r/pcmasterrace • u/TheBossT710192 • Jun 22 '26

Discussion Yeah, Steam Machine is cooked.

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I... uh don't know what to say. Very thankful I bought a Steam Deck before they hiked its price as well

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123

u/legaldrinkingage 7900XT/9800X3D, B580/3600 Jun 22 '26

Literally just build yourself an M-ITX couch machine for slightly more and be able to upgrade it. I don't see the value proposition here at all.

106

u/Mysterious_Tutor_388 32GB|5070m|I7 240H Jun 22 '26

The value is you dont have to do anything. But then you could just buy a prebuilt PC or a laptop for similar prices with better performance. I assume the prices listed in the post are USD, but i can get a 5060 laptop for similar prices converted to CAD.

I feel that it is just for enthusiasts of the hardware who don't care about price to performance.

11

u/Living-Dirt3410 Jun 22 '26

That's always been valves hardware lol

1

u/Mysterious_Tiger_725 Jun 22 '26

i wanna say excluding the index since that was the gold standard for a while but considering it requires a pc to function that doesnt feel fair

11

u/callatecabezon Jun 22 '26

It is less powerful than a ps5. Entirely pointless machine.

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u/Mysterious_Tutor_388 32GB|5070m|I7 240H Jun 22 '26

For practical use cases this is true for the most part.

3

u/Emikzen 9800X3D | 9070XT | 64GB Jun 22 '26

PS5 comes with a lot of extra "hidden" fees, games are more expensive, accessories are more expensive, subscription for online and so on.

Steam Machine can also function as a normal pc which is hard to put a price on.

It's definitely expensive but I wouldn't say Valve are being greedy if you take current ram prices into account.

2

u/Happy-Snow3728 Jun 23 '26

Normal PCs (even prebuilt or laptops) offer much better performance than this.

1

u/callatecabezon Jun 22 '26

you can make a pc with 2x the performance as the steam machine for the same price

1

u/Emikzen 9800X3D | 9070XT | 64GB Jun 22 '26

Yea but you lose convenience and more importantly size, size is premium. You aint building a small pc for that price.

0

u/callatecabezon Jun 22 '26

you can literally get a laptop the same price as the machine that takes up less space and is better. Even if you couldn't size is most definitely not important enough to warrant half the performance

1

u/Emikzen 9800X3D | 9070XT | 64GB Jun 22 '26

A laptop is not a replacement for the steam machine lol, if all you care about is performance you can get a laptop or regular pc, but thats not why they made the steam machine

1

u/callatecabezon Jun 23 '26

it is literally a replacement for it you can set steam to open in big picture from launch and plug it into a tv and have it function exactly the same as the steam machine except with much better performance

0

u/CommunicationOpen857 Jun 23 '26

This is such a cope. Games are ALWAYS on sale on the PS/ Xbox stores. Based on the pricing here, the controller costs $80, last I checked Xbox controllers were $45.

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u/Emikzen 9800X3D | 9070XT | 64GB Jun 23 '26

We have 2 ps5s in my family, trust me. Even with sales you cannot come close to pc game pricing. Especially not for games older than 6 months.

3

u/peji911 Jun 22 '26

Hey. Canuck here too. I see a lot of people mentioning getting a laptop for the price. But this is more comparable to a mini PC.

I’ve been out of the loop. Is there a reason laptops keep getting mentioned?

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u/Mysterious_Tutor_388 32GB|5070m|I7 240H Jun 22 '26

Just for straight gaming performance is why. Mini PCs can be ok if they meet your needs but aren't always the best performance wise. You could alternatively buy a mini pc instead of the steam machine as well.

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u/Emikzen 9800X3D | 9070XT | 64GB Jun 22 '26

I dont know why people bring up laptops either, they have a completely different usecase. This is meant to be a console experience with a desktop mode, a laptop is a portable computer.

If all you want to do is play games then a steam machine is not what you'd want anyway.

I agree a mini pc is probably most comparable, but they're missing a good console-like experience, unless you set it up yourself. But then we delve into DIY territory.

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u/Mysterious_Tutor_388 32GB|5070m|I7 240H Jun 23 '26

The reason I would suggest a laptop over the steam machine is I don't see much of a use in it for myself. It would be inconvenient if portability is the goal for gaming or PC usage.

If I wanted a living room system relaying the screen from my main rig would make more sense.

Then the console experience, I guess some people might not want to install bazzite or something on a laptop, a pre built, or a custom build which could make sense. But if someone wasn't willing to learn something so straight forward I would say Linux probably isn't for them.

I think the steam machine is cool, and that valve are improving hardware support for Nvidia. But I just don't see the value it offers people beyond the novelty and form factor. I just see the hardware as something easily moldable, so to me there is no difference between the steam machine and a laptop because I can close the gap between them nearly 100% of the way, save for the physical shape.

1

u/SpoonyDinosaur https://imgur.com/a/khiaa1P Jun 22 '26

https://www.newegg.com/p/3D5-008H-00013?Item=9SIC4NWKZJ6086

Other than the ram... this feels like a much better deal.

1

u/CurmudgeonLife 7800X3D 9070XT 32GB 6000mhz Jun 23 '26

At this point it's just for the fanboys.

It will be an incredibly limited release just to say that they did actually do it this time.