This is not only about gaming. If this low consume high performance sweety is actually affordable, 2026 could actually become the biggest year ever for Linux users. SteamOS is based on Arch Linux, and considering the power of the machine, editing should be more than doable. Now, i’m not too sure about the current compatibility/emulation of windows native software on linux, but with a substantial increase in desktop users there could be some serious breakthrough like we already had with Proton for the games.
I won’t be able to afford the Steam Machine at launch, but it will probably be a long time before I can easily get one anyway. Pretty sure I’m going to be jumping ship from traditional consoles to Valve with the way the industry is going. They’ve really impressed me with the Steam Deck.
I wonder if I’ll be able to drag and drop the game and save files for my non-Steam games from the Steam Deck to the Steam Machine and have them just work? That would be nice!
I read that SD cards will be hot swappable, which seems to imply you might get your wish!
Oh wow, that’d be super convenient! I keep all my non-Steam games on a card and my Steam games on the console.
Love to see it! Been very excited about the rumors of the steam machine! Probably won’t get one for a while cuz money, but I’ll probably pick up a steam controller!
In one of their videos on the store page, they even show the face plate being changed. :O
This thing has pretty interesting hardware:
The chip almost looks like a cut down AMD Ryzen AI Max 385, but with fewer CPU cores and GPU CUs, but the GPU gets its own dedicated VRAM, rather than sharing it, like it does in something like a Framework Desktop.
It also seems like it gets a decent amount of power, so likely at higher clock speeds, performance should be pretty good for not that much money. If this is supposed to be a console then it can’t be much more than a PS5 at $550 or PS5 Pro at $750.
Retro Game Corps was estimating $500-$600 and they are defintely out to lunch with that
Dave2D mentioned that Valve said it isn’t aiming to directly complete with consoles, but rather sff PCs. So the price will likely be in the $700-900 range(?)
I can see this going for around $750 personally
You’re not fitting a 6 core processor and a **60esque card in a ssf case for less than $1k I don’t think, so even $900 is competitive
I’m not the best at gauging this but it seems it’s meant to be carried around and plugged into a 4K TV and operate okay at 60fps for most games that multiple people would play while in the same room. The specs seem to align with that. What would the GPU be comparable to? A 6700 (non XT)?
GamersNexus estimates a 7600.
Is it an APU, or is it a “desktop” CPU and GPU on one board? CPU specs are close to the 7600x but downlocked. And with dedicated vram I’d assume the GPU is it’s own separate thing.
GPU looks like it’s probably a tweaked RX 7400 based on the specs.
To keep the package small, they might still have laptop type discreet GPU, just integrated on the same board.
This seems to blur the lines between desktop and mobile APU’s, but I would bet that’s it’s closer to a higher clocked mobile chip, than it is to desktop. The only reason I think this is the case is due to the similarity spec wise with the Max 385, and that it’s semi-custom.
If it was just a 7600x CPU + 7600 GPU I think they would have just said so. It could be separate CPU+GPU, but I think it might be possible that it is built more like a SOC, where the GPU is just given its own dedicated VRAM.
Looking at the hardware of say a PS5, it has 16 GB of GDRR6, the same as the Steam Machine’s VRAM.
If everything is soldered anyway, there is no reason to have separate chips for CPU+GPU, especially if that hardware already exists like the AMD Ryzen AI Max line.
If everything is soldered anyway, there is no reason to have separate chips for CPU+GPU, especially if that hardware already exists like the AMD Ryzen AI Max line.
Cost is a factor because just as with Steam Deck the two SKUs will only differ in storage space, not in performance. Using last gen RDNA3 is 100% a cost driven choice.
There was the story recently that AMD demanded a very high minimum order (10 million or so?) for semi-custom versions of the lasest Ryzen and RDNA iterations for some Xbox handheld which is unlikely that handheld would sell.
By going this route, Valve avoided this. Surely there is spare manufacturing capacity for RDNA3 by now.
According to Dave2D’s review, RAM is upgradeable, and GPU has dedicated VRAM.
Well I’m probably wrong then, framework said they couldn’t get good performance and maintain signal integrity with upgradable memory for the Ryzen Max cpus, so this is likely discrete Cpu and GPU. Probably all soldered in the same mainboard though.
Well I’m probably wrong then, framework said they couldn’t get good performance and maintain signal integrity with upgradable memory for the Ryzen Max cpus
On the other hand, Framework is run by far right sympathizers and are a few billion short of what Valve’s R&D might have access too.
I would have thought unified memory would pay off, otherwise you spend your time shuffling stuff between system memory and vram. Isn’t the deck unified memory?
What you lose shuffling between CPU and GPU you gain by not having your GPU and CPU sharing the same bandwidth.
Apple gets away with it by having an ungodly massive memory bus. I don’t think valve is getting a 512 bit memory bus on what’s probably a RX 7400/Ryzen 7600 tier CPU. Both of those combined would be like half that?
Apple gets away with it by having an ungodly massive memory bus.
It’s kind of impressive how effective Apple’s marketing team was towards developers when they started that push towards ARM PCs. A lot of people can remember that having shared memory benefits from not having to copy memory between the CPU and GPU, but barely any of them remember that the only reason it’s feasible is because Apple gave their devices insanely high memory bandwidth.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, look no further than the original Nintendo Switch. With an incredible 64-bit memory bus and 1600MHz memory clock speed, it was already being bottlenecked by its memory bandwidth 2 years into its lifespan. And that’s counting first/second-party titles like the Link’s Awakening remaster, not even shitty ports of games made for other consoles.
I’m wondering how much horsepower this stationary device have compared to a PS5 or Series X.
Let’s goooooo I just need to sell one kidney and I can complete the set
It’s expensive, but not that expensive.
I meant that I am that poor
Relatable
The kidney?
How much is it?
Prreciousssss…
We wants it!
🤔wonder if this would double as an hdr-compatible media pc.
There’s an LED strip, y’all!
Cool, I hope they keep that idea. 😀
Anyways it all depends on price/performance is good.
Previous attempts at 3rd party Steam Machines were not good in that regard.Have you heard of the Steam Deck? Things aren’t the same as they were ten years ago.
What a moronic question to ask on a Steam Deck sub?
Of course I have, and Steam deck was priced very aggressively, but info on who makes this Steam Machine and how it will be priced is 100% absent here.
There was a pretty massive attempt at launching steam machines years before Steam Deck, and that it didn’t go well.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Machine_(computer)
Following a two-year testing period, Steam Machines and its related hardware were released on November 10, 2015. By 2018, many Steam Machine models were no longer offered on the Steam store.
How does that raise the question whether I’m aware of Steam Deck???
Have you heard of irony? Especially considering the sub this is in, I thought it would be obvious.
I don’t understand the purpose of that, or how that would be irony.
Looks just like a dumb comment to me.If that’s how you want to see it, that’s fine.
I saw that area and secretly hoped for an optical drive slot, not that it would ever happen.
No 4k120Hz. bummer. To be fair, 4k120hz is not a primary market pull.
It’s for people to play on their living room TV. Most of those don’t do 120 Hz.
They’re becoming more common though. The Sony oled I just got does 4k120. I’m bummed it doesn’t have hdmi 2.1 though. VRR would have been nice but maybe the hardware is powerful enough it won’t need it.
Right, like I said, 4k120hz is a very limited market. However, for those of us with living room OLEDs, 4k120hz would be very much appreciated. The couch gaming experience on a 77 inch 4k120hz oled is pretty wicked.
Yeh this will make it a tough choice for me. Have an OLED TV and playing something like Hades 2 in 4K120 would be really nice. Maybe a USBC hub/adapter could do the trick but that’s kinda weird and an extra cost. Definitely dampened my hype for it sadly.
It has DisplayPort 1.4 which supports 4K@120hz
Fair enough. The displayport has limited use though, given how there aren’t many (any?) large 4k120hz televisions with displayport. And let me be clear, that’s no dig against displayport (which is the better standard). As far as I know, certain shady license deals keep hdmi artificially ubiquitous on televisions.
That same shadiness is why AMD GPUs can’t directly support HDMI 2.1 on Linux. But there are workarounds like DP to HDMI converters or using 4:2:0 which is tolerable for non-HDR gaming at least (not so much general PC use).
I mean if you’re playing older stuff it will output 4k 240. You can probably run Crysis at 4k 240 on that thing.
Eh, that’s not really how it works. It all comes down to the HDMI standard. The HDMI 2.0 used by the steam box has a max officially supported output of 4k60hz. You need HDMI 2.1 to get 4k 120hz - regardless of the capability of your machine.
I’m fairly certain that there is an issue with AMD and HDMI licensing that is a barrier here
Ah, I was looking at the DP specs not the HDMI.
That looks really cool! I’ll likely pick up a couple of the new controllers, but I’ve currently got a few mini PCs scattered around the house for gaming so I won’t need a steam machine until one of these craps out on me. But I’m very excited for the folks who will be able to get and enjoy it!
Ooh that’s completely unnecessary to my use but looks amazing and if I had a big enough place it would be something I’d seriously consider
Getting Shuttle PC vibes from the form factor.
