Valve is making a comeback in both your office and living room with its new Steam Machine, a hybrid between a console and PC powered by SteamOS, yet severely impacted by the current economic climate. Here’s our full review.
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The Steam Machine name isn’t new as it originally referred to a range of PCs running on SteamOS created by various manufacturers (like Alienware, Zotac, Gigabyte) featuring specs that varied across models. However, due to a baffling marketing strategy with dozens of radically different and sometimes expensive machines, and a lack of optimization with a limited game catalog, the Steam Machine concept gradually faded away, quietly disappearing in 2018.
The demise of the original Steam Machines sparked two major internal projects at Valve. Firstly, Proton, its own compatibility layer based on Wine, designed to run Windows games on Linux without developer intervention. Secondly, Valve realized the need to control its hardware from start to finish rather than relying on third-party partners.
Four years later, in 2022, Valve launched the Steam Deck, its first handheld console running on a brand-new version of SteamOS, saved by Proton to ensure compatibility with many games on Linux. The Steam Deck was an absolute hit, finally realizing the initial vision of the Steam Machines nearly a decade later.
Yet, Valve hasn’t given up on its Steam Machine and aims to offer its own gaming console, a sort of hybrid between a PC and a traditional gaming console, as PC gaming continues to win over players and developers. Four years on, the true Steam Machine enters the stage, and we have some insights to share.
Valve Steam MachineTechnical Specifications
| Model | Valve Steam Machine |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 16.24 cm x 15.6 cm x 15.2 cm |
| Storage Support | MicroSD card support |
| Graphics Architecture | AMD RDNA 3 |
| Maximum Definition | 4K |
| Wifi | Wi-Fi 6E |
| Bluetooth | Yes |
| Weight | 2600 g |
| Product Details | View Product |
Valve Steam MachineOur Video Review
Valve Steam MachineA Stunning Little Box
Known affectionately as the GabeCube (in homage to Valve's co-founder Gabe Newell), the Steam Machine adopts a cubic form. Its chassis, clad in black similar to the Xbox Series X, features a front divided into two sections: a removable magnetic front plate which, once removed, unveils the machine’s internals.
Be aware, the front is “protected” by a plastic grille, not a metal one, making the machine more fragile without the front plate. If you wish to let your Steam Machine breathe during the summer, this is one way to do it (but be mindful of dust).
The front plate can be customized at will, either by purchasing from a third-party manufacturer or by 3D printing, as Valve provides the necessary CAD files for printing. The plate covers a significant portion of the front and is separated by an elegant multicolored LED strip from the rest of the front connectivity.
The design is quite elegant, if somewhat generic. Its compact dimensions make it a versatile addition to any setup, whether in a living room or a PC desk.
However, there is a minor flaw: the chassis is very prone to dust and fingerprints. If you do not handle the device constantly, this should not pose a problem, but if you are particular about the aesthetics and cleanliness of your setup, it is something to consider.
Connectivity
The machine’s connectivity options are designed to fit all configurations. For a PC monitor, you have DisplayPort 1.4 for playing up to 4K 240 Hz with variable refresh rate support via AMD FreeSync. Two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports are located at the front next to a microSD slot for your various peripherals. For troubleshooting, two slower USB 2.0 ports are present at the back, and a single USB-C port (USB 3.2 Gen 1) is available. The presence of only one of these ports is a notable imbalance between the two standards.
For a television, the HDMI 2.0 port is actually a HDMI 2.1 in disguise. It supports 4K at 120 Hz, as well as ALLM for optimal latency settings, HDR, and variable refresh rate. Fortunately, Valve has managed to overcome the limitations of Linux and the reluctance of the HDMI Forum to offer a living room experience comparable to current consoles.
Valve Steam MachinePerformance
Let’s dive into the core topic of the Steam Machine: its gaming performance. When Valve announced the console’s specs last year, they were met with skepticism from players and observers alike. The processor is based on the Zen 4 architecture, a semi-custom chip designed with AMD, with 6 cores and 12 threads that can go up to 4.8 GHz. The dedicated GPU (not integrated) is also a semi-custom chip based on RDNA 3 (the RX 7000 generation) with 28 compute units and a clock speed of 2.45 GHz, paired with a dedicated 8 GB GDDR6 memory pool. Finally, there is only one RAM configuration for the Steam Machine: 16 GB in DDR5, paired with either a 512 GB or 2 TB NVMe storage. Note that both RAM and storage can be replaced with your own components if desired, which is a plus for the future.
We tested the Steam Machine in 6 games on 6 different engines and in 3 configurations. For PC gamers, 1080p is still the standard, although 1440p is gaining ground month by month. Therefore, we tested the performance at these two resolutions. Finally, to verify Valve’s official promises, we also tested the console’s performance in 4K resolution by activating FSR, its upscaling technology. All games were tested at “High” settings without ray tracing. It should be noted that it is possible to force the use of FSR 4 in certain games for a much better rendering quality, but at a significant performance cost. We specify each time which version of the technology was tested.
The results depend heavily on engine optimization. In 1080p, the differences can be drastic between proprietary engines such as the RE Engine (Resident Evil Requiem) and the Red Engine (Cyberpunk 2077) with significantly higher performance, exceeding 60 FPS even in 1440p. Ratchet and Clank fluctuates between 50 and 60 FPS depending on whether you choose 1080p or 1440p, but 4K in FSR 4 (Performance mode) will give you an average of 36 FPS. You will need to switch to FSR 3 to hope to approach 50 FPS. Insomniac Games’ game favors AMD GPUs, but it can’t perform miracles on such a chip.
Good surprises can be found in Cyberpunk 2077 and Resident Evil Requiem. As long as you stick to rasterization modes (excluding ray tracing), you can hope to play Cyberpunk at nearly 80 FPS in 1080p and 50 FPS in 1440p. In 4K with FSR 3’s performance mode, you reach an average of 52 FPS and only 38 in FSR 4. In many cases, you will have to play with Low/Medium settings to hope for an average of 60 FPS in 4K. Resident Evil Requiem shines on the Steam Machine with an average of 87 FPS in 1080p and 57 FPS in 1440p. The game natively uses FSR 4 and can therefore run at an average of 42 FPS in 4K.
Control runs on an older version of the Northlight engine used in Alan Wake 2, but it remains a good benchmark for the Steam Machine. In the midst of a gunfight, the game runs around 70 FPS in 1080p at High settings and 47 FPS in 1440p. In 4K with FSR 3’s Performance mode, you enjoy a comfortable framerate of 62 FPS on average in our tests, but at the expense of significantly lower graphic quality. We were unable to force the activation of FSR 4.
On Unreal Engine 5 from Black Myth Wukong, things get seriously complicated with a framerate that does not exceed 43 FPS in 1080p and 30 FPS in 1440p. In 4K FSR 3 Performance mode, do not expect to exceed 40 FPS. Here again, you will need to seriously lower the graphic preset to make the Chinese action RPG playable.
Finally, a game like Baldur’s Gate 3 fortunately benefits from Larian Studio’s optimizations for smaller configurations, including the Steam Deck. Expect a framerate above 60 FPS in all circumstances, but which can drop to 50 FPS in areas dense with buildings and NPCs.
Overall, the Steam Machine will require serious sacrifices if you want to play relatively demanding games at 60 FPS. While the console will perform very well on indie and AA games, its performance for recent games is clearly at odds with the price demanded by Valve.
Valve Steam MachineSteamOS Rivals Consoles
The Steam Machine relies on SteamOS, Valve’s proprietary operating system introduced with its handheld console, the Steam Deck, in 2022. SteamOS acts as a layer on top of Linux, based on an Arch Linux kernel, and relies on the immense work of the open-source community and Valve’s engineers to allow playing almost the entire Steam catalog under ideal conditions.
The secret weapon of SteamOS is Proton, a compatibility layer that allows running Windows software on Linux. In many cases, Proton translates DirectX instructions to the Vulkan API on one hand, and the rest of the system calls through the Wine engine on the other. One might think that games going through the Proton mill would be systematically less performant, but this is without counting on Windows and its relative performance.
On handheld consoles, such as the Steam Deck or Xbox ROG Ally, the different SteamOS distributions are often more performant than Windows 11 in gaming, thanks to the lightness of Linux compared to Windows’ overhead. Recent tests by the YouTube channel ETA Prime have illustrated a very different situation on the Steam Machine as performances on Windows proved to be very similar and sometimes superior. It is expected that further driver optimizations will come from Valve and AMD during the life of the console.
In terms of user experience, those familiar with the Steam Deck will not be disoriented, while new players will enjoy an interface as polished as those of Sony and Microsoft’s consoles. The initial setup provides clear instructions for connecting the console to the internet, a Steam account, and even a third-party controller or keyboard and mouse. Users are never lost regarding the configuration to adopt through this seamless onboarding process.
However, it retains a slightly nerdier side than what can be found on consoles like the PS5 or the latest XBOX: you can activate complete monitoring of your in-game performances directly from the sidebar, you can also get lost in many menus, especially in the properties of your games to change the maximum resolution or even the version of Proton used…
And it goes even further, since you have the possibility to switch to desktop mode, a mode that offers a real PC interface with a file explorer, a web browser, and pretty much anything you want as long as it’s Linux-compatible. Thanks to this desktop mode, you can turn this console into a truly versatile computer.
The console takes about twenty seconds to boot up before displaying the main menu of SteamOS, similar to the PS5 and Xbox Series. In standby mode, this duration is reduced to 5 seconds, a standard in the industry therefore.
Perfect Integration with the Steam Controller
You won’t be surprised to learn that Valve has worked on the compatibility of the Steam Controller with the Steam Machine. Its controller does not need a wireless adapter as the module is integrated into the console and can accommodate up to four Steam Controllers. The initial pairing requires connecting the controller with a cable so that it is then recognized natively.
The various contextual menus of SteamOS are accessible via dedicated buttons, and taking screenshots has been simplified.
But the great advantage of SteamOS compared to another console is that you can, if you wish, install Windows. Valve provides the drivers for it, but does not allow (yet) dual booting to switch from one to the other without friction. In this sense, the Steam Machine is more of a PC than a console, even if SteamOS blurs the lines.
Valve Steam MachineQuiet in All Circumstances
We measured the temperatures of the Steam Machine, but also its acoustics under full load during a sustained 1-hour 4K gaming session. The console remained simply inaudible, without any whistling or coil whine. It appears that Valve has calibrated the power output for this discretion when looking at the temperatures of the different components. The processor rarely exceeded 83 degrees while the GPU, although stressed at 100%, peaked at 74 degrees.
On the surface, on the different front faces of the cube, the temperature does not exceed 35 degrees. It is at the back where the airflow exceeds the 50-degree threshold and therefore heats the surrounding air. The Steam Machine will therefore remain discreet visually, but also acoustically.
Valve Steam MachinePrice and Availability
The Steam Machine is sold in four different configurations:
- A 512 GB version without Steam Controller for 1,039 euros and with Steam Controller for 1,108 euros.
- A 2 TB version without Steam Controller for 1,359 euros and with Steam Controller for 1,428 euros.
It should be noted that Valve cannot sell its machine at a loss like Sony or Microsoft, who offer a closed ecosystem ensuring investments in games and subscriptions directly on their platform.
Valve considers this business model as incompatible with a PC ecosystem like that of the Steam Machine,
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Maya Singh is a senior editor covering tablets and hybrid devices. Her work explores how these tools reshape digital productivity and learning. She also contributes to feature editorials on emerging tech.