Speculation regarding the potential price of Valve’s Steam Machine is keeping many folks guessing, who hope for an affordable entry point. It doesn’t matter which tech forum or YouTube tech/gaming channel one might go to, because at some point, there’s probably a mention or discussion regarding the price of the Steam Machine. Valve’s upcoming hybrid cube, which some have taken to calling the Gabe Cube, has stirred up things on both sides of the industry. From console gaming to the PC sector, it has attracted the attention of many who wonder what its true limits and potential will be, but its price may play the most crucial factor for its success, or failure.
Steam Machine General Specs
- CPU: Semi-custom AMD Zen 4 6C / 12T up to 4.8 GHz, 30W TDP
- GPU: Semi-Custom AMD RDNA3 28CUs 2.45GHz max sustained clock, 110W TDP
- RAM: 16GB DDR5 + 8GB GDDR6 VRAM
- Power: Internal power supply, AC power 110-240V
- Storage: Either a 512GB NVMe SSD or a 2TB NVMe SSD, both models include a high-speed microSD card slot
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 2×2 Wi-Fi 6E, Gigabit ethernet
- Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.3 dedicated antenna
- USB: 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports in the front, 2x USB-A 2.0 High speed ports in the back, 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port in the back
- Steam Controller with integrated 2.4 GHz Steam Controller wireless adapter
- LED Strip comprising 17 individually addressable RGB LEDs for system status and customizability
Linus Tech Tips attempted to come up with their own answer regarding a potential price point by assembling a PC using some comparable parts, which ended up at a total cost of $605. However, the chosen motherboard does not include any WiFi or Bluetooth options, but for $20 more, another board does. The only other notable missing component is the case and its various RGB strips.
- AMD Ryzen 5 8400F 6-core CPU
- ASRock B650M-HM.2+ Mobo
- Crucial Classic 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR5-5600 CL46 RAM
- Seasonic GX-550 550W PSU
- ASRock AMD Radeon RX 6600 Challenger GPU
- Kingston NV3 500GB M.2 2280 NVMe SSD
- GameSir Cyclone 2 Wireless Controller
While this experiment might narrow down the potential costs for building the Steam Machine, there’s still quite a bit of other details to consider. Currently, the elephant in the room is the increased memory and storage costs that, at some point, will play a major factor not only for Valve but also for all consoles, mobile devices, and desktop devices.
Valve engineers were asked in an interview with Skill Up if the company plans to subsidize the Steam Machine similarly to how Sony and Microsoft have done with their consoles, to incentivize sales and stimulate market growth, and the reply was “No. It’s more in-line with what you might expect from the current PC market. Obviously, our goal is for it to be a good deal at that level of performance.”
Valve’s engineers have also gone on record to say that the Steam Machine will not be priced like current gaming consoles but rather more in line with a comparable PC. That being said, it has left speculation of prices ranging from $600 to upwards of $1,000. This is partly due to the device using Steam OS, which, unlike gaming consoles, allows users to install their own apps.
“Yes, Steam Machine is optimized for gaming, but it’s still your PC. Install your own apps, or even another operating system. Who are we to tell you how to use your computer?”
-Valve
Ultimately, if going by LTT’s build, and adding additional costs for the upgraded motherboard with WiFi and BT, plus the case and RGB, it might be a ballpark safe estimate in the $700 range. Factor in other costs, and that total might be around $700-$800 for the 512 GB model.