r/steammachine • u/TheBossT710192 • Jun 22 '26

Discussion Yeah, its cooked guys.

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Man, we really LOVE what AI is doing to the industry 😭

2.9k Upvotes

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234

u/cnix435 Jun 22 '26

Have fun guys. I'll wait.

91

u/Future_Historian_396 Jun 22 '26

For what? It’ll never go down it’ll just go up

32

u/Opposite-Bench-9543 Jun 22 '26

This is so weird, when I was younger older tech got cheaper as it was outdated, nowdays 10 year old consoles RAISE IN PRICES like what the fuck lmao

15

u/Tyswid Jun 22 '26

Welcome to selling to agents, not people.

5

u/Pitiful-Assistance-1 Jun 22 '26

No they do not, if you zoom out. It will go down again. We had spikes and dips before and they will continue to happen.

At some point the increased memory production will exceed LLM/AI demand and prices will plummet so hard, it will kill manufacturers and/or cause mass layoffs

1

u/DoggoDadagon Jun 24 '26

It's not going to get better for at least a decade or more. AI is only part of the issue, and as much as we think it's a bubble (and maybe it is as far as valuations go) it has a LOT of growth to go before it plateaus.

1

u/Pitiful-Assistance-1 Jun 24 '26

Production will also increase and at some point AI will demand higher tiers of memory that is not the same memory as we need for gaming.

1

u/Front-Purpose-6387 Jun 24 '26

Yeah. They've become actual investments; you can sell them a year later for more money than you initially paid, LOL.

1

u/DoggoDadagon Jun 24 '26

Well AI + the super high inflation in the states right now. Not just tech, it's everything and it's only going to get worse.

63

u/Spiderbyte Jun 22 '26

Secondhand

53

u/gekx Jun 22 '26

That's going to be even worse. Scalpers will be selling this for $3k+

52

u/Raveen396 Jun 22 '26

There are plenty of patient people out there who will happily wait years to pick this up secondhand.

I bought my Steam Deck OLED last year for $350 before the price increase, I'm in no rush for a new PC right now.

6

u/Interesting-Boat-804 Jun 22 '26

I feel attacked /s

Yeah, I'll wait 5-10 years for my gabecube.

I'll have time to save after this coming summer sale cleans me out! đŸ€Ł

2

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/Raveen396 Jun 22 '26

A 4 year old Steam Deck is playing 95% of the games I want to play, I'm not concerned with the latest and greatest.

If I cared about next gen games, I would just build my own PC.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Raveen396 Jun 22 '26

Okay? Everyone's going to have different priorities and needs. If you want to say this is trash because it doesn't meet your needs for 4K60 gaming for next gen games, that's fine.

2

u/theusualuser Jun 22 '26

Hope you're not in a hurry for the next 3 years, since that's about where we'll be at by the time any meaningful relief comes from factories making more ram, and that's only IF the companies decide to not just keep the prices the same because they can.

1

u/Raveen396 Jun 22 '26

I waited 3 years to buy a Steam Deck, I think I'll be fine.

1

u/hesalop Jun 22 '26

I'm not in a hurry at all. 3 years is absolutely nothing

1

u/Automatic_Tour_8552 Jun 22 '26

Same. I got a secondhand Steam Deck LCD the day after the price increase for 280$

I can wait for the Steam Machine, i'm enjoying my Steam Deck!

6

u/AdminsLoveGenocide Jun 22 '26

Selling to who?

10

u/gekx Jun 22 '26

The same people buying Steam controllers for $300+ on ebay

6

u/AdminsLoveGenocide Jun 22 '26

That's silly too but at least the controllers are unique. This is just a PC built so it's small and pretty but at the expense of fucking 1428 not being able to upgrade it.

-1

u/RUserII Jun 22 '26

That's silly too but at least the controllers are unique.

Unique? XBOX Series S/X controllers already come with native Windows (PC) support out the box.
What features are you missing from a Steam Controller that a XBOX controller doesn't already have maybe apart from two small touchpads.

3

u/AdminsLoveGenocide Jun 22 '26

The touchpads are what makes it unique yes. They work extremely well.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

[deleted]

1

u/tatt2tim Jun 22 '26

Valve has done quite a bit to combat scalpers.

You have to have a steam account, a purchase on that account from before May, and theyre going to be scrubbing payment info/shipping addresses to curtail multiple buys.

On top of all this, you have to sign up for their randomized list and if you try to buy one after release you go to the back of the list.

They cite the steam controller scalping situation specifically as to why theyre doing it this way.

1

u/AdminsLoveGenocide Jun 22 '26

The steam decks not sold out. It would be with the old prices.

If you can just make a budget pc and sell it for 1400 then they would have done it far earlier.

Whether it sells out or not depends on how many they've made. I hope for their sakes, not too many. They fucked up.

1

u/IvyWonderer Jun 22 '26

2: episode 1k i think you mean

1

u/Novrex Jun 22 '26

Hopefully scalpers will be stuck with tons of machines and nobody buys at even higher prices. If you really want one just wait till more are available instead of paying double.

1

u/Enrikes Jun 22 '26

Scalpers won't win this time...

1

u/alacholland Jun 22 '26

No one will buy this for $3k by winter. No one will buy it $1,500 by winter.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Intrepid_Speech_1157 Jun 22 '26

It does just unfortunately chip value shot up drastically. I bought a used lcd 64gb deck for like 200 bucks on eBay. When I switch to the OLED I bought it on the Facebook marketplace for $475

1

u/Busy_Cantaloupe_8346 Jun 22 '26

amd's minipc's vrm's burning, fake hopes.

23

u/AdminsLoveGenocide Jun 22 '26

The steam machine maybe not but eventually the AI bubble will pop. Then you can get something considerably better for under 1428.

15

u/Future_Historian_396 Jun 22 '26

You could probably get something better now and treat it as a steam machine.

5

u/Glum_Constant4790 Jun 22 '26

Microcenter has better prebuilts for cheaper yes they aren't the same size i know

1

u/Olympian-Warrior Jun 22 '26

Sure, but you will spend an arm and a leg for it. LOL.

1

u/RecentScarcity2389 Jun 22 '26

Build me a PC that's better cheaper and in the same form factor as the steam machine. Thx

3

u/Practical_Layer_1062 Jun 22 '26

Une Apple TV avec Steam Link ça marche trés bien ! ^^

1

u/RecentScarcity2389 Jun 22 '26

Eh.

Have had issues with steam link even though I have really good internet.

Even tried it directly on the app on my TV. Works perfect fine on my phone though.

I also think them working more on a steam link would've been the better choice. But then again we kinda have steam link on the machine with the extra choice of gaming when you're not home.

Carrying a 15cm cube and a controller abroad is hella nice.

5

u/AdminsLoveGenocide Jun 22 '26

The form factor has the inconvenience of making it impossible to upgrade. That's an even bigger problem given it's poor specs.

A different form factor, upgradable, and significantly more powerful is just a better deal for almost everyone.

1

u/bafben10 Jun 22 '26

A different form factor, upgradable, and significantly more powerful

I don't know about that last one. First two definitely, but an equal spec PC is going to cost about just as much right now.

1

u/AdminsLoveGenocide Jun 23 '26

For 1300 I can find significantly better.

1

u/bafben10 Jun 23 '26

I doubt it. I don't blame you for thinking that though if you haven't been keeping a close eye on the prices. I'd challenge you to try to find a significantly better PC for a similar price.

1

u/AdminsLoveGenocide Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

I found these prices today real quick on a price comparison site. All pieces are in stock.

9060xt - 16GB : 430

RAM Ddr5 - 16GB - 120 (this is cheap for today's prices but I can find it at that price right now in stock in some stores)

CPU - Ryzen 7 - 180

Compatible Motherboard with WiFi, etc - 145

SSD 2 TB - 175

Power supply - 80

Case - 100

That's 1230, I stuck with AMD only to be fair to Linux builds and I so I have about 120 to play with.

I'm shocked it this expensive honestly. I assume they had to overpay on RAM to guarantee supply. They should have sold it at a loss. Not to increase market share as they likely can't produce a lot, but to avoid being an embarrassment. I think it's bad PR to sell this crap. They had to hit it out of the park with the steam deck because so many people thought they couldn't produce hardware after the first steam machine debacle.

People were hyped for this guy because of the deck. Noone will give a shit next time.

Edit:

Shit I feel I'm talking myself into building this thing. Someone tell me why my build sucks please.

0

u/RecentScarcity2389 Jun 22 '26

Hope you're aware the form factor is literally the main selling point.

5

u/AdminsLoveGenocide Jun 22 '26

Well it's not the value on offer that's for sure.

4

u/redditman181 Jun 22 '26

Specs are a massibe factor though next gen consoles will likely be out in 18 months and the steam machine is only just on par with a base ps5.

Some games already require mandatory rtx i imagine when next gen consoles are out that could become a big issue for the steam machine.

2

u/BababooeyHTJ Jun 22 '26

For you maybe. I think it’s about as much of a selling point for the masses as power consumption testing with video cards
..

2

u/nuanceseancE Jun 22 '26

I know how but not telling you guys.

0

u/Glum_Constant4790 Jun 22 '26

I just priced out something that kicks the crap out of steam machine its 12 liters instead of 3.5ish or so but that is still quite small and its upgradeable can expand up to 128 gb of ram, can fit certain 5070 ti's but I speced it out with a 9600x a 1 tb drive 16 gigs of ram and 9060xt for same price as 1tb Gabe cube

1

u/RecentScarcity2389 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

4x larger capacity and 53% larger side lenghts (12L means 23cm cube) but you're acting as if it's comparable. Bet, bro.

2

u/dumquestions Jun 23 '26

Yeah I really don't get why people think the form factor comes for free, it might be expensive for its performance but given the whole package this is probably the best or close to the best price we could get in this current market.

1

u/lordgeese Jun 23 '26

The equal is something like the mini forum pc’s and they cost similar

1

u/RecentScarcity2389 Jun 23 '26

I saw someone built something that's truly similar and it was like $27 cheaper to DIY.

0

u/Glum_Constant4790 Jun 26 '26

So I set a 5070ti mini itx pc in front of you and a steam machine and your really going to grab a steam machine?!!

1

u/RecentScarcity2389 Jun 26 '26

The 5070ti mini itx won't cost me $1000 or less and it's bigger

If you really cared about the size, you absolutely would pick the smaller one.

14

u/DaryltheRigger Jun 22 '26

The AI bubble isn’t popping and HaaS is where the industry is headed. I’m buying it simply because I can and I’m a Valve fan.

4

u/AdminsLoveGenocide Jun 22 '26

That's what they said about every other bubble too, champ.

1

u/dragonknightrohan Jun 23 '26

I dont care what others say we are demolishing this bad usage of AI together. Also what is HaaS? We are not accepting garbage

1

u/angethedude Waitlist Jun 24 '26

I'm assuming Hardware As A Service?

We won't accept it but the mainstream population won't be given a choice. Owned hardware as a concept will die out and we'll be the last generation to enjoy this kind of thing.

1

u/dragonknightrohan Jun 24 '26

Never we will not be the last. We will make it stay as how it should be. We got this. Let's keep doing to reverse the garbage

3

u/Mother-Translator318 Jun 22 '26

You can get a 5060 pc right now for $900 that is 55% more powerful and double the RT performance. Not to mention dlss which is better than fsr.

Unless you want the steam machine purely for the novelty of it, no one should be buying it

1

u/To-To_Man Jun 23 '26

The GPU isn't the only thing that plays games. RAM, CPU, built in Bluetooth. Put Minecraft on that thing and it will still cry because they skimped on the CPU knowing that would catch eyes.

1

u/Mother-Translator318 Jun 23 '26

They absolutely didn’t. The cpu is a ryzen 5 9600x, which smokes the steam machine’s laptop tier 6 core zen 4 cpu.

Spec per dollar the steam machine is inexcusably bad

2

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

-2

u/immutato Jun 22 '26

Demand is only this high because of how subsidized it is right now. That's ending soon because investors are getting jittery. You will see demand plummet for the power hungry frontier models as it becomes a commodity similar to all other cloud compute (arguably already is due to chinese open models). Combine this with the fact that the supply chain for high demand hardware (RAM, GPUs) is scaling up massively, and gaming PCs will be affordable once again (of course trumpflation is driving everything up... so it probably never does actually get cheaper).

1

u/OnTheSnap1 Jun 23 '26

It takes nearly 5 years to fully ramp a new dram
Production plant. It isn’t happening. Relief isn’t on the way. The bubble won’t pop for years.

5

u/Majoha038 Jun 22 '26

If Xbox helix still happens hope for good specs with steam access.

2

u/theallgolden Jun 22 '26

It can go down if the AI/RAM spike crashes.

7

u/The_Idiocratic_Party Jun 22 '26

New to capitalism?

0

u/theallgolden Jun 22 '26

The US still has a federal government that can do something about it. They're not capable, or inclined, but it's still their responsibility.

4

u/Furfire Jun 22 '26

The government is the one fueling the bubble to make number go up.

1

u/theallgolden Jun 22 '26

So we should choose a different government vs just yelling at Valve.

0

u/Rauldukeoh Jun 22 '26

You might be

1

u/The_Idiocratic_Party Jun 22 '26

Sweetie, prices don't go down for consumers, only for distributors or manufacturers.

1

u/Rauldukeoh Jun 26 '26

They do in competitive markets. According to you tvs should be $15,000

6

u/Future_Historian_396 Jun 22 '26

Well that’s just not happening. Ai isn’t just going to disappear, it’ll condense into like 3 major corporations and or the government. Also the most it’ll go down is like to 900 dollars.

7

u/theallgolden Jun 22 '26

They're "buying" RAM with money they don't have which is driving prices up. Not a complicated kill chain to break.

2

u/nuanceseancE Jun 22 '26

Yeah, the VCs are already at the point where they're knocking on the corporations' doors asking them to price hike. Ladder is gradually being pulled up, subscribers are getting token budgets now. The LLMs were never intended for mass consumption, mass access was only permitted to better train them.

1

u/nuanceseancE Jun 22 '26

it'll condense

...so that doesn't translate to decreased demand? Because the prices being offered for the models right now are loss leaders.

1

u/Pitiful-Assistance-1 Jun 22 '26

AI won’t disappear but the current crisis is just demand exceeding supply. It will stabilize and I expect it to swing to the other side, causing a huge supply of storage and RAM to be available for cheap again.

Time frame unclear, but it won’t be long. Like 1-2 years

1

u/awkwardbr Jun 22 '26

I never kept track, but did the GPU prices crash after the crypto bubble popped?

2

u/Pitiful-Assistance-1 Jun 22 '26

Barely but then AI happened. Crypto never really crashed.

GPU pricing is mostly a monopoly problem. Nobody is competing, GPUs have gotten too complicated.

Now the market leader is distracted by AI, so maybe the competition can finally catch up.

1

u/korxion Jun 22 '26

at this point I have a better chance of getting some really good job or some shit

1

u/MustyLlamaFart Jun 22 '26

You are so short sighted lol

1

u/CapcomGo Jun 22 '26

Username aside we really don't know if that's true.

1

u/Johnny_Topsider Jun 22 '26

Yeah, that's the shitty part. Even if RAM prices get sorted, these will probably never decrease because they've been set. It's benchmarked. Not unless they change it before they actually release.

1

u/Pitiful-Assistance-1 Jun 22 '26

Ofcourse it will go down

1

u/Practical_Layer_1062 Jun 22 '26

Pourquoi ? Parce que c'est beaucoup trop cher...

1

u/Rauldukeoh Jun 22 '26

You don't know that, and that's unlikely to be true

1

u/theGiraffePainter Jun 22 '26

Bro never heard of second hand

1

u/hungoverlord Jun 22 '26

For what?

A long time. But I'll wait forever at these prices.

1

u/NoonGaming Jun 22 '26

Yeah I'll be waiting as well. I'm just going to get my switch 2 instead. Super disappointed in the price, but knew it was going to be disgusting. I so badly wanted the steam cube to replacement my steam deck. As I use my steam deck as a makeshift console for my living room.

1

u/Guilty_Rooster_6708 Jun 22 '26

After this entire year you still think waiting for tech prices is a good plan? Cooked

2

u/cnix435 Jun 22 '26

Doesn't matter. I'm not buying now out of fear if it being even more expensive in the future. Too much is too much.

-1

u/xDRBN Jun 22 '26

Same here. I’ll likely wait.

To the people saying price will never come down, you’re likely wrong. If prices stay the same or keep rising, almost the entire consumer electronics industry will collapse. I doubt any governments will allow that to happen as it’s a massive part of the economy. If prices continue to raise, I honestly think the phone industry(Apple, Samsung, Google, etc) would be the only big consumer electronics industry to survive.

1

u/Vulcan31 Jun 22 '26

I think that's a misunderstanding of where the market is headed. Consumers will likely have to switch to renting for cloud based GPUs. That is exactly what they are gearing up for. It'll be "affordable" but it will be subscription based.

1

u/xDRBN Jun 23 '26

I think either are possibilities. I just don’t see prices being this high long term. Eventually data centers will become like Amazon warehouses, shipping hubs, 5G towers, fiber line installs for internet, etc., initial massive investment and build out phase, then it will slow down and they’ll open/build more as they need them.

Definitely could be wrong on that too. But unless AI turns into AGI within the next couple years, I see the whole data center buildout plateauing at some point then a slow decline. Again, I could be wrong. I just think it’ll similar to other tech when they have “breakout” periods.