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.
Discussion (16 replies)
Join Discussion →Its going to be whatever they need to charge to be profitable.
I couldn't care less about the Steam Machine hardware. You can build that yourself and just run SteamOS on it if you want something for your living room.
I am more interested in the Steam Frame. Something I can't build myself.
Yep, when it comes to something truly more progressive, the Steam Frame is definitely more exciting. Wireless VR with some good specs to boot is pretty cool.
Edit: I honestly keep forgetting about it which is sad since there's a pretty good chance I'll end up getting one.
I seen the vid and also Jay2cents one and he came to a lot more but I guess it depends on how close you want to get to the specs.of valve.
All very interesting. I will be interested in seeing performance numbers for gaming, under Steam OS and Win 11.
This is just like all those "I built a PC specced to a console and it cost $XYZ"
It will be interesting if it's totally open and you can install other OSes, like the Steam Deck is.
That's the whole point. If they sell it without a hardware loss... Steam makes them JUST as much money on a windows PC as it does on a Steam box of pick your flavor. There's no difference to them in the hardware you play on.
They are NOT selling a device to be an ecosystem. The ecosystem exists. They are selling a device to give more consumers more choice and prove a technology. (The Steam OS) If they can prove the Steam OS as a viable technology and people buy in... (3rd parties licensing and so on) then they make more money. If it dies then they sell what they purchased in hardware and call it a day and continue to rake in billions.
there's no official SteamOS for desktop PCs, should be coming soon though. Hopefully with better support for nvidia and intel.
Ah, you're right. Replace SteamOS with Linux and install Steam then. 😂
If you want SteamOS on your desktop PC, use Bazzite. But yeah hope an official one shows up.
I have a feeling Bazzite will be short lived once SteamOS is available for everyone.
These thing are aimed at bridging a gap between console and PC gamers. Those console people that don't want a gaming PC, but want to PC game with their friends they met in cross-platform lobbies.
Personally don't think they'll sell a lot of them, and it'll be short lived as graphics get pushed further.
Honestly it's more a platform to prove the steam OS. Once that is proven manufacturers and SI's will jump on board to make gaming boxes. Just like they did with handhelds and the steam deck.
BTW the flipping genius who pulled the Decker tech for the hand held gaming device is on point and I appreciate the nerddom. lol.
hopefully it will do well enough that it will grant a 2nd... I mean 3rd iteration. ;):rolleyes::LOL:
I seriously don't think graphics/hardware will get pushed much further, at least in the near term.
I know that's gonna get a lot of pushback here.
But... Look at the most popular games online right now. Most of them will run on a potato. Many of them are many years old. I mean, sure, there are AAA titles that will push the envelope and sell copies and be popular for a bit. But there are far, far more that don't really need, or even really benefit from, additional graphics capability.
Looking at the cost of getting into gaming, and PC gaming in particular... it's not something you can just casually dip into. Either you are dropping $1k+++ on an ~entry level~ rig... or you are going Mobile/Console/Discrete graphics.
And the cost of that gaming PC isn't looking like it will ever come down. There's always some next bubble that just keeps driving the price through the roof... and discrete/mobile hardware has become powerful enough as a baseline, I think we really have reached a point were that is good enough for most people. Not everyone - I mean, that's why this forum exists after all, but let's face it, we are a dying breed. It may never die out entirely, but just become increasingly niche, and increasingly more expensive/difficult to approach.
There will always be the Quake/Crysis/whatever the latest title is ... that can bring the current top-tier GPU to it's knees. But very very rarely is that also what everyone is playing, and I think going forward that becomes increasing true.