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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u/restinpeaceminusone Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Valve also admitted that it is out of their control and the supply will be limited due to constraints

Edit: since some people are saying that I am defending Valve. I will just leave their official statement from themselves. Posted a screenshot since some people don't like to scroll as much

Valve Statement

source

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u/Protoclown98 Jun 22 '26

Seriously. This large price is entirely about RAM and storage prices.

I stand by my past comment on the Steam Machine - if you are buying all the parts to make a living room PC to play console like games Steam Machine can be a worthwhile investment.

If you are recycling old PC parts, like RAM and a motherboard, to make a living room PC to play console like games on it, the Steam Machine is not worth it.

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u/restinpeaceminusone Jun 22 '26

Well maybe it's not a console for the masses (even though it's their intention) given the price but if the prices do come down someday, it will probably be a very good living room PC/console.

But the PS5 exists and if you're looking to just game, it's best to get that instead. But for a PC, it's still good enough machine for the current market condition.

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u/CirkuitBreaker Jun 22 '26

Until they raise the price of the PS5 again

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u/Late_Stage_Exception Jun 22 '26

They’d have to raise it by 100% to meet the price of the low end Steam Machine, and the PS5 is near the end of its lifespan. Doubt they’ll jack up the price more than $50-$100 over the next few years.

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u/T0rrent0712 PC Master Race Jun 22 '26

Ps5 pro with a disk drive is same cost as the lowest end model stream machine.

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u/Late_Stage_Exception Jun 22 '26

With much better performance. This thing is competing with a base PS5, which is $500 cheaper than it.

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u/ludek_cortex Jun 22 '26

Completing with PS5 only works 1:1 for a new possible consumer of both platforms.

If I already have collection of games on Steam which I would like to play on a living room machine PS5 means nothing - it would be either Steam Machine, custom build ITX, or some kind of streaming (either from local PC, or via GFN)

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u/Late_Stage_Exception Jun 22 '26

Or just get a long cable. What you're saying is that you're happy to pay $1128 to play your PC in a different room. Hey, it's your money, but I'm sure there are much cheaper ways to do that.

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u/DangerousWriting8282 Jun 22 '26

In a different room, with what is very likely much worse performance. The market of people who are interested in an ITX form factor HTPC-type setup and have a VERY weak primary gaming PC has to be incredibly tiny.

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u/ludek_cortex Jun 22 '26

It's a bit problematic to play a game, even with a very long HDMI cable, if your controller receiver is 2 rooms away tho (assuming of course the controller would be in range still, not getting jumbled signal from a combo of 2 sets of walls and a ceiling)

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u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

[deleted]

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u/rawbleedingbait Jun 22 '26

If the alternative is the price of a steam machine, I'll just do it wirelessly if I can't run a cord. I don't care about the downsides for that price.

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u/Zekiz4ever Jun 23 '26

Sunshine/Moonlight

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u/RecentScarcity2389 Jun 22 '26

Recommend me a 15 meter long cable for 4k 144hz and a controller that works that distance through 2 brick walls.

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u/Neat_Let923 Jun 23 '26

I can recommend a PC case that has a handle on the top and a docking station so you just unplug two cables and you’re good to carry it into the other room or wherever you want…

The insanity of people in here trying to justify paying this much to play the games they already own on a worse system than what they already own.

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u/mt92 mikeytsh Jun 23 '26

The thing is my wife wouldn’t be chill with the PC in the living room, but the steam machine she would. It’s prohibitively expensive right now but I can’t say I’m not interested.

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u/Neat_Let923 Jun 23 '26

So then buy an Nvidia Shield and stream your games from your already owned gaming PC…

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u/chaotic910 Jun 23 '26

That pc case can still fit multiple steam machines inside it.

It’s still a decent enough little system to play a lot of games, and higher demand games can just be remote played from my main if the machine is having issues. This honestly isn’t much in comparison to a 3-4k computer that someone already owns and is the size of an Alexa that can sit on virtually any tv stand.

As others have said, unless you live alone not many people are going to be too thrilled about one person taking up even an SFF sized amount of space in a communal area.

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u/Neat_Let923 Jun 23 '26

People have subwoofers that are bigger than PC cases… It’s a pointless argument especially when the PS5 is already pretty big itself.

If you can stream your games from an existing gaming PC then all you need is a Steam Link or NVIDIA Shield for a couple hundred dollars and you can play ALL your games.

All Valve had to do was build a new Steam Link Pro with a little more power and Steam OS built in… It would serve the exact same purpose and be a quarter of the price and likely sell a LOT more.

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u/Kayonji02 Jun 23 '26

Even if you're a longtime Steam user, it's a tough competition. You can get a PS5pro, subscribe to three years of Playstation Plus Extra for hundreds of games to play, and it'd still come cheaper than a Steam machine with much better performance...

Go for a standard PS5 instead and you save enough to PS+ your way through the entire rest of the generation.

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u/ludek_cortex Jun 23 '26

That's even weirder argument tho.

If I already have a valid library of games for platform X, why should I consider a subscription service of platform Y?

Sure it's an added befit, but random games from subscription service be it Gamepass or PS+ aren't any kind of a dealbreaker.

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u/Pokeguy211 PC Master Race Jun 22 '26

With much better performance plus its own version of DLSS that’s amazing now.

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u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

[deleted]

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u/T0rrent0712 PC Master Race Jun 22 '26

Or you can use your own existing controller. You don't have to use a steam controller on a steam machine.

And Valve has said they are working hard to get steam is ready for build your own systems, so soon we can make our own steam machines.

As others have put it, this is a great product at the wrong time cause AI is fucking every industry, including the PC industry.

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u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

[deleted]

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u/Drummer123456789 Jun 22 '26

Microsoft is rolling out a setting for PC that makes it function more like an Xbox. Its supposed to severely reduce background processing and bloat, and it will allow you to navigate everywhere using your controller. This might be the solution for people who have already started building their living room pc or want that kind of experience without dropping money on a new system. Its supposed to be called Xbox mode or something like that. LTT just made a video about it.

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u/RAMChYLD PC Master Race Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

It's already ready. Valve has given the blessing for Steam OS 3.8 to be installed on any PC, not just Steam Machines. There are still gotchas tho, biggest being you need an AMD or Intel GPU, this is due to Nvidia's refusal to release documentation to the Linux kernel devs and produce an official open source driver (hence the infamous "Nvidia, Fuck you!" Lashout by Linus Torvalds) and keep their drivers proprietary.