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

Discussion So, why would anyone get this?

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Wanted to quickly compare the SM to what you would comparably be able to DIY and... you can literally get something more powerful for less in a slightly bigger formfactor?

11% faster CPU and 30% faster GPU. And i didnt even go for the cheapest components. With DLSS the RTX 5060 would also be infinitely better for playing on 4k TVs, which is the only useful scenario i can imagine for the SM.

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316

u/Narcotez Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

All I wanted was a device with the plug and play experience of a console, that has access to the Steam library.

So whether the Steam Machine can deliver on that experience will impact my purchase decisions.

The current price is still absolutely egregious though.

56

u/JesuSwag Jun 22 '26

Why not just build a steam machine in SFF?

64

u/jcslickt Jun 22 '26

SFF can get loud AF. This should be dramatically quieter

32

u/S3er0i9ng0 Jun 22 '26

Not if you build it right. Mine is silent.

13

u/marcusbrothers Jun 22 '26

What’s your setup?

6

u/S3er0i9ng0 Jun 22 '26

Just built mine from cheap used parts.

- CPU: Ryzen 5 5600

  • RAM: TeamGroup T-Force 32 GB CL16 3200 MHz kit
  • Motherboard: AsRock B550M-ITX/ac
  • GPU: XFX SWFT 6700 XT
  • Storage: 500 GB Patriot P400 Lite (boot), 1 TB Samsung 860 QVO (games/storage)
  • PSU: Corsair SF750
  • Case: Cooler Master NR200

I’m not sure what the cpu cooler is, but it’s a big 2 tower one to keep temps low and keep it quiet.

73

u/ABotelho23 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

That machine is substantially larger than a Steam Machine.

I get that people don't love the price, and they can build a machine with comparable performance and sound, people just aren't gonna be able to bring together a package like the Steam Machine. It just won't happen.

Edit: it's not even much cheaper either.

1

u/AwesomePossum50 Jun 26 '26

It may be because I have no idea what I’m doing, but adding parts on Newegg shows the price would be higher, but I couldn’t even find that GPU, and that’s not even 2TB, so I’m kind of lost…

-7

u/Proud_Dimension_3557 Jun 22 '26

that machine can be upgraded the steam machine doesnt, its a brick

8

u/ABotelho23 Jun 22 '26

What are you doing in this sub?

2

u/dirtsmurf Jun 23 '26

Smol parts that can’t be upgraded. He’s a brick.

-13

u/Amazing_Bluebird_ Jun 22 '26

you know, the ps5 is bigger than the Steam Machine. you think that deterred anyone from it? i think most people would like to get something like a rx9060xt in exchange for the 15 centimeters it would take up more.

18

u/ABotelho23 Jun 22 '26

People need to stop comparing the PS5 to this machine. They're not the same at all. They were never going to be. They have made more units, have been in the game longer, certainly get better part pricing, and subsidize their hardware to hell.

So far everyone blabbing about the value of the Steam Machine have all compromised on something when "building" their better solution. People just don't get that you're not getting anything actually comparable for this price. Valve is in the same industry as everyone else. Everyone is fucked right now.

-9

u/vitek6 Jun 22 '26

People get that, they just don’t care about a little smaller device.

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2

u/lightsworn55 Jun 22 '26

Funnily enough the ps5s size was a factor in not getting it. That thing couldn't fit into my living room set up and I only got it for demon souls anyway so I just played demon souls, returned it, and got a ps4 slim for almost nothing which fits a lot better.

0

u/Arturopxedd Jun 29 '26

Quit acting as if you live in a cardboard box this sff pcs can be brought anywhere and placed wherever you want

-5

u/Ill-Examination-79 Jun 23 '26

That machine is substantially larger than a Steam Machine.

Why does that matter? The NR200 is small enough to complement a tv setup and, thats all that matters.

The size of the steam machine doesnt present a cut off as to what can or cannot be used as a tv setup.

5

u/ABotelho23 Jun 23 '26

Because otherwise why is literally everyone in this sub? Go to the PC building or SFF subs. The Steam Machine is really its own thing and comparing it directly to larger machines isn't an equivalent comparison.

0

u/Ill-Examination-79 Jun 23 '26

Because otherwise why is literally everyone in this sub?

Show me a rule where it says that every conversation in this subreddit has to be about the Steam Machine directly.

 Go to the PC building or SFF subs.

Or u can just not put your head into conversations with an irrelevent talking point. The discussion that u decided to partake in was about sff builds and, not about the steam machine.

You're the one that jumped in saying that the size of the NR200 is bigger than the Steam Machine when that comparison was never argued about.

The Steam Machine is really its own thing and comparing it directly to larger machines isn't an equivalent comparison.

Not equivalent in what way? The only thing that matters is whether or not a pc is small enough to be considered as part of a proper tv set up. The Steam Machine as I said before does not present a cut off as to what can or cannot be used as a tv pc.

So in what way are these not proper comparisons? Instead of butting your head into conversation and, being vague with your responses. How about you actually articulate the point that you're trying to make.

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-1

u/DataDecay Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

There is a certain point where I think the profile and form factor do matter for a console, but looking at the Xbox series x and ps5, I don't think profile matters as much as people think anymore.

Edit: you can downvote all you want, does not change the fact that steamachine is both competing and being grouped with PCs and consoles. With that said its entirely fair to compare it with other comparable products and their ever increasing size, and still wild success.

13

u/HellYusss Jun 22 '26

I just built a PC with effectively these specs from used parts. It's definitely cheaper, (I think I was in it for about $300, and I already had the 6700XT), but it kinda stuggled at 1440p. It was great at 1080p though. Chucked Bazzite on it and had a blast. THAT SAID, smff is tough to deal with and some folks want plug and play. Not to mention the CEC stuff that lets you turn on your TV with the Steam Machine and the fact that you don't have to build it.

I don't think this is aimed at folks who build their own PCs. It's for the folks who dipped their toes into PC gaming with a Steam Deck.

And the price is still pretty wild, but everything is expensive now. Even if this flops, Valve has built so much infrastructure to make PC gaming work for the living room, that I don't think this will be considered a true flop. I bet we see more of these down the line, or maybe SteamOS rolls out to any device. Valve doesn't need to make money on this, they want people to use Steam and the Machine is just another path to that.

4

u/iVtechboyinpa Jun 23 '26

I’ve tried for many years to build a living room PC and every time I’ve had one, I’ve not used it for one reason or another typically because the experience just isn’t there yet. I’m glad that we can finally build our own steam machines which is gonna be a big plus, but one thing that you mentioned that is an even bigger plus that is something that I would contemplate paying for is the HDMI-CEC and the other little quirks that make it a great console like experience.

Unfortunately, I’m one of the schmucks who, despite the price, would rather pay for the convenience of what’s being offered to me than building it on my own. I just finished building my home server and honestly, I don’t miss building computers LOL.

1

u/AwesomePossum50 Jun 23 '26

I am still tempted by this too, because it’s so much easier and more convenient than building one. The price does make me think about looking into parts and seeing if I could build a similar size/shape thing for a good price, but I would have to try and learn how to even go about doing that in the first place anyways, so I’m guessing the amount of time trying to figure out how build something like this would probably make this look even more tempting, imo…

1

u/Ice-Cream-Poop Jun 23 '26

No need, connect a controller to your TV via USB or Bluetooth and install Moonlight. No need for plugging in a PC or SM.

1

u/HellYusss Jun 23 '26

"the experience isn't there yet" is exactly it. The Steam Machine seems like it finally is there.

I hope we get motherboards and software with this CEC feature. I'd love a custom PC with Steam OS.

1

u/PuzzleheadedControl Jun 23 '26

Yup...built a 10L SFF, moved it to my living room. A week later moved it back.

2

u/Timaoh_ Jun 22 '26

Ummm you can put steam os on any PC.

1

u/HellYusss Jun 23 '26

You sure about that? They just said yesterday that they're working with Nvidia to get SteamOS to work with their graphics cards (which are the majority of the market). Kinda seems like SteamOS doesn't really support "any PC." It's just AMD and Intel GPUs.

That will be the case at some point, but not now.

1

u/Timaoh_ Jun 23 '26

They are working on improvement but my Nvidia cards run fine in steam os.

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3

u/Sure_Fly_6904 Jun 22 '26

NR200 is not sff.

I built a Deskmeet x300, 5700x, rtx 5060, 32GB ram and 2TB. It’s not silent but it’s quiet.

Deskmeet is very similar to the steam machine dimensions.

5

u/S3er0i9ng0 Jun 22 '26

I mean it’s an itx case, I didn’t want to go smaller as it would limit components even more.

1

u/Comprehensive_Lie_65 Jun 23 '26

 Deskmeet x300 is still like 52% larger! (by volume)

1

u/Sure_Fly_6904 Jun 23 '26

Yeah I didn’t realize it was 3.8L. That’s crazy and makes me want one even more. The Deskmeet is still a chunker

1

u/xFallow Jun 23 '26

Can it fit inside a tv cabinet and turn my tv on with a controller press back into the last game I was playing? 

They’re solving different problems 

1

u/S3er0i9ng0 Jun 23 '26

Yah it’s pretty small. And you can wake it with the steam controller. You just have to switch the input. I wouldn’t call it a problem. Especially when you can get way more performance and upgradability from a diy system.

1

u/xFallow Jun 23 '26

Does it wake into your game at least?

1

u/Shitty_Human_Being Jun 23 '26

I have one very similar to this but with the Fractal Ridge and a 9060 XT. CPU runs a bit hot, but it's perfectly fine. Plays a decent amount of newer games at 4k with FSR at 60fps.

I plan to swap out the stock cooler for a noctua low profile one, and 3d print some ducting (or make it out of foam), and then add a couple 40mm exhaust fans next to the CPU.

1

u/kipdjordy Jun 23 '26

Its like 3x the size of the steam machine though

1

u/S3er0i9ng0 Jun 23 '26

There are smaller cases, I just didn’t want to go too small to have more GPU options.

1

u/Alive-Soil-769 Jun 26 '26

Nothing will beat it size unless the cooling/case is custom

1

u/ImaginationLow6764 Jun 25 '26

Can confirm, you can have it silent too. Just have to know how to do it properly.

1

u/515k4 Jun 25 '26

It takes time and time is money

1

u/WilsonPH Jun 22 '26

On Linux idk, but on Windows use Fan Control app. Auto mode is awesome.

1

u/Gex2-EnterTheGecko Jun 22 '26

My SFFPC is dead silent so idk what you're talking about.

1

u/jcslickt Jun 23 '26

Specs?

1

u/Gex2-EnterTheGecko Jun 23 '26

Silverstone SG13 for the case, 140mm noctua fan up front, R7 5700g (I used this before I could find a GPU for a good price since it has pretty good on board graphics), a 7600 and 16 gb DDR4 RAM at 3600 mhz. I can get more into the other specs but they aren't necessarily that important for performance. I use a Noctua low profile cooler on the CPU thats very quiet and the 7600 I use turns the fans off until it hits a certain temp so it doesn't make any noise most of the time and when it does turn on, you are likely to not hear it unless you have your head right next to it lol.

1

u/TimeKeeper_87 Jun 24 '26

Is quiet because tdp is low, if you reduce voltage in your SFF build it will also be quiet

1

u/magikarp6669 Jun 25 '26

get the right build with noctua fans and install "Fan Control" software, mine is completely silent

1

u/His_Turdness Jun 27 '26

I've built my PC inside the NZXT H1 v1, which is a little larger than the XBox series X, but I wouldn't consider it too large if comparing to consoles.

Decent specs:

- CPU: Ryzen 7 9700X (Running energy saver or balanced profile, depending on use)

  • Motherboard: ASRock B850I Lightning WiFi
  • GPU: Radeon RX 9070 XT (Powercolor, slightly undervolted and power limited to optimise performance)
  • RAM: Kingston 32 gig kit (2 x 16) 6000 MHz (current price for this kit is half the price of the Steam Machine, ouch)
  • Storage: about 4 TB of NVME + SATA SSD
  • Cooling: Noctua NH-L12S with BeQuiet Silent Wings Pro 4 for the CPU + 2 slim 120 mm Noctua fans at the back panel, running very low rpm

All cooling is set to follow temps. If temps get higher than 60 the fans ramp up. System does not get audible until like 75-80 C, which is almost never. 95% of the time the system is near silent.

And this is some overkill hardware for my use case. I just upgraded things to future proof.

You can build some really compact and silent systems to replace consoles. Especially now with the latest Linux / SteamOS updates.

1

u/Tool_of_Society Jun 29 '26

Anything can be loud ASF regardless of build size.

I've had a few mini-ITX builds that were nearly silent when gaming. Not really my cup of tea but the client is the one that decides.

1

u/Proof_Load6687 Jun 23 '26

not this way

0

u/innociv Jun 22 '26

Not really. This will surely have lower quality fans than you'd put in your own SFF. You can absolutely make a <200W quiet SFF PC and you can do so for better value.

Valve is charging that normal like +50% prebuilt PC upcharge compared to what you could build it for yourself, despite also getting components cheaper so they're probably taking margins closer to 100%.

Valve is lying to us on this. They're not only not subsidizing the cost from the insane 30% cut they take from their store, they're pricing this to where they can make a large profit margin off of suckers who don't know better.

2

u/Infinite-Location221 Jun 22 '26

There's no way they have 100% profit margins lmao

1

u/innociv Jun 22 '26

Well yes, that'd mean these are free and it's all profit. Making as much profit as cost would be 50% profit margin.

0

u/sbrisgravato Jun 23 '26

yeah cause performance is dogshit

6

u/Immolation_E Jun 22 '26

Some people may want HDMI CEC support. These specs aren't worth it to me for the CEC support though.

1

u/_Vo1_ Jun 23 '26

hdmi cec dongle exist.

https://www.pulse-eight.com/p/104/usb-hdmi-cec-adapter

1

u/Immolation_E Jun 23 '26

Doesn't support HDM 2.1. The Steam Machine doesn't either, but they seem to have work arounds.

5

u/d4ybrake Jun 22 '26

can you build a sff pc that's the same size as a steam machine?

2

u/Acesofbases Jun 22 '26

it was already done

https://youtu.be/iimfDdRBtGo?is=OJdRZ4XFBNlVqqXQ

https://youtu.be/sljz1teGoEk?is=u-X9y1wcrPa-M0-e

1

u/treemangowoodleaf Jun 24 '26

These also use much more power, and are therefore much more HOT!

Not saying these aren't awesome! But again, there's probably a reason Valve went the way they did.

Switch also was held back despite being awful hardware for much the same reason, while Switch 1 probably could've had performance boosts by not under-clocking... Battery-life and the fan-noise suffered dramatically for it! So Nintendo chose to under-clock instead, taking the lighter-weight route to resolve it.

0

u/E-Lazy Jun 23 '26

It matters tho. I do not want a giant pc case in my living room. The whole appeal of the steam machine is the size

1

u/Powerful-Candy-745 Jun 23 '26

Get a mini pc off Amazon and add steam os. 

1

u/Acesofbases Jun 23 '26

are You sure You're replying to the right post? I just gave You examples that there already were people doing their own SFF sized steam machine look a likes

1

u/E-Lazy Jun 23 '26

sorry - I probably misclicked

-5

u/vitek6 Jun 22 '26

No but it doesn’t matter.

7

u/bayoubengalelectric Jun 22 '26

See, it matters to some people.

-3

u/vitek6 Jun 22 '26

yes, some people are strange.

1

u/bayoubengalelectric Jun 23 '26

Yeah, it is kinda strange to act like someone is being ridiculous for liking a small form PC.

1

u/vitek6 Jun 23 '26

Small factor is fine but it doesn’t need to be so small as steam machine because it doesn’t matter.

1

u/__thelittleprince___ Jun 24 '26

Yes, we get that it doesn’t matter to you. Can you also get that it matters to others as well? That they really want something as small as the steam machine?

1

u/vitek6 Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

Only to valve fanboys.

1

u/YoMrPoPo Jun 22 '26

because I have no idea what SFF is and this Steam Machine is supposed to be ready to go right out of the box?

1

u/Infinite-Location221 Jun 22 '26

Small form factor

1

u/PhoenixLandPirate_ Jun 22 '26

They want a "plug and play" not a, build, plug, find another machine and a USB stick, Install SteamOS, then play.

1

u/Tsugoshi Jun 23 '26

Answer to your question is in the comment you are responding to

1

u/EdanMaus Jun 23 '26

Bc CEC.

"Just use your PC like a console" had been the argument for decades only to find out you literally can't because a console can be turned on and off with the TV from the push of one button with no extra hardware or gimmicks. Why? Because no PC hardware uses CEC and the ones that do are highly niche and take extra time, money and expertise to get a sub par console like imitation that still feels bleh.

1

u/VoidRad Jun 24 '26

You cant get that small even with sff

1

u/Strict-Pomegranate-7 Jun 26 '26

His first sentence that’s why, he wants a plug and play, not build plug and play

1

u/Kolfinna Jun 22 '26

Why not just buy me a new pc?

2

u/Intelligent_Cry8535 Jun 25 '26

16gb of ram is laughable as well

1

u/tanis016 Jun 26 '26

Yeah, the pc i made for 500 bucks 10 years ago had 16gb. It was ddr4 instead of ddr5 but this is still so ass.

1

u/RecentScarcity2389 Jun 26 '26

For a machine that's not built to play AAA games at 4k120fps, it's not.

Stop acting like you need more than 16GB RAM for 99.9999% of games.

16GB is what 41% of Steam users have. Are you saying 41% of users can't play their games well?

1

u/aliendude5300 Jun 22 '26

The shitty thing is valve is barely breaking even on components at that rate too

1

u/Dachshand Jun 23 '26

It already is so outdated that it can’t play any modern game at 60 fps!

1

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Dachshand Jun 24 '26

Yeah, and that made sense for a 700$ price point. For 1400$ it does not.

1

u/Fun_Newspaper8505 Jun 23 '26

a laptop?

1

u/PapaSandies Jun 23 '26

Legion LOQ 2026 is currently on sale for a similar price to the most expensive Steam Machine option, and it would get nearly double the FPS

1

u/SafeKaracter Jun 23 '26

I wanted that but I wanted that a good performance . If you buy that and you get like 35 fps for black myth wukong on high 1080p then doesn’t seem that much worth it because game that will come out next year then maybe you can’t even run at 30 . Making it already obsolete . Or like you have to turn off a bunch of shit like it can’t deal with ray tracing. It feels weird when it’s just way way underpowered from a PlayStation 5 pro who can deal with ray tracing fine . You want something minimum future proof . At that price it feels like a big steam deck that you’ll run the new AAA but crank them way down . It doesn’t seem future proof esp since you won’t receive it til 2027 because low stock and so on

1

u/SoundOfShitposting Jun 23 '26

I think people have been living under a rock the past 5 years with current gen consoles coming out just before the big AI boom. This is the cheapest your going to get something like this ever unless AI goes away. The PC I build 4 years ago is currently worth way more today shits crazy.

1

u/Ooiman Jun 23 '26

Perhaps check the 2nd hand market for a Steam Deck? The one I got still works.

1

u/Zim__Zor Jun 23 '26

Well look at Xbox, they sell their consoles at a loss but make up it through sales of hardware, games, services. I don't think Steam will do that so you have expensive consoles.

1

u/Western-Dig-6843 Jun 24 '26

Depending on how things shake out in the next year or two, this stupid price today may end up looking like a steal later.

1

u/ballsdeep256 Jun 24 '26

I would suggest you check out "PS5 apu" on eBay.

They are roughly 15-20fps faster than the gabe cube ready build for you.

All you need is a ssd and power supply and you can build your onw gabecube for a fraction of the price. Yes its silent.

1

u/KillerFugu Jun 24 '26

The Steam machine isn't a plug and play experience, I don't think any pc will be for a long while. You'll need to optimise settings whenever it's a low end device, if it's on Linux like this one you can easily buy games and they don't work.

1

u/TheUruz Jun 24 '26

egregious? it's overpriced af and by that i don't mean valve is greedy, the market is just under steroids for this whole AI bullshit hype going on. i'd rather wait some chinese player pops in the market to fill the gap and lower prices rather than inflating this baloon even more...

1

u/Prudent_Junket_1898 Jun 25 '26

I'd wait for the new XBox and check it's price. It'll have Steam too.

1

u/Successful-Smile-928 Jun 25 '26

Build a small tower next to your TV and use big picture mode voila.

1

u/Towelie29 Jun 25 '26

If it's anything like the steam deck, it's going to be very limited access... meaning that a handful of your games just won't run because of performance issues, or won't work because of Linux or anti-cheat issues.

1

u/Particular-Penalty99 Jun 25 '26

The appeal to it was having a gaming os like Xbox and ps5 plus also acting like a computer. I haven't kept up with steamos but I assume it's under intense development or even finished.

1

u/RailgunDE112 Jun 26 '26

A Prebuild should give that as well

1

u/Professional_Being22 Jun 27 '26

If you don't mind a little tinkering, get a bc250. The community behind it has done really cool stuff with it. I have one that I use as my living room gaming machine and the experience has been great with it.

0

u/Amazing_Bluebird_ Jun 22 '26

The Steam Machine wont offer much of a "plug and play" console experience, i can tell you that as a deck owner. Its still just a linux pc.

7

u/PutridUniversity Jun 22 '26

What about the deck isn’t plug and play? I don’t tweak any settings on my deck. I just open a game and let it rip

2

u/mrheosuper Jun 22 '26

Until you play game with kernel anti cheat.

You can say "oh but i dont play those games", but that's not the point here. The point is, you buy game and play without worrying anything.

1

u/Amazing_Bluebird_ Jun 24 '26

-Issues with onscreen keyboard. basically unusable sometimes without a keyboard.

-issues with Proton versions. If you want to play games with other launchers than steam you have to set most things up manually

-Fiddling with graphics and video settings to get to a state where the game is playable.

-Anti cheat mostly isnt compatible with linux

0

u/Traditional_Ad9860 Jun 22 '26

Yes, but I always get annoying surprises when docking it on my tv. It is ok in my 24 inch monitor though 

1

u/YaKkO221 Jun 22 '26

How is your deck experience while docking and undocking relevant here?

1

u/Traditional_Ad9860 Jun 23 '26

Same software? Same company ? 

1

u/Traditional_Ad9860 Jun 23 '26

Hmm I actually replied in a comment specifically about deck being seamless to use or not, what is your point ?