Wednesday, November 12th 2025
Valve Announces Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller
Valve has finally put an end to the months-long rumor cycle about its next-generation hardware. Today, Valve has introduced three new additions to its hardware library with Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller. Starting with the more interesting hardware, we finally have a successor to the original Steam Machine more than a decade after the original was introduced. Also called the Steam Machine, this one brings more modern hardware optimized to co-exist with the SteamOS Linux build, and a powerful software stack to run any game. Available in 512 GB and 2 TB SSD models with microSD expansion, it pairs a semi-custom AMD Zen 4 processor with RDNA 3 graphics to achieve supposed 4K gaming at 60 FPS with ray tracing and FSR support. Being semi-custom GPU, it might be closer to AMD's RDNA 3.5, than the pure RDNA 3.
Bundled with a Steam Controller, the system features an integrated 2.4 GHz radio alongside Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth for wide peripheral compatibility. Video output options include DisplayPort 1.4 for up to 4K at 240 Hz and HDMI 2.0, complemented by Ethernet, USB-C 10 Gbps, and four USB-A ports. Running SteamOS with rapid suspend/resume and wake-on-controller functionality, it combines 16 GB DDR5 system memory with 8 GB GDDR6 VRAM, an internal power supply, and a customizable LED bar that reflects system status for a complete living room experience. Valve has packaged it as a small black box, which will blend in with any HTPC environment.
Next, we have Valve's Steam Frame—the second VR headset from the company. The Steam Frame is designed as a featherweight PC VR gaming headset with a modular architecture, weighting a mere 185 g by itself, and 440 g with included headstrap that includes facial interface, audio, and a rear battery. Inside there is a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor with 16 GB unified LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1 TB storage. This will help it stream Steam games via Wi-Fi 7 and an included low-latency adapter, using eye-tracking to drive foveated streaming that sharpens resolution precisely where you look.
There is a dual 2160x2160 pancake display pair that refreshes at 144 Hz across a 110-degree field. Four outward cameras and an IR illuminator maintain tracking in any environment, so that your VR experience becomes life-like. Integrated audio and a 21.6Wh battery complement the SteamOS experience with full suspend/resume, powering Steam Frame Controllers that feature magnetic TMR thumbsticks and capacitive finger sensing on 40-hour batteries, bridging traditional gamepad familiarity with VR immersion.
Last but not least, we have Valve Steam Controller. This controller works across Steam's whole ecosystem with three ways to connect. The pre-paired Steam Controller Puck is the main hookup, using a proprietary wireless signal that hits about 8 milliseconds of lag at 5 meters—more stable than Bluetooth—and lets you sync up to four controllers at once. You can also use regular Bluetooth or just plug in via USB. The rechargeable battery runs for 35+ hours and charges either through the Puck or a USB cable. For controls, you get magnetic TMR thumbsticks that are super responsive, capacitive grips that can trigger gyro or other commands, and four haptic motors that give really detailed feedback. There's also pressure-sensitive trackpads with a 6-axis IMU, four programmable grip buttons, and all the standard controls you expect. It works with Windows, Mac, Linux, handhelds, phones via Steam Link, and all Steam hardware. Every new hardware announced today will start shipping in early 2026.
Source:
Valve
Bundled with a Steam Controller, the system features an integrated 2.4 GHz radio alongside Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth for wide peripheral compatibility. Video output options include DisplayPort 1.4 for up to 4K at 240 Hz and HDMI 2.0, complemented by Ethernet, USB-C 10 Gbps, and four USB-A ports. Running SteamOS with rapid suspend/resume and wake-on-controller functionality, it combines 16 GB DDR5 system memory with 8 GB GDDR6 VRAM, an internal power supply, and a customizable LED bar that reflects system status for a complete living room experience. Valve has packaged it as a small black box, which will blend in with any HTPC environment.
There is a dual 2160x2160 pancake display pair that refreshes at 144 Hz across a 110-degree field. Four outward cameras and an IR illuminator maintain tracking in any environment, so that your VR experience becomes life-like. Integrated audio and a 21.6Wh battery complement the SteamOS experience with full suspend/resume, powering Steam Frame Controllers that feature magnetic TMR thumbsticks and capacitive finger sensing on 40-hour batteries, bridging traditional gamepad familiarity with VR immersion.
204 Comments on Valve Announces Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller
I'm thinking Valve might have a solid bit of win with the GabeCube.
Like seriously, their 16GB version is gonna require upscalers too. So whats the point?
Hey, if you eat mine, here's 8GB VRam to pass on to those youtubers...
Mum'll be thrilled and you'll have time to find more desirable vids ;)
But no looking at my mom!
and youtubbies are all grifters and chasing the algos. Edit: I should say most of them are. Some are good. I would trust a steam engineer over some kid pretending to be a technician.
Though this Steam Machine controller looks pretty wild.
Something I would like to see on consoles though is a modular upgrade system, remember when the SNES could have chips placed inside cartridges for enhanced capability.
maybe a few will get one just to play around with just to satisfy the curiosity
i am no software expert and hardware expert... maybe the folks down at valve knows what they are doing
im only saying that because the steam deck runs alot of the new games (albeit not spectacular) but it runs...
us pc enthusiast has our heads scratching with the specs the steam machine presented...
i have questions that which group is targeted that the steam machine is intended for? i suspect its for young audience
And serves as an introduction to PCs for those interested or have an eye on more power later, upgrading to a better Steam Machine or use Windows.
I would've liked to see the GPU have 12GB VRAM, but since it runs SteamOS, hopefully Valve has the hardware well optimized for games people will be playing on it.
And mini-PCs aren't the primary competition. The people who buy this won't be looking at a Strix Halo box as the alternative, they'll be looking at an Xbox or PS5.
They're working directly with AMD on a high volume product that they'll want to sell for a long time (i.e. like the steam deck), don't see why they didn't work on a custom version of strix halo to make it cheaper, use the 6-core variant but keeping a better GPU than the 20CU, could even be 28CU for all I care.
Seems like a weird choice that's all, will have to see what prices look like when Valve reveals them but a Strix Halo machine looks much better long term especially when sales start to hit.Being a discrete GPU is not magic, it will have the performance it will have. Being discrete means it will need a bus like PCIe and it's own memory which provide overhead versus an integrated solution. They announced 28CU RDNA3 at 2.4GHz, the Ryzen Max 385 has 32CU RDNA3.5 at 2.8GHz and slighly larger cache than RDNA3, double the width mem bus, newer instructions, etc.
No, being a discrete GPU, and a modified Navi 33 at that, doesn't make it better. Consoles usually go for integrated solutions for a reason, they're better for this type of application, I'd understand not being able to design a custom solution from the ground up, but Strix Halo is right there ready to be used.
That means AMD has a huge supply of slightly imperfect chips that can be used for this, since the Steam Machine GPU is using 28CU. That means lower costs. Same with the CPU, an off-the-shelf laptop Ryzen 5 is significantly cheaper than making an APU.Again, Strix Halo is not the competition. Consoles are the competition. No casual gamer who's trying to decide between this or a PS5 will even know what Strix Halo is. And since consoles are sold as loss leaders, cutting costs is imperative and requires the off-the-shelf CPU and GPU, even if Valve doesn't want to a loss on the hardware (which I think they should, but that's another discussion).A Strix-Halo-like custom chip would have worse performance, though.
Look at TomsHardware's benchmarks. In their Far Cry 6 benchmark, the 40 CU Strix Halo got 83fps, while the RX 7600 gets 123fps. Even though the 28CU Steam Machine GPU will have a bit lower performance, that's still a very significant performance gap for the APU, even with significantly more CU and a slightly better architecture. Dedicated GPUs still wipe the floor with APUs of remotely similar specs.
APUs also present complications for the user. The TomsHardware review mentions several games gave insufficient VRAM warnings, not properly recognizing the shared memory. Obviously, that is unacceptable for any casual gamer, so an APU is not the right choice for this.