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Steam Machine Price Announced - Starting at $1049 / £879

I have quite a lot of disposable income, and have certainly bought things that ended up being a worse deal than this. I'm also DEEP in the Steam ecosystem (own around 5,000 games on the platform). PC is easily the platform I spend the most gaming time with. I own a monitor that cost me about as much as this box. I already own a Steam Controller. On paper, this should be something I'd instantly buy.

But this price to performance ratio is just terrible. I just can't justify spending over $1,000 on something that's got about 1/6 (maybe closer to 1/8th) the power of my gaming PC. A gaming PC I bought last year for $1,250.
 
Zamana said:
Can someone find out DOOM Dark Ages benchmark for this? Or Indiana Jones? Or just about any game with RT set high?
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timestamped:


Basically even old af and weak dekstop rx 7600 is beating it by 7 to 15% in every game, 16gigs 9060xt model aka ps5pr0 equivalent is 70 to 80% stronger under same settings... :messenger_astonished:
 
Boo Who? said:
Cobble something together? You download an app, launch it and then put a code in from your pc. Enjoy the Gabecube, if you win the Steam lottery to get one. I look forward to the real world opinions from you and other folks here who do get one.
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That's really too janky for me. The Steam Machine is exactly what I am looking for to bring my PC ecosystem out into a place that I have never had it in an attractive and small package with plug and play functionality that doesn't require taking over my gaming PC (or me building another one). The value comes from the new and interesting ways this will be used, and not the dollars it cost me divided by the hardware.
 
On The Floor Omg GIF by Joel James
 
phant0m said:
PS5 Pro launch MSRP is now basically confirmed as the best value hardware this entire fucking generation

2TB SSD, 7800 XT, included controller for $699.
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Pro had a high price in 2024, people weren't seeing that insane value at the time...

Of course memory/storage AI crisis changed that perspective A LOT.
 
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Boo Who? said:
LOL, who gives a shit about the form factor? It costs more than a base PS5 and is worse. Spend another $100 and transplant it into a smaller case. This thing should have released last year.
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Lots of people do. Nobody is going to put a PC in an ATX case in their entertainment room.
 
Bojji said:
Pro had a high price in 2024, people weren't seeing that insane value at the time...

Of course memory/storage AI crisis changed that perspective A LOT.
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Of course. I mean, still seemed like a good value to me at the time (thus I own one).

Please excuse me while I take a victory lap on this one -- as a regularly early adopter, I'm used to (and fine with) usually taking a bath long-term on tech (prices come down/stuff gets better/etc). But for the last 18 months we've continuously come out on top. Prices aren't going down, and stuff isn't really getting any better either.

Charlie Brown Yes GIF by ABC Network
 
That's too expensive. At that price range, you're probably better off building a more capable PC, or just buying a console for considerably less.
 
winjer said:
Dude, I wasn't saying Valve should give away the old Orange Box.
I'm saying that if Valve still made games they could pull up a similar bundle to entice gamers.
You might not remember, but the Orange Box, was a major selling point to push Steam into mass adoption.
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I misread you friend, sorry.
 
Hudo said:
It's incredible how the entire industry is dropping the ball. There is no good gaming hardware deal. PS5 is overpriced, Switch 2 is overpriced, Steam Machine is overpriced. Xbox is overpriced. It's all fucked.
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Does it make more sense to you that all gaming hardware manufacturers are simultaneously conspiring to overprice their hardware to the point of losing sales...

OR

Have data centers and AI inflated all hardware prices to the point where you can't manufacture a low priced console anymore?
 
It truly is terrible.

8GB Vram
Single channel RAM
Budget tier SSD, 512GB virtually unusable

The form factor is literally the only thing that it has going for it. It would make for a decent emulation box if you can pick it up dirt cheap used years from now when it's completely outdated.
 
Wish someone would have made a GAF thread like "Betting time: Do you think the Steam Machine will be a success?"
 
Itito said:
That's too expensive. At that price range, you're probably better off building a more capable PC, or just buying a console for considerably less.
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You can walk into Costco right now and get one off the shelf that is more capable at this price, and fully upgradable.
 
jshackles said:
I have quite a lot of disposable income, and have certainly bought things that ended up being a worse deal than this. I'm also DEEP in the Steam ecosystem (own around 5,000 games on the platform). PC is easily the platform I spend the most gaming time with. I own a monitor that cost me about as much as this box. I already own a Steam Controller. On paper, this should be something I'd instantly buy.

But this price to performance ratio is just terrible. I just can't justify spending over $1,000 on something that's got about 1/6 (maybe closer to 1/8th) the power of my gaming PC. A gaming PC I bought last year for $1,250.
Click to expand...

You wouldn't have bought that PC for $1250 today, that's the point. And guess where prices are headed in the next year?

A year from now, that Steam Machine may likely still be for sale at $1050.

But prebuilts or some of these hardware companies may not exist anymore.
 
Lol I had bought a 7800xt with ryzen 7 7800x3d prebuilt last year for $1500. Came with 2tb nvme, and I don't even game on it.

But price shouldn't be an issue for pc players. Just use all the money yall save on steam game sales, no online pay, 3rd party app stores, etc. Shouldn't be an issue.
 
Spitfire098 said:
Lol I had bought a 7800xt with ryzen 7 7800x3d prebuilt last year for $1500. Came with 2tb nvme, and I don't even game on it.

But price shouldn't be an issue for pc players. Just use all the money yall save on steam game sales, no online pay, 3rd party app stores, etc. Shouldn't be an issue.
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That processor and GPU kick the absolute shit out of the Steam Machine
 
PeteBull said:
timestamped:


Basically even old af and weak dekstop rx 7600 is beating it by 7 to 15% in every game, 16gigs 9060xt model aka ps5pr0 equivalent is 70 to 80% stronger under same settings... :messenger_astonished:
Click to expand...

damn sub 30fps on "optimized" lowest and Dark Ages is a very optimized game. This device is actually e-waste.
 
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I am humbled and I shall eat crow tonight. I literally said $599 and $999. Both are off and I suck. I am literally the GAF clown today 🤡 Fuck you Gaben. I'm now Team Xbox and it will release for $599 and $799 for Pro where you failed me.
 
My god these guys are insane.
All these prices are within their own regions. If we translate to my country, this thing will probably cost the price of 3~4 PS5.
Imagine trying to sell this thing here, people would ask if you have eat a cocaine and crack sandwitch.
 
Ugh, man I was hoping this was the thing that pushed steamOS to the masses. Too expensive to play video games for the value. Seems like a fun device, but not at that price yikes!
 
Lucie Goosey said:
You wouldn't have bought that PC for $1250 today, that's the point. And guess where prices are headed in the next year?

A year from now, that Steam Machine may likely still be for sale at $1050.

But prebuilts or some of these hardware companies may not exist anymore.
Click to expand...
Here's a prebuilt PC in a similar price range to the 2TB Steam Machine that I could walk into a store and purchase today:

  • Intel Core Ultra 7 265F (20-core) Processor
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti , 8GB Graphics
  • 32GB DDR5 5200MHz RAM
  • 2TB NVMe SSD
According to Digital Foundry's findings on the Steam Machine's performance, this machine has over twice the CPU power, twice the memory (16GB vs 32GB), the same size / speed of storage, and a graphics card that's nearly double the performance despite having the same amount of VRAM.

And yes while this is a big step-down from a similarly priced machine I bought last year (i9 14900, RTX 4070Ti Super), it's still an infinitely better value proposition over the Steam Machine in every way except for form factor.

Will next year's pre-built computer be twice as expensive? Maybe? Who knows. If it were, it'd be about as bad a deal as the Steam Machine is right now. Also if component prices keep going up like that, you better believe Valve is going to raise the price on these Steam Machines just like they did for the Deck.
 
So glad I got a new pc instead lol.😂

This is joke pricing for what it is. Yeah it'll sell out immediately but those are the people who also have like 4 different mobile gaming devices and never use them.
 
So the more I think the worse it gets.

- CPU is weak and has access to single channel RAM = UE5 titles are going to run hell because texture streaming is insanely expensive in open world UE5 games, go play Avowed, Outer World 2, Stalker 2 etc, pretty much any UE5 large open game.
- GPU is also weak and has near zero RT capabilities, so you can forget any game that requires forced RT (eg: DOOM Dark Ages) or any other game that requires more than 8GB VRAM ( Cronos, Indiana Jones is a bit iffy about VRAM requirements as well)
- Now for upscaled 1080P 8GB VRAM is usually fine but the problem is that even DLSS doesn't look sharp or clean when used in 1080P, for the upscaling algorithms to work its highly recommended you go 1440P as even using Balanced looks cleaner and sharper than 1080P Quality. This is FSR so the performance/quality will be worse than DLSS.
- You can NOT play any competitive or online game which requires anti-cheat as those do NOT work on Linux. You can not play Fortnite or Destiny2 or Valorant or anything NOT Valve made unless you remove the OS and install Windows. So you will loose all the SteamOS features, optimized stuff they worked on for this.
- For a first timer trying the PC ecosystem, Linux is going to be a pain even more if the consumer has no idea and just wants plug and play. Consoles offer superior ease and "it just works".

It's not even out and it's already outdated and Valve actually had the balls to not include a controller (just sell two models with it!) is insane.
 
jshackles said:
Here's a prebuilt PC in a similar price range to the 2TB Steam Machine that I could walk into a store and purchase today:

  • Intel Core Ultra 7 265F (20-core) Processor
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti , 8GB Graphics
  • 32GB DDR5 5200MHz RAM
  • 2TB NVMe SSD
According to Digital Foundry's findings on the Steam Machine's performance, this machine has over twice the CPU power, twice the memory (16GB vs 32GB), the same size / speed of storage, and a graphics card that's nearly double the performance despite having the same amount of VRAM.

And yes while this is a big step-down from a similarly priced machine I bought last year (i9 14900, RTX 4070Ti Super), it's still an infinitely better value proposition over the Steam Machine in every way except for form factor.

Will next year's pre-built computer be twice as expensive? Maybe? Who knows. If it were, it'd be about as bad a deal as the Steam Machine is right now. Also if component prices keep going up like that, you better believe Valve is going to raise the price on these Steam Machines just like they did for the Deck.
Click to expand...
Not that I'm defending the price of the Steam Machine, but you need to take into account the difference in hardware size.
 
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