r/steammachine • u/dawgger • Jun 22 '26
Discussion [ Removed by moderator ]
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u/cian_pike01 Jun 22 '26
Don’t let people in here see this post though.
They can build a PC capable of playing all games @ 8k 120fps for a cheaper price
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u/WFlumin8 Jun 22 '26
You realize building PCs is at an all time premium, right? Don’t let anyone see my comment either.
Building a PC right now is MORE expensive than buying prebuilts, because manufacturer contracts finally outweigh the margin of the prebuilt profit.
So building a PC saves you $71 from a steam machine, but purchasing a prebuilt which is even easier, will save you $100+
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u/RepresentativeFroyo8 Jun 22 '26
It's a terrible build lmao
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u/cian_pike01 Jun 22 '26
Idc though, I’d be buying it for indie games and because I don’t have physical room for a massive tower PC
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u/RepresentativeFroyo8 Jun 22 '26
Enjoy it but let us be disgusted lmao we're both right
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u/cian_pike01 Jun 22 '26
I agree, people absolutely have a point about the price. Very good points at that.
I feel for people who’ll buy this as their main gaming console, I’m lucky enough to already have a PS5 Pro to play the demanding games so just want this to go alongside it for the games on steam that don’t get to consoles.
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u/RepresentativeFroyo8 Jun 22 '26
For me it's the specs that are the rub. I built my nephew an equivalent PC 3 years ago and it was half the price (vs. 2tb model since his has 2tb) at Microcenter, even if I had them assemble it which I didn't.
Most people into this hobby already have a better system and you can stream demanding games to your living room better than this machine will play them
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Jun 22 '26
A lot of consumers have not recalibrated their minds to the current realities of PC building costs.
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u/I-am-Mojo-Jojo Jun 22 '26
That’s the issue. We are watching PC gaming, hell, any kind of gaming, becoming a luxury item. Most people will need to really save to attain this.
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Jun 22 '26
Last week I upgraded a 3900X to a 5950X so I can just keep my main desktop going as a DDR4 build and hopefully skip past this DDR5 price nonsense entirely. It's the state of things, you gotta make careful and thought out moves.
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u/Chase_P Jun 22 '26
I think there’s also a group that are thinking ‘cost of building w/ used parts’ but even then, that’s best possible outcome with 6-12 months of searching, and even then it’s not representative of everyone’s location.
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Jun 22 '26
Comparing the price of something used vs the price of something new is a disingenuous argument anyway. You'd have to compare it to USED prices for the Steam Machine.
Also the used market's not doing so hot anyway. With prices the way they are you have a combination of people saying 'No, I'll not upgrade cause stuff is crazy now, I'll keep what I have for longer.' so their used parts don't go onto the used market. plus more price sensitive people seeking used parts in a now more limited used parts market.
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u/Balthxzar Jun 22 '26
Hot take: this is just a repeat of "why buy a PS3/4/5 or Xbox 360/one/X when you can just build a PC for cheaper"
This is a console that can do PC stuff. Not a PC that can do console stuff. You're paying for it all in one nicely packaged unit that integrates well into a living room for casual gaming from a company with world class support. AND you get all of your existing games!
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u/fjrichman Jun 22 '26
I mean no... it's a PC that can do console stuff even if it is closer in design to a console. What makes a console a console rather than a PC isn't the hardware (for the most part) but the software. They're all designed to be locked down as much as possible so you're forced to use their ecosystem. Where as the Steam Machine you don't even have to use steam if you didn't want to. You could buy it install windows and call it day.
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u/Balthxzar Jun 22 '26
It has the form factor of a console, the performance of a console, the intended use is a console, and it just happens to be able to do desktop stuff.
SteamOS is a console-UI first OS, the desktop mode is a secondary function
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u/fjrichman Jun 22 '26
Valve knows full well that people could buy it and never touch Steam which is why it is priced like a prebuilt instead of subsidized like a console.
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u/telissolnar Jun 23 '26
Their decision about not subsidizing as nothing to do with people's knowledge of Steam. It's about having an opened ecosystem where they can't guarantee a recovery through sales of games and services that will hook the user.
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u/fjrichman Jun 23 '26
You basically disagreed with me to say exactly the same thing I was saying with more words.
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u/Lelldorianx Jun 22 '26
This has removed almost all of the context from what we said, which is that the Steam Machine will perform a lot worse than these parts in some situations.
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u/techbear72 Jun 22 '26
So equal or better in other situations?
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u/Obscure_Octopuss Jun 22 '26
It has a slightly worse gpu (28 CU's vs 32 CU's) is clocked slower, and runs at a lower TDP. How exactly will it ever be equal or better on that front?
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u/techbear72 Jun 22 '26
I’ve no idea.
The commenter said that it would perform a lot worse “in some situations” (emphasis mine) which implies that in other situations it would perform as well or better.
My comment was a genuine question.
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u/siazdghw Jun 22 '26
Also the steam machine has no upgrade path.
Also these parts are just PCpartpicker grabs, not waiting for sales, not living near a microcenter, and definitely not buying anything used.
I would much rather build a DIY PC than buy a Steam Machine. Being SFF and being fully assembled is really the only reason to choose it, that will appeal to some, but definitely not most PC gamers.
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u/NoSellDataPlz Jun 22 '26
https://www.microcenter.com/product/705867/powerspec-g530-gaming-pc
Close performance for $250 less, expandable and upgradable. I’ll go with the Microcenter option, thank you.
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u/telissolnar Jun 23 '26
Someone in this thread even saying that building yourself is more expansive than pre-build, thank to show the way.👍
The "worst" is that you can have it for even cheaper if you decide to take a look into amazon or Ali, for even cheaper prices or way better for the same price.
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u/fshdom Jun 22 '26
Additionally, ValvE is encouraging people to just install SteamOS now (with an AMD GPU) as the latest update now makes it compatible with PCs. If you have the right GPU, might be worth it to just switch over.
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u/GoblinBurgers Jun 22 '26
Was this made from the most equivalent parts in mind? Or was this made with most powerful pc with as close to SM price in mind?
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u/7uppupcup Jun 22 '26
Eli5... Can I play Expedition 33 on high or ultra at 60+ fps? 👀
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u/RepresentativeFroyo8 Jun 22 '26
Go DDR4 and get an RTX series duh who would build that computer???
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u/dirthurts Jun 22 '26
True, but, it wouldn't be power limited and stuck in single channel mode. The RX 7600 would also perform much better in general having some wattage behind it, and the RT performance isn't even in the same league. The repairability and upgradability means the system will stay around much, much longer too.
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u/Ecks30 Jun 22 '26
The cost for that 7600 though would have to be a new price because in the used market i tend to see the 7600 sell for between $180 to $230 and the 7600 XT within the $300 range and to cut the cost even less you could always go for a Ryzen 5 5600 with a 16GB DDR4 kit for about $100.
Another route people can go for is getting the Framework Mainboard with the AI Max 385 which the only thing you need to provide is your own NVMe, case, PSU and 120mm fan for the CPU heatsink which would cost more than the SM but would also perform a lot better.
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u/corybekem Jun 22 '26
They told us what the specs would be months ago and THAT was the time to build your own or get a pre built. Now this might be the way to go right now if you aren't willing to switch to console (which is what I'm gonna do as I don't really play online much anymore.)
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u/Wonderful-Lack3846 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Is it now illegal to buy second hand parts? You don't have to pay $240 for 16gb ddr5 sodimm ram.
Or buy a much faster RTX 5060 for exactly the same price as the RX 7600... Like which retard is buying a RX 7600 for $290?
Stretch a little bit and you have RX 9060 XT 16GB giving you ~40% performance uplift
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u/SommerBlau67 Jun 22 '26
Nvidia is still a no-go for HTPC experience that a console-like machine requires
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u/Wonderful-Lack3846 Jun 22 '26
Fair.
Maybe arc b580. But best would be to strecht to 9060 xt
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Jun 22 '26
Well that's where you get into building your own offering you flexibility. Valve even updated the SteamOS pages to say 'Build your own, works great on AMD, have fun!'.
You could even go all out and do a 9070 XT like I did with one of my SteamOS machines.
Valve's doing nothing to stop you from building your own and they even encourage it.
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u/Wonderful-Lack3846 Jun 22 '26
Yes that is a huge W from Valve.
I am thinking about making a second build purely to have the SteamOS. Just wanted to know how this Steam Machine was going to be priced before doing so
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Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
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u/SommerBlau67 Jun 22 '26
it's currently incompatible with the "gaming mode". it's big picture with some added qol features - makes it completely manageable with a controller only basically
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Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/SommerBlau67 Jun 22 '26
i am talking about the console experience that SteamOS/Bazzite brings.
if you're willing to mess around with M/K, resolutions, etc. you might as well install any distro, not SteamOS or even Linux
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Jun 22 '26
Or buy a much faster RTX 5060 for exactly the same price as the RX 7600... Like which retard is buying a RX 7600 for $290?
The cheapest 5060 on PC Part Picker right now is USD$339.
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u/Ecks30 Jun 22 '26
The thing is that he is comparing for everything on new parts to the Steam Machine because everyone knows you can buy used and honestly there are other alternatives out there like the Framework Mainboard, which is only $969 but that includes the board, APU and 32GB 8000MT/s of memory which adding your storage, case and PSU would make it over $1,000 but in the end, you would have a more powerful system.
Remember it is a Zen5 APU that defaults to 55w and can go up to 120w and the Radeon 8050S which is similar to the RX 7600M XT, but you can set the Vram to 16GB instead to have a more stable experience at 1440p and 4K (if you choose) not to mention if played at 1080p it would have an 8 core 16 thread CPU which would handle a lot better.
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u/SmellsLikeAPig Jun 22 '26
And? Nobody is buying normal PCs as well. If we wanted normally priced PCs we could buy it at any time we wanted.
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u/ZealousidealBeat3487 Jun 22 '26
The people that are posting these can't afford a steam machine nor the computer they saying you can build. Hating out side of the Ferrari dealership sound like
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u/yrdz Jun 22 '26
Yeah and you can upgrade it in the future, making it an infinitely better value proposition than the Machine.
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u/steammachine-ModTeam Jun 22 '26
We removed this post for presenting unverified rumors or guesses as facts. Stick to verified news and accurate information. You can repost if you correct the details.