{"id":136764,"date":"2025-11-13T02:29:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T02:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/136764\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T02:29:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T02:29:06","slug":"steam-machine-hands-on-first-impressions-of-valves-new-console-like-gaming-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/136764\/","title":{"rendered":"Steam Machine Hands-On: First Impressions of Valve\u2019s New Console-Like Gaming PC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steam Machines are back for the first time since Valve teamed up with manufacturers like Alienware and Lenovo back in the 2010s. But while those original console-PC hybrids failed because of a lack of game compatibility with the nascent SteamOS, 2022\u2019s Steam Deck<\/a> has paved the way for the Steam Machine\u2019s return. <\/p>\n

This time around, instead of partnering with outside manufacturers, Valve is building and releasing a singular Steam Machine with the goal of being able to run all current games at 4K with upscaling. The secret behind this is an AMD RDNA 3 GPU with power roughly equivalent to an RTX 4060 <\/a>or RX 7600 <\/a>mobile graphics card. That might be disappointing to anyone looking to max out everything at a high resolution, but it should have plenty of power while still being relatively affordable (we assume) \u2013 Valve hasn\u2019t announced a price for the thing yet. <\/p>\n

I spent a day at Valve playing around with this new mini gaming PC<\/a>, and while I haven\u2019t had the chance to run my usual gamut of gaming benchmarks, it looks like the new Steam Machine might be a serious contender for your living room space. <\/p>\n

Steam Machine Preview \u2013 Photos\"\"What\u2019s Changed?<\/p>\n

On the surface, the new Steam Machine seems a lot like the old Steam Machine<\/a>. They\u2019re both gaming PCs with a modest spec, and meant to run games on Valve\u2019s own Linux-based SteamOS. But while the original machines had trouble selling, mostly due to high prices and a lack of Linux compatibility at the time, SteamOS has changed a lot over the last decade. <\/p>\n

The biggest part of that is Proton, Valve\u2019s compatibility layer that essentially translates Windows games to Linux, allowing you to play most of Steam\u2019s vast catalog of games on SteamOS, even if they don\u2019t officially support Linux. Anyone that\u2019s used a Steam Deck over the last few years will know that most games run extremely well on SteamOS, sometimes even with performance that exceeds equivalent Windows 11 machines, as was the case with the SteamOS version of the Lenovo Legion Go S<\/a>. There are a few exceptions \u2013 notably some online multiplayer games with anti-cheat software that doesn\u2019t play nice with SteamOS, like Battlefield 6<\/a> and Destiny 2 \u2013 but for the most part, if it\u2019s on Steam, it\u2019ll run on SteamOS.<\/p>\n

While I was at Valve playing games on the Steam Machine, the company had a wide variety of games installed to show it off. The PC ran everything from Cyberpunk 2077<\/a> to Silent Hill F<\/a> without any major issues \u2013 though the latter did have some performance trouble. Obviously, once I get the Steam Machine in the lab, I\u2019ll be able to run a wider variety of games to see just how flexible it is, but for the time being, it seems like most games will run. <\/p>\n

Luckily, Valve is also taking the Steam Deck Verified program from the Steam Deck and duplicating it for the Steam Machine. Soon there will be three different verification badges: one each for the Steam Deck, Steam Machine and the Steam Frame, the company\u2019s new VR headset. Because the hardware isn\u2019t actually out yet, I\u2019m not sure how widespread this will be, but Valve has been very successful with the Steam Deck Verified program, to the point where I use it to gauge whether games will run well on other PC handhelds.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Design<\/p>\n

The Steam Machine might be a gaming PC<\/a>, but it doesn\u2019t really look like one. It\u2019s a tiny black box with a slim RGB lightbar across the front, mostly meant to indicate that it\u2019s on. And when I say it\u2019s tiny, I mean it: the PC is a cube that measures roughly 6-7 inches on each side, and appears less than half the size of the Xbox Series X. It\u2019s closer in size to a GameCube.<\/p>\n

The front panel is magnetic, too, and can be swapped out to customize the way the console looks. For instance, when I was at Valve, I saw a Steam Machine with a wood panel, which contrasted beautifully with the rest of the all-black chassis. Valve hasn\u2019t confirmed whether or not it will be selling alternative front panels, but the company will release 3D Printing files so you can make your own, and third-party accessory companies will undoubtedly sell plenty of custom options for you to choose from. <\/p>\n

Because this is ostensibly a desktop PC, there\u2019s a wealth of ports on offer, with two USB-A ports and a MicroSD port on the front. In the back you\u2019ll find a DisplayPort, HDMI, two USB-A ports and a USB-C port, along with the power connector. What\u2019s impressive, considering the Machine\u2019s size, is that the actual power supply is internal, which means you don\u2019t have to worry about fitting a giant power brick in your entertainment center. <\/p>\n

Valve did open up the Steam Machine so I could get a brief look inside, and what I saw was impressive. A bulk of the space is taken up by a giant heatsink, which has an exhaust fan at the back that sucks air through the front and bottom of the device and expels it through the rear to keep the device operating cool. It\u2019s a bold design, especially considering that the Steam Machine\u2019s GPU is operating with a TDP (thermal design power) of 110-130W. I\u2019ll have to wait and see how its thermals balance out when I get the system in for review early next year. <\/p>\n

The bottom of the device houses the SSD, which will either be a 512GB or a 2TB drive, depending on which version you buy. This drive is easily replaceable by the user. Just like the Steam Deck, the Steam Machine will ship with an NVMe 2230 drive. However, unlike Valve\u2019s handheld, the SSD slot has space for a full-sized NVMe 2280 drive, which are both more affordable and easier to find on store shelves. Don\u2019t get too hopeful about upgrading the device beyond the storage, though \u2013 the rest of the components are soldered on and will not be upgradeable. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s a little disappointing, especially given Valve\u2019s history of letting its users do what they want with the hardware. However, if the rest of the internals were user-swappable, it wouldn\u2019t be able to be as tiny as it is. Whether or not that tradeoff is worth it is up to you, but given the Steam Machine\u2019s console-like qualities, it will likely appeal most to people who just want a plug-and-play gaming device. For them, I suspect the lack of upgradeability will be a non-issue \u2013 at least until it starts showing its age in a few years. <\/p>\n

The Steam Machine will also be available with the new Steam Controller \u2013 or without one. No matter whether or not you get the Steam Machine bundled with the controller or not, though, the PC will have the controller\u2019s wireless dongle built-in, so you don\u2019t have to worry about always having one of your USB ports occupied by a little antenna. What\u2019s better, though, is that the Steam Controller that\u2019s bundled with the system will also come with a wireless dongle, which you can use with another system, or just have it on the table next to you to wirelessly charge the controller when you\u2019re not using it. <\/p>\n

Tying things up is an RGB light bar that stretches across the bottom of the Steam Machine, just below the removable front panel. Valve tells me that this is primarily meant to be a status indicator, but it is still user-addressable, with 13 lighting zones. I don\u2019t know what kind of software Valve is cooking up for lighting control, though. (One of the pain points with SteamOS right now \u2013 at least with the Legion Go S \u2013 is that it\u2019s not that easy to customize the RGB around the thumbsticks.) We\u2019ll just have to wait and see what the final software looks like here before rendering judgment. <\/p>\n

\"null\"<\/a>Specs and Performance<\/p>\n

The Steam Machine is powered by a custom chip made by AMD and Valve, with a RDNA 3 GPU with 28 compute units and a TDP between 110-130W, which would place it roughly around a mobile RX 7600 \u2013 not exactly the best graphics chip out there. This is paired with a 6-core Zen 4 CPU with a TDP around 30W. <\/p>\n

But despite the modest specs, the Steam Machine seems to be a capable gaming PC. I played Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K with the Ultra preset and FSR set to Performance, and the action stayed nice and smooth. I even went into the settings menu and turned on ray tracing, and performance seemed to stay solid \u2013 though I didn\u2019t have a frame counter up telling me exactly what kind of frame rate I was getting. <\/p>\n

Things were slightly different with Silent Hill F, though. After a lengthy process of installing the shaders \u2013 something every game seems to need to do these days \u2013 it defaulted to Ultra settings at 4K with TSR (temporal super resolution) instead of AMD\u2019s FSR. At these settings, Silent Hill struggled, chugging along at what seemed like 15-20 fps \u2013 not exactly what I\u2019d call playable. After adjusting the settings down to medium at 1440p with FSR enabled, things felt much better, but this just highlights that the Steam Machine is still a gaming PC at the end of the day, for better or worse. Tweaking settings to optimize performance is a time-honored tradition among PC gamers, but again, might be less appealing to people who just want a plug-and-play gaming experience.<\/p>\n

Valve says it intends for the Steam Machine to be able to play all current games at 4K with FSR upscaling, but there are going to be plenty of games \u2013 especially ones running on Unreal Engine 5 \u2013 where you\u2019ll have to lower settings to get it running at a smooth frame rate. Ultimately, I\u2019ll have to get it in the lab to benchmark it to see exactly what it\u2019ll be capable of, but I have little doubt this PC will be running most things \u2013 it\u2019s just that the quality settings are definitely going to vary. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s likely that over time developers will be able to sense the Steam Machine hardware and automatically set quality settings that are appropriate. After all, many games do that with the Steam Deck now, but only time will tell if the Steam Machine will receive the same treatment. If it does, though, this thing could be a serious contender in the next generation of consoles, especially as the next Xbox looks increasingly PC-like.<\/p>\n

Who Is This For?<\/p>\n

According to Valve, about 20% of its Steam Deck users used its official dock to connect their handheld to their TV. That might not seem like a lot, but given that Valve has shipped millions of Steam Decks \u2013 a first-generation product, mind you \u2013 that 20% is not an insignificant amount of people. However, there are limitations to running a Steam Deck on a TV \u2013 chief among them is performance. <\/p>\n

While the Steam Deck is plenty powerful for running PC games on its 800p display, it can\u2019t really handle higher resolutions very well, especially when you connect it to a 4K TV. The Steam Machine, then, is the answer. This is a living room gaming PC that should be able to play most games at 4K, assuming you\u2019re ok with upscaling from 1080p. But of course, most gaming PCs should be able to do that these days. <\/p>\n

And while the Steam Machine will have to contend with similarly spec\u2019d gaming PCs that can be upgraded, I don\u2019t think this is for the traditional DIY hardware enthusiast. Rather, this feels more like a PC for console gamers \u2013 people who didn\u2019t play games on PC until the Steam Deck hit the market in 2022. It runs the same operating system and has the same library, only it\u2019ll be able to play games at much higher settings. After all, Valve claims the Steam Machine is up to six times more powerful than the Steam Deck, so it should avoid situations like Baldur\u2019s Gate 3, where the second you load into Act 3 on the handheld, your framerate slows to a crawl. <\/p>\n

So, if the Steam Deck made you flirt with the idea of PC gaming, the Steam Machine looks like it\u2019ll be a great next step, especially as games get increasingly more demanding as we head into the next generation of consoles. For everyone else that already has a gaming PC, at least the hardware support for SteamOS is starting to broaden a bit. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Just How Expensive Will This Thing Be?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s impossible to talk about PC hardware in 2025 without bringing up the price. Devices from the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X<\/a> in October to the RTX 5080<\/a> back in January have all launched with significantly higher prices compared to what they would have been in previous years. Console pricing hasn\u2019t fared much better, as the Switch 2 hit store shelves at $150 more than its predecessor<\/a>, while the PS5 and Xbox Series X have both faced price hikes<\/a> within the last year. Valve hasn\u2019t shared pricing for the Steam Machine yet. The only guidance the company has shared with me was that it will be priced competitively with similarly spec\u2019d gaming PCs. <\/p>\n

Keeping in mind that this is running a last-generation GPU and processor, it could mean that pricing might end up being relatively reasonable \u2013 but we just won\u2019t know until Valve decides to share more. I\u2019ll update this preview as soon as I find out, but my hope is that Valve keeps the Steam Machine under $1,000. If it wants to compete for Xbox\u2019s and PlayStation\u2019s space in the living room, it\u2019ll have to. <\/p>\n

For more coverage of Valve’s new hardware, check out our hands-on previews of the Steam Controller<\/a> and Steam Frame<\/a>, as well as our analysis of what this could mean for the future of the console and PC landscape<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra<\/a><\/p>\n