I’ve just finished reviewing the Steam Machine, Valve’s TV-friendly gaming PC for the masses. I think that was the initial idea, at least. Unfortunately, Valve’s magic box has, thanks to the memory crisis, ended up with a price tag that simply doesn’t add up.
For those who haven’t heard, the base-level, 512 GB, non-Steam Controller-including Steam Machine retails for $1,049. Add a controller into the mix, and it comes in at $1,128. Back when we first took a whirl at predicting Steam Machine pricing, our average guess was around $525 for the base model.
Oh, how wrong we were. To be fair to myself, Valve, and my hardware team colleagues, this was back in November of last year. The pre-RAMpocalypse times, as we now call them. Before the AI server market swallowed memory module manufacturing capacity, and consumer electronics began to climb rapidly in price.
We adjusted our guesses more recently, and actually came kind of close, for the most part.
Still, the final pricing has me all hot and bothered, even if it’s not far off what we eventually predicted. Because the Steam Machine, thanks to some lower-spec internal components now sold for high prices, represents poor value—and I feel like it deserves more than that.
And I haven’t even got to the 2 TB model I reviewed yet, which is $1,349 without a controller, and a wallet-trembling $1,428 with one. That’s a huge sum of money for a machine that struggles against budget gaming PCs, some of which come from the previous generation.
Gaming benchmarks
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (1440p Ultra)Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p RT Medium)Cyberpunk 2077 (Quality upscaling, 1440p RT Medium)Baldur’s Gate 3 (1440p Ultra)Black Myth: Wukong (1440p Very High)Black Myth: Wukong (Quality upscaling, 1440p Very High)Metro Exodus: Enhanced Edition (1440p Ultra)
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Steam Machine
21
17
AtomMan G1 Pro | RTX 5060 | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX
44
38
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i | RTX 4060 | Intel Core i5 14400F
33
25
Custom PC #11 (issue 413) | Arc B570 | Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
28
24
015304560
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (1440p Ultra) Data
Product
Value
Steam Machine
21 Avg FPS, 17 1% Low FPS
AtomMan G1 Pro | RTX 5060 | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX
44 Avg FPS, 38 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i | RTX 4060 | Intel Core i5 14400F
33 Avg FPS, 25 1% Low FPS
Custom PC #11 (issue 413) | Arc B570 | Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
28 Avg FPS, 24 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Steam Machine
16
12
AtomMan G1 Pro | RTX 5060 | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX
32
26
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i | RTX 4060 | Intel Core i5 14400F
24
19
Custom PC #11 (issue 413) | Arc B570 | Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
26
23
010203040
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p RT Medium) Data
Product
Value
Steam Machine
16 Avg FPS, 12 1% Low FPS
AtomMan G1 Pro | RTX 5060 | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX
32 Avg FPS, 26 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i | RTX 4060 | Intel Core i5 14400F
24 Avg FPS, 19 1% Low FPS
Custom PC #11 (issue 413) | Arc B570 | Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
26 Avg FPS, 23 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Steam Machine
28
20
AtomMan G1 Pro | RTX 5060 | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX
86
69
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i | RTX 4060 | Intel Core i5 14400F
60
49
Custom PC #11 (issue 413) | Arc B570 | Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
81
74
0255075100
Cyberpunk 2077 (Quality upscaling, 1440p RT Medium) Data
Product
Value
Steam Machine
28 Avg FPS, 20 1% Low FPS
AtomMan G1 Pro | RTX 5060 | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX
86 Avg FPS, 69 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i | RTX 4060 | Intel Core i5 14400F
60 Avg FPS, 49 1% Low FPS
Custom PC #11 (issue 413) | Arc B570 | Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
81 Avg FPS, 74 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Steam Machine
46
26
AtomMan G1 Pro | RTX 5060 | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX
59
42
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i | RTX 4060 | Intel Core i5 14400F
60
40
Custom PC #11 (issue 413) | Arc B570 | Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
57
24
015304560
Baldur’s Gate 3 (1440p Ultra) Data
Product
Value
Steam Machine
46 Avg FPS, 26 1% Low FPS
AtomMan G1 Pro | RTX 5060 | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX
59 Avg FPS, 42 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i | RTX 4060 | Intel Core i5 14400F
60 Avg FPS, 40 1% Low FPS
Custom PC #11 (issue 413) | Arc B570 | Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
57 Avg FPS, 24 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Steam Machine
20
16
AtomMan G1 Pro | RTX 5060 | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX
26
20
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i | RTX 4060 | Intel Core i5 14400F
23
17
Custom PC #11 (issue 413) | Arc B570 | Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
17
13
07.51522.530
Black Myth: Wukong (1440p Very High) Data
Product
Value
Steam Machine
20 Avg FPS, 16 1% Low FPS
AtomMan G1 Pro | RTX 5060 | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX
26 Avg FPS, 20 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i | RTX 4060 | Intel Core i5 14400F
23 Avg FPS, 17 1% Low FPS
Custom PC #11 (issue 413) | Arc B570 | Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
17 Avg FPS, 13 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Steam Machine
31
26
AtomMan G1 Pro | RTX 5060 | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX
37
33
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i | RTX 4060 | Intel Core i5 14400F
48
42
Custom PC #11 (issue 413) | Arc B570 | Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
27
17
015304560
Black Myth: Wukong (Quality upscaling, 1440p Very High) Data
Product
Value
Steam Machine
31 Avg FPS, 26 1% Low FPS
AtomMan G1 Pro | RTX 5060 | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX
37 Avg FPS, 33 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i | RTX 4060 | Intel Core i5 14400F
48 Avg FPS, 42 1% Low FPS
Custom PC #11 (issue 413) | Arc B570 | Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
27 Avg FPS, 17 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Steam Machine
45
30
AtomMan G1 Pro | RTX 5060 | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX
52
36
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i | RTX 4060 | Intel Core i5 14400F
53
36
Custom PC #11 (issue 413) | Arc B570 | Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
50
31
015304560
Metro Exodus: Enhanced Edition (1440p Ultra) Data
Product
Value
Steam Machine
45 Avg FPS, 30 1% Low FPS
AtomMan G1 Pro | RTX 5060 | AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX
52 Avg FPS, 36 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i | RTX 4060 | Intel Core i5 14400F
53 Avg FPS, 36 1% Low FPS
Custom PC #11 (issue 413) | Arc B570 | Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
50 Avg FPS, 31 1% Low FPS
It’s not like the Steam Machine makes up for its shortcomings with a completely smooth user experience, either. It feels, at the time of writing, a little half-baked. I still found myself hunting through the settings menus to configure it properly on my home TV. I still had to enable compatibility game settings to get past some Linux… quirks.
It’s got crunch, in places where, for the money, I’d hoped it would be more refined. It’s virtually a premium product now, after all. But it doesn’t quite feel like it in terms of the overall user experience. And it doesn’t run demanding games like it, either.
In many ways, this isn’t Valve’s fault. The Steam Machine’s diminutive, RDNA 3-graphics powered specs sheet clearly indicates that it should have been affordable, and was designed with a lesser price in mind. It should have been a lightweight, somewhat-entry-level machine that lives underneath your TV, capable of running indie games with little issue, and demanding ones if you were prepared to make significant compromises. For reasonable money.
Future
Future
Future
Future
I’d be pretty keen on it then, even with its flaws. Something deep within my heart wanted another Steam Deck-like PC gaming hardware moment. A budget machine with just enough go (and just enough convenience) to make it attractive. Another entry point into this expensive hobby of ours. A people’s champion.
But no, it’s got RAM modules. And an SSD. And therefore, it needs to be much pricier now than it was supposed to be when it was first specced out, if Valve is to make any money on it at all.
As a hardware reviewer, my job is to provide consumer advice. There’s no point in recommending that you, the reader, buy something simply because it’s interesting—without taking into account the value you get for your money. And at this price, the value proposition simply doesn’t add up.
(Image credit: Future)
In some sense, I don’t think my take on all this really matters. The Steam Machine will sell, I’d put good money on that. There are enough well-heeled enthusiasts out there to swallow up whatever launch stock Valve has on offer, even if it ends up being more of an executive-level desk toy than the great equaliser the rest of us might have hoped for.
It won’t be a catastrophic failure for Valve, of that I’m fairly certain. But, given all of the above, the Steam Machine has, to my mind, become a damning representation of where we are in regards to PC gaming hardware in 2026.
(Image credit: Future)
We now live in a world where we’re paying serious sums for meagre specs. And given that the memory crisis is expected to rumble on (and perhaps even worsen) into 2027 and beyond, this may be just the beginning of our woes.
I hate that. I hate that the AI-demand behemoth is pricing out average gamers from reasonably priced hardware, and reasonable hardware upgrades. I hate that I’m forced to give an interesting, if flawed, machine a lower score because it simply doesn’t make any value-based sense—whereas for the right price, it just might.
Valve has worked really hard on the Steam Machine, and that’s obvious to see. Even if it does feel underpowered, and a little rough around the software edges. But when all’s said and done, I simply wouldn’t spend this much money on one. And that, as much I wish it wasn’t the case, is the truth.
