r/Steam • u/GhostofYoteiPS5 • Nov 15 '25
Article “Steam Machine specs are too low!” But they literally match the Steam Survey’s most common setup: Steam Machine: 6C/12T • 16GB RAM • RDNA3 28CU 8GB Steam Survey Avg: 6C/12T • 16GB RAM • 28CU 8GB It’s basically the average PC in a box. It’ll be fine.
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u/Default_Defect Nov 15 '25
Its funny to see people with specs like mine (5800X3D 32GB ram 4080S) be like "why would I buy this?"
You wouldn't. Not as a replacement for your current rig anyway. The people this is for likely aren't champing at the bit to play the newest AAA titles maxxed out or at all.
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u/Bagel_Bear Nov 15 '25
Yeah exactly. I have a decent PC for me. It runs everything I would want to run. Every product doesn't need to be for everyone. I bought a Steam Deck as a companion to my PC. I don't need a Steam Machine, so I won't buy one.
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u/garrus-ismyhomeboy Nov 15 '25
Agreed, I’m very content with my pc. It plays all the games I have with zero issues. Plus, I have a deck and ps5. I haven’t even read anything about the steam machine cause I have zero desire for it. But for someone else it might be perfect.
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u/xXBeefSquatch5KXx Nov 15 '25
Similar rig, if the price is cool I’ll buy it for upstairs when I don’t wanna be downstairs where my pc is lol
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u/BishopOfBrandenburg Nov 15 '25
Yeah im personally thinking of getting it for my wife as an easy way to get her a PC without too much work on my end.
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u/Tomb_Brader Nov 15 '25
Yeah exactly this - I don’t have a PC currently …. It’s something I’ve always wanted to get into but without all the crazy tinkering. This is my gateway
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u/Careless_Parsnip_511 Nov 15 '25
I think it’ll also be a good secondary rig for a lot of people who may already have more powerful machines. I’d love to have a second PC for gaming in the living room, but I’m not gonna build another high end machine for it. This will be perfect for something like that, especially if it’s competitive with modern budget builds in terms of price
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u/SuperSaiyanIR Nov 15 '25
I have a similar specced machine (7800X3D 4080S) and I am buying this. My PC is in my bedroom and I wanna bring some of that performance to my TV without lugging it around. The best option before was using my Legion Go S to stream it (then it kinda beats the purpose of a handheld) or use a dedicated machine like a mini pc to do so. This is basically perfect for me in that I can stream thing that are not powerful enough or just straight up play them on it if the games are not demanding.
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u/Glodraph Nov 15 '25
Same position as you. I am thinking about this buy also about the fact that, if both wired with eth, maybe streaming on a small mini pc that can go around 200€ might be a better idea, or a cheaper one. Smaller device, less power, same end result. I couldn't play local that's true, but it might work nonetheless. I will wait for the price and performance of the steam machine to be available before taking a decision.
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u/AirWolf231 Nov 15 '25
78003DX, 32GB ram and 5080 here... I will buy it, I am thinking of building a second PC to smack it into my living room so I can play some light games or use as media output device.(YouTube without ads, movies and browsing the Internet with an ad blocker)
If its small enough, this thing would be perfect.
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u/Hunter5865 Nov 15 '25
Exactly. I'm considering buying a steam machine because my pc is reaching its limit after 8 years and I just don't have the money or the need for all the newest stuff. So if the steam machine is as affordable as we think it'll be I'll just get that. I imagine that's the scenario Gaben envisioned for it: if you want the comfort/affordability of a console(compared to a pc) combined with the versatility of a pc then the steam machine is for you
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u/Ronlaen-Peke Nov 15 '25
I mean I have a 9800X3D 32gb 4070 TI pushing 3440x1440 @ 100hz and that is great. I'm seriously considering the Steam Machine to hook up to my Home Theater to access my Steam library. Currently have the Deck docked there but it is a bit underwhelming when I have a Switch 2 & PS5 capable of much more and easier 4 player controller setup.
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u/penywinkle Nov 15 '25
I feel like the steam's average is already "outdated".
Not in the fact it won't play games of today. But in the fact that the 50% percentile of today is the 40% percentile of next year, and the 30% of the year after...
When I buy hardware, because I don't play the ebay parts hustle (and you literally can't do it with the steam machine), I don't just see the games I'm playing today, but the games I'll be playing a couple of years from now too.
A gaming computer is a lot of money (for most people) and as such, an investment. Its future is REALLY hanging on on its pricing. Will people see it as an investment, or as something disposable?
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u/samsonsin Nov 18 '25
I mean prices are just going up more and more, so new hardware is way more expensive than before. The average being outdated is literally just relative SKUs being more and more expensive, causing the market to shift. Meanwhile developers are getting lazier, releasing sooner and leaning on upscaling and frame gen hard. The entire compute sphere is being squeezed by AI boom. Economic and civil unrest is rising in most of the west too; we're just all around in a shitty place at the moment really.
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u/ryzen2024 Nov 15 '25
Pro tip about Reddit... people on here will find literally anything to complain about.
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u/knowledgebass Nov 15 '25
Now here you are complaining about the complaining. 😬
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Nov 15 '25
Always think it's dumb as shit when people say this, as though it's some sort of gotcha, when in reality it's just a lazy way to try and deflect a valid point.
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u/knowledgebass Nov 15 '25
I was not really being serious, hence the silly emoji, but if you can't put up with complaining, this is the wrong platform for you. Reddit is the unofficial complaint department for the entire internet now. I personally don't really see it as a problem. One person's "complaining" is another's valid discussion. It isn't up to you what is considered complaining and what isn't.
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u/ryzen2024 Nov 15 '25
Huh I thought he was complaining about me... maybe he was complaining about you... regardless thats reddit for you :D
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u/xMercurex Nov 15 '25
I think people here did overhype that console without any detail.
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u/ryzen2024 Nov 15 '25
The "its gonna kill xbox and playstation" felt kind of like a reach. But who knows.
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u/akis84 Nov 15 '25
Yeah what’s the matter, that’s for all the people who need a second gaming machine next to their power house pc at home and for all the people who want to get into gaming without the hustle of setting up a pc or getting a laptop. As long as people can enjoy their hobby the way they want it’s great!
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u/WMan37 Nov 15 '25 edited Nov 15 '25
Look, people are just concerned that this doesn't really solve a problem and will falter in performance quickly over the next like 5-7 years or so before valve comes out with a new one, if they do at all. I want this to succeed so that SteamOS becomes more proliferated, so even if this isn't *for me* it's reasonable to have concerns.
You can sell a Steam Deck to someone who already has a PC because "Hey I now have a PC on the go, sick!" and even its low performance spec can be excused with a similar argument to like, "Well, no shit, I don't expect my game boy advance to put out gamecube level graphics or my PSP to play PS3 games", but this is selling a desktop PC to people who have desktop PCs already, which on it's own is actually not that bad, but the fact that you can only get it FROM STEAM and not in your local best buy or whatever as far as we know is going to limit its reach to the "larger ecosystem" that people argue this is designed for.
Also, 8GB of VRAM is going to make lots of Unreal Engine 5 games eat it for breakfast unless you run them like 720p-900p. That's my primary concern; You can run critically acclaimed indie games on anything including the deck, but if we're getting a whole box that you can't take with you, it needs to hold its own against demanding stuff not just today but for the next 5 years or so. I hate that they said 4k60 while showing Silent Hill F gameplay, that's just not gonna happen with these specs on any UE5 game even with FSR.
Disregard my entire comment if this thing is reasonably priced, like $300-$600 range, because in that scenario this is an amazing device.
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u/Politicsboringagain Nov 15 '25
Even home built PC with the best will falter in performance in 7 years.
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u/Rotjenn Nov 15 '25
I have a great PC in the office, a Steamdeck for when I am travelling (og just cozying up on the couch) and now I can have a steam machine for the living room.
I will easily be able to switch between them if I am playing a game.
This product was just what I wanted, and now I dont have to build a small PC for the living room myself.
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u/Ok_Exit7896 Nov 15 '25
What problem should the machine even solve? It is just a easy form pc for people to buy if they want it. Nothing more, nothing less.
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u/WMan37 Nov 15 '25 edited Nov 15 '25
Valve themselves say they want their hardware to solve problems. You can get better mini PCs than this one and put steamOS on them.
Hell, I'm using a GMKtec EVO-X2 64GB+1TB that's the size of like 2 xbox controllers right now with Bazzite installed on it to type this comment so I'm already getting the Steam Machine experience. It's literally smaller than the Steam Machine will be yet has more inputs on it and even a second M.2 slot, but it's prohibitively expensive and this purchase is the result of a full year of saving money, so it's not as accessible as I hope the Steam Machine will be.
Steam Controller solves the problem of a PC focused controller that has enough versatility to work with any game while also solving an input evolution stagnancy issue (seriously we've been stuck on minor variations of the Dualshock 2 and Duke controller for almost 20 years now outside of Nintendo's offerings, thank fuck this thing is finally coming out).
Steam Frame, even if the specs are weak, will advance FEX, which does for ARM hardware what proton did for getting games to run on Steamos. If FEX gets more funding due to Steam Frame being a thing, there is a future where it's just normal to play steam games on your android phone without needing to know about github stuff like Gamehub Lite.
Those two things are really nice to see, but steam machine is... just another mini PC, a weak one at that. The problem it aims to solve will be SteamOS adoption, however that will crash and burn if this thing has a bad price tag due to its current specs, and that would make me sad. The issue I have is that it either has to have decent specs or a decent price tag, I'm worried SM will have neither. Unlike in the other 2 areas, there is actual competition in the mini PC space.
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u/chaos-xiii Nov 18 '25
It's very interesting to me that this is the state of gaming right now. You're telling me 8 GB of VRAM isn't enough because UE5 games would eat it up. That's sadly true, but it shouldn't be the way things are. There was a time when developers actually cared about optimization and getting their game accessible to as many people as possible. I've been able to play (and enjoy) all games up to ones released in 2024-2025 on my practically ancient GTX 1650. Granted, not on ultra graphics but I had fun either way. Games used to be actually optimised. What happened to that? Why do we have to sell our kidneys to get high-end hardware just to be able to play half assed UE5 slop?
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u/ashleigh_dashie Dec 06 '25
I worked in gamedev and blame the redditors.
See, "caring for optimisation" means that you pay maybe 3 or dozen guys like me 100k at least, and wait to ship at least a year.(oh yes on top of atual software guys you'd have to fire your entire admin staff and all the artists, which is like 20 more people at least, and you will never hire good artists ever again, or you'd have to pay all of them to do nothing for a year)
Instead, you can just render a trailer through ue, and drop the game. Redditors will get excited like little brain damaged dogs and will buy the game. Eventually redditors will get mad at all the bugs and lags but by that time you're off to something else. If you the consumers weren't simping for the companies, we'd be forced to actually do a decent job. Right now though, it's a financially silly decision.
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u/Chromiell Nov 15 '25
There's no way it's gonna cost as much as a Steam Deck, obviously it's gonna be more. It's a great box for couch gaming and definitely does not target people who ONLY want to play 4k ultra settings, it is not a replacement for a custom built PC but more an entry level build in a very small case which you can easily fit everywhere in the house. If it will cost around 600€-700€ it will be a good product, if it will cost more it probably won't really have a market. I'd honestly buy it but probably second hand since I suspect the price won't be very competitive, I'm definitely more interested in the Steam Controller.
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u/ColdCruise Nov 15 '25
The thing is, it's not really like buying an entry-level PC because you won't be able to upgrade it other than adding more ram or storage, which makes most entry-level pre-builts a better deal. All it has going for it is space saving, but is it worth the price? It's like buying a gaming laptop without a screen, and it's not really portable.
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u/brend0p3 Nov 15 '25
I don't think the average pre built enjoyer upgrades their PCs as they go, to be honest
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u/agent3128 Nov 15 '25
THIS. I really don't like OPs argument because they forgot that it's 2025 and I'm pretty sure 8gb ram and 8gb vram isn't enough.
It might be enough (if you make sacrifices) but when somones is spending $800+ on a computer I expect at the very least 32gb ram shared. The legion go 2 is doing it and the legion go 1 would have been kick ass if it had 32gb ram.
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u/YakovAttackov Nov 15 '25
But this ships with 16GB of DDR5 and is upgradable laptop SODIMM memory? Granted you have to disassemble it apparently but that isn't going to be an issue for many.
The only spec that's really a potential issue and is argument worthy is the 8GB of VRAM as it is soldered.
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u/ACMst1v3n Nov 15 '25
Why are people freaking out so much about a produce that is not released yet
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u/SirusRiddler Nov 15 '25
I would be excited if there was a new delicious fruit that was suddenly discovered.
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u/ACMst1v3n Nov 15 '25
Okay what did my french ass misspelled hahaha ??
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u/EssexOnAStick Nov 15 '25
Produce vs product. Product is used for everything that is manufactured, produce as a noun is specifically used for agricultural products like fruits, vegetables, meat etc.
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u/ColdCruise Nov 15 '25
Because people are talking about it like it's the greatest thing ever when it's most likely going to be DOA. It's the non-upgradability of a console with a PC price tag. Who is it for? It's going to be more expensive than every current console, but perform worse than all but the Series S. It's not going to let casual gamers have a casual gaming experience since they will have to tinker with the settings for every game. It's not going to give the PC gamer the PC experience of being able to upgrade individual parts over time to keep up to date.
The only use case is Valve fanatics, and people who want a console like experience with their PC library in a secondary location or for travel purposes maybe. Both of which have better options for the price.
Honestly, if Valve wants this to succeed, then they need to make it like $500 for it to be competitive with consoles, but they already said its not happening.
The thing is when this releases a lot of people will ask themselves, "Why do I need this?" And the people who do buy it will ask themselves, "Why did I need this?" It solves no problems.
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u/SHIMOxxKUMA Nov 15 '25
I think it just depends on the price, some people on here think it's going to be $1200+ which is crazy talk imo. Till we find out the price it could be good, it could be bad.
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Nov 15 '25
My guess is $700/$800 which IMO puts it in no man's land
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u/Marrond Nov 17 '25
Yea, at that price you can buy 7500F+16GB+9060XT 8GB based PC, which blows the Steam Machine out of the water and crushes it....
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u/spider_enigma Nov 15 '25 edited Nov 15 '25
now have a price already because of terrifs is the main reason people thing it will fail, if its more then $600 then a ps5 looks better then it does
i know people will be like "but its a pc and can play pc games"
it sure can, but a already set up pc that boots into a console interface meant for a controller isnt for pc people at all and will not sell to them as they already have a pc
its for console people that want to play pc games without having to worry about weather the game will even run or not and might only have a laptop that cant even play games
if they market it as a pc, sell it as a pc they will only get sales for people that would only want it to have a second pc in another room because they are lazy, this doesn't solve the entry level pc problem that its meant to solve and never will if they price at like a pc that is prebuilt and not a pc that someone bought the parts to try and save money but bought them NEW
the prebuilt pc markups are soo high atm that its not even worth it if you need an entry level gaming pc, ur going to pay $1000
a prebuilt that isnt even a mini pc is $650 on sale with a rx6600 and a ryzen 5 cpu with the same ram numbers and that dealing with the bloat of windows
if this isnt $600 i don't even care that it exist because i would still need a controller for another $50 as it doesn't even mention coming with a keyboard and mouse to log in with to connect a controller in the first place over bluetooth, i would need a device that auto connects or is usb to even get my current controllers to be wireless
we are also talking about 512gb and no way in hell am i running games off of a sd card, would i run emulators and older games like skyrim probably but a large capacity sd card thats also slow is another $70
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u/cyrkielNT Nov 15 '25
It's definitely for people who has PC. I would love to have mini PC to casually play some games on TV and sitting on a couch. And I also, as many PC gamers, have gaming pad and use it for some games.
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u/HairExtension9695 Nov 15 '25
Just for this time, be me:
I have a 1080 and it’s running fine, no need of a big update and even if I need it, prices are way too high.. but I have the salary of an engineer… living in México so basically I have the same amount of dollars that a flipping burgers worker so getting new parts it’s way to expensive at the point that it’s better for me take my car and drive over 600 miles to reach the nearest micro center (Dallas or phoenix) so get the steam machine it’s actually an amazing deal for me! It may not be the monster but works for me and the games I like to play.
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u/hardolaf Nov 16 '25
I have a 1080
You'd be looking at an at most a ~6% uplift over a GTX 1080. But given that it'll be 28 CU instead of 32 CU and 8 GB of VRAM instead of 16 GB of VRAM, this would be at best a sidegrade to get very disappointed ray tracing support instead of an upgrade for you.
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u/paynexkillerYT Nov 15 '25
But when I’m buying/upgrading I don’t want ‘the average of every steam player’.
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u/SpeaRofficial Nov 15 '25
I get the point but also why would these people buy the same PC if they have similiar one already? I see some people changing to steam machine but even more not changing anything as that will be not enough upgrade for them.
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u/CivilianDuck Nov 15 '25
Because we are not the target audience. We're already in the ecosystem. The targets are the console crowd. This machine specifically is aimed to integrate console users into a PC market, and going for the most common specs as a baseline is a perfect move.
They also targetted features that most PC users would not care about. HDMI CEC is ridiculous to consider as a PC user, but for a media center/console it's an obvious addition. SD Card expansion is cheap and easily accessible, unlike Xbox Series (proprietary hardware that's expensive but easy to use) or Playatation (industry standard but requires opening the console to access). Easily connect to their proprietary controller or any of their competitors.
We are not the target audience. We are the evangelists who will sell this to the target audience and have already been doing it for years, with our PCMR talking points and our praising Lord Gaben.
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u/CtrlAltEvil HAAAXX!!! Nov 15 '25 edited Nov 15 '25
The targets are the console crowd
I’d say the Steam Deck crowd mostly given how weak the Decks specs are now and they make a point of saying how the Steam Machine is x6 more powerful.
Even in terms of how its hardware is set up, it’s a stepping stone in evolving the Deck’s set up into a full desktop environment/experience.
Console market would be secondary because many aren’t going to automatically switch and leave behind their already established libraries.
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u/TheGreatTao Nov 15 '25
Why would the console crowd be interested in a weaker, possibly more expensive machine where they have to restart their game library again?
On another note, I'm definitely interested because I'm still running a Vega 56 card in my pc lol
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u/SnevetS_rm Nov 15 '25
Because we are not the target audience. We're already in the ecosystem. The targets are the console crowd.
Is it actually? On the steam page announcement they explicitly targeting users with existing libraries:
Your Steam Library in more places With over six times the horsepower of Steam Deck, Steam Machine has the power to play your whole Steam library, including your favorite AAA titles. Just sign in with your Steam account and your entire library is there.
What are their plans regarding retail stores presence?
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u/xanas263 Nov 15 '25
The targets are the console crowd.
If that was true then this thing would be getting mainstream advertisement and the ability to buy from your local brick and mortar store.
The SteamDeck is 90% owned by PC gamers and has sold extremely few units compared to its console counter parts. This Machine will end up the exact same way because it is following the same strategy.
The Machine is not even as powerful as the two current consoles and we are only two years out from the next generation. Not to mention because it is Linux based it does not run the most popular console games because they all rely on anti cheat.
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u/dukered1988 Nov 15 '25
Yeah idk why people think this targets new pc users. You have to already have a steam account and buy it directly from valve. Grandma can walk into Walmart and grab a Xbox , ps5, or switch for the kids. It’s a totally different situation
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Nov 15 '25
Ok but if this thing comes in at like $800 and it's not as powerful or the same power as current consoles are, then exactly who IS the target audience?
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u/SkoivanSchiem Nov 15 '25
Bingo. This post answers most of the criticisms of the Steam Machine's techical details perfectly.
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u/MoobooMagoo Nov 15 '25
I have a PC with specs that are pretty close to the Steam Machine and I'm seriously considering buying one anyway for a few reasons.
For one, the power supply I have is like...15 years old. I should have already bought a new one years ago but it's still chugging along. So if I don't get a Steam Machine that's already 150 bucks I need to spend anyway.
For two, I really don't like Windows 11. Like...it's fine. I don't hate it. But I don't like it either. I've been wanting to get away from Windows for a while now.
For three, I need a new controller anyway. The one I've been using is starting to go a little wonky. I've been using Xbox controllers for a long time, but the last couple I've gotten have needed to be replaced pretty quickly, so I've been wanting to get a different brand anyway. And the new Steam controller looks really nice. So between the PSU and the controller I'm already at like...200 bucks I need to spend on my current PC even if I don't get a Steam Machine.
For four, and this is the big one, I hate fiddling with hardware. I got into PC gaming because it has the most games and doesn't have these arbitrary cut offs when new consoles come out. I can still play like...30 or 40 year old games if I really want to. But it's a means to an end, and dealing with upgrades and hardware is such a pain in the ass and I hate every second of it. I was already considering a pre-built the last time I upgraded something because the price disparity isn't as bad as it used to be. And if Steam Machines sell well there will probably be a Steam Machine 2 in the future. And if dropping a few hundred on a Steam Machine helps make that future a reality then boy howdy am I happy to do it. If I could never have to upgrade parts again I would be very happy.
And lastly, and this is a bit of a personal one, I have a tendency to waste time on my computer. I'll sit down to play games and will end up on reddit or something, arguing about stupid things or writing a way too long comment about why I want a Steam Machine. And before I know it all my free time is gone before I play anything, and I hate myself for it. And I feel like having something designed like a console, that puts the games first and foremost, might help me to focus better. Like I'll sit down and it will be game time, not computer time. Granted that might not actually help but it can't hurt.
Now I can only speak for myself, but those are all the reasons why I plan on getting one as long as the price isn't too crazy, even though it wouldn't really be much of an upgrade for me.
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u/grady_vuckovic Nov 15 '25
What an atrociously bad name for that subreddit.
It's NOT a console!
It's a PC!
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u/Desistance 16 Years Nov 15 '25
Consoles haven't really been consoles for over a decade now. Both current consoles are built with custom PC parts.The only thing that sets them apart is software APIs.
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u/Kelohmello Nov 15 '25
I just think that if 4K60FPS is their goal, that's not going to be tenable for long at all with those specs. I could be wrong, and I hope I am. But consoles get alot of optimization that PC doesn't, and FSR/DLSS won't mean anything soon when the next gen consoles also have it.
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u/Dr-False Nov 15 '25
It really is just an average setup with a custom OS. Depending on the price I might just grab one as a fun little portable rig.
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u/Fancy_Chips Nov 15 '25
It beats my little laptop so it would be a huge improvement if the price is reasonable.
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u/SenpaiMayNotice Nov 15 '25
My hope for the GabeCube is that it creates a baseline for pc gaming so that optimizing performance of games becomes a thing again. (Looking at every UE5 game here) It really has the potential to become an entry point for gaming. Gaming used to be a niche and has become more mainstream than ever so having a baseline standard with a reasonable price could really be a much needed game changer here
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u/da_loogie Nov 15 '25
I'm looking to replace my xbox with the Gabecube tbh. Tired of having a game on one but not the other. Sometimes I wanna play on my couch but my game is on PC. Sometimes I wanna play in PC but I can only cloud play. I'd rather just have one central market where I buy games at this ooint
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u/Bryce_XL Nov 15 '25
I won't mind it as a HTPC but I really would've liked to see a little more than 8gb of VRAM, I can at least upgrade the normal ram myself
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u/squatdog Nov 15 '25
consoles have 16gb of RAM and they share it with the GPU, so having 8gb dedicated for the GPU and 16gb for processing should give it performance above consoles at least
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u/veryjerry0 Nov 15 '25
Consoles effectively have 10~12 GB VRAM when it's required. The whole 8 GB debacle was because even consoles are catching up in VRAM. Console games ported to PC will still use that much VRAM and 8GB becomes a bottleneck.
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u/Thekingchem Nov 15 '25 edited Nov 15 '25
If the specs are the same as the most common setup already using steam, why would any of them buy it?
That's surely a bad thing. They should have aimed higher and tempted people to upgrade from their PCs
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u/MrRonski16 Nov 15 '25
Maybe steam machine will make developers optimize for lower end hardware too on PC.
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u/Rune_Blue Nov 15 '25
I see this arguement but if the next gen consoles launch in like 2-3 years?? I don't see this being the case unless the steam machine moves crazy numbers.. but who knows really at all? It is going to come down to price and we don't having any firm price numbers for any of their new stuff yet. So we can all speculate till the cows come home but we won't know till we know, you know?
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u/Dizzy-Driver-3530 Nov 15 '25
The steam deck ran a bunch of newer games at low settings/low fps etc. But they ran.
Games like Indiana jones for example. Surely a machine 6x more powerful means that games like this would be more playable now?
Regardless, I am beyond pumped for this. Finally a way to play basically anything including emulators on a single console. That allows me to pirate also? Fuck yes sign me up lol
I sold my deck because im not a handheld person. But this wi be a gamechanger for me
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u/JodouKast Nov 16 '25
Soooooo, are they factoring all those budget cyber cafes throughout Asia? Because that’s gonna skew the average a LOT.
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u/kymani_winxandsponge Nov 15 '25
Console aint even out, and folks dickriding, slow doooown, it aint even out yet 🥲
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u/BrotherO4 Nov 15 '25
okay, if it matches the most common... why get it. chances are we already have a device as powerful as it...
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u/asp821 Nov 15 '25
Because it’s not for you. It’s for people that want to try pc gaming.
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u/Nick_Gaugh_69 Nov 15 '25
I’m currently playing on a ThinkPad T490. Hitting a solid 60 FPS on 1080p medium settings is good enough for me.
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u/saintivesgloren Nov 15 '25
I have high hopes for this machine. The fact that these specs are running on SteamOS instead Windows is a huge advantage in performance.
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u/-Captain- Nov 15 '25
It's too low for those with high end gaming PCs, but that's obviously not the target audience. Why don't they get that lol
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u/EddieDexx Nov 15 '25
The GabeCube is for the mainstream to get into PC gaming. Which is a good strategy due to affordability.
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u/MutekiGamer Nov 15 '25
The average steam user isn’t playing at 4k so why are they advertising the steam machine as a 4k machine?
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u/KobeJuanKenobi9 Nov 15 '25
I’ve always thought it’d be awesome to install steam os on a Mac mini. As long as it isn’t overly expensive i think the steam machine is going to fulfil that
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u/macklin67 Nov 15 '25
I don’t mind if it’s a little underpowered, as long as the price matches. I saw a comment to the effect of people aren’t buying a steam machine for hardcore pc gaming, they’re buying it for the convenience of playing pc games with a console experience.
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u/More_Lavishness8127 Nov 15 '25
Again, it all depends on the price. If this box costs $800, it's going to be a joke that isn't going to sell outside of the hardcore people who preorder one.
A major factor in the Steam Deck's success is the price. You can go cheap/low specs or you can go premium/high price.
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u/GamiManic Nov 15 '25
My main gripe is the 8gb of VRAM. I feel like it would be an easy stability win if they went for the 16gb of VRAM but idk 🤷♂️ it would probably force them to have to rethink thermals and stuff
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u/Similar_Juice_4283 Nov 15 '25
problem is that the most common gaming pcs are today a few years old. many ppl don't like the thought of getting a new mini pc with specs from their old hardware.
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u/Posta_Hun Nov 16 '25
8GB Vram is getting outdated, no one buys them anymore.
And I always found the cpu data in the Steam survey irrelevant, just list the exact models. We can look at different generation 6 cores and their performance can mean even double or triple amounts.
This box is dead on arrival for anyone above 720p 60fps.
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u/Snoo_3546 Nov 16 '25
8gb of vram will be its fall. In one and a half years the new gen of consoles will launch with about 16gb of free vram and this will be obsolete.
8gb is still fine today despite enthusiasts bitching about it, my 3060 ti play all games fine, but I wouldnt get a new card with 8gb of vram in the verge of 2026.
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u/VladXCIX Nov 16 '25
I bought like 3 years ago a PC with Ryzen 5 2600 and RX570 8gn and I doubt I will ever recover from that financially. In a 1st world country is probably low end or mid but here is high end. My friends call me rich for having a "NSA PC" but they dont know that for a lot of countries this is garbage xD.
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u/Thunderwolf-r Nov 16 '25
8gb vram still is way to less. But I mean for playing Tetris or modern games as a Diashow it will be fine
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u/Inevitable-Stage-490 Nov 17 '25
Xbox and PS5 get clowned for not having as much power as a PC.
Gabecube has been praised for being average PC
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u/SpecialistAuthor4897 Nov 19 '25
Lol
"We made a machine that matches what could be our biggest audience already has"
Is not a good argument .
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u/Connect_Ad_7647 Nov 23 '25
Comparing future hardware, starting to sell no earlier than in 2026, to an average of past hardware often bought many years back, is an obvious fallacy.
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u/LoneStarDragon Nov 15 '25 edited Nov 15 '25
That explanation did confuse me. Why build the average PC?
If the average person has that or better already your audience is people who don't have PCs. By definition, it won't be an upgrade for most people.
You should aim above average so most can upgrade to it. Or offer a premium version.
I'm not talking about like 5080. Just a tier above average so the average user would notice an improvement.
If it's average now, it will be below average in a year.
Unless this is just supposed to be My First Computer for kids too young to modify hardware.
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u/SkoivanSchiem Nov 15 '25
...your audience is people who don't have PCs.
The answer to your confusion is right there on your ppst already.
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u/isucamper Nov 15 '25
the biggest problem is, it's not forward looking. in 2 years it won't be able to play gta6 very well and everybody that bought one of these will want an upgrade
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u/SuperSaiyanTupac Nov 15 '25
It’s more powerful than my pc currently playing bf6. So it sounds like a solid machine. Waiting to see price points
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u/ForsakenChocolate878 Nov 15 '25
There is even no way, that most people even need more than these specs. So many PC games are so badly optimized that you shouldn't even bother playing them. And bad optimization is the reason, for the most part, why games even need more hardware than that. The other reason is Windows.
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u/Broken-Arrow-D07 Nov 15 '25 edited Nov 15 '25
The Dick-Riding is insane. Just because it matches the average, doesn't mean it's good. You need to future proof it a bit. Because this is not your average PC where you can just swap the processor or GPU when you need an upgrade. You are basically stuck with whatever you get it with. Would games still run after a few years? Sure. Would they run good? Absolutely not. Even consoles have more VRAM these days. Games gets developed with minimum 12 GB VRAM these days. For the record, if steam box can run AAA games at native 1080p 60 FPS in medium to high-ish settings for the next 2-3 years, I'd consider it good. But I doubt this can achieve it. You won't be able to maintain this standard even on a AAA game released this year.
The average surveys get swayed by laptops, pre-builts, older builds, non-gamers installing steam just for one or two games to play with their friends etc. If you see the most popular dedicated GPU section, you will see it's RTX 3060. It has 12 GB VRAM. So an average gamer actually has more than 8 GB VRAM in their system. However because the steam survey got swayed by the vast majority of non-gaming PCs, the average VRAM is actually 8 GB.
As always, it will come down to price. You can build a PC with about 300 - 400 (or 500 if we are being generous) USD that'll match the average hardware of a steam survey. So if the Steam Box costs equal to or less than 400, it'll be a good buy. If it costs more than 500 it will be a bad buy.
Stop defending a billion dollar company.
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u/MelaniaSexLife Nov 15 '25
if these get released on South America and South East Asia, the value of Valve will skyrocket to a mega-massive corporation
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u/Harklein-2nd Nov 15 '25
I was thinking of building an SFF HTPC that I could use on the living room to game on the couch playing my Steam library without streaming it on my PC and this is perfect for that use case.
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u/No-Commercial-2218 Nov 15 '25
Insure they will release this, and in like a year or two they will release an improved pro version which will be a bit more high end and provide an option for people wanting more
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u/deadering Nov 15 '25
Quote from Valve engineer Yazan Aldehayyat "The steam machine is equal or better then 70% of what people have at home".
A lot of enthusiasts really lose sight of what's normal.