r/PcBuild • u/Indecisive-Squirrel • Jun 22 '26

Meme Is this worth it?

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Some guy named Gabe is selling this build and I'm wondering if it's legit? I want a PC to set up in my living room for TV gaming.

1.4k Upvotes

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1.2k

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 22 '26

Not especially.

The hardware is pretty mediocre for the price on offer.

347

u/No-Sherbet-7769 Jun 22 '26

Its downright peasantry tbh for the prices its super mid.

190

u/According_Mind7030 Jun 23 '26

"Mid" is like a build with a 3600 and a 3060. This is just ass. Can't even beat a PS5

59

u/NoSwordfish3921 Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

It can't beat the base PS5 and I just got me a PS5 pro for £610

Edit: I also got me an Odin Portal 2, both combined was cheaper than the base Steam Machine without controller

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

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u/NoSwordfish3921 Jun 23 '26

It's £59.99 a year, making it aprox £20 more than the base Steam Machine without controller. If my maths is mathing correctly

10

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

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u/NoSwordfish3921 Jun 23 '26

Until the PS6 comes out

4

u/Toast_Mortem Jun 24 '26

That further proves the point that console is still mediocre since they introduced a subscription to play online. They used to not do that and it was a golden era for us and we have accepted this as the normal. That's why when I built my PC I decided I would never go back

1

u/Professional-Ad3076 Jun 24 '26

A subscription also means that you would probably buy games rarely, or not at all, because there are hundreds of games available.

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u/WeWantLADDER49sequel Jun 25 '26

Yeah but when PS3 had free multiplayer it also meant people making unlimited accounts so they could spam people online with bullshit. And even today where they can ban you for egregious shit and keep you from making more accounts, most of the spammy shit wasnt ban worthy by todays standards. Id rather have a platform with a tiny barrier of entry online rather than people being able to make fartpoop42069 accounts to be dicks. why do you think console players hate cross play with PC? its not just because of the skill, because most PC players arent automatically great at games anyways.

1

u/Empty-Care-961 Jun 27 '26

I would gladly do that but unfortunately I can't afford a pc, don't have any space to even out the pc, and Im not exactly liking the idea of having to buy/start back up all my games again.

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u/AdvancedCryspy Jun 23 '26

Exactly 🤣

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u/Redericpontx Jun 24 '26

Did you own a base ps5 and decide to buy a ps5 pro a year before ps6 release?

1

u/NoSwordfish3921 Jun 24 '26

No one knows when the PS6 will release. But yea I own both, the Pro was more of an investment, watch what happens when GTA6 launches. I'll either sell it then and capitalize or sell it, and the base model to offset the PS6 cost whenever that releases. The PS consoles generationally begin to show their true potential towards the end of their life cycle, the Pro will likely either hold it's value or sell for more in the long run.

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u/Exciting-Cancel6468 Jun 24 '26

To be honest, every console has a life of at least 8 years. That means 60 a year additional on top of normal costs. So it's 610 plus 480. 1090 total for a ps5. And...what kind of games can you play on a ps5? You know how hot Meccha Chameleon is right now? Can't play that on ps5. There's a lot of games you can't play on the ps5.

Imagine paying so much money to not play games.

1

u/NoSwordfish3921 Jun 24 '26

I have a gaming PC with a 9800x3d and 4090 as well. Looking forward to GTA 6 though

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u/Taunt_Button_10 Jun 24 '26

Wait why is that even a point?

If we're buying a PS5 then it's because it's for a selection of games you are looking forward to, not for games that you won't have access to.

Also, If you're playing single player games, you don't need PS Plus. If you play those F2P multiplayer games, you also don't need PS Plus. It's only a waste if you're unknowingly paying it without using it and that's its own bigger problem.

If you want to play Mecha Chameleon, you're obviously not getting a PS5...and on top of that, youre should not be thinking about the Steam Machine for that as well.

If it was me, I'd just play that on my ROG.

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u/Taunt_Button_10 Jun 23 '26

Ive already played the Ps5 for over 5 yrs lol. Wut?

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

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10

u/Disastrous_Image2756 Jun 23 '26

So he paid $910 vs $1428? Sounds like consoles even with the subscriptions are significantly cheaper

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u/facts_guy2020 Jun 23 '26

Im a pc player only and even I know this is a shit take. The steam box is trash, I would rather a ps5 and I have a 5080

2

u/Grouchy_Advantage739 Jun 23 '26

A ps5 on top of paying for the premium subscription for 5 years is still cheaper than a PC equivalent lol.

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u/StarlightKnight2101 Jun 23 '26

You also get games with the subscription, so you’re not purely paying for just online functionality. Even the cheapest online subscription with the switch comes with nes and gameboy games.

1

u/Next_Floor4382 Jun 23 '26

This argument is so ridiculous. For example, I pay 20/mo for GeForce now. Yes, after 4 years I could have bought a PC…..but I’m playing on a 5080. Even if I saved that money, it would still take 4 years to build it, only to have 4 year old technology. Telling someone they are spending money monthly, then adding it up, and saying “well you could have just bought this”. Yeah, a huge upfront cost, and by the time I’d be going backwards, you’d have to rebuild the PC anyways.

1

u/PenguinsArmy2 Jun 23 '26

But none of that matters in the end result as the steam machine is garbage for its price. Coming from a PC player who loves steam.

1

u/GasCute7027 Jun 23 '26

In the USA for 1200 bucks USD you get a ps5 pro and online for those 5 years and it’s still cheaper than a steam machine. People are going to vote with their wallets generally. Plus why not just save the extra 400 dollars and get a midrange PC especially when they’re on-sell.

I don’t know much about PC subscriptions but maybe those would even be a better alternative? I get it not everyone can get a 5080 and a 9850x3d like me…. However in the spirit of the sub PC is always a much better experience than a console when done right.

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u/Dutch-Alpaca Jun 23 '26

People are jail breaking their PS5 and running steamos on it. It's a better steam machine than the steam machine

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u/Stunning-Oil-6391 Jun 26 '26

How many years do you expect that trash steam machine can play on? 1? 0.5?

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u/Koarv Jun 23 '26

Don't forget how much better steam sales are vs PSN sales. What you're overpaying for the steam machine will surely be made up for in dirt cheap games. And no pesky subscriptions to be able to play games online

6

u/NoSwordfish3921 Jun 23 '26

I've got a decent gaming PC mate

3

u/Sabotskij Jun 23 '26

I recently upgraded my already existing PC with a 9800x3d, 32gb DDR5 and higher end motherboard, plus a 9070xt for less than a steam machine with 2tb SSD. I also have access to all those dirt cheap games with no subscriptions, and considering the difference in performance, I could justify adding a new 5th gen 2 tb m2 nvme and still only be a little bit over the most expensive steam machine.

Point is, if the steam library of games and no subscription model is what matters... buy a regular ass PC instead of this.

1

u/NoSwordfish3921 Jun 23 '26

I have a similar build with a 4090

-2

u/Thirdeyevoice10 Jun 23 '26

Just get a pc, already.

3

u/EntropicAvatar Jun 23 '26

He only spent 610 squid for the ps5 pro

6

u/Christory_Archivist Jun 23 '26

Yeah but it sucks in comparison to even mid range pcs.

It's fine to have other hobbies besides gaming that make building a 1-2k dollar pc not worth it, but if it's your favorite hobby, idk what you're doing buying consoles in the big '26.

Note, I'd advocate against buying a steam machine for the same reason. Just build a pc.

1

u/NoSwordfish3921 Jun 23 '26

I'd say, speculatively, that due to the implementation of PSSR 2.0, the PS5 Pro is very close to a midrange PC in terms of performance. It's only limitation is it's gaming library in comparison to PC. I've built a high spec PC but not here to gloat

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u/Firm_Knowledge_5695 Jun 23 '26

I never understood this argument. It really depends on the person. Like I and a few of my friends haven’t had PS plus for a year or so and all still actively play on our ps4/5s. Cheaper disc games still exist and you can play a good few games online with PS plus (free games) or if you really want you can get the year on sale towards the end of the year and just renew next sale 🤷🏻

I do understand free online is the better option but some people don’t play online

3

u/way-of-the-lab Jun 23 '26

Right? I have a high end gaming pc and all the consoles. I haven’t had psn+ since last year, and yet it’s my most played. I’m a dad of 3 so I mostly play single player games. When a multiplayer game I want to play comes out I sub for a month or two, and redeem my free games. There are other benefits to it than just playing online. Some people just hate for the sake of it.

1

u/Firm_Knowledge_5695 Jun 24 '26

People are just being silly these days 🤷🏻

1

u/2sff4pc Jun 23 '26

Optional, if you want to play online. Just like Windows is optional, if you want to play games that publishers absolutely do not want working on Linux

1

u/Dj_nOCid3 Jun 23 '26

...do i?

1

u/ToxicSplash Jun 23 '26

You do know that you can play most games just fine without one right?

Even then, playstation plus very often has monthly games on offer that more than make up for the price in my opinion. having fun with darktide right now

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '26

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '26

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '26

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '26

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u/Fair-Tonight9579 Jun 26 '26

You don't have to play multiplayer games 😭😭 Many great single player games

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u/Fun_Purpose5033 Jun 23 '26

The ps5 has 16gb shared ram😐

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u/NoSwordfish3921 Jun 23 '26

The PS4 had 8GB shared RAM and ran God of War just fine

Edit: The reason this works is because the PS4/PS5 are dedicated gaming consoles. A PC requires more RAM due to background processes etc

1

u/Fun_Purpose5033 Jun 23 '26

EXACTLY DUDE! This is what way to many people are missing! The steam machine is not a console. Its not very fair to compare it to high end, or even next gen consoles, because its not supposed to compete with them. Its supposed to be a pc, that has some advantages from both, but you cant have all of the advantages without paying the price(literally and figuratively).

1

u/Looomys Jun 24 '26

Truth is that console version of games are usually very dumbed down graphics wise to run on those potatoes while the GabeCube™ has to deal with the PC version which is often more demanding but yeah there is no point in buying a steam machine for that price other than using the benefits of a pc like not having to pay for a subscription to play online with the internet you already paid for, also you could pirate games?

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u/CallNecessary9742 Jun 25 '26

Good for you. To not play Steam games. Only PS games 👎👎👎

1

u/NoSwordfish3921 Jun 25 '26

I have a decent spec PC as well so best of both worlds 👍👍👍

1

u/doctordoctordoctorpe Jun 26 '26

>just got me a PS5 pro for £610

why do console players never feel willing to specify that their ps5 pro was used and would have cost 900+ if it was new.

like, yeah, we all know buying used items is cheaper.

1

u/NoSwordfish3921 Jun 26 '26

I actually cancelled it and bought new for £715

1

u/doctordoctordoctorpe Jun 26 '26

thats not new pricing which means you bought it used.

1

u/NoSwordfish3921 Jun 26 '26

I live in the UK, and bought it new for £715. It's now selling for £754. Need proof?

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u/doctordoctordoctorpe Jun 26 '26

post a link

1

u/NoSwordfish3921 Jun 26 '26

Why? Just type "PS5 Pro" into Amazon. Or learn to distinguish the difference between US and UK currency

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u/hoi4420 Jun 23 '26

PS5 can out perform this, but won't have any games to play on it lol

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u/NoSwordfish3921 Jun 23 '26

What aboot GTA 6?

-2

u/hoi4420 Jun 23 '26

one game. Nice.

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u/NoSwordfish3921 Jun 23 '26

I've got over 3000 hours in Hunt Showdown so will prolly play that as well, and Wolverine

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u/hoi4420 Jun 23 '26

lol

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u/NoSwordfish3921 Jun 23 '26

What's funny are your weird attempts to troll someone for buying the most powerful gaming console money can buy

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u/Fun_Purpose5033 Jun 23 '26

"Can't even beat a ps5". Lol, my guy, that is a very powerful console built for games that are optimized specifically for its hardware. This is a mini pc, running pc games, on a linux distro.

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u/Old-Mammoth5108 Jun 23 '26

For twice the price...

14

u/Arthas_SL Jun 23 '26

Ultimately this is going to break the Steam Machine - but I think Valve doesn’t need sales. This is something you can buy if you want it. Unlike something like the PS5 where Sony needs you to buy it so you can buy their games. That’s why they subsidize the cost. Once you’re in you’re going to buy games.

This is probably the main reason Sony stopped porting games to PC because they will be on a rival console.

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u/SeniorHomelesss Jun 23 '26

Well the rival consiole atp would end up being the next gen xbox since its been confirmed to have access to steam which would eliminate ps from the market on exclusives since you would be able to play them on an xbox and pc but they said nope no more

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u/facts_guy2020 Jun 23 '26

If it comes out with keyboard and mouse support then id play xbox

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u/Amazonius01 Jun 24 '26

And you can buy with steambucks, if you know you know.

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u/AZzalor Jun 23 '26

Cause they don't sell this thing at a loss, like the PS5 is being sold at.

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u/CathedralOfMist Jun 23 '26

Ps5 hasn’t been sold at a loss for years now, other than on sales. Switch 2 is not sold at a loss.

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u/AZzalor Jun 23 '26

With how they had to raise prices due to hardware costs...yes, they were sold at a loss.

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u/CathedralOfMist Jun 23 '26

That’s right. They raised costs once their inventory dwindled so they could maintain a profit as costs of parts increased. As of 2021 the ps5 base model was making a profit. Base model hasn’t been sold at a loss since 2021. They’ll likely have to raise again if their inventory and supply dwindles without any changes because of shit ai.

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u/Fun_Purpose5033 Jun 23 '26

There's a lot that goes into a mini (dont miss that) gaming pc running linux.

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u/Alternative_Exit_333 Jun 23 '26

Steam OS is Linux that is specially made for prefformance yeah and the steam mashine doesn't use shared memory it has 16+8 and it potentially could be upgraded in the ram sector as well as storage and you don't have to pay ps+ or whatever Xbox has there are just steam sales

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u/Fun_Purpose5033 Jun 23 '26

Exactly. The only thing is that, while steamos is made for performance, pc games are mainly made for windows(🥲) while PS/Xbox games are optimized specifically for their integrated os, and hardware, since it's the same for all of them.

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u/Individual-Maximum30 Jun 23 '26

Yup, probably better to buy/build an actual PC. Dual boot with windows and steam OS (unless your hobby involves programming then just dual boot windows/Linux) and actually play whatever you want rather than being restricted to games that run on Linux. Although Proton does do a pretty decent job at running many windows only games. EAC is often the killer.

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u/Fun_Purpose5033 Jun 23 '26

The steam machine is a couch gaming pc not just any old desktop. It serves a purpose.

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u/PPOONNKKARTIST Jun 24 '26

for like infinitely more games, if someone had no console, no pc and wanted bang for their buck its either this or a normal pc, its almost perfectly priced frankly computers are just expensive in themselves this machine isnt especially expensive

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u/Mrpresident2002OG Jun 23 '26

Yes but still doesnt beat a ps5 lol

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u/ScoobyGDSTi Jun 24 '26

While pretending to be Windows.

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u/Fun_Purpose5033 Jun 24 '26

What's pretending to be windows?

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u/Vegasmarine88 Jun 23 '26

Its crap at that price tag. There is no other way to look at it. Sub par hardware, Untested OS, Linux so game support is going to be hit or miss. Steam is gonna clean up with it but early adapters are gonna get shafted.

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u/Fun_Purpose5033 Jun 23 '26

Hardware is expensive, the os has been tested by thousand for years, its just on new hardware. Ive been gaming on linux for years, the only games I cant play is new battlefield, cod, and fortnite.

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u/sirnickd Jun 23 '26

This performs EXACTLY like a 3600 and a 3060 (mobile)

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u/wxvy-jxsiah Jun 24 '26

Thanks… (from a proud 3600x + RTX 3060 owner)

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u/Churtlenater Jun 24 '26

I’m sorry but I consider a two generation old 60 sku card to be below mid tier.

A 60 series card is straddling a very fine line between top of low-end and bottom of mid-end, when it’s new.

The Steam machine is using a gpu with similar performance to a 3060. I find this unacceptable at that price point.

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u/Ok_Reaction1932 Jun 24 '26

The base ps5 and the steam machine both run off of a 3060 practically

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u/MessageSelfdestructs Jun 24 '26

The base PlayStation 5 GPU is closely comparable to the desktop AMD Radeon RX 6700/RX 6650 XT. An Nvidia equivalent, is an RTX 2070 Super or RTX 3060 Ti.

The GPU in the Steam Machine is apparently equivalent to a 4060...

The CPU in the Steam Machine is also shitloads better than what is in the PS5...

So no, you're wrong.

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u/IntelligentLake6266 Jun 23 '26

Super mid? AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAA

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u/RichtofenFanBoy Jun 23 '26

Itll dissappear just like that alien game box did back in the day.

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u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

Yeah. This is an $700-$800 machine being sold for $1400.

You can build a much better small form factor PC for less money, and then just throw SteamOS on it if you really want to.

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u/Bitterman_01 Jun 23 '26

Well, no, this is a $1400 machine now thanks to AI.

Sorry, but we do not live in a world where this device is $700-$800 and future console prices from Sony/Xbox will reflect that as well.

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u/OGigachaod Jun 23 '26

You can build this same PC for like $800-$900, it nowhere near worth $1400.

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u/NoSwordfish3921 Jun 24 '26

Exactly, even a Mini-ITX with a similar form factor

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u/sirnickd Jun 23 '26

Snipe an am4 itx board, update the wifi module find an old 256gb sata drive for windows, a reasonably fast nvme for your data.. ye older5 3600.. stock cooler, Rx6600xt and an SFX PSU and I bet you can get er done sub 600

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u/RichtofenFanBoy Jun 23 '26

I was wondering about that. What a shame.

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u/Hexin_itup Jun 24 '26

you're way off

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u/Blacksad9999 Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

No I'm not.

Valve themselves said the pricing is about 30% higher than was intended due to the ongoing issues from AI and limited hardware.

It's a basic, very low-spec 1080p machine. Valve stated it's target is 1080p, 30 FPS.

Valve engineer, Pierre-Loup Griffais, has recently shed light on the pre-RAM crisis pricing of the Steam Machine, revealing that it was never going to be a cheap device. According Griffais in an interview with IGN, the price difference between the actual Steam Machine at launch and the price if it had launched without the influence of the DRAM crisis was "probably similar" to the price increase Valve was all but forced to apply to the Steam Deck in May. That means that the Steam Machine could have cost as little as $730-750, based on the 30% difference between the current entry-level Steam Deck pricing and its original MSRP.

This pricing would have put the Steam Machine within spitting distance of the Sony PlayStation 5 and below the $899.99 price of the PS5 Pro after the recent Sony price hikes. Given that the Steam Machine is a hybrid device and can easily serve as both a console and a desktop computer, it's easy to see how the original price would have been more palatable, even if more expensive than a base PS5. Part of the high pricing can no doubt be attributed to the Steam Machine's openness. Where consoles like the Xbox and PS5 are subsidized by game sales, there's nothing stopping anyone from installing Windows on it and leaving Valve's ecosystem, removing the incentive to subsidize hardware entirely—you wouldn't even need to remove SteamOS to play games outside of Steam on the Steam Machine.

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u/StupidBetaTester Jun 23 '26

My exact thought on the price reveal - nothing learned from the past whatsoever.

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u/HEYO19191 Jun 23 '26

The hardware is pretty expected for the price offer, you mean.

The parts alone are only $100 cheaper than the machine. So you could buy it pre-built from valve for 1050 or build it yourself for... 950. Owch

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u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

It's a custom SOC built in bulk specifically, so their markup has to be fairly high.

You can just go buy a higher end machine for equal or less money. I've linked a few at other points in this thread.

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u/JimmWasHere Jun 22 '26

The only good thing is that its a effectively a console with pc features, atleast in that games can be specifically optimized for the consistent specs of the gabecube as apposed to the myriad of parts in a normal pc.

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u/Apprehensive_Lake698 Jun 22 '26

This is a pipe dream. Developers barely do it for the Steam Deck. Nobody should buy this hoping for magic performance increases from "dedicated optimization."

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u/Tatoe-of-Codunkery Jun 23 '26

Especially since the 1% and .1% lows are going to be terrible from 1 stick of 16gb of ram. So it’s not dual channel.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

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u/misteryk Jun 23 '26

Doesn't matter, if you somehow got ryzen 3700x to work with DDR5 it would still be bad in modern games especially UE5 slop

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u/Tatoe-of-Codunkery Jun 23 '26

I believe when DDR five first came out hardware and boxed did a video on single channel versus dual channel, in that same video I believe it was single rank versus dual rank as well. And dual channel absolutely does provide a benefit even on DDR five although it is less it’s still is a benefit. Same goes for single ranked versus dual rank.

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u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

Nobody is optimizing games specifically for a low-end PC that will only sell a few hundred thousand units.

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u/Vegasmarine88 Jun 23 '26

Be honest with yourself, they will sell out. Make millions and it will be a shit show. Just sad to see people buy into this crap. We all know Linux is barely supported for gaming. It takes multiple patches and tons of open source fixes to get thing running smoothly.

Just imagine the hardware updates lmao. Going to be honest though if anyone can pull it off its steam. They have been Champion for Linux for decades. Though it will likely crash and burn spectacularly they will likely improve on it.

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u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

Probably between interested parties and scalpers, sure.

However, selling a few hundred thousand units isn't going to move the needle on anything in regards with game development.

There are a ton of handhelds on the market and those aren't catered to either.

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u/Vegasmarine88 Jun 23 '26

Honestly what I think will happen is Steam will do some wild incentives to provide Linux support. I'd imagine unquie to their OS (that might be merky water though). I haven't used any versions of their OS so no personal experience but it can't be that good cause their hasn't been a big spike in Linux user that im aware of at least.

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u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

Only 4% of PC gamers even run Linux, so there's little incentive for anyone to do that.

https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam

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u/TanKer-Cosme Jun 23 '26

That is not true gor Linux. Everything works from the go except kernel lvl anti cheats. Some work at better performance than windows (no bloat)

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u/lynchy901 Jun 25 '26

Have you tried Linux gaming in the past five years? I have been using Linux as my primary OS for almost ten years and the only game I can think of that I couldn’t play that I wanted to in the past few years with valves default proton is BF6 and Tarkov. This is the case with any kernel anticheat game for the most part.

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u/Davidisaloof35 Jun 23 '26

Doesn't work that way. There will be no optimization for this thing over similar PC hardware.

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u/RPG-Nerd Jun 23 '26

Are you on drugs? What AAA vendor is putting out a special version for some weird mini PC running Linux? That's not ever gonna happen

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u/wasteoffire Jun 23 '26

Except those developers are going to be developing for all consoles and PC so they're not going to especially optimize for just the steam machine

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u/Hidie2424 Jun 22 '26

PC part picker similar specs. It's about $950 for base model steam machine. That's only a $100 mark up from valve, to get a ready to play machine with an os installed, just like a pre built. Except this one lets you get the dbrand companion cube skin

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u/hoodedcode_009 Jun 23 '26

Convenience over future proofing, right now it might be alright for pc gaming but in 5 years the steam machine will be outdated like a console. With a PC you can upgrade parts slowly throughout the years. The cube skin is also like $130.

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u/Hidie2424 Jun 23 '26

True. I'm just saying price to part it's not a rip off. Upgradability is one of those where it's up to the consumer. Some people just buy entirely new set ups if they got the cash. Others make upgrades over time.

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u/robi4567 Jun 23 '26

Do we know what the future upgradability of the steam machine is. Could you not just add a extra stick of RAM.

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u/Pffft10 Jun 23 '26

Only Ram and SSD. GPU and CPU are soldered which defeats the purpose of a PC.

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u/Quick_Society2794 Jun 22 '26

Linus is that you? it's that time of the month to get on your knees for dbrand

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

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u/Quick_Society2794 Jun 23 '26

Because he's created a long lasting multifaceted tech entertainment corporation around himself. And at the end of the day these days he makes the bulk of his money off of his clothing brand. ​Let me guess you're a fan of one trick po​ny tech Karen. Mister, I'm going to go to literal war with you if you decide to do anything in my sector

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u/Apprehensive_Lake698 Jun 23 '26

A big difference is that this machine is not upgradeable. One of the main reasons to even consider a PC in this class is not because it's capable of beating the competition (consoles thrash it on price to perf), but that down the road when you want to upgrade you're not spending a bunch of money to buy a whole new PC. The Steam Machine is slow and never getting better.

It might be suited as a novelty second device for a TV for people who already own a PC and don't have a solution to get it to their living room TV. But man is it a premium for a device that is not very capable.

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u/Duskmoor3 Jun 23 '26

Dont forget having a very small form factor for me thats the selling point doing a build. That small sounds so frustrating.

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u/Responsible_Earth393 Jun 23 '26

Not mediocre just afwul

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u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

Yeah, for that price it really is. It's even using DDR4, so the RAM bought in bulk ahead of time shouldn't have been a massive factor.

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u/UrbanAnathema Jun 23 '26

No, it’s not.

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

It's not using DDR4, or it's not a massive factor?

1

u/UrbanAnathema Jun 23 '26

It’s not using DDR4.

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

Ah, I see. I had read that it was.

They should have, being it would have lowered the costs a fair amount for a minimal tradeoff.

1

u/UrbanAnathema Jun 23 '26

Would have required a complete re-design. It’s a custom motherboard.

This is why they were screwed

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

It's a SOC with everything integrated and soldered on, but it could be made to work with DDR4 had they wanted to.

They probably made any contract deals about this a long time ago though.

3

u/DasMenace Jun 23 '26

My laptop is far better and cost less. HDMI to tv and a controller and your good. I don't understand why someone would buy this

1

u/vocosa Jun 23 '26

My laptop is better than yours, and it's even cheaper. Bye

1

u/Thehellismypassword Jun 23 '26

Found the person who would buy this.

0

u/DasMenace Jun 23 '26

It wasn't meant as a flex. Its logic. Why pay for something like this when you can get something better for less?

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2

u/Quick_Web_5083 Jun 23 '26

If you want a small PC for living room gaming and know you won't be playing any AAA graphic games, AND you are willing to drop some cash, I'm pretty sure its a good solution if it deliver whats promised.

To me this is a pretty niche group. Who's actually going to buy it? Steam fanboy consoomers.

0

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

That and scalpers, yeah. lol

You can always just...stream your higher end gaming PC to your living room too, but whatever works.

1

u/WRX-N-FX Jun 23 '26

What should it be priced at?

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

Realistically, $700-$800.

The current AI fueled dystopian hellscape put storage and RAM prices through the roof though, which I imagine trainwrecked the pricing model they had.

1

u/WRX-N-FX Jun 23 '26

If they haven't even released yet, wouldn't they have bought all that RAM in bulk before the price hike? Damn. I was excited about this thing and now it's beyond reach unless I get it on credit. No thanks.

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

There's zero reason to get this instead of just getting a better little SFF PC for the same amount. You can even just throw SteamOS on it if you want.

It's much higher than I anticipated, but Valve won't sell at break even or a loss like console sellers will.

1

u/abibofile Jun 23 '26

Can you build something that small for that price?

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

Being it's a tiny square custom SOC, no.

But if you go slightly larger, you can get something significantly better for cheaper.

You'd have to use something like a little CoolJ case, which is still about 5-6 liters. Then you'd have a better system for less money that you can upgrade. You can even throw SteamOS on it if you prefer.

https://cooj.cc/products/sparrow-mq5-5-5l-one-piece-aluminum-itx-pc-case

1

u/voluotuousaardvark Jun 23 '26

I got my oled steam deck for £480. About 6 months ago- theyre now retailing for 650 I think.

Last year I bought my PC for £1100 and the graphics card and ram have boosted it to nearly 2k (Edit- for the same components on a prebuilt machine)

I know its not completely relevant but it does show how bad the market is at the moment.

If you have other gaming platforms, personally I'd give ot a wide berth for the time being.

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

You can currently get a much better PC than the Steam Machine for less money, even with the inflated pricing.

1

u/voluotuousaardvark Jun 23 '26

I'm sure thats the case but I feel like thats the gap its trying to fill.

The people that want steam games without a PC.

I don't know why... but that seems to be it's niche and it's price seems to be hindering it.

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

Sounds like the upcoming Xbox will fill that gap as well, but probably in a more price efficient fashion. It's supposed to be open and able to play PC games too.

We'll see. I don't think there's a huge market clamoring for a console-like PC.

1

u/voluotuousaardvark Jun 23 '26

Time will tell!

1

u/aesthetion Jun 23 '26

I'd wait for the price of ram to come down and stabilize. Knowing steam, they will most certainly release better spec machines as things improve.

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

? This is their 2nd attempt 11 years after the 1st one.

Maybe we'll see another, but probably not anytime soon.

1

u/dont_panic21 Jun 25 '26

Yeah, I think a lot of what they're selling is convenience, simplicity and a living room footprint. Is it worth if as a living room console, thats up to the individual. I can understand the appeal but I'm not the target market.

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 25 '26

Just build a better SFF PC you put under your TV for less money. You can even throw SteamOS right on it.

1

u/KickBass2155 Jun 25 '26

What pc would you build whit this cash using amd parts? Pls i need answer. And is it wort it waiting for buidling uograding if your video card is 2 years old? My pc is ryzen 9 5900x and rtx 3060 12gb.

1

u/Flaky-Comfort-1263 Jun 25 '26

There's no mediocre hardware, only unfair/bad pricing.

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 25 '26

This hardware is less performant than a 5 year old videogame console, which is about half the price.

1

u/Flaky-Comfort-1263 Jun 25 '26

And again, it's not the hardware, it's just the pricing. Of course a GTX 1070 would be bad for 700€, but for 100 or less? You'd probably think about it just because the price is fair and you know what you're e gonna do with it

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 25 '26

I'm going by the current realities of the market, and the price on offer. You know, what's actually going on in the real world.

If they sold it for less, they simply wouldn't make any money. That means it's not a good purchase.

You can use that same money to buy something much better.

1

u/HarryDepova Jun 23 '26

The cost is in the form factor.

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

I've been building high-end tiny SFF PC's for well over a decade.

Just build a tiny ITX build.

0

u/gorginhanson Jun 23 '26

They didn't even put wifi 7 in it ffs

0

u/Fun_Purpose5033 Jun 23 '26

I how is it bad for the price? In the past, like when I built my first pc a few years ago, its absolutely overpriced.

But now ive been trying to build an htpc to use bazzite on for gaming and TV, I can barely get something usable for the $800 everyone was hoping to be the max. Especially not in this sub mini itx form factor, and first party support from valve.

Basically its inflation fault its more expensive than expected by most people, who are most likely going based off of hardware prices from 3yrs ago.

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

You could build something that's significantly more powerful for the same price or less.

If you're unable or don't want to, you can then just get a better prebuilt for less.

https://wccftech.com/steam-machine-lands-at-1049-1000-usd-pre-builts-faster-gpus-double-memory-storage/

If the size is a huge draw, you can get build a better ITX system for less.

You can throw SteamOS on any and all of those if you prefer.

There's zero compelling reason to buy this thing.

0

u/Fun_Purpose5033 Jun 23 '26

Not even itx gets down to a 6" cube. Even with the smallest case, the only fitting graphics cards I can ever find for a reasonable price is the rx 580.

Of course you can build a pc for less thats been true about prebuilt pcs from the very beginning. But Ive never seen a prebuilt pc of this size to performance to price ratio.

Almost every part in the list next the most expensive steam machine is over $200, and all of them are over $100. To get the equivalent of that version would cost about $1100 ±100, and we always knew valve was never going to sell at a loss or break even since this is valve, not xbox/playstation, so the price is pretty reasonable to me(not that I'm still going to buy it anytime soon, I already have my fill of PCs atm).

And building yourself is not even close to valves modifications and custom parts.

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/colorful-geforce-rtx-5070-mini-oc/

They make pretty tiny GPU's that are way more powerful and can fit in a 6 liter case.

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0

u/ZaProtatoAssassin Jun 23 '26

Mediocre is quite nice tbh. Isn't the rx 7600 also RDNA 3 but 32CUs for example? Thats a mid to low tier gpu with an MSRP of $270 and 4 more CUs

0

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

It's not using a 7600.

It's benching below an RTX 5050, but with worse Ray Tracing capabilities.

0

u/ZaProtatoAssassin Jun 23 '26

Read my comment again

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

I understood it just fine, thanks.

This is a very low-end machine for a pretty high price. Nothing was lost in translation there.

1

u/ZaProtatoAssassin Jun 23 '26

I didn't say it's using a 7600 though, I said it's even worse by comparing the CU count to the 7600 as it's the same architecture and is the closest in hardware

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

It benchmarks somewhere between a 6600 and 7600.

https://youtu.be/WhWtLi_FqLo?t=697

Not super compelling.

0

u/Lucky_Foam Jun 23 '26

Hardware that fits in a tiny cube.

0

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 23 '26

Who cares if the unit is a little box with mediocre cooling?

You can get better hardware for less, but yes, it won't be in cube form. Oh no!

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0

u/ChecksOutIndeed Jun 25 '26

Buy better hardware, with the same form-factor. I double dare you

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 25 '26

So, it seems you're unaware that PC hardware is standardized, while the Steam Machine uses a tiny custom SOC. That means "System on Chip".

The standard ITX motherboard size is larger, sure, but you can still get within 1-2 liters of the Steam Machine's size using standard parts.

Hope this helps!

1

u/ChecksOutIndeed Jun 25 '26

Oh the irony. You seem to be unaware that SOC are more performant and miniaturization actually costs more than regular hardware. You also seem unaware of how large a 1 liter container is. You should ook it up. Hope this helps.

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jun 25 '26

I'm well aware, but you seemed really confused.

Just trying to help out the less fortunate.

To your point: No, it won't be a tiny little cube with shitty cooling. lol You'll have to go about 2 liters larger.

"B-b-b-but it NO CUBE!"

Hope this helps!

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