Even Valve Knows You May Be Better Off With a Cheaper Steam Machine Alternative

Even Valve Knows You May Be Better Off With a Cheaper Steam Machine Alternative

Valve may make PC gaming better, so long as you don't mind installing SteamOS yourself.

If you want Valve’s 6×6-inch PC/console hybrid, you’ll have to spend at least $1,050. But if you want a “Steam Machine,” in the abstract sense, you don’t have to stick with Valve’s own hardware. In today’s RAM-ravaged wasteland of PC prices, you may be better off cobbling some other system together that you can also turn into a gaming device.

Valve is well aware that the cost of its upcoming Steam Machine, which is set to start shipping June 29, is obscene. In its blog post announcing the price, the company wrote, “our original goal for the price of the Steam Machine is no longer viable.”

While console makers, like Xbox or Sony’s PlayStation, subsidize their hardware to a certain degree, Valve is explicitly treating this like a PC, saying the cost “reflects the price of the components as we’ve secured them over the past [six] months.”

In a statement to The Verge, Valve said, “When companies sell their hardware under cost for competitive advantage, or buy exclusive content for it, they’re doing that to build a more closed system, one where you don’t get to choose what software you want to use.”

Meanwhile, one of the company’s software engineers, Yazan Aldehayyat, told Tom’s Hardware that, unlike consoles, their Steam Machine is “not subsidized by software sales.” That’s an interesting statement, considering Valve makes the lion’s share of its money by taking a 30% cut of game sales on Steam.

In reality, Valve wants its hardware to push Steam, and that means it doesn’t care as much how gamers get there. The Steam Machine was initially built as a way to put Steam in the living room for the legion of PC gamers who don’t have a standing desktop rig. As such, you shouldn’t treat the Steam Machine as your only option, and Valve is making the hunt for alternatives easier.

Operating System Alternatives

One of those alternatives is the operating system. Valve has the opportunity to make SteamOS a de facto PC gaming environment. The Linux-based OS has become extra popular thanks to the (now way too expensive) Steam Deck, though it’s not nearly as easy to install it on other PC hardware.

While SteamOS works well with AMD CPUs and GPUs, Valve software engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais told The Verge the Steam maker will work with Nvidia to support that company’s GPUs. Full support may not arrive until 2027 or even later.

Valve may also put more emphasis on Intel CPUs. SteamOS’ latest update better supports Intel’s previous-gen Lunar Lake chips on an older MSI Claw 8 AI+ handheld. Intel didn’t offer Gizmodo any commitments, but it seems the company is willing to get SteamOS working on the upcoming Claw 8 EX AI+-obstensibly making it compatible with current-gen chips.

Third-Party Hardware Options

Valve’s saving grace may come in the form of third-party hardware. The six-core, “semi-custom” AMD-made APU (accelerated processing unit) is billed as a 4K-ready processor, but you can get much more powerful PCs for a similar price as a 2TB Steam Machine.

Other pint-sized PCs like the Framework Desktop pack an AMD Strix Halo CPU for $1,269 (though you’ll have to spend more money on an SSD and other components). That system may make for a more powerful Steam Machine than anything you can get from Valve.

Future Improvements

Valve is actively working to make the Steam Machine better, telling multiple outlets it will add in additional support for hardware-accelerated ray tracing and other performance improvements.

Valve may also go the same route as Sony’s PlayStation 5 Pro with its PSSR update. This could bring AMD’s FSR 4 upscaler to Valve’s Steam Machine. That update may bring the better upscaler to other systems as well.

Even if you don’t own a Steam Machine, Valve’s costly console may make PC gaming better for everyone.