Steam Hardware
A place to discuss and support all Steam Hardware, including Steam Deck, Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and SteamOS in general.
As Lemmy doesn't have flairs yet, you can use these prefixes to indicate what type of post you have made, eg:
[Flair] My post title
The following is a list of suggested flairs:
[Deck] - Steam Deck related.
[Machine] - Steam Machine related.
[Frame] - Steam Frame related.
[Discussion] - General discussion.
[Help] - A request for help or support.
[News] - News about the deck.
[PSA] - Sharing important information.
[Game] - News / info about a game on the deck.
[Update] - An update to a previous post.
[Meta] - Discussion about this community.
If your post is only relevant to one hardware device (Deck/Machine/Frame/etc) please specify which one as part of the title or by using a device flair.
These are not enforced, but they are encouraged.
Rules:
- Follow the rules of Sopuli
- Posts must be related to Steam Hardware or Steam OS in an obvious way.
- No piracy, there are other communities for that.
- Discussion of emulators are allowed, but no discussion on how to illegally acquire ROMs.
- This is a place of civil discussion, no trolling.
- Have fun.
This thing has pretty interesting hardware:
The chip almost looks like a cut down AMD Ryzen AI Max 385, but with fewer CPU cores and GPU CUs, but the GPU gets its own dedicated VRAM, rather than sharing it, like it does in something like a Framework Desktop.
It also seems like it gets a decent amount of power, so likely at higher clock speeds, performance should be pretty good for not that much money. If this is supposed to be a console then it can't be much more than a PS5 at $550 or PS5 Pro at $750.
You call pretty interesting hardware what looks like non-replaceable parts?
Dave2D mentioned that Valve said it isn't aiming to directly compete with consoles, but rather sff PCs. So the price will likely be in the $700-900 range(?)
You're not fitting a 6 core processor and a **60esque card in a ssf case for less than $1k I don't think, so even $900 is competitive
I believe that Valve can afford to sell hardware at cost or even a little in the red. Getting people in the steam store ecosystem makes it back and then some in the long term.
Normally that only works if you have DRM that locks the games to your platform, so that people don't get the hardware at a discount then use it to run someone else's software.
But, in Valve's case, it really has no competitors in the PC gaming space. That might not last forever, but it almost certainly will last as long as this PC / console is around.
Is it an APU, or is it a "desktop" CPU and GPU on one board? CPU specs are close to the 7600x but downlocked. And with dedicated vram I'd assume the GPU is it's own separate thing.
GPU looks like it's probably a tweaked RX 7400 based on the specs.
This seems to blur the lines between desktop and mobile APU's, but I would bet that's it's closer to a higher clocked mobile chip, than it is to desktop. The only reason I think this is the case is due to the similarity spec wise with the Max 385, and that it's semi-custom.
If it was just a 7600x CPU + 7600 GPU I think they would have just said so. It could be separate CPU+GPU, but I think it might be possible that it is built more like a SOC, where the GPU is just given its own dedicated VRAM.
Looking at the hardware of say a PS5, it has 16 GB of GDRR6, the same as the Steam Machine's VRAM.
If everything is soldered anyway, there is no reason to have separate chips for CPU+GPU, especially if that hardware already exists like the AMD Ryzen AI Max line.
According to Dave2D's review, RAM is upgradeable, and GPU has dedicated VRAM.
Well I'm probably wrong then, framework said they couldn't get good performance and maintain signal integrity with upgradable memory for the Ryzen Max cpus, so this is likely discrete Cpu and GPU. Probably all soldered in the same mainboard though.
Well I'm probably wrong then, framework said they couldn't get good performance and maintain signal integrity with upgradable memory for the Ryzen Max cpus
On the other hand, Framework is run by far right sympathizers and are a few billion short of what Valve's R&D might have access too.
I'm not the best at gauging this but it seems it's meant to be carried around and plugged into a 4K TV and operate okay at 60fps for most games that multiple people would play while in the same room. The specs seem to align with that. What would the GPU be comparable to? A 6700 (non XT)?
GamersNexus estimates a 7600.
I’m wondering how much horsepower this stationary device have compared to a PS5 or Series X.
This is not only about gaming. If this low consume high performance sweety is actually affordable, 2026 could actually become the biggest year ever for Linux users. SteamOS is based on Arch Linux, and considering the power of the machine, editing should be more than doable. Now, i'm not too sure about the current compatibility/emulation of windows native software on linux, but with a substantial increase in desktop users, there could be some serious breakthrough, just like we already had with Proton for the games.
The relevant bit is not that SteamOS is based on Arch, but that it is running KDE Plasma desktop.
with a substantial increase in desktop users there could be some serious breakthrough like we already had with Proton
Most desktop users are not going to turn developers.
The GabeCube looks awesome! The GabeGoggles probably aren't riddled with spyware. The controller fucks so hard it could be an aphrodisiac. Massive win for valve today.
Let's goooooo I just need to sell one kidney and I can complete the set
It's expensive, but not that expensive.
I meant that I am that poor
Relatable
The kidney?
Love to see it! Been very excited about the rumors of the steam machine! Probably won't get one for a while cuz money, but I'll probably pick up a steam controller!
There's an LED strip, y'all!
Cool, I hope they keep that idea. 😀
Anyways it all depends on price/performance is good.
Previous attempts at 3rd party Steam Machines were not good in that regard.
Have you heard of the Steam Deck? Things aren't the same as they were ten years ago.
Prreciousssss....
We wants it!
In one of their videos on the store page, they even show the face plate being changed. :O
Yeah, it seems that they have different color and graphics face plates, but what looked really cool to me was the actual live display front panel showing machine vitals. Someone in comments mentioned that it's e-ink. Very interesting.
I'm still surprised that there's no USB c on the front. I've felt this way for 3 hours now since I first saw the picture.
I won't be able to afford the Steam Machine at launch, but it will probably be a long time before I can easily get one anyway. Pretty sure I'm going to be jumping ship from traditional consoles to Valve with the way the industry is going. They've really impressed me with the Steam Deck.
I wonder if I'll be able to drag and drop the game and save files for my non-Steam games from the Steam Deck to the Steam Machine and have them just work? That would be nice!
I read that SD cards will be hot swappable, which seems to imply you might get your wish!
Looks cool, don't think it is for me but hope they succeed this time. Same goes the VR headset.
I am interested in the controller though, but my 8bitdo's are still working fine, so probably not buying in the short term.
Ooh that's completely unnecessary to my use but looks amazing and if I had a big enough place it would be something I'd seriously consider