Monday, November 17th 2025

Valve Claims Steam Machine Outperforms 70% of Current Gaming PCs

by
AleksandarK
 Discuss (133 Comments)
When Valve introduced its Steam Machine cube gaming console/PC, the gaming community began questioning the hardware choices and Valve's performance claims. However, a Valve engineer stated that the Steam Machine is more powerful than 70% of gaming PCs on the market, based on Steam Survey data. It features a semi-custom six-core AMD "Zen 4" processor with 28 compute units of RDNA 3 graphics. Valve promotes the PC as capable of achieving 4K gaming at 60 FPS with ray tracing and FSR support. It includes 16 GB of DDR5 system memory and 8 GB of GDDR6 VRAM, powering a semi-custom GPU that may be closer to AMD's RDNA 3.5 than pure RDNA 3.

During Adam Savage's Tested podcast, Valve engineer Yazan Aldehayyat remarked that the machine can run all available games on the market. Valve selected this configuration considering the price (which remains unknown), entry-level segment, and market position based on Steam Survey data. Being equal to or better than 70% of existing hardware makes it suitable for most users, and we expect the price point to be attractive to justify its value. Until the pricing is published, we don't know where the Steam Machine will land in terms of market segmentation. However, if Valve plans mass adoption, it will have to be a competitive price point even if it keeps profit margins lower.
Source: via Notebook Check

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133 Comments on Valve Claims Steam Machine Outperforms 70% of Current Gaming PCs

#51
Mindweaver
Moderato®™
I can't wait to own one. The big question I have is, will they sell it with a controller and an option without? I'll be buying both but honest question. This isn't a question if the controller is good enough, but rather do they sell the machine by itself to keep the price point low? What I mean is on check out will we have an option to buy the Machine then add 1+ controllers on checkout? This is all very exciting.

Obviously, the Steam Machine was not made for us PC over achievers to replace our main desktop. This will bring so many more people into pc gaming and hopefully drive them here to learn how to build their own. lol I'm ready to start seeing benchmarks for a 9800X3D paired with a RX 9070 XT running SteamOS.
Posted on Reply
#52
Figus
Looking at it, the performance would be near those of a Ryzen 7600 with a Radeon 7600, not a super PC, but sure enough for a good 1080p gaming without fsr and a 4k gaming on not too heavy games with balanced fsr/xess.
BUT the price must be under 700$, any more $ will be too much for a custom, not upgradable device.
MindweaverI can't wait to own one. The big question I have is, will they sell it with a controller and an option without? I'll be buying both but honest question. This isn't a question if the controller is good enough, but rather do they sell the machine by itself to keep the price point low? What I mean is on check out will we have an option to buy the Machine then add 1+ controllers on checkout? This is all very exciting.

Obviously, the Steam Machine was not made for us PC over achievers to replace our main desktop. This will bring so many more people into pc gaming and hopefully drive them here to learn how to build their own. lol I'm ready to start seeing benchmarks for a 9800X3D paired with a RX 9070 XT running SteamOS.
SteamOS benchmarks are probably near those of garuda or other linux gaming distros, very near windows performance some games a little bit more, other less.
Honestly if I didn't wants the xbox game pass I could probably switch even my main pc on garuda.
Posted on Reply
#53
EsaT
Vayra86The enthusiast segment is gaining too.
But is it gaining anything else than ever higher prices?
Because basically only the wealthiest/those with highest income have had their income rise faster than cost of about everything has been rising.
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#54
Solaris17
Super Dainty Moderator
_roman_Missing video scenes, cutscenes, whatever you call them makes for myself the game broken. It is defunct and not working. Partly working games are broken.
While true his posts seems to indicate he get a lot of odd issues that after discussion are tough for others to replicate. In this case FFXIV my cut scenes work fine. In fact iv not had issues with any cut scenes on any games including things like neverwinter nights from like 2003 or oddball games like recore from Microsoft.
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#55
Mindweaver
Moderato®™
FigusSteamOS benchmarks are probably near those of garuda or other linux gaming distros, very near windows performance some games a little bit more, other less.
Honestly if I didn't wants the xbox game pass I could probably switch even my main pc on garuda.
Yeah was talking more about form factors, builds. I mean SteamOS is just Arch, but it's going to be cool to see what the community does with their version of a Steam Machine.
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#56
Darmok N Jalad
Solaris17You mean kernel level or explicit blocks. There are plenty of games with anti cheat that work fine on Linux.
Yeah, the problem is some developers could get their game to work on Proton with Anti-cheat with Valve’s help, but elect not to. Bungie, for example, could do it for Destiny 2, but every time someone asks them, they give some non-answer for why they won’t do it. This is sad since you’d think they’d want every possible player they could garner to buy their dumb in-game currency and expansion packs.
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#57
JohH
I think they mean more than 70% of existing PCs.
Which is different than what is selling, right?
I think a cut down 7600 is not in the top 70% of gaming PCs selling today...
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#58
TheGeekn°72
MindweaverI can't wait to own one. The big question I have is, will they sell it with a controller and an option without? I'll be buying both but honest question. This isn't a question if the controller is good enough, but rather do they sell the machine by itself to keep the price point low? What I mean is on check out will we have an option to buy the Machine then add 1+ controllers on checkout? This is all very exciting.
Wouldn't be surprised that they do sell different pieces of the Steam Hardware lineup in bundles the same way they package games together
MindweaverObviously, the Steam Machine was not made for us PC over achievers to replace our main desktop. This will bring so many more people into pc gaming and hopefully drive them here to learn how to build their own. lol I'm ready to start seeing benchmarks for a 9800X3D paired with a RX 9070 XT running SteamOS.
Same here, if I get the opportunity to, I'll try benching SteamOS on my desktop, which has this hardware as well
FigusLooking at it, the performance would be near those of a Ryzen 7600 with a Radeon 7600
Ryzen 7600 with half the TDP, Radeon 7600 running at 85%
FigusBUT the price must be under 700$, any more $ will be too much for a custom, not upgradable device.
I mean, a laptop with equivalent parts would cost that much so I really don't see the problem
FigusSteamOS benchmarks are probably near those of garuda or other linux gaming distros, very near windows performance some games a little bit more, other less.
Honestly, with Valve's resources and their ability to pull literal black magic out of their asses, I wouldn't be surprised if their distro somehow got a measurable, even if small, lead over the others
Posted on Reply
#59
Hecate91
Vayra86The movement in gaming markets is towards entry-sub midrange level devices. The midrange is losing ground. The enthusiast segment is gaining too. Its quite similar to what we see in society's division of wealth.
Handhelds, SFF boxes, NUC, but also the 600 dollar laptop.
Exactly, and the division is evident when people are excited for this as a fun gaming box to go along with a Steam Deck, and then the "enthusiasts" are mocking the Steam Machine calling it a potato, only good for solitaire, an office computer. The enthusiast segment doesn't realize there are more people than not who play older or less hardware demanding games, it seems like there is a lot of elitism over what hardware an entry level gaming system should have. And not everyone cares about the latest AAA $70-100 games that need a $1500 gaming PC to run them, that is very clear with how some AAA studios are losing money or are being consolidated by larger corporations.
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#60
Darmok N Jalad
Aren’t these specs somewhere between the PS5 and PS5 pro? Fewer CPU cores, but 3 gens newer architecture. GPU is probably better than the 6700 non-XT performance of the PS5, with dedicated VRAM that’s probably a net win. I’d say this machine will be more like a PS5 in terms of performance, which appears to be okay for the roughly 85M people that have bought one.
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#61
LastDudeALive
Darmok N JaladAren’t these specs somewhere between the PS5 and PS5 pro? Fewer CPU cores, but 3 gens newer architecture. GPU is probably better than the 6700 non-XT performance of the PS5, with dedicated VRAM that’s probably a net win. I’d say this machine will be more like a PS5 in terms of performance, which appears to be okay for the roughly 85M people that have bought one.
Exactly, 6 Zen 4 cores wipe the floor with 8 Zen 2 cores in all current consoles (including the PS5 Pro). And GPU performance will at least be equal. Less memory bandwidth, but the big Infinity Cache of RDNA 3 helps make up for that. And a huge advantage is PC games give people the ability to customize settings to their performance/quality preferences, while with consoles you're stuck with whatever the publisher decides should be the 30fps preset and the 60fps preset.
Posted on Reply
#62
CornyOC
70% of PCs? Guys, upgrade your toasters already!

Posted on Reply
#63
evernessince
Fourstaff$500 - Buy
$600 - eh, can consider
$700 - bottom of shopping list
$800 - forget it

I would like to remind everyone that Switch launched with obsolete chips, but that did not stop it from selling >150mln units.
Very good price outcome list.

At $700 price tier in particular, you can get a better spec'd mini-pc. At $750 you are talking 8 core 32GB mini PC + eGPU.

Certainly steam is a more reliable brand than the Chinese Mini PC brands which is why $700 is viable for them but if they are wise they sell under $700. Their insistence that it isn't a console though indicates to me that $700 might be the floor, although I hope I'm wrong.

$500 would make it another steam deck moment, a legitimate competitor to the other consoles.
Posted on Reply
#64
shuffy_losys
Darmok N JaladYeah, the problem is some developers could get their game to work on Proton with Anti-cheat with Valve’s help, but elect not to. Bungie, for example, could do it for Destiny 2, but every time someone asks them, they give some non-answer for why they won’t do it. This is sad since you’d think they’d want every possible player they could garner to buy their dumb in-game currency and expansion packs.
The question to answer is what's the overlap on the Venn Diagram between people willing to shell out money for in-game purchases versus those who are seriously running Linux to play games on?

As loud as the anti-Windows sentiment is on my feeds, I don't think that represents the vast majority of people who play games on their PC.
Posted on Reply
#65
Darmok N Jalad
Price is going to be huge for this to succeed. I can’t see it being any more expensive than a PS5 Pro, and considering the performance is looking like it’s more PS5 than PS5 pro (GPU-wise), then I think ~$500-600 is the most they can ask. They would have to bring much higher GPU performance to ask more than that, IMO.
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#66
LastDudeALive
shuffy_losysAs loud as the anti-Windows sentiment is on my feeds, I don't think that represents the vast majority of people who play games on their PC.
Linux is 3% of Steam gamers, and MacOS is 2%. If you take out the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED (which are included in the Linux number), Linux and MacOS numbers are about even.
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#67
shuffy_losys
LastDudeALiveLinux is 3% of Steam gamers, and MacOS is 2%. If you take out the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED (which are included in the Linux number), Linux and MacOS numbers are about even.
Where are you pulling this data from?
Posted on Reply
#68
LastDudeALive
shuffy_losysWhere are you pulling this data from?
store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

You can see the OS breakdown right on the home page. If you filter the data by Linux only, you can see that the Steam Deck GPUs make up ~30% of the "Linux" users.
Posted on Reply
#69
shuffy_losys
LastDudeALivestore.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

You can see the OS breakdown right on the home page. If you filter the data by Linux only, you can see that the Steam Deck GPUs make up ~30% of the "Linux" users.
I don't really trust Steam surveys to represent what's going on in the wider market:
  • It requires the person to have Steam installed, was asked to submit their computer information (this appears random, I don't get asked every month), and if the user consented to submitting information
  • You can find weird trends in the data that don't make sense. I forget the exact time, but there was a case in one month, a video card had like 4%, but the next month, it had dropped a few percentage points. It doesn't make sense that that percentage points of people dropped the video card for something else, especially since it was a fairly recent one.
Posted on Reply
#70
VoidRunner96
N/AIt is misleading to consider every computer that logs into Steam and participates in polls as a gaming computer and to use it for chatting or playing turn-based games. This is a joke.
Actually, which GPU segment sells the most? which level of laptops sells the most? what is the ratio of igpu sales versus discrete gpu systems. All these things i'm sure they look at.. They might also have data from other titles persons play (non-steam stuff).

From my days of Pc gaming, it was mostly about 'Look" over console gaming and with how expensive pc has gotten the need to want to "look" superior has shrunk.. that isn't to say there isn't a market for it, but it is much much smaller now.

Maybe its a testament to how good graphics now look on lower setting that persons don't see the need to go pass 1080p setting. Also i think most aren't willing to sacrifice great FPS just to look that better
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#71
LastDudeALive
shuffy_losysIt requires the person to have Steam installed, was asked to submit their computer information (this appears random, I don't get asked every month), and if the user consented to submitting information
Yeah, that's how literally every survey ever works, and statistics is an exceptionally advanced field that knows how to maximize accuracy even when dealing with very unreliable and fickle things (people). Randomness is exactly what you need to get an accurate survey of a large market, actually. Given that Valve is making very consequential business decisions and allocating hundreds of millions of $ based on the survey (not just the Steam Machine specs, but also game development, the Steam Frame, etc), I think they've likely put more than a little thought into making the survey give useful results.
shuffy_losysYou can find weird trends in the data that don't make sense. I forget the exact time, but there was a case in one month, a video card had like 4%, but the next month, it had dropped a few percentage points. It doesn't make sense that that percentage points of people dropped the video card for something else, especially since it was a fairly recent one.
It's overall market share, and the worldwide share of gamers is only growing. So a GPU can have 3% share one month, but 2.5% share the next month, without the absolute number of users shrinking (or even growing slightly). It just means it forms a smaller share of the overall market than it did the previous month. There's going to be some variation month-to-month, of course, which is why it's important to look at long-term trends.

Finally, I was supporting your point of non-Windows users being practically irrelevant to game developers, not sure why you're nitpicking.
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#72
VoidRunner96
CornyOC70% of PCs? Guys, upgrade your toasters already!

But if they upgrade they'll still choose low tier GPU cards, or low price systems..
Posted on Reply
#73
N/A
Blue4130What kind of drugs are you on? Adding a CPU and NVME that both need cooling means that it can't be the same size as a 7600. Add that fact that the PSU IS internal and you see that 3.5L is amazing.
This is a 5060 Ti 16 GB 180 W on a 10 x 10 cm PCB. So anything is possible and it doesn't have to be notebook grade stuff. If the CPU is in a similar package, without a socket, the same applies. Even better, only 30 watts.

Posted on Reply
#74
Onasi
N/AThis is a 5060 Ti 16 GB 180 W on a 10 x 10 cm PCB. So anything is possible and it doesn't have to be notebook grade stuff. If the CPU is in a similar package, without a socket, the same applies. Even better, only 30 watts.

You realize that the Steam Machine has, aside from the GPU chip, a CPU chip, VRM for said CPU, sockets for SODIMM memory, backside SSD and its connection, various IO connections like for the antennas - in other words, things that this 5060Ti very much does not have and has to also be properly spaced out for tracing reasons?
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#75
xSneak
I really don't see the point of this thing unless it is priced at $300. A playstation 5 or xbox series X outperform it while having a compact form factor; the steam machine is DOA.
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