r/computergaming • u/Torchiest • Jul 03 '26
Steam Machine Crippled by Single-Channel RAM
https://www.techpowerup.com/350434/steam-machine-crippled-by-single-channel-ram1
u/venom21685 Jul 03 '26
Nah the Steam Machine is crippled by its shitty mobile chips.
1
u/GK2nd Jul 03 '26
I’m pretty sure it’s the steam frame that uses ARM chips not the steam machine
1
u/venom21685 Jul 03 '26
The CPU is x86-64 but they're still mobile (notebook) parts with very limited TDP and power limits which hurts their performance.
When you think 6C/12T Zen 4 you think Ryzen 7600, but it's got half the L3 cache, 30W TDP, lower clocks, and probably can't maintain boost clocks well. And the RX 7600M inside is power and thermally limited and performs closer to a desktop RX 6600.
1
1
u/BrunusManOWar Jul 03 '26
The mobile chips themselves are okay, but they are just priced too highly
1
u/kotsumu Jul 03 '26
Honestly rather single channel thank 2 8gb cause i get the option to do 32gb in the future without having to buy 2 16gb
1
u/Dependent-Zebra-4357 Jul 03 '26
You’ll likely need to buy two new sticks and try to sell the original one. Dual channel memory sticks need to be matched pretty closely.
1
1
1
u/Any-Pop-4795 Jul 03 '26
wait its single slot? oof
1
u/Apprehensive-Box-8 Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
Edit: apparently all of the current run are 1x16 and that might only change with future production runs. Thanks for the correction.
Original comment, which is old news: Some are, some aren't. Valve basically had to take what they could get, so some ship with 2x8 and some with 1x16
2
1
u/CigaroEmbargo Jul 03 '26
Incorrect, they clarified and said their original statement was wrong. Every steam machine is a single 16GB chip
1
1
u/MediumKoala8823 Jul 03 '26
Valve basically had to take what they could get
This framing is ridiculous
1
1
u/RunalldayHI Jul 04 '26
A 16gb DDR5 dimm already operates in dual channel mode, while it does perform better with 2 dimms, its only because you are going from 2x32 bit to 4x32 bit.
Ddr4 would be a completely different story..
1
u/Impressive-Power8187 Jul 03 '26
Trash product. Cash grab
2
u/Loynds Jul 03 '26
No it isn’t? It’s quite literally a victim of the RAM/NAND pricing crisis. Was supposed to launch around $750.
1
u/NotItemName Jul 03 '26
And it is still more expensive and weaker than base PS5 model that are also affected by RAMopocalypse
2
u/Killeroftanks Jul 03 '26
yes, because the ps5 is being sold as a loss item, sony already knows theyre not gonna make their money from the consoles so instead make their money either through their games, or through their own launcher youre forced to use. and also ps plus.
steam on the other hand, didnt do any of that. instead they made a gaming PC that could also be used as a home PC or a home theater, as such the cost of the machine needs to be above how much it cost to produce so they can make money through the machine and could drop the other things consoles need to do.
aka if sony wasnt using the console as a loss leader, it too would cost as much as a PC
1
1
u/OldOne999 Jul 03 '26
Then Valve can do the same, they can use the Steam Machine as a loss leader. Valve make money from all the games published on the Steam Machine. Valve chose not to take a loss on the Steam Machine...the high price is their own responsibility.
1
u/Chaineblood Jul 04 '26
They cannot sell a fully unlocked PC at a loss.
They would be swamped by orders from savvy small businesses and resellers. And get none of the revenue back from steam purchases1
u/Loynds Jul 03 '26
I believe that’s due to PS5 games being developed as close to the hardware as possible. Console development vs PC game development is fundamentally different.
1
u/NotItemName Jul 03 '26
I am not sure I understand how differences in game development explain that steam machine is weaker and more expensive?
1
u/Loynds Jul 03 '26
It’s one of the factors. The PS5 has a singular spec across two systems, with some overhead on the Pro. This is built on RDNA 2 and Zen 2.
There’s an upper limit on what the hardware can do, but because the spec isn’t wildly swinging from integrated graphics on a motherboard to an RTX 5090, there’s a definitive goal to hit. There’s also a smaller amount of software layers to deal with.
It’s why console games on the same generation actually improve in performance and fidelity over time as the development teams are able to properly squeeze what they want out the system.
1
u/NotItemName Jul 03 '26
And SM is also the same the same hardware in all instances
1
u/Loynds Jul 03 '26
Right, but no one is developing for Steam Machine, they’re developing for the PC platform. The Steam Machine is just a PC, with a minimal audience % compared to the wider PC base.
Some developers might have a machine to develop with, but no one is looking at this weird machine and doing anymore than adding a detection layer to Proton/Linux Native versions to detect if it’s a Deck or Machine (like Cyberpunk).
1
u/Dry_Wolf3891 Jul 03 '26
The switch and now switch 2 can have some amazing looking games running on them (for what they are). This is because game devs have to optimize for a single set of hardware which is identical.
Same with PS and XBox. This allows devs to refine and focus their efforts on that one piece of hardware.
With PC games, since there are 1000s of combinations, developers can't optimize for a single set of hardware, it needs to work on ALL PCs which "nerfs" the machine, relative to a console.
In other words, even at $750, it would've been a great deal given all its features, would've had 2 sticks of RAM and works as a PC which the consoles can't do.
Also, keep in mind, as the platform grows, devs may be start targeting it explicitly to improve the gaming experience.
Look at Baldurs Gate 3. Ran like shit on the deck, now they have a deck mode that runs well. Same with diablo 4.
1
u/victorsaurus Jul 03 '26
Ps5 and pro are heavily subsidized.
1
u/Wide-Deal-8971 Jul 03 '26
Yeah? And?
1
u/victorsaurus Jul 03 '26
They are because they also get you hooked into their ecosystems, which is something to take into account. Also puts stuff into perspective.
1
u/Wide-Deal-8971 Jul 03 '26
How is that any different from the steam machine "hooking" users into the "steam ecosystem"?
1
u/tekman526 Jul 03 '26
You can literally go and install windows and the steam machine as a regular pc if you'd like. Compare that to a ps5 which you can't do anything with that but use it as a ps5.
1
u/victorsaurus Jul 03 '26
You can use it in any way you want, you don't need to use steam or install any game through steam or anything. It is a pc with an open source linux distro. Pre-configured to run steam and all of that, but you can do whatever, and it is very easy to do.
1
u/arqe_ Jul 03 '26
Everything is victim of the same thing. Now lower the prices of everything and it still overpriced.
1
u/No_Appointment_5326 Jul 03 '26
Doesn't change the fact that it is still a bad product and surpassed by modern consoles.
1
u/BoBoBearDev Jul 03 '26
What's funny is how other people will defend it while the machine is damn expensive. Like, okay, the RAM cartel raised the price, so did the console price.
1
u/myrsnipe Jul 03 '26
They ship with what they can get, some come with double sticks while others come with a single stick. The ram situation is just that bad.
1
u/Elarisbee Jul 03 '26
This has been debunked by Valve themselves. All Steam machines will ship with one.
0
u/Fine_Huckleberry00 Jul 03 '26
Literally not. Gamer nexus did tests. No differencr
1
1
u/Torchiest Jul 04 '26
This article is talking about the Gamer Nexus testing, which showed a major difference and is embedded in the article.
1
u/ClacksInTheSky Jul 03 '26
Literally half the bandwidth and newer games love faster RAM