Discussion Steam Machine / Steam cube / GabeCube thread

[marees]

Big question is on price. Anywhere from $400 to up (without the controller)

2nd issue is the 8gb vram
Although microsoft series S also has only 8gb of usable GPU memory (but it has fast direct storage with CF Express card as mitigation)

3rd issue is FSR 4 upscaling on navi 33 (tsmc 6nm) might have performance issues upscaling to 4k 60fps — compared to navi 32 or navi 31 (tsmc 5nm). AMD made some cutbacks in architecture for navi 33 compared to navi 31 & 32

As a mitigation, valve could certify game settings for 8gb vram (assuming FSR 4 upscales from 1080p to 4K).

• For ex. We know some games can't play 1080p max/ultra with 8gb vram
  • PS5 ports
  • Open world games that use nanite like tech

Last as per steam stats bulk (50%?) of steam gaming is on igp/laptop gpus which are worse potatoes than the 7600m in GabeCube 1 — or similar with 8gb vram. All those people are targets for this device.

Steam Hardware

The Steam Hardware family officially expands in early 2026.

store.steampowered.com

Steam Controller: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steamcontroller

Steam Machine: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steammachine

Steam Frame: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steamframe

I like what I see so far. The Steam Machine would be an awesome console replacement or emulation machine.

View attachment 133848

 

[marees]

Price benchmarks as of today, for $700

Either a laptop with 4060 (plus display/keyboard)
Or a PC box with much superior 9060xt 8gb ($80 for upgrade to 16gb)

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kMpbqH

https://www.newegg.com/msi-thin-a15...16gb-memory-512-gb-nvme-ssd/p/N82E16834156873

 

[marees]

Steam Survey Screen Resolutions

Full HD (1920 x 1080) continues to be the go-to resolution for most Steam users, holding a share of 54.44%. However, it’s no longer the fastest-growing option.

Higher resolutions are gaining traction, with 2560 x 1600 climbing past 5% and 1440p securing second place at 20.19%. While Full HD is still expanding, its growth rate has slowed to under 0.10%.

Read More at: https://www.alltechnerd.com/steam-hardware-survey-shows-gamers-shifting-toward-32-gb-of-ram/

 

[marees]

Steam survey by GPU VRAM

let’s examine how each of these capacities have performed since January 2025, when Nvidia launched its current generation offerings.

	January ’25	August ’25	Diff.
8GB	34.91%	35.03%	+0.12%
12GB	18.52%	19.30%	+0.78%
16GB	4.26%	6.80%	+2.54%

It’s important to note that current-generation 8GB models haven’t been on the market as long as their 12GB and 16GB counterparts. Nevertheless, mainstream x60 SKUs continue to prove most popular, with RTX 5060 enjoying the second-largest individual increase in share, behind RTX 4060.

https://www.club386.com/most-steam-...-not-worried-for-the-future-of-vram-capacity/

 

[marees]

Steam users GPU performance analysis by reddit user
Left 30% (yellow & red) would see benefits by upgrading to the Steam Machine 1

Steam's hardware survey and videocard benchmark to make a histogram of Steam users graphics cards by their performance.

• This data represents 82.24% of Steam users that opted-in to participate in the survey. The remaining 17.76% users either have a videocard other than these, or the cards were not specifically registered in the survey.
• Each histogram bin represents a 2000 G3D mark, starting from 0-2000 for the first bin, up to 38000-40000 for the last bin, making a total of 20 bars.
• Most popular high-end card is RTX 4070 at 2.16%.
• Most popular mid-range card are RTX 3060 at 4.41% and RTX 4060 Laptop at 4.84%
• Most popular low-end card are GTX 1650 at 3.02% and RTX 3050 at 3.07%
• Most popular potato card is GTX 1050 at 0.71%.

EDIT: 5070 and RX 580 are repeated twice. They both should only be in the higher bin. RTX 3090 Ti & 9070 XT were not recognised in Steam surveys and were most likely put in the 17.76% generic/other cards.

EDIT2: The grouping is arbitrary. There is no agreed definiton on low/mid/high. Don't beat yourself up over it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/1oi499v/percentage_of_steam_users_by_gpu_performance

 

[marees]

Pros & cons of 8gb vram

The Steam Machine Is Not Built for Hardcore PC Gamers​

And that’s totally okay.
By Kyle BarrPublished November 14, 2025

https://gizmodo.com/steam-machine-not-for-hardcore-pc-gamers-2000686047

How bad is 8GB of VRAM in 2025? Medium vs Ultra Settings 1080p, 1440p

Daniel Owen​

 

[Heartbreaker]

It's guaranteed to make the PCMR unhappy. They have dined on a steady diet of 8GB VRAM = garbage. So they are going to moan that unless it has subsidized giveaway pricing, it's a ripoff. HWUB predictably dumped on it as expected (the biggest purveyor of 8GB = garbage). Steve, can't see how it ends up being a success. Tim even claimed it would have to sell for $300...

Valve has been giving some broad pricing hints. The consistent hint: Pricing will NOT console equivalent, but entry level Gaming PC equivalent. Which I don't think anyone could interpret as lower than console pricing. They clearly mean higher. PS5 is currently $550, and XBSX is $650.

Further they added some additional clarity: We intend for it to be positioned closer to the entry level of the PC space, but to be very competitive with a PC you could build yourself from parts,” Valve designer Pierre-Loup Griffais told The Verge.

That closest matched self build comes in around $700, and that with cheapest components, and full size/mATX, since SFF would increase it to even more.. PCMR will call anywhere near that price DOA.

OTOH, it's looks like the best engineered SFF I've seen. It's a couple of classes above a minisForum PC. If someone isn't obsessed by VRAM, this looks like a fantastic miniPC.

 

[DavidC1]

Yea I don't care about the hardware. I hope it allows them to flesh out SteamOS for desktop PCs. That's where the real test is.

Microsoft can Game Mode all they want, but those wanting to move away from Windows isn't going to have that as a priority consideration. The day SteamOS becomes a viable OS on desktops, Windows will lose marketshare. It's not the lack of features. The reason it has bad battery life in Windows is a symptom of the MS mindset, not the culprit. The culprit is they are following the trend of stream-everything, own-nothing mentality while selling your private data as much as possible. Game Mode in that case is merely a Trojan Horse just to stay on Windows.

 

[Heartbreaker]

Some comparisons to top mini PCs:

The Best Mini Gaming PCs Worth Buying in 2025 - IGN

Typically, gaming PCs are huge monoliths of glass and metal. However, there are mini PCs for gaming out there, if you need to reclaim your desk space.

www.ign.com

The Top recommended is: ROG NUC Mini Gaming PC Mini Desktop Compact Gaming Power with Discrete Graphics Intel Core Ultra 9 185H/RTX 4070/32GB DDR5 /1TB SSD

When I check Amazon, that is $2500 USD. While it is better performing, that is a mobile RTX 4070 - so it still has 8GB of VRAM (the main complaint against Steam Machine).

I'll grab the Budget option of another list:

Best Mini PC With Graphics Card (AMD and NVIDIA) | Hardware Corner

www.hardware-corner.net

Minisforum Neptune HX100Gh with RX 6600M 8GB - $800

Really, at $700 it looks like the Steam Machine would pretty much be the best Mini PC you could buy.

I think you have great difficulty finding any Mini PC with more than 8GB of VRAM for less than $1000.

I don't think it really has to sell below $700 for the Mini PC market where it really doesn't seem to be anything close to it at that price.

 

[marees]

Valve's Next-Gen Steam Machine and Steam Controller — the Big Interview​

"It felt like it was the right time."​

Valve on making the Steam OS more widely available:

are there plans to make SteamOS more widely available beyond a try at your own risk kind of model the way it is now?

definitely, just like Steam Deck paved the way for SteamOS on a variety of third-party handhelds, we expect that a Steam Machine will pave the way for SteamOS on a bunch of different machines in either similar form factors, different perf envelopes, different segments of the market and get to a good outcome there. ​

We definitely want to encourage people to try it out on their own hardware, and we'll be working on expanding hardware availability over time as well, or hardware support for the drivers and the base operating system. ​

​

Just last week we fixed something that was preventing us from booting on the very latest AMD CPU platforms. Last month we added support for the Intel Lunar Lake platforms. ​

​

We're constantly just adding support and improving performance and we want it to be at the point where at some point you can install it on any PC, but there's still a ton of work to do there.​

On enabling friction-free gaming

Can you talk about how the Steam Machine is positing itself as the more approachable PC gaming machine...

Something that happened shortly after Steam Deck released was that a lot of games started detecting that they were running on Steam Deck to pick exactly the right default settings for an experience that the game developer considered balanced, which is a pretty small amount of work for a game developer. ​

We expect the same thing will happen with Steam Machine, and we'll be providing APIs in Steamworks so that game developers can detect what platform they're running on to be able to have the right amount of detailed settings and that corresponds to the balanced experience that they have in mind.​

On the million dollar question (8gb vram)
Why did you pick the GPU you picked and why did you pick the CPU you picked when there are cheaper options or more powerful options?

piece of information that we always had available is the Steam hardware survey. So we can essentially look at everybody's devices, we understand what the medium performance looks like for people, we understand where the Steam Machine is going to be positioned relative to those. ​

We think that the Steam Machine is going to be equal or better perf than the majority of people on Steam. ​

So essentially we think it's going to be a good upgrade path for a lot of people, especially people who are on older machines​

On why a Steam Box?

the Steam Machine is just one option in the ecosystem of gaming PCs out there. ​

If you're already happy with your PC gaming experience, that's great. We love that. ​

We are a PC gaming company. We're just trying to give you more options. And that's how we view it. ​

It's just something that we think is a really great addition to a living room or a desktop, but it's just one other option that people can have available to them to play their Steam games basically.​

Valve's Next-Gen Steam Machine and Steam Controller — the Big Interview

"It felt like it was the right time."

in.ign.com

 

[Heartbreaker]

Valve on making the Steam OS more widely available:

are there plans to make SteamOS more widely available beyond a try at your own risk kind of model the way it is now?

definitely, just like Steam Deck paved the way for SteamOS on a variety of third-party handhelds, we expect that a Steam Machine will pave the way for SteamOS on a bunch of different machines in either similar form factors, different perf envelopes, different segments of the market and get to a good outcome there. ​

We definitely want to encourage people to try it out on their own hardware, and we'll be working on expanding hardware availability over time as well, or hardware support for the drivers and the base operating system. ​

​

Just last week we fixed something that was preventing us from booting on the very latest AMD CPU platforms. Last month we added support for the Intel Lunar Lake platforms. ​

​

We're constantly just adding support and improving performance and we want it to be at the point where at some point you can install it on any PC, but there's still a ton of work to do there.​

I think I watched this exact interview on YT. Yes they are clear, they want imitators and for SteamOS to spread to the desktop and they are working in that direction.

Anyone interested in a machine like this, but finding the the Valve Version inadequate can build their own with a more powerful CPU, RX 9060 XT 16GB VRAM, 32GB DDR5, but that will likely drift over $1000 if you use decent components...

From what I read, you can install SteamOS on this kind of All AMD system today. You don't have to wait for Valve to roll your own Steam Machine.

 

[marees]

Big question is on price. Anywhere from $400 to up (without the controller)

Digital Foundry weighs in on the price debate

Valve knows what price point will move Steam Machine inventory - and that it's an aggressive point. And we feel comfortable assuming that Valve's internal data tells them every Steam Deck sold leads to overall higher operating profit - especially if Valve has avoided increasing Deck model prices at the same cadence as other PC device manufacturers.​

​

So it's reasonable for Valve to have PlayStation 5's current $499 base price in its sights - a figure it can potentially match or beat based on specs, manufacturing manoeuvres, potential tariff avoidance and cash reserves to absorb a loss-leader price.​

​

Estimating Steam Machine's material cost, then, is hard to do without accounting for Valve's bargaining power at this point in the SteamOS success story. Notice that Valve mentions "AMD" as the default chipmaker for any third parties' Steam Machine-like devices to follow. AMD has been tidily walking down the road that Valve has paved in the form of smooth SteamOS compatibility for their silicon on Deck-like devices in the past two years. Here they are again, enjoying a namecheck and default Steam Machine placement. Lucrative stuff for them, and arguably worth a long-term arrangement to continue producing Machine's older RDNA 3 GPU.​

​

​

Looking back, Microsoft was prescient to roll out a cheaper, cut-back Xbox Series S back in 2020. Meaning, there was no way the Series X spec was going to get cut down to the $299 sweet spot like in prior console generations to spur lower-price investment in current-gen Xboxes. The generational norm of increased PC and console power at lower prices has hit a relative standstill since then, and it's one that the Steam Hardware Survey reflects. PC owners aren't jumping in power at reasonable prices the way they used to, yet they're still buying and enjoying games.​

Analysis: How Steam Machine can aim for PS5's $499 price

Affordability is crucial to the new device's success.

www.digitalfoundry.net

 

[Heartbreaker]

Looking back, Microsoft was prescient to roll out a cheaper, cut-back Xbox Series S back in 2020. Meaning, there was no way the Series X spec was going to get cut down to the $299 sweet spot like in prior console generations to spur lower-price investment in current-gen Xboxes. The generational norm of increased PC and console power at lower prices has hit a relative standstill since then, and it's one that the Steam Hardware Survey reflects. PC owners aren't jumping in power at reasonable prices the way they used to, yet they're still buying and enjoying games.​

Yet, despite this prescient XB Series S pricing, they lost badly to Sony that didn't do that.

Yeah, this is just more guessing that seems to pay ZERO attention to what Valve actually told everyone. NOT Console priced.

Valve won't be subsidizing PC purchases.

 

[MoragaBlue]

Oh now, glad I found this thread! Some very interesting stuff--at least to me--on here. Whatever outcome is fated for the GabeCube (I just love this monicker! LOL), I can't recall a time when something has stirred so much conversation in the PC gaming space.

For my money, disruption is always a good thing for consumers. So, I'm thankful for Valve launching this, and I think it'll be a great boon to consumers writ large.

 

[marees]

Yet, despite this prescient XB Series S pricing, they lost badly to Sony that didn't do that.

Yeah, this is just more guessing that seems to pay ZERO attention to what Valve actually told everyone. NOT Console priced.

Valve won't be subsidizing PC purchases.

Imho, valve should just bite the bullet & price the base model (without controller) as competitive with the series S ($450 to $550)

They can make money of the 2 TB model & the controllers

https://twitter.com/x/status/1990435005181444507

 

[WelshBloke]

I'm a bit confused at how much press and excitement this is getting!
It's a low to mid level PC.
Admittedly the form factor is nice (they need to do a special edition Weighted Companion Cube one!).
What does excite me is that Valve are obviously all in on Linux gaming and that's something that's going to directly help me plus it's a fairly exciting change ( Microsoft have owned PC gaming forever) plus I deeply want that controller!

 

[Heartbreaker]

Imho, valve should just bite the bullet & price the base model (without controller) as competitive with the series S ($450 to $550)

They can make money of the 2 TB model & the controllers

https://twitter.com/x/status/1990435005181444507

I don't do Twitter. What's his "Approximate" build?

It makes ZERO sense for the them subsidize a PC purchase. If I bought one it would NEVER connect to steam. IMO negligible amount of them will boost Steam Revenue. They will either be bought by people that already use Steam as a second (or more) device so no ecosystem benefit, or people like me where it would never connect to Steam. Valve should no more subsidize this box, than Alienware PC purchases.

This argument that they are old cast off parts, and therefore cheap, is nonsense. It's 2023/RDNA 3 GPU.

PS5 came out in 2020, and is RDNA 2. Yet Sony who often does subsidized because they make most of their money on software, still had to increase the selling price. XBSX was increased to $650. All this even older tech going UP in price. That's from companies that do in fact, subsidize and have a case for subsidization.

Whether you look at self built from parts, or similar built MiniPC, or what's going on in Console pricing. $700 is the reasonable expectation, and if anything given the RAM and SSD trajectory could be higher by the time it ships.

 

[MoragaBlue]

I'm a bit confused at how much press and excitement this is getting!
It's a low to mid level PC.

While I can't even pretend to know what others think, and I can only offer my thoughts.

As a gamer who loves playing video games, I have a vested interest to see this industry grow, expand, and thereby offering even more and better games. I certainly know very little about this industry--aside from being a hardcore gamer--but I view it as a potential parallel to the Las Vegas gaming industry during their golden era from the late 90s until relatively recently. There was a phenomenon where every new hotel casino not only didn't saturate the market, it increased overall demand, i.e., the more they built, the larger the pie had grown, and large slices for everyone.

In my view, the gaming industry is or about to enter this "golden era," where the more gaming solutions offered, the larger TAM (total addressable market) will grow--the classic rising tide raising all boats. Valve's entry, again IMHO, is the potential catalyst that could catapult the gaming industry into this era of growth.

This is why I'm excited. Imagine global studios with near unlimited resources vying for our gaming dollars on the platform of our choosing? I just think there has never been a better time to be a gaming enthusiast.

 

[marees]

What's his "Approximate" build?

OS: Bazzite 43
CPU: 8840U 6c 28w cap (parked 2 cores)
iGPU Disabled
Same L1,L2,L3 cache

GPU: 7600m XT 8GB VRAM connected via 4x pcie link (OcuLink)

Smart Technologies enabled. SAM (Rebar) and Smart Shift

OS config: all power savings disabled and forced to maximum power with EPP0. Effectively the same as "High Performance" powercfg setting in Windows

https://twitter.com/x/status/1989749494737469470

 

[Heartbreaker]

Ok, so not a price comparison, but performance comparison. I thought it was an argument for a $500 price point.

The more I see the news about Memory pricing, and AI gobbling all tech, the more I think by they time it's shipping my $700 estimate may be low.

I think now is the time to buy if you want something in tech anytime soon.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I'm a bit confused at how much press and excitement this is getting!
It's a low to mid level PC.

You are missing the most important part; it's a Steam PC. Gabe, Valve, Steam, are the pinnacle of PCMR fandom. They make memes about him "Does nothing. Wins. Does something. Wins." Apple, Nvidia, Steam, all have legions of loyal customers who experience warm feels at just the mention of the names. All eager to shout shut up and take my money!

What does excite me is that Valve are obviously all in on Linux gaming and that's something that's going to directly help me

It already is. You know that. I'm being pedantic. It's in the tech message board handbook, it's obligatory.

plus it's a fairly exciting change ( Microsoft have owned PC gaming forever) plus I deeply want that controller!

A few more wrinkles to iron out, and Valve will have the hallowed combo breaker many of us have been hoping for. Anti-cheat is the biggest one. While there are other popular titles; Fortnite has a massive player count. They have to be able to play it on Linux. Epic so far is giving a hard no. It would take Linux gaining a significant market share and a player boycott that cost them big money to have any hope they would ever potentially capitulate.

The platform can do well without those players I suppose. Perhaps like with traditional consoles, gamers will buy into more than one ecosystem? I don't see Gabe shipping the hardware with windows preinstalled and officially supported. He has been in the belly of the beast, and does not seem ready to hug it out any time soon.

 

[WelshBloke]

You are missing the most important part; it's a Steam PC. Gabe, Valve, Steam, are the pinnacle of PCMR fandom. They make memes about him "Does nothing. Wins. Does something. Wins." Apple, Nvidia, Steam, all have legions of loyal customers who experience warm feels at just the mention of the names. All eager to shout shut up and take my money!

I'm pretty fond of Valve myself! I get that Steam could be called a type of DRM but its DRM that's making my life easier rather than harder. I do respect the whole "but you don't own those games" argument though. I still find the convenience worth the risk!

It already is. You know that. I'm being pedantic. It's in the tech message board handbook, it's obligatory.

I probably wouldn't be typing this out on a PC using Linux if it wasn't for Steam so they are definitely helping me out!

A few more wrinkles to iron out, and Valve will have the hallowed combo breaker many of us have been hoping for. Anti-cheat is the biggest one. While there are other popular titles; Fortnite has a massive player count. They have to be able to play it on Linux. Epic so far is giving a hard no. It would take Linux gaining a significant market share and a player boycott that cost them big money to have any hope they would ever potentially capitulate.

My hope is that Microsoft stick to their guns and stop companies injecting crap into their kernel rather that Linux allowing it! That would be a positive for everyone!

The platform can do well without those players I suppose. Perhaps like with traditional consoles, gamers will buy into more than one ecosystem? I don't see Gabe shipping the hardware with windows preinstalled and officially supported. He has been in the belly of the beast, and does not seem ready to hug it out any time soon.

I can definitely go without some of the competitive shooters, they tend to be a bit toxic. That said I've enjoyed the odd round of Fortnite but I can live without it with no regrets!
I'd imagine that shipping it with Windows on would add to the price a fair bit and its probably something that they dont want to support. I can see them leaving it up to the end user and thats the way I'd like it to be for all computers tbh! Ship it without an OS or give the user an option to chose the pre installed operating system and give me a discount for doing it myself!

 

[Heartbreaker]

I don't see Gabe shipping the hardware with windows preinstalled and officially supported.

Installed: no. Officially supported: yes.

 

[WelshBloke]

Installed: no. Officially supported: yes.

By "officially supported" you mean that they are just going to let people install Windows on it rather than actively blocking it?
Like I can install Linux on my Dell laptop that shipped with Windows but I'd be surprised if Dell would actually offer any software support for that (not that I'd be mad enough to ask)!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

By "officially supported" you mean that they are just going to let people install Windows on it rather than actively blocking it?
Like I can install Linux on my Dell laptop that shipped with Windows but I'd be surprised if Dell would actually offer any software support for that (not that I'd be mad enough to ask)!

No, HB is right. I took a quick look and Steam Deck has official support so no reason the Gabecube would not.

EDIT: I should mention you are correct that if anything goes wrong you are on your own.

We are providing these resources as is and are unfortunately unable to offer 'Windows on Deck' support. If you get stuck and need a way back to the default Steam Deck OS, please follow these recovery instructions.