Valve is about to challenge the Xbox and PlayStation on their home turf. Ten years after the original Steam Machines went on sale, the company is announcing a new version: the Steam Machine. This is a PC-based game console that runs SteamOS, Valve's Linux-based operating system. It uses a compatibility layer called Proton to run Windows games seamlessly.
The Promise
The Steam Machine is a far more powerful, stationary version of the Steam Deck. It is a six-inch cube that promises raw power and the ability to keep games updated in the background. Yazan Aldehayyat, a hardware engineer at Valve, explains that the console can keep all software, OS, games, and cloud saves updated so games are always ready to play.
While the Steam Deck is more powerful than a Nintendo Switch, it cannot match the PS5. Big-budget games are beginning to leave it behind. The Steam Machine is Valve's answer, bringing the Deck experience to TV with far more powerful components. Valve says it offers six times the power of a Steam Deck and will deliver at least PS5-level performance.
Two Chips for PS5-Plus Performance
Under the hood, the Steam Machine uses two AMD chips: a six-core AMD Zen 4 CPU with up to 30 watts of headroom and a semi-custom discrete AMD RDNA 3 GPU with 28 compute units and up to 110-watt TDP. It also has 16GB of DDR5 RAM and 8GB of GDDR6 memory for the GPU. These components are unusual for a gaming PC but work well together.
In initial testing, the Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark averaged a smooth 65fps at medium settings with ray tracing on, upscaled to 4K using AMD's FSR 3.0. The lowest frame rate during gameplay was 55fps. At native 4K, performance dropped to 24fps, but consoles generally don't play demanding games at native 4K.
Compressed Steam
Valve packed PS5 power into a box half the size of a PS5 (3.8 liters) including an internal power supply. The cooling system was designed first, starting with a whisper-quiet 120mm fan with custom blade geometry. A massive finned heatsink with embedded heat pipes doubles as RF shielding. Below the motherboard, a custom power supply also acts as RF shielding.
The front panel is magnetic and swappable. Valve shows wood and Team Fortress 2-themed panels, and an internal e-paper display reveals the codename "Fremont." The RGB light bar can indicate download progress.
Expandability
The Steam Machine is not upgradable beyond the SSD and memory (16GB on laptop sticks). It has twin display outputs (HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4), four USB-A ports, a USB-C port, and Gigabit Ethernet. Users can install Windows if desired.
Valve hints that other versions may come from partners in the future, but the company first wants to see how its own console fares.
The Burning Question
Pricing is still unannounced. Valve says it will be comparable to a PC with similar specs. An assembly with similar performance could cost around $800, but a compact system might be $1,000 without storage or a gamepad. If Valve can deliver a pick-up-and-play console supporting decades of inexpensive PC games, many are willing to pay PC-level prices.
Valve also introduced a new Steam Controller and the Steam Frame gaming headset. The controller is a comfortable, familiar twist on a traditional gamepad with features for PC gaming.
Source: The Verge News