Steam Machine pricing announced (from $1049-$1428 USD), reservation lists open
10 hours ago by ampersandrew to c/games
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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.
Versus around $300 now, so that would theoretically only represent a $200 price difference.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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...
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.
"Equivalent" consoles are much more expensive now as well. The entire playing field is fucked.
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.
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!
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.
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 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
In Poland with already high electronics prices and 23% VAT, I could build something similar for around $1000.
The thing is, 23% VAT applies to the SM too.
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.
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.
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.
It’s also a fundamentally different user experience. Sure you could load SteamOS onto a machine you built. But the point is that this targets the couch players, instead of the desktop players. And very few PC players will build a new PC just for their couch.
I love my Steam Deck, because it has caused my wife’s complaints about gaming to dry up almost completely. When I’m at my computer desk, she can’t snuggle with me. But by moving to the couch, we can snuggle while I play. Her complaints weren’t really about my gaming; they were about my physical unavailability. And the Steam Deck allows me to access the vast majority of my PC games on the couch, so we can both be happy.
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 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)
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
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
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.
EDIT:
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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’m actually glad to see it. A raffle is one of the only realistic ways to deter scalpers while still leaving the console eventually accessible to people who actually want to play on it. Fuck scalpers; anything that hurts them is a win in my book.
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.
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.
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.
So thats pretty much as expected - 7 months ago it would have been ~$700 as predicted
Baseline numbers compared to top end numbers don’t make sense. 700 vs 1050.
those numbers are likely aimed to be profitable not just now but for a while. if they raise the price with every manufacturing run people will lose trust.
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.
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.
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.
You're probably right...
As an optimist, I really hope this hardware crunch leads to a greater focus on polish and optimization. I feel like a lot of development studios have let specs inflate to cover being unwilling to focus on building their games efficiently. It can feel crazy when you start comparing specs on games from different studios.
As a realist, I imagine we're just going to have a lot more cloud gaming services and that may just end up being the norm. I'm still waiting for a AAA publisher to start releasing their games exclusively to cloud platforms, probably first as a pre-release or early access bonus of some sort. I have my money on Ubisoft as the first big one if they manage to keep it together as a company.
As an anarchist, I've been looking into selling all my electronics and investing in some farmland.
Fellow anarchist here, I've been accumulating used hardware that's on the older side to Frankenstein together a homelab/cluster, brush up on self-hosting foss, and increase my personal tech sovereignty.
Man, I feel ya there, I think I have Lenovo's entire 2015 enterprise portfolio. There's a channel called Hardware Haven on youtube and I realize I may have gone too far as whenever there's a new video on old tech released it's for something I already have in my basement.
As a realist, I don't see any way cloud gaming services are an option that customers en masse will be willing to pay what the providers have to charge to make a profit. Stadia was not that long ago, and Google couldn't make it work under what had to be a softball toss for that business model.
There's a lot of companies thinking about it that are big enough that they don't have to profit immediately. I think they're mostly waiting to see Geforce Now raise prices and enshittify more. My prediction is we'll have the various datacenter providers giving more deals on compute to make use of wasted cycles, maybe leading to various services renting that compute and dynamically tuning quality based on current cost. I.e., high performance gaming during off-peak hours and degraded performance during AI peak hours. Time limits will definitely become more frustrating.
Google might jump back in then if they didn't have to run the service. For them, I think they exited because they established that they'd have to actually support the product if they wanted it to grow and there is nothing they hate more. Part of me feels like the dystopian future we're heading to may be publisher based subscription passes similar to xbox game pass but more focused and providing drastically less value.
I think I'm out though, I don't have to buy a battlepass for the chickens and if support ends I get to make curry.
The wife and I keep tossing around the idea of buying some land and simplifying/becoming semi-sustainable. Unfortunately, even bareland is a premium in the areas we are looking
From experience, if you do, take a very long look at your neighbors. I almost ended up with what I now realize was suspiciously cheap land down the street from a cockfighting operation.
As did Covid.
I'd recommend Bazzite over SteamOS. Even if I was buying a Steam Machine, I would still just use Bazzite.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
8 GB VRAM :(
16 GB RAM :(
But it's not a problem in Linux: https://www.techpowerup.com/...
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
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.
Why? 4k is already just past the human vision resolution. Anything denser is just masturbation.
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.
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!
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.
It's definitely a shower, not a grower.
The hardware prices seem competitive. But the important note is hinting at the real form factor tax: It doesn't have the same cost / performance ratio as a normally sized PC using the same hardware.
Well it's little, competing in the little guy bracket.
Bruh the lenovo desktop I got on ebay got more ram than that (32 gb ddr5)
When did you get it and for how much?
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 ;(
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:
$55 - Thermaltake 700w PSU
$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
$130 - Cheap 1 TB SSD (went with Timetec, apparently Fikwot is okay too, seems to be a SSD parts manufacturer that started selling direct)
$85 - B550 ATX mobo
$130 - G.Skill 16 GB DDR4 3200
$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)
$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.
Since SteamOS is Arch based (same as endeavour) shouldn't it also have up to date kernel and mesa?
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
thanks! i'll give it a try next upgrade
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.
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.
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.
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.
Can't wait for ram prices to come down after the crash.
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.
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
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
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.
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?
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
I'm curious what companies like EA are going to do if this continues. If your customers cannot obtain the hardware to run your games, what do you do? Start releasing pixel titles or just hope for a whale?
There's an ocean of hardware requirements between the upcoming PS6 and what it takes to run pixel graphics games. Many customers are still happy on PS4 level hardware, and third party titles like Madden still got PS4 versions until just last year.
Yeah, I’m hoping we see game devs actually focus on optimization again. Early game consoles forced devs to really focus on things like memory usage, pixel map storage, texture sizes, etc… Super Mario Bros reused pixel maps for clouds in the background and bushes in the foreground, and simply changed the colors.
Hell, the second gen Pokémon games actually pioneered brand new data compression methods, to the point that the devs managed to fit the entire first gen region in as a post-game Easter egg. So they managed to compress the entire first and second regions into a small enough space to fit both regions on a similarly sized card as the first game alone. They literally fit two games into a card that was only originally expected to hold one. It originally started because one dev was focused on eking out small performance improvements, by compressing the game code and assets more efficiently. And eventually they got it so well optimized that they realized they could fit the entire Kanto region on the game card too. And so they rebuilt the entire Kanto region and added a secret superboss at the end. All for an Easter egg that most casual players would never see, because reaching Kanto required completing the Johto Pokédex.
The first Crash Bandicoot game brought major innovations to classic game model design, because the character didn’t have a “skeleton” in the traditional sense. They wanted the character to be cartoony, and be able to squish or flex as he interacted with the environment. If he gets rolled over by a boulder, they wanted him to pancake like a cartoon would. And traditional skeleton models (where the character model is built around a rigid skeleton, then simply follows along as the skeleton is posed) wouldn’t allow for the flexibility that they needed. So they pioneered new modeling techniques where they tracked each individual facet of the character’s model, to be able to fit within the PS1’s hardware limitations.
Early game devs had a very specific target. They couldn’t just send it out the door and let the hardware catch up later. Imagine moving an entire 5 bedroom household across the country. Modern game devs will look at the amount they need to move, and go “eh, we’ll just get a bigger truck.” There will be lots of wasted space, because they’re not even bothering to stack boxes or furniture in the truck. But early game devs were forced to make everything fit into a single 20’ box truck, so they focused on what was truly essential, and packed everything as efficiently as possible. And we’re quickly reaching the point that players won’t be able to afford a bigger truck, so game devs may actually start packing their games efficiently again.
Early game devs had a very specific target. They couldn’t just send it out the door and let the hardware catch up later.
Funny how Pokemon "pioneered" compression techniques to fit Kanto and Johto into one game, yet they did the bare minimum with Sword/Shield and Scat/Vomit an entire two decades later, all-while charging over $100 dollars for a full campaign experience.
Pessimistic take: they will bank on cloud gaming. I hope I'm wrong.
rolling back the hardware standard so you have a broader customer base seems like the intelligent thing to do.
so they're gonna add double ray tracing or something
Well, guess I'm sticking with an old laptop and console for the foreeable future.
I wonder how all the people I know are gonna take this, considering they've been rubbing "pc specs at console price" for who knows how long...
Valve has said from the beginning that the Steam Machine would not have a console price. Did they all miss it?
Your guess is as good as mine. I assumed it would be similarly priced to my pre-built laptop cost, which was around 1300-1400.
I'm mildly surprised it hasn't rise more in the last 2-3 months, but I assume that's part of why v/ram is a little on the low side. From my understanding, most of the games that would be playable on it don't need tons of ram, since they're better optimized on Linux.
It doesn't even have a pc price. It's more expensive than diy (or even prebuilt in some cases) and the 2tb ssd is way more expensive that just buying the 512gb model and upgrading it. It also has a lot of proprietary hw. That's pretty shitty imo. Who's the target demographic for this?
Slightly more, like $70 from what I've seen, and that doesn't take into account the small form factor. The target demographic is fans of Valve with money to burn, and I'm sure there's enough of those out there to more than buy every unit Valve makes.
I'm not even a hug Valve fan, but happy to support them for all the work they've done to bring Linux gaming to the masses. I can play most my games without issue on Debian, happy to keep throwing money at them and kick windows to the curb.
I don't know if you've seen prices recently but it's seems pretty on par for a zen 4 CPU, RDNA 3 GPU and 16gb DDR5. SSD prices seem high but apparently the supply's about to get heavily throttled so it may be accounting for that.
This is you ;)
It's a console-like device for people who want the full PC gaming experience without the large PC form factor. It comes with Steam OS preinstalled and 1080p60 on medium settings should be fine for the people who play on the couch with the large TV two to three meters away.
But I guess, it's mainly sold to tiny form factor fetishists because it's definitely not cheap, and you probably can just slap Steam OS on a used gaming PC.
Not bad, still cheaper than a standard pre-built which is in the 2000 range for most configurations that would be future-proof! I plan on getting one of these as I already play games on Linux, and this will allow me to convert my current PC into a purely productivity/entertainment machine. I totally need to set aside some money for this bad boy!
This is gonna be a tough price point for the casual and non tech savvy crowd. I figure most of them would go with a PS5 or Switch at that point even if it's a worse value proposition.
This is a tough price point for any crowd. The spec of a PS5 at twice the price? Enthusiasts want better specs, and console gamers want a better price.
This is a swing & a miss. The initial order will sell out on speculation and because component prices are garbage so it will have a small run. I’m not so hopeful for future batches unless they can at least match the price of the PS5 Pro.
Strange, it's not at all a tough price point for me.... Guess I'm not part of the crowd....
My deck has performed brilliantly since the day I bought it, I expect my steam machine to do the same, and if it doesn't I know exactly who will fix it (I've never had to fix my deck)
I think this is a generally good take and think I agree. However, logically, if you take away the money variable, anything that keeps working and you ignore the performance/cost value, is easy to say this with.
This item is not available for purchase in your region
I kinda expected that.... same thing with the steamdeck, only way to get one is to go through a scalper
i mean, do we need to set up a little lemmy dropshipping thing so we can make sure none of us get taken advantage of? i can nominate a few people i'd trust, but like, internet y'know.
First - THANK YOU for the heads up! I was hoping when I got the dBrand Companion Cube notification just after midnight.
Second - Anyone notice the controller bundles save you $20 over buying the controller individually? Not so sad my controller reservation is AWOL!
Edit
Dbrand just sent this video too...
(HL3 tease at the end)
I suspect the DRM those streaming services rely on will start to budge on Linux in the near future, as it gains market share. In the meantime though, I've mostly been using Jellyfin lately, which ironically works on Steam Machine but not the other consoles. I've still got my PS4 from 10+ years ago for the regular streaming services, when I still have a subscription to any of them.
I doubt, one of the reasons they kept this on a leash was the incredible amount of third party markets devices that flooded the market pushing malware and trackers. I don't foresee in a near future the Stream providers flexing more the rules. They will probably keep that close to the small amount of licensed companies and TV manufactures.
They wouldn't be licensing it to Valve for this device; it would be the DRM vendor updating their software for web browsers on what had been a niche operating system and is becoming less and less niche of late.
It will probably have a boot to desktop mode like the Steam Deck and then you can run any stream in a browser.
Unless there is a workaround that I'm not aware this would only limit to stream 720p in most browsers and 1080p in some browsers. We can't stream for example Netflix at 4k with this method that you described without a license for the device.
You mean HDCP? I think it shouldn't be a problem on firefox or chrorium on Linux But i may be wrong, someone please correct me
The DRM on Linux browsers that all of these services rely on doesn't let you stream any better than 720p.
Click on Linux: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/30081
You can check this in other sources as well: https://www.howtogeek.com/...
Probably not interested for those specs at that price.
In Japan, the page also has a link that goes to some partner of theirs that's just a maintenance page at 09:38 on a weekday which.... does not inspire confidence.
I work in IT in Japan and we'd be in deep shit if that happened at any company I work for.
I don't think I've ever used Komodo station for anything before which is why I clicked to see.
RAM has become expensive but not THAT expensive. It's only 16GB right?
This isn't really a mass product like a (subsidised) PS5. Have a look at what a Ryzen Max 385 with 32 GB board costs. RAM is only a part of that SSD is another one (both went through the roof). They aren't doubling the price but they certainly pushed it beyond 1000 USD/ EUR. They are also probably the reason why much less of the thing will be available than planned. Before the madness started, maybe Valve targeted 700-800 USD or so.
A valve rep talking to LTT said they can't disclose the original price but the price increase is similar to the price increase of the steam deck. So from the video they conclude that the target was around 800USD.
Gamers Nexus did a "DIY spec-equivalent comparison" for off the shelf atx parts, and it wasn't that much more for this. Like $925 vs $1050.
Also, you do get a little 25$ discount on the controller if you buy the bundle that includes a controller.
But this is like the size of a toaster, custom, stable, and basically silent. It's not a deal, but it's not terrible either. If you can get a good deal on used parts, that'll likely be better. Also, the Steam Machine is pretty low spec for 2026.
So only get this if you really understand what it's offering. Instead of a must-buy, unfortunately, this is more of a situational or even novelty item. Not terrible, but 100% not something for nothing.
I'll take this $850 machine from best buy 🤣
https://share.google/hdkEtFc6NQO3kwJXa
12g vram 3060 And 32gb
That's got a 4th gen i7 combined with a 3060, no wonder it's so cheap. It's designed to fleece people like you who think it's a good deal. Plus the build quality (fans, cabling, etc) on a machine like that is going to further cripple performance even if it had comparable parts.
I think you're undervaluing the form factor. I don't have unlimited space under my TV, and I don't think you'll be able to find a mini-pc that's appreciably cheaper with the same specs.
+$200 for the Steam logo.
That's unfortunate. Expected, but unfortunate.
I like gaming. That like is not strong enough to extend to that price point.
I wonder how much it would be if they sold one without RAM or SSD or with DDR 4 instead?
Figure out what the RAM and storage would have cost at pre-RAMpocalypse prices, subtract that plus $300.
The surprising part is how they lied it can do 4k 60fps. Imagine paying this to get 16fps in cyberpunk on your TV. This is DOA.
I've been waiting for this since steam deck and was gonna buy it at any price. But if it can't play demanding games on my 4k tv what is the purpose of this? I already have a desktop computer that's more powerful than this so I dont think this is for me after all, even if it was cheaper
A PS5 pro is probably more powerful than this right?
How recently have you checked? Word I've gotten from elsewhere is that this is pretty competitive with what it would cost to build it yourself.
Sure if you want to spend extra money on an external controller just so your smart TV can turn itself on/off/change to the right channel when you turn on the PC.
Is that worth an extra $150-200 for anyone?
The one build I see in this thread is within $100 of the Steam Machine with comparable specs, without the form factor. I'd call that competitive. But if you disagree, they're also releasing the ISO for SteamOS, as they're more confident in broad compatibility, so if you were ever in the market for such a machine, you can save the $100.
A system with CPU+GPU TDP of 110W at comparable (or better) performance, at this size, at comparable silence under full load? This thing is designed for the living room so this matters to more than a few.
Wow I’ll never be able to own one 😂.
No thanks. It was a bad deal at $700, it's an awful deal now. Unless you live in such a small area you genuinely need to budget by the cubic inch this was never a great idea.
You're either paying hundreds of dollars more for a computer with less power because it's a few inches shorter, or paying the same price for something weaker and less flexible than a laptop.
Just like the Deck (after price increase) and the Controller. Great, but absurd at that price. Not necessarily blaming Valve, but the fact remains.
That much money for essentially a small PC with a Ryzen 5 5600 and a mini RTX 3060. Who would buy that? You can just build that yourself, for less than half the price.
Half the price? Nah, not with new parts. Not even close. GN did a spec equivalent comparison with atx parts and it was like 9xx. Not 1050, but definitely not half the price and definitely not purpose built, tiny from factor.
Definitely not less than half the price. The build I see linked in this thread comes in around $950 with as close to equivalent specs as possible. The machines people on YouTube were building when the specs were announced, before the RAM and SSD prices spiked, were coming in a little under $700 at the time.
I just checked my local marketplaces, and it is easily less than half the price. Of course, the parts are second hand, because they're not even sold new anymore.
Alternatively, you can also build a PC smaller than the Steam Machine, running a Ryzen 7 8700G. It'll be even cheaper, but also considerably weaker on the GPU side.
I don't think you're making an honest comparison if you're doing it with used parts. You can get lots of things cheaper used.
This is overpriced for the hardware.
Building one is so easy guys, don't fall for this sort of thing. The GPU is amazingly underpowered.
Build a computer - buy a cheap cpu, a 5700, and 16gb of ram. You'll be fine with that.
This is overpriced for the hardware.
I challenge you to build out a parts list with comparable performance for cheaper. And it needs to be more than a 10% difference. You can't just show a savings of $50 and claim victory, because there's a lot you get in convenience and guarantees when you buy hardware from Valve.
You forgot the form factor
Kind of impossible when a company like Valve has hardware purchasing power which means RAM and NVME are bought at a less absurd price.
It's also worth mentioning that you can't really upgrade a Steam Machine down the line when it starts to feel underwhelming in a couple years, given its 8GB VRAM/RDNA3 architecture. I wouldn't say it's overpriced but I wouldn't say it offers much value either. It just has quirks (software & formfactor).
The crazy thing is the majority of people who would want this only want to play FIFA, cod, and pubg / fortnite, none of which will run on this because of garbage anticheat. Do those people even know that'll happen? I foresee a lot of returns.
Those of us who built a PC and run Linux very likely dont support or play those games.
I don't think there's a danger of that person accidentally buying this thing, as you can only buy it from Valve and not Walmart. From a casually overheard conversation on the subway last week, I can tell you that someone who is seemingly "the average NBA 2K player" is pissed off at the upcharge for PS+ just to make his game function in multiplayer, and that guy is aware of the Steam Deck.
True. But think of clueless parents getting it for their kids for Christmas..
"Oh timmy uses that steam thing. Let's get him this!"
can't play fortnite, meltdown ensues
I think that risk is still reduced because the parent wouldn't have their own Steam account to reserve one. For at least months, anyone buying one of these is probably going to be someone very intentionally doing so.
yeah like parents really know what is steam and how big it is when i told my mom i want to create a steam account and buy games from there she genuinely feared it might be a scam most parents dont know about steam at all the only thing they know are the big 3 Xbox PlayStation and Nintendo
Haha likely true. Still, some folks see it as useless if you can't play the most popular games on it that all your friends play
That means we came some way already. Back in the 90ies everything you could play on was a "(Super) Nintendo".
"Go play your Nintendo" - handwaves in the general direction of the family PC 😅.
Yeah its a Lil steep
I mean, the Steam Deck can dual boot Steam OS and Windows 11. I have a 2TB USB C SSD that is a full Win11 install.
I expect I could use that same SSD on the Steam Machine.
Instructions:
Win 11 Install:
Steam Deck Boot Menu:
Turn off your Steam Deck entirely.
Press and hold the Volume Down (-) button and press the Power button.
Release the buttons when you hear the chime. This will load the Boot Manager.
Select your External USB/SD Drive using the D-pad and press 'A'.
SSD:
Money grubbing monopolistic shit bags.
But then they have generations of brainwashed G*mers ready to buy any old shite with the Steam name on it.
Lolol get a pre built from best buy 🤣 what a joke
Simps will but it in droves.
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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
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