Plus the economy of efficiencies, steam will fix issues that cause frustration on their known setup of hardware as it is known parts and a larger audience
Building your own pc is great, but the variation in performance makes for a mixed bag of experience playing the same game on different setups (different GPU, drivers etc etc)
Plus the economy of efficiencies, steam will fix issues that cause frustration on their known setup of hardware as it is known parts and a larger audience
This is the really compelling bit to me!
It’s like an invitation to enjoy all the perks of being a PC gamer, without all the hard work.
Something worth mentioning with RAM is that it’s still cheaper than a GPU. Prices are going to be double, perhaps triple what they were last year, but that’s £200 at the upper end. An upper end GPU is still over £1000.
Proportionally it’s awful, but I don’t have money proportionally. I’ll have £200 before I have £1000.
That said, I’m running the gtx 900 series and 16GB DDR3 RAM happily because I don’t really play new games, so it’s not my fight.
I’m not sure what your point is here exactly, but for one, you’re underestimating the new prices for upper end DDR5 RAM severely; and secondly guess what GPUs come with a bunch of?
Depends what you mean by “upper end”, but already 64GB is running for over $600. And it’s almost certainly going to get worse. I wouldn’t be stunned if 32GB tops out at close to $1000 next year.
Yeah, the form factor, HDMI-CEC support, and integration with other valve hardware are what really sell it. But it’s not going to be underpriced for the specs, like consoles tend to be.
Bold of you to assume you can build an equivalent PC in terms of price/performance without knowing Steam Machine’s price. Good luck with RAM
Plus the economy of efficiencies, steam will fix issues that cause frustration on their known setup of hardware as it is known parts and a larger audience
Building your own pc is great, but the variation in performance makes for a mixed bag of experience playing the same game on different setups (different GPU, drivers etc etc)
This is the really compelling bit to me!
It’s like an invitation to enjoy all the perks of being a PC gamer, without all the hard work.
Something worth mentioning with RAM is that it’s still cheaper than a GPU. Prices are going to be double, perhaps triple what they were last year, but that’s £200 at the upper end. An upper end GPU is still over £1000.
Proportionally it’s awful, but I don’t have money proportionally. I’ll have £200 before I have £1000.
That said, I’m running the gtx 900 series and 16GB DDR3 RAM happily because I don’t really play new games, so it’s not my fight.
I’m not sure what your point is here exactly, but for one, you’re underestimating the new prices for upper end DDR5 RAM severely; and secondly guess what GPUs come with a bunch of?
cocaine and sex workers?
They should for the prices they’re charging
Depends what you mean by “upper end”, but already 64GB is running for over $600. And it’s almost certainly going to get worse. I wouldn’t be stunned if 32GB tops out at close to $1000 next year.
Valve already announced it will be priced similarly to a PC you build yourself.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/11/valves-steam-machine-looks-like-a-console-but-dont-expect-it-to-be-priced-like-one/
specs wise yes but you will not build a PC in the same form factor for anywhere near that price.
Yeah, the form factor, HDMI-CEC support, and integration with other valve hardware are what really sell it. But it’s not going to be underpriced for the specs, like consoles tend to be.
Good luck with RAM
RAM costs will likely affect both custom built machines and the steam machine equally.
There’s a lot of assumptions going around the internet as fact with valves new devices.