Edit: just to clarify because I made this post hastily that I would only suggest Bazzite for power users. SteamOS is just fine for a lot of folks.
Why’s that
I daily drive Bazzite and I’m not fully in agreement. If you’re doing non-Steam games or emulation, or desktop stuff, on AMD hardware Bazzite is the winner IMO because it ‘ships’ with that stuff preconfigured in a way steam os doesn’t and Bazzite has something very similar to big picture mode for AMD. Hardware compatibility is probably still better out of the box with Bazzite too.
If you’re only playing Steam games on the TV Steam OS is arguably better.
I’d after with this.
Even if I was buying a Steam Machine, I would still just use Bazzite.
They both run Arch, both are capable of running KDE & Gnome DE, both are immutable but only one will get dedicated support from the manufacturer and developer.The use of HDMI CEC is not typical for desktop environments, I doubt you’ll get the same “sleep” functionality on Bazzite.
They both run Arch
No, Bazzite is based on Fedora. SteamOS is based on Arch. Maybe you had Bazzite confused with CachyOS?
Yup my bad, I have striked it out of my previous comment.
I should specify that Bazzite is really just for power users or tinkerers. It has a lot better capabilities.
Like others have said that of all you’re doing is playing games SteamOS is fine.
I doubt you’ll get the same “sleep” functionality on Bazzite.
The Bazzite community is fantastic. I’m sure they can figure that out.
I’d be shocked if they haven’t already, people have been using Bazzite on Steam Deck and other handheld PCs for years now.
Rough timing. My entire gaming PC cost less than this and is much more powerful, judging by the specs. But I built it out with 32 GB RAM and a few terrabytes of SSDs and NVMe before the current silicon panic, and just upgraded the GPU last year before the prices increased.
I don’t see how there was any way of winning for Valve on this with the current market. It’s not worth the cost, but there’s also likely no way they could make it cheaper.
It will most likely sell out constantly for the next year, they will be fine.
Yep, easily. Valve hardware isn’t subsidized by the manufacturer like traditional consoles, so they make money even if not a whole lot of them are sold.
Apparently they were originally intending for it to be around the $750-800 range for the base model.
You do also have to factor in that it’s about a 6 inch cube, though, so it’s no surprise that the specs are underpowered.
There is a way to make it cheaper, but it involves multiple homicide so I don’t think it’s going to happen.
yeah I’m fine with my DDR 4 32 gig laptop. I bought it before I became homeless and the thing is good for what I need.
I’m still on 32 GB DDR4 as well, running a Ryzen 5600x and RX 9070 GPU. I was planning to potentially upgrade to a new mobo/CPU/RAM this year or next year, but I just have no reason to upgrade now, between the prices and the fact that I’ve had no issues even with recent UE5 games like Expedition 33 at 1440p/UW and in some cases up to 4k resolutions for slightly older stuff. It runs everything just fine for my purposes, and the whole system is really power efficient for the performance, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it hit above 350w total power.
Gamersnexus shows a comparison with the Steam Machine getting 93 fps on Resident Evil 4 remake at 1080p with “priorize graphics” setting, while my GPU (Sapphire Pulse 9070) hits 275 fps on the same settings. Can’t complain.
My GPU cost that much 3-4 years ago, it’s overkill now but I got it for VR and sold my VR stuff after 2 years. That for an entire system could work depending on performance. I’m betting new consoles would be around the same price if they were released this year.
I got lucky I think. Bought two Sapphire Pulse RX 9070s last year for myself and my wife’s rig, close to or below MSRP. Mine was $600, wife’s was $540. We had 6700XTs previously, only reason we upgraded was because I was having issues with performance on E33. We plan to pick up Solasta II when it drops which is also UE5, and had some existing games with a bit of performance drop (like 40k: Rogue Trader) so decided the upgrade was warranted.
We’re both gaming on Linux, so the performance and stability with AMD was preferred, no question.
How long ago did you buy that? Because things have changed.
Yeah, I’m fully aware. Did I not say I built it out before the current silicon panic?
The build was rolling as I caught sales and I didn’t get all the parts at once. It was up and running from parts bought late 2022 and 2023, but I upgraded my RAM from 16 GB (2x8) to 32 GB (4x8) in 2024, and upgraded my GPU in 2025 (RX 6700XT to RX 9070). The additional SSDs and NVMe were bought between 2023 and 2024 as well (system currently has 4x 1 TB SSD, and a 1 TB NVMe).
It’s not worth the cost.
For those of us with already existing hardware, but Gamer’sNexus showed that a system built today with comparable specs costs about the same.
If you’re building a system today you’re staring down the exact same Sam Altman shaped wall that Valve is.
I literally spec’d out a much more powerful system in another comment here for around $950.
It’s only equivalent if you absolutely need a micro/mini PC.
Yea your spec was about the same as Gamers Nexus, theirs (and yours) DIY spec wasn’t much more powerful than the steam machine:
Here’s the video talking about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66QzlDewigE
but there’s also likely no way they could make it cheaper.
Valve ceo owns an entire fleet of mega yachts, i’m sure there’s a lot of room to cut profits there and make their products cheaper
I’m still getting one but this is clearly a luxury item now rather than a competitive console. Sucks to be Valve here, the timing really worked against them.
I just really hope the VR headset is not much worse than this as I just want to play No Man’s Sky on linux VR.
8 GB VRAM :(
16 GB RAM :(
But it’s not a problem in Linux: https://www.techpowerup.com/348178/valve-engineer-improves-linux-memory-management-for-gpus-with-8-gb-vram-or-less
I mean, it’s still a problem, just less of one. Still gonna be an issue with high texture games that cache to VRAM. But this looks to be a 1080p machine, so I suppose that wouldn’t be too big a deal here, unless the textures aren’t scaled for the resolution (some games do that these days, but I don’t know if it’s common).
It’s still a problem
I run Arch Linux with a RTX 3080 Mobile with 16GB*. Games regularly use 10-14 of those (some even higher) even at 1080p, so yes, it’s a problem in Linux.
* Apparently, 16GB on the 3080 is not normal for Desktop or for Mobile. I have learned recently it appears to be an MSI laptop exclusive. Weird, but I got lucky :)
8 GB VRAM in the big 26 is a yikes from me.
Steam Deck works well and has 16GB of unified RAM with only 1GB automatically assigned to VRAM.
Having 8GB dedicated should be a huge improvement.
This machine is designed to be played on a 4k TV. Upscaling may help, but it will hard limit the machine in the future.
Why? 4k is already just past the human vision resolution. Anything denser is just masturbation.
Well, not everyone posting here is human.
Just because you connect to a 4K TV doesn’t mean is has to play in 4K.
I’ve connected my Steam Deck to my 8K TV.
Well, at least we now know you have more dollars than sense.
That’s been true for years now! 😉
Isn’t Steam Deck pretty much 720p? That’s a whole different kind of ask than a machine you plug into a TV - many of which will want 4k resolution. VRAM requirements really tend to balloon with resolution.
Native on the Deck is 1280 x 800. Slightly more than 720p, but not by much!
For anyone who wants the numbers: 720p has only 90% of the pixels as the steam deck, assuming equivalent area.
It’s also 6 inches across. I don’t think my graphics card alone could fit in a 6 inch cube, let alone my full PC.
6 inches is objectively a decent size, they should be proud.
It’s definitely a shower, not a grower.
Aw, those are cute and fun, too.
I’m glad they are doing a random selection of people who sign up who can order one, way better than the first come first served model that gives all the product to bots/scalpers (like the say in their reasoning).
Price seems reasonable for what you get in this current market ;(
Funny, cause whilst its very pricey, i spent more than this on my phone. And most flagship phones cost about the lower end of this. But because i get my phone essentially interest free over a 4 year contract i somehow justify the cost without thinking too much about the fact that i spent 1500 quid on a small slab of glass and metal.
Maybe i need to rethink my grasp on the concept of money.
It’s a brutal time to be releasing hardware like this.
GPU prices, RAM, SSDs, all inflated through the roof.
This should have been the price of a PS5 Pro, with the performance of a PS5 and it’s not even that.
I still want the Frame, but only because my OG Rift died a couple of months back. I really don’t want to have to go crawling back to Meta for a Quest 3 when I see the price of the Frame, but I’m not optimistic. They really need a reduced spec Frame that just does the streaming portion. With RAM and GPU prices as they are, that would at least make some sense.
Have you seen PS5 Pro prices lately? $900?
Mental innit? First gen I’ve ever seen where price of hardware went up…
The price does spook me about the Frame, but I may get it out of desperation no matter the cost because like you said, there’s no way in hell I’d buy a Meta product. I absolutely loved my Quest 2, before Meta pushed all that metaverse shit and made the thing unbootable.
I’ll be buying the Frame no matter what.
I also had the OG Rift but since I moved to Linux it’s been nothing more than a paperweight.
I could go to Meta, but I honestly don’t want to do that to myself. The way I see it, the Frame is the only way I get to keep a small amount of privacy and dignity in this world which increasingly has neither.
So I’m saving up my pennies.
If valve made the frame as it’s going to be and an index 2 that was the index but lighter with all around improvements but was still wired only with no battery pack, which would you buy? Standalone inside-out, or next gen pcvr with lighthouses?
I don’t think I can even answer that question. Inside-our tech has really evolved since the old days and I couldn’t say hardware was intrinsically better or worse based on that like I could at the time.
I’m REALLY hyped for the frame. Local processing PLUS streaming from a main rig that isn’t tied down to meta and doesn’t spy on you AND has native Steam integration!? Ouaauahhhhhyessssssfuuuccckkaahhhh
This makes me wonder about the next time we have to buy new phones …
Could’ve been worse I guess. I know they did their best considering ridiculous market conditions, but it’s a hard sell if this was meant to compete with consoles, you can still buy a normal console for roughly half the price.
In terms of being a prebuilt gaming PC, it’s not bad. Some people have said a similar spec PC is roughly $100 cheaper if you get everything yourself. Now the question is how much stock Valve actually has to sell, because I assume they won’t have that many made because of the component shortages…
$100 cheaper, but can it be done in this form factor? 🤔
"Size
152 mm tall (148 mm without feet), 162.4 mm deep, 156 mm wide"
5.98" tall (5.83" without feet), 6.39" deep, 6.14" wide.
To put it in perspective, PC FANS are 120mm…
Not all PC fans
I tried to make a build with pc part picker and it was around 70€ less which is pretty fair considering that valve had to engineer the tiny form factor, paid more for the custom CPU and GPU etc etc
Note yours is only 70€ less because it is missing the storage and power supply prices.
Mentioning this as it actually makes your point stronger.
Oh i didn’t notice! XD thx
But you are limited to that consoles game library and a steam machine can play any game ever purchased on steam or added to steam via keys. Plus adding games on sale saves money in the long run.
There is a significant cost savings on the games sideways for those with a large steam library. Not enough at these prices, but it would have been if it was around $800.
Should I even try to build a PC for $1000 or just give up at this point?
For $1k you could do quite better than the Steam Machine (though not mini-sized). Just spec’d out a build on Amazon with AM4 and you’ve got options:
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$55 - Thermaltake 700w PSU
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$90 - Corsair 4000D case (I have one of these, good airflow and easy build space). This is a place you could skimp to save a few bucks, e.g. - this case is $55
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$130 - Cheap 1 TB SSD (went with Timetec, apparently Fikwot is okay too, seems to be a SSD parts manufacturer that started selling direct)
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$85 - B550 ATX mobo
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$130 - G.Skill 16 GB DDR4 3200
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$175 - Ryzen 5 5600 XT OR Ryzen 7 5700 (5600 is faster but 6c/12t, 5700 lower core speed, but 8c/16t. I have a 5600x, no complaints)
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$279 or $290 - RX 7600 GPU, or RTX 5050 (up to preference. The 7600 is generally comparable or slightly better overall, but you will see much better with it on Linux. On Windows the 5050 might be the better choice)
Total cost: About $950 (or $915 with the cheaper case), which leaves a bit of overhead to get a cheap cooler for the CPU (optional since it comes with one), and/or additional case fan(s).
Edit - to be clear, you can probably do better than this. I just browsed prices and parts on Amazon, but you might be able to find parts cheaper on https://pcpartpicker.com/ or by purchasing used parts on eBay.
For example, the Ryzen 5 5600x can be found for around $125 on Ebay, that’s $50 savings. And slower DDR4 RAM (2600 base speed) can be found for as low as $65 on Ebay, though I’m not sure if that’s a compromise I’d make, up for debate.
If you want it to be like a Steam Machine, you should definitely go for the AMD GPU so you can run Steam OS on it.
Good point. Though personally I prefer running EndeavourOS, I like having an up-to-date kernel and mesa improvements. With regard to the 7600 vs 5050, I was recommending the 7600 because of the recent improvements for VRAM prioritization on 8GB GPUs on Linux.
hey, so i suck at picking parts and never know if they’ll fit my build. like, my first job was as a hardware guy back in the 90s and haven’t really kept up. is there a compatibility checker somewhere?
i just don’t want to buy 12 PSUs with the intention of sending 11 back. I know I’m buying from A cOrPoRaTiOn but it still seems dishonest to me
i suck at picking parts and never know if they’ll fit my build
Just use pcpartpicker.com
It’s very good at telling you if parts aren’t compatible.
thanks! i’ll give it a try next upgrade
Avoid any random generic Chinese named stuff. Go with legit brands like Thermaltake, Corsair, Cooler Master, EVGA, Seagate, and so on, and if budget allows, get one that’s at least Bronze rated (Silver or Gold is better, but not necessary). If budget doesn’t allow, white certified is fine, but don’t cheap out near capacity.
Use a PSU calculator for the parts you’re selecting. Power supplies are rated to always provide consistent load of at least 80% of rated spec if they’re rated at least white certified (better for Bronze, Silver, and Gold), so aim for a PSU with at least 20% overhead. So if the system uses 600w peak, you’ll want a 720w PSU or better.
In general, an 800w PSU is generally more than enough for most systems, unless you’re buying really power hungry parts (think Nvidia 5080 or 5090 and the highest end Intel chips or AMD threadrippers).
If in doubt, just buy a bigger PSU than you need, like 1000w. Always better to have more than you need, it only uses what the system requires, it’s not like it’s always actually going to draw that 1kw power.
Thank you for the detailed advice. I cheaped out on my psu on my last build and figured it wouldn’t hurt too much.
Oh, past me, you sweet summer child.
Yeah I was looking at mostly similar parts, but squeezing for a 9060xt. I got to a little less than $1200 on an am5 platform with all new stuff, or $1000 using used ddr4 and ssd on an am4 platform, but still with the 9060xt
I couldn’t squeeze in the 9060 XT (specifically the 16 GB variant) for under $1k, though if you went with the used parts I mentioned and the cheaper case it should fit the budget. I’m impressed with what you can still do for around $1k today, it’s really just the RAM and SSD prices that hurt the build.
I’d actually be fine with the build I posted, only main difference with mine now is I have a RX 9070 GPU and 32 GB RAM, but I don’t play much that takes advantage of it. I mostly just play indies and retro emulation on my Steam Deck, and only use the rig for the few more intensive games, and for co-op gaming with my wife.
Just my $0.02, but my DDR4 system with a 9070XT is doing alright. But I also don’t play competitive FPS, so ymmv
Funny you should post this list. I made a nearly identical spec for my potential upgrade from a 2019 intel pc to a 2021 amd pc in order to keep the ram. Looks like i’ll have to ride these memory sticks until the wheels fall off.
Please don’t buy a Corsair case
Why not? The 4000D is solid.
Ok my bias, sorry shouldn’t have written that. I had very poor experiences with corsaire products, especially while assembling a PC in one of their cases.
Gotcha. The 4000D is easy to build in and very roomy. It’s also got great airflow on the mesh front variant.
I had it running a ESXi server for a while, it’s currently in my closet and planned as my case whenever I eventually upgrade. I currently use a HAF XB Evo it feels like I’ve outgrown, but unless I’m actually changing parts I don’t feel like messing with it.
Sweet!
You can go up to a 5060Ti 8gb for $370 and get +45% more GPU performance compared to a 5050 (which was already better than a steam machine) and still stay under the budget for a steam machine. The 9060 XT 8gb is also about the same price on the other side of the aisle.
Ultimately, this will likely be the road I take. I just haven’t owned a PC in like 15 years and building one feels daunting because mistakes would be too costly. I know it’s not that hard though, I’ll just watch a few YouTube tutorials.
Is that power supply any good?
Thermaltake makes good stuff.
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You can still build a pretty great pc for a little over $1000, though there are some compromises imo. You can get under the $1000 mark if you’re willing to make some more compromises and/or do a mix of new and used parts. But either way you can get way more performance than the steam machine for the money, though maybe not in as svelte a package.
And if something breaks you get a fast and easy response with the steam machine. Not at all fast nor easy if you’re buying from multiple vendors.
The 300 bucks of better parts I could be getting is entirely worth my never having to diagnose or repair parts myself.
This is a fair point, although you’re making an assumption. How has steam’s support been for their hardware thus far?
i promise i’m not sealioning, i’ve never had to deal with their customer support in over a decade. Which is the epitome of the IT paradox, so like, I’m inclined to think it’s good.
I first got my Steam Deck 2-3 weeks after they started shipping. Unfortunately the “Y” button wasn’t triggering consistently. I sent it in to Valve for warranty repairs without issue, though it took 3-4 weeks to get back.
Also fun fact, in the time it took to get back I learned how to juggle because I was bored
That sounds like the kind of customer support that my vape has. And I love my vape company for two reasons. They make great delicious smelling vapes and have excellent customer support. It just takes time to ship your stuff in for repairs.
If you build a PC with DDR4 RAM it does get cheaper, and I think under $1k is very doable.
i’m waiting until either the dollar halves in value so a $1000 PC is worth $500 or the market sanes out, hopefully via blood clot or something
EDIT WAIT THAT’S NOT HOW MONEY WORKS DAMMIT
