this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2025
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Valve Claims Steam Machine Outperforms 70% of Current Gaming PCs (www.techpowerup.com)
submitted 22 hours ago by alessandro@lemmy.ca to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca
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[–] Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com 81 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (9 children)

I'm sure it does, considering even my old busted laptop has hit the Steam hardware survey before, but it's not one of my primary gaming PCs.

Another way of saying this is Steam Machine is slower than about 44 million gaming PCs (30% x 147 MAU, a very conservative number since that's monthly and number of users instead of number of computers).

The fact that its GPU is slower than the 5 year old PS5's, and it only has 8GB VRAM, makes me question Steam Machine's longevity. And it apparently can't do FSR4 cause it's RDNA3.

It needs to be cheap.

[–] sneezycat@sopuli.xyz 28 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

I'm rocking a 2060 with an astounding 6GB VRAM... And the only game that gave me trouble so far is Clair Obscur. I had to close everything else, and use a mod to optimize the graphics.

I'll blame the shitty Nvidia drivers for Linux though, cause there is no shared RAM, unlike on Windows. 8GB with an AMD card should be fine -if a bit limiting- for a generation, except for high end AAA gaming I guess.

[–] EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 7 hours ago

I just replaced that exact card in my machine last week in preparation for dual booting Linux for the first time (I needed a new NVME as a Linux drive and figured I'd future-proof my setup at the same time with an RX 9070 XT for the native AMD drivers), and the only games that I hadn't been able to run on medium-high settings had been unoptimized games, bad ports, and early access stuff like Monster Hunter: Wilds and Cities Skylines 2.

IMO 8 gigs is plenty for the average person, all things considered.

[–] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

This thing has 1/6th the ongoing utility cost of a spec’d out gaming pc (assuming 850w psu and something like 4090 and 7900x3d). Granted it’s not much to run a pc like that, like 15-20 a month, but running this thing will cost like $2-3 at most. Its power supply is 43% smaller than a ps5s.

Not gonna be the deciding factor for most people but something to consider. Does 4k120 really matter vs 4k60? Do you really need to turn every slider to ultra? In a world that is boiling with energy costs that are ever increasing?

[–] FatVegan@leminal.space 27 points 21 hours ago (3 children)

In my humble opinion, 4k is a bit of a joke. I pick a high as possible frame rate over 4k any day of the week.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah I tried playing Dispatch on my TV in 4k, and it sounded and felt like my laptop was going to catch on fire.

Lowered the TVs resolution to 1080p, and the game looks exactly the same and the fans barely even turn on.

That could be an optimization issue though I guess.

[–] Cricket@lemmy.zip 3 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

4k is 4x the resolution of 1080p, so that's not totally surprising. Good thing you did this too, because I was reading some comments just the other day about people's gaming laptops failing because of repeated/prolongued overheating.

[–] DdCno1@beehaw.org 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Gaming laptops are notorious for dying from overheating. These things need to be meticulously maintained if you want to use them for their intended purpose for long.

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[–] moody@lemmings.world 3 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

With AAA game graphics, 4K is kind of silly.

It kind of makes sense on consoles with fixed hardware when the devs design specifically to hit that target.

On a PC, I think high framerate 1440p is a much more reasonable goal, but frame generation and upscaling are sold to consumers like some magical solution to poor performance instead.

[–] pyria@kbin.melroy.org 3 points 17 hours ago

4K is just another dumb marketing jargon to make people think something is better than what we currently have.

I always bring up the argument of transitioning from VHS to DVD, there were vast improvements there in terms of quality. DVD is still around, why? Because it just does good enough and that's what all anyone can ask for. Blu-Ray is incredibly old now and eventually will take DVD's spot someday as the 'good enough' standard because really streaming is dependent on internet connection speed which can vary the quality which exits itself out of the argument.

And with every gaming generation that comes and goes, it has become harder and harder to notice any groundbreaking differences. It began to get harder when we went from PS3 - PS4 for example. It is now all about just resolutions and nothing else.

[–] MotoAsh@piefed.social 3 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Power optimization of chips has long been good enough to make that a completely moot point. Unless you're doing something 100% of the time like crypto mining, or extremely pressed on the price of power, it doesn't matter.

Even top of the line CPUs and GPUs idle at extremely low wattage.

[–] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 11 hours ago (4 children)

Like running a video game at 4k120 with ray tracing for 4-6 hours straight? Bc that’s the use case, not idle

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[–] pyria@kbin.melroy.org 4 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

It has to be $400 or $500. If they, Valve, really think they're sitting on a $800 or even a $1,000 machine then they're lying to themselves.

[–] mushroomman_toad@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Depends on Tarriffs. Unfortunately a $500 PC in 2024 can be like an $800 PC now due to Trumpflation.

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[–] Cricket@lemmy.zip 4 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I saw a really good video from someone who seemed very well-informed do a bill of materials analysis and come to the conclusion that it will be priced between $449 and $599 depending on how aggressive Valve wants to be, with the caveat that the current tariffs and RAM pricing could throw that off. The BOM for it totaled $425, from what I recall. It seemed like quite a bit better analysis than the wild guesses some other people have been throwing out, like $1200, etc.

Here, I found it in my history - someone here on Lemmy had recommended it to me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJI3qTb2ze8

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 2 points 8 hours ago

I just ordered thebparts for a ~$900 gaming pc that boils down to Ryzen 7500F and Radeon 7600. I'll believe "priced like a PC" to mean that.

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[–] mushroomman_toad@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 18 hours ago

Steam survey is monthly too and most people don't have two computers

[–] Soleos@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

Lol with multiple gaming PCs, you are far far removed from the target consumer. Im pretty sure it will be cheap. Unlike PC hardware manufacturers they can do what the console companies do and price at/below cost and make it up in game sales.

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[–] chocosoldier@lemmy.blahaj.zone 80 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (14 children)

itt gamers act like anything that doesn't do ray tracing is literally a commodore 64.

yall got some spoiled child ass ideas about hardware longevity, im over here on a 3gb 960 running most things just fine on lowered settings.

[–] lobut@lemmy.ca 21 points 17 hours ago

I remember playing a game, I think it was either Spiderman or Control with Ray Tracing on and I was like "wow, these are amazing!" Then I realized I didn't actually turn it on. My dumb ass can't tell the difference.

[–] BurntWits@sh.itjust.works 15 points 17 hours ago

Exactly. One of the benefits of patient gaming (shoutout to !patientgamers@sh.itjust.works) is I don’t need top of the line hardware to enjoy my hobby. I’m sure the GabeCube will run multi-year old games very well.

Between working >40 hours a week and raising a kid I only really care if the game I spent 2 hours a week on is going to run and look good enough. If I have to play on high instead of ultra I’m not gonna have a meltdown.

[–] ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip 9 points 16 hours ago

People in this thread may be hardcore and spend a lot on their game consoles, but Valve's statement is probably accurate, they've got the most data on computer hardware usage.

[–] IckabodKobain@feddit.online 3 points 17 hours ago

I’m still chugging along with a 1070 Ti. Then again, I don’t play many top-of-the-line AAA titles these days. For example, I know Doom Eternal and Dark Ages won’t run on this card unless I mess around with tweaking ini files or something, but I wouldn’t bother.

[–] yardratianSoma@lemmy.ca 2 points 17 hours ago

not to mention the joy of emulation, which older hardware does very well these days

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[–] yoriaiko@lemmy.blahaj.zone 31 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Looks like many do forgot, this is mid-cheap intended machine, not top tier tech race.

Still some depends on price, but I'm hyped for 500€ upgrade of whole 6yo rig, all in one, well build (not like most supermarket prebuild crap). I see flaws in Cube, may need to spend some 100€ extra for missing things (sdd to usb adapters, audio extractor from hdmi to 3.5jacks, extra sdcard for less intense data), still hyped.

Like this is cheap family car talks, Koenigsegg is 2 links to the left.

[–] MeThisGuy@feddit.nl 5 points 16 hours ago

+1 for Koenigsegg. always have been some of the coolest cars around.

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[–] mintiefresh@piefed.ca 26 points 13 hours ago

They need to price this properly and all will be fine.

[–] snoons@lemmy.ca 17 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

steeeeeeeam machiiiiiiiiiiine

[–] imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I knew it. I still clicked but I knew it. The sound in my head. It has never stopped.

[–] snoons@lemmy.ca 5 points 21 hours ago

Around the wuuuurld around nhe wuuurrrld

[–] mushroomman_toad@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

The majority of gamers game at 1080p. Both on PCs, and especially on consoles. Most people's TVs aren't even big enough for people with average eyesight to see a difference between 1080p and 2160p.

So the question to ask is if the steam deck is too slow, because the steam machine at 1080p will solidly beat the steam deck at 800p.

If you want something faster for desktop, just build a matx mid tower with a 9070xt. It'll cost double, but you'll be able to game in 2160p.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I'm amazed they went for 4k.

[–] TheObviousSolution@lemmy.ca 6 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

It's fake upscaled 4k from 1080, though.

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[–] mp3@lemmy.ca 15 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (2 children)

I rarely play the latest games, so that machine would be a good upgrade for me. Especially with the ability to load a different OS that I could use for both productivity and gaming.

Bump it to a bigger SSD and 64GB of RAM and I'll be happy with it.

[–] emeralddawn45@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 15 hours ago

SteamOS in desktop mode is still pretty great for productivity, im pretty sure you can set it to automatically boot into desktop mode too.

[–] poke@beehaw.org 4 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

I believe I saw that both were user upgradeable in YouTube videos, though I am curious what options they will have for purchase.

[–] MeThisGuy@feddit.nl 4 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

if you can find any RAM at a decent price at all

[–] mp3@lemmy.ca 3 points 14 hours ago

Not an issue limited to the Steam Machine, but yeah..

[–] ulterno@programming.dev 3 points 48 minutes ago

Well, if you are adding my 15yo Core2Quad in the percentage, of course those numbers come easy.

[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

"Outperforms 70% of Gaming PCs" is the sort of statistic you'd only quote if you thought it sounded more impressive than it actually was, and it already doesn't sound impressive.

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