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The Almighty Buck Games Hardware

Valve Prices the Steam Machine At $1,049 (theverge.com) 92

Posted by BeauHD from the would-you-look-at-that dept.
Valve's new Steam Machine will launch June 29 starting at $1,049 and go up from there depending on the configuration. Although it costs considerably more than the PS5 ($599.99) and Xbox Series X ($649.99), "the value proposition for the Steam Machine is that it can play your library of Steam games you may have accumulated over years (or even decades), rather than just PlayStation games, and it's also a full Linux PC that you can customize to your heart's content," reports The Verge. "Valve also says that it's selling the Steam Machine for the cost of its components alone instead of subsidizing the price." From the report: You can now register your interest to buy a Steam Machine as part of a reservation system. To offer a fair playing field for people who want to buy one, Valve will randomize everyone in the queue on Thursday at 1PM ET. After that, anyone who registers their interest will be added to the end of the waitlist. The first emails giving people the opportunity to buy will go out on June 29th.

Valve will sell four configurations of the Steam Machine:
- A 512GB model for $1,049
- A 512GB model with a bundled Steam Controller for $1,128
- A 2TB model for $1,349
- A 2TB model with a bundled Steam Controller for $1,428

Valve Prices the Steam Machine At $1,049 More | Reply

Valve Prices the Steam Machine At $1,049

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  • to bad that ram / storage pricing made this like $200 more then it should be

  • - A 2TB model for $1,349 - A 2TB model with a bundled Steam Controller for $1,428

    The controller is separate and is $80????

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      That's how much PS5 controllers are as well. The Steam one looks better though.

      • Re:Expesnive controller (Score:4, Interesting)

        by organgtool ( 966989 ) on Monday June 22, 2026 @03:43PM (#66204628)
        And the Steam controller is purported to use TMR sensors. I just put TMR sensors in my PS5 controller (it was the fourth one to get stick drift) and I'm hoping that should solve the issue permanently. I haven't noticed a difference in gameplay, but they're supposed to last a long time rather than the terrible potentiometers in the OEM controller. And the process of replacing the sticks was a bit of a nightmare, so I appreciate when a company uses quality parts from the start.

      • ... wait, one is included with a PS5, then they are $75 purchased separately, $80 and $85 are for different colors.

        Steam controller is $100 purchased separately.

    • Re:Expesnive controller (Score:5, Informative)

      by Himmy32 ( 650060 ) on Monday June 22, 2026 @02:19PM (#66204482)

      For comparison the Switch 2 joycons are $99.99 [nintendo.com] and the PS5 DualSense is $84.99 [playstation.com].

      When you think about all that's jammed into them these days, Hall-effect/magnetic joysticks so there isn't drift issues, touchpads, a battery, gyros, haptic feedback, and the microcontroller. It's easier to understand why it costs a little more than a rectangle with a couple red buttons of yesteryear.

      And why force people to buy a controller if they are going to just use mouse / keyboard or are happy buying a cheapo corded controller?

      • PS5 DualSense is $84.99

        The fuck they are. They're $74.00, for your _second_ controller because one is already included with the base system.

        https://direct.playstation.com... [playstation.com]

        While steam controller is apparently $80 when bundled and $100 after. Why lie about this.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Himmy32 ( 650060 )

          First, why so angry?

          Second, I googled PS5 controller and posted the first link which was straight on the Playstation store. Didn't do any comparison shopping, just posted the first controller Sony tried to sell me.

    • Re:Expesnive controller (Score:5, Informative)

      by GoJays ( 1793832 ) on Monday June 22, 2026 @02:19PM (#66204484)
      Pick up an 8BitDo wireless controller [8bitdo.com] for $40 (CAD).

      • Yeah that's the winning move. I already use a pair of those (one on a Rasperry Pi that I use for Streaming and one on my actual gaming PC).

        The benefit of this mostly being a PC is that you aren't locked to just using the "official" hardware.

      • Hmm. Not so fast. Part of the value equasion with the steam deck and steam controllers is they get to exploit the control scheme mappings already in place for the steam decks. The big thing tthere is the twin touchpads that replace the mouse on the steamdecks (Though they also have touch sensitivity, but the screens on the decks are a little small to make that particularly accurate). I'd hold out for an alternative that better maps onto the control scheme.

      • Pick up an 8BitDo wireless controller [8bitdo.com] for $40 (CAD).

        That's great for console only games designed to be played with a controller only, but the Steam Controller's main selling feature is its touch pads, same with the SteamDeck. It allows a world of other input options.

        By all means if you feel like cheaping out $40 when spending $1000, go your hardest, but I don't recommend it.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by evslin ( 612024 )

      The controller is actually $100; it's only $80 if you buy it with the Steam Machine.

      That's about what Switch 2 controllers cost now.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by XaXXon ( 202882 )

      Yes. There's no reason to force people who don't want one to buy one.

    • The controller is separate and is $80????

      Yes, controllers generally cost $80 now. They used to cost $50, but there's this thing called inflation.

      • The controller is separate and is $80????

        Yes, controllers generally cost $80 now. They used to cost $50, but there's this thing called inflation.

        That was my immediate reaction too. $80 now would have been about $35 in the early 1990s, which is probably pretty close to what good third-party controllers cost back then.

    • I've got three PC game pads lying around that would just work out of the box with it. I play on PC but I play a lot of console ports. The steam controller is there for people who are going to play the kind of games best played with keyboard and mouse but they want to do it from their couch. It's hyperoptimized for that. So it makes sense not to include it in the base unit because a lot of people wouldn't actually use it myself included.

      Mind you at$1,100 I will not be buying a steam box. The price is com

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tarlus ( 1000874 )

      If the Deck is any indication (and I would consider it reasonably so) then the Steam Machine should be fully compatible with any Switch, Xbox or Playstation compatible controllers you might have laying around. It will even present their respective symbols and gives the option to "flip" the AB/XY layout between Nintendo or Xbox style.

    • The controller is separate and is $80????

      I'm not sure when the last time you bought a controller was, but the RRP for the bottom line xbox controller is $65 and it's fucking rubbish. Xbox Elite controllers start at $150. PS5 Dual sense controllers are around $80. Switch Pro controller is $70. High end Chinese imports such as FlyDigi Vader 4 Pro starts at $75 as well these days (though this one shits all over what Xbox or PS delivers).

      By the way that $80 is a bundle. It's not an extra controller for $80, it's a Steam Machine without controller at a

  • Some people asks why I hate generative AI (Score:4, Insightful)

    by doragasu ( 2717547 ) on Monday June 22, 2026 @02:17PM (#66204472)

    But I have nothing else to say.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I'm not defending AI, but it's interesting to compare the price to other machines released long before AI existed.

      Adjusted for inflation, the 2TB model is a bit cheaper than a Panasonic 3DO or a Neo Geo was at launch. But a lot more than any Playstation ever had been.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Jeremi ( 14640 )

        Adjusted for inflation, the 2TB model is a bit cheaper than a Panasonic 3DO or a Neo Geo was at launch.

        Additional context: at the time of their release, both the Neo Geo and the 3DO were considered to be unaffordable, except by the very rich.

      • Wikipedia says the introductory price of the 3DO is "equivalent to $1,586.45 in March 2026," so more than "a but."

        It's also not really apples to apples, since the Steam Machine is also a full desktop linux computer and has an existing library of thousands of available games.

  • Ryzen/AMD 16/8GB (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) * on Monday June 22, 2026 @02:21PM (#66204490) Homepage Journal

    Skipping the paywalled article I found these specs [thegamepost.com] and was underwhelmed.

    Sure it looks fine for playing mid games but my guess was something unique, unified RAM or a clever bus or something. It seems like a decently tuned Ryzen build. I do like the lower TDP on the CPU which should be doing less work.

    A nice form factor for those who don't build their own.

    Hopefully this is their entre into the PC world and v2 will have more innovations.

    What's most cool is the generation of teenagers who will have default Arch/KDE instead of default Windows.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by 0123456 ( 636235 )

      I would guess it's as much for the operating system, which will be guaranteed to run approved Steam games without users having to figure out solutions for themselves, and the consistent hardware configurations which game devs can tune their games for in future.

      • I play lots of Steam games on Fedora linux, when the official support both from Steam and from the game companies assumes Ubuntu, and I never have to "figure out solutions."

        It was always solvable problems and Steam put the work in to solve them in a way that works for the game devs.

        So I think you're right, but these days it's windows people who sometimes need to figure out solutions (because of proprietary drivers). So if windows gaming is frustrating, you can buy one of these to make it plug-and-play. And

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Consoles generally punch above their weight because games can be specifically optimized for them, compared to on PC where a compatibility is the most important thing. It will be interesting to see if developers optimize for this thing.

      • They sort of have been doing with the steam deck. I've had one for around six months and I'm consistently surprised at how well the thing runs. Not everything runs superbly, but those that dont I just run on lower settings, and my eyes are too shit to tell the difference half the time.

    • This is basically a 3-4 year old laptop, stuffed in a cube, being sold for 2x what its worth and 3x what it should be sold at subsidized.

      • This is basically a 3-4 year old laptop, stuffed in a cube, being sold for 2x what its worth and 3x what it should be sold at subsidized.

        If you can buy those components and build this for $500 these days, good luck to you. Also why is it Steam's job to subsidize your gaming habits?

        • They aren't subsidizing the buyer, they're subsidizing the game purchases they get a 30% cut of. (if they were smart, and subsidized it). It also boosts market share by lowering the barrier of entry.
      • More or less. Zen4 and RDNA3 came in 2022, and this uses custom versions of both. The Navi 33 GPU it uses was first released in 2023. Puts it 1-2 hardware generations ahead of the current generation of consoles, and a generation behind top of the line.

        It does not appear to be overpriced for the hardware. That's $5-600 for the CPU and GPU alone, easy (most of the hardware was probably purchased 1-2 years ago, not on Prime Day). Plus, a custom motherboard, case, RAM, PSU and storage. It's not a bad

    • I think the main innovation is proton. I have several buddies that have switched to Linux and it's just fine for them. Several of them switched over because Windows 11 was so effing slow and they just installed Linux and installed steam and stalled their games and played them and didn't think of anything else. It all just worked.

      It looks like epic is looking for somebody to Port their anti-cheat to linux. Honestly if it wasn't for all this AI bullshit destroying our entire civilization and the complete

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Jeremi ( 14640 )

        the complete lack of any Anti-Trust regulation preventing anyone from making RAM and storage except the existing players

        I don't think it's monopoly issues holding anyone back, so much as the fact that setting up a viable fab for RAM or storage takes billions of dollars and a number of years, and everyone is expecting the AI bubble to burst before then anyway.

        e.g. why invest $$$ to build a new manufacturing facility, when by the time it comes online be competing with auctioned-off near-new equipment from all the belly-up data centers that didn't make it?

        • I agree. The existing players themselves would increase capacity in hope of outcompeting one another if they thought this would last.

          • Not when you're competitors could just cut their prices in half, still make enough money to be doing pretty damn well and wait for you to go out of business after you spent the money building out the fabs.

            Just like how if you want competition in sports you need a referee if you want competition in business you need the government refereeing everything. We spent 50 years firing the ref. Why the hell are we all surprised that the game is rigged?
          • Increase capacity like they're currently doing?
        • Several of the companies that are in a position to manufacture RAM have let it slip that they are holding off because of the risk that the big players would just lower their prices.

          Every single time we have had a huge spike in the cost of electronics in my life after a period of time it has come out that the company's involved were colluding. Whether it was the chip shortages in the '80s or the flat panel prices in the 2000s it always turned out to be collusion. And we always gave them a tiny tiny slap

        • the complete lack of any Anti-Trust regulation preventing anyone from making RAM and storage except the existing players

          I don't think it's monopoly issues holding anyone back, so much as the fact that setting up a viable fab for RAM or storage takes billions of dollars and a number of years, and everyone is expecting the AI bubble to burst before then anyway.

          e.g. why invest $$$ to build a new manufacturing facility, when by the time it comes online be competing with auctioned-off near-new equipment from all the belly-up data centers that didn't make it?

          The anti-trust, the cost, or the market cycle timing are all top issues - but there’s also the rent seeking.

          Right now the main obstacle to a massive planned new Micron memory module plant in Syracuse NY is a California non-profit suing to stop construction. Its lawsuits demand further environmental review and a guarantee of “equitable hiring practices”.

          The lawsuits strategically started flying this January just as ground was broken, after years of preparation and all NY permits were alrea

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by evanh ( 627108 )

      It's got 8GB dedicated VRAM. So definitely not unified RAM. Claimed 6x speed of GPU on the Steam Deck. Of course, with only 8GB, one can't go stupid with ultra texture settings though.

    • Hopefully this is their entre into the PC world and v2 will have more innovations.

      No thanks. We shouldn't lock custom innovations to specific products. Tuning and optimising is one thing. But innovations should be available to PC builders too. Incidentally this thing has a purpose. You can always build better for less (assuming you can actually buy RAM right now), but the competition here isn't our high end gaming rigs or even our budget home built rigs. The competition is store bought pre-built gaming rigs, and there the Steam Machine is pretty damn competitive.

  • An investment really (Score:5, Funny)

    by CEC-P ( 10248912 ) on Monday June 22, 2026 @02:32PM (#66204508)
    I heard that every single one comes with a signed statement from Sam Altman stating that it is 100% guaranteed to go up in price by 2029 or your money back!

  • Official SteamOS (Score:4, Interesting)

    by HnT ( 306652 ) on Monday June 22, 2026 @02:34PM (#66204510)

    I hope the Steam Machines do well, but even more so I hope they will make an official release of SteamOS on a variety of supported PC hardware next!

    Proton is already a fantastic way for gaming on Linux, having that wrapped into an official SteamOS would be even greater!

    • There is no value to running SteamOS on your PC over some other distribution except simplicity. If you actually want to do non-game things with it you'll wind up installing enough additional packages to erase the benefit. If you want simplicity, you'll also buy a steam machine, so you don't have to figure out the PC.

      • My Ubuntu PC use is 90% games, 8% web browser, and 2% else. Most PC users never need anything but a browser. I was hoping to install SteamOS on it when I built it, but that wasn't an option. Instead ubuntu tried to install steam as a snap for some stupid reason, which screwed up my disk layout (apparently snaps are all sandboxed, cool, but those sandboxes must go into your home directory? Because obviously nobody would ever have multiple users with small homes and a large shared partition for big things lik

        • For Steam's portability to work well though you probably do want it to use either snap or flatpak. There's too many version combinations otherwise, even if you're on a supported Ubuntu version.

          I don't like those sandboxes for most applications, but for Steam where you're using it to run lots of other 3rd party software it makes complete sense. You could probably run it on anything, on an old slackware even, if you're using a sandboxed install.

          I use the flatpak and yeah, it's a little squirrely with my drive

      • There is no value to running SteamOS on your PC over some other distribution except simplicity.

        You'd think that if you've never compared a gaming optimised Linux build to other normal distributions. There's a reason people are going out of their way to run SteamOS builds on their PCs already, or shoehorning the SteamOS optimisations into Bazzlite linux.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Narcocide ( 102829 )

      Your wish has been granted:

      If you are interested in installing SteamOS on your device and providing feedback, you can follow the instructions here [steampowered.com].

      (Link copy+pasted from here [steampowered.com].)

      • I know HOW to do it, I specifically said I want it to be fully, officially supported. THAT would be the crucial aspect and would make it a potential alternative for many people.
        Im happy to guide much less tech savvy family either to a Mac or a ChromeOS device, so having SteamOS would be a great additional option and would further make Linux a great desktop choice for more people.

    • I hope they will make an official release of SteamOS on a variety of supported PC hardware next!

      They did. It was released last week. 3.8.10 is runnable on any hardware.

  • I guess they have to do this. But it will slow down adoption. You can probably get a Linux-capable and about as powerful system for a fraction of that from the Win11 hardware apocalypse...

    • Yes. if you get an i5-8500 SFF and put an RX6600 in it you'll effectively have this.
      • You're saying an 8th gen i5 and an RX6600 is going to be the same as a Ryzen 5 7600 and what's basically a RX7600m?
        • Yes. If not better. Move up to RX7600 or i5-9500T for a few bucks, or 10500T if you want HT (doesn't benefit games much, especially in the 60hz target of this thing)
          • So again, you're saying now that a 9th gen i5 at 3.7Ghz is going to outperform a Ryzen 5 7600 at 4.8? It won't. The Ryzen is more than 3x faster. And yes, more than twice as fast as the 10500T. Now, this CPU isn't a pure Ryzen 5. As I recall it's basically a 7400 running at the same clock rate as the 7600. A stock 7400 isn't quite 3x as fast as the 9500T, more like 2.7x. Still beats the Intels you've mentioned, and since this runs at 7600's clocks, just forget about it.

            Oh, I'm pulling these number

  • hmm (Score:2)

    by nomadic ( 141991 )

    I'm a busy man. I'm also a lazy man. Could someone tell me if this is cheaper or more expensive than a desktop gaming PC with the same stats?

    • I priced out a similar build for over $1,000 today. I probably could have saved some money by bargain hunting and waiting. That's the sad state of PC parts due to the current situation. Unfortunately the $1049 price is a deal today.
      • Geez, for a gaming computer 10 years ago, this would be a bargain.
        • The issue is the price for the performance and age of hardware. This hardware was much cheaper a few years ago as the CPU and GPU is many years old now. Zen4 was first launched in 2022 and RDNA3 in 2020. Right now multiple independent tests have the PS5 launched in 2020 as beating or equal to the Steam Machine that is priced at $599.Yes there has been more time to optimize PS5 games so maybe Steam Machine performance will improve over time.
    • If they're selling it at cost like they claim, and we can safely assume their cost is lower than retail, then no. You could not.

    • It's probably about the same, but with this one you get a gaming PC with official support for the games themselves and for gaming itself, designed to be plug and play and simple to set up, official game compatibility information, and specifically designed accessories.

      For the lazy person, or even for the average person who isn't technically inclined or has time to troubleshoot: Having a gaming PC with the maker actively trying to ensure compatibility and ease of use, this sounds like a winner. No guessing at

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by nomadic ( 141991 )

        Good observations, though I am Gen X so after a childhood of editing config.sys to get retail games to run on the PC I have an incredibly high tolerance for putting up with that nonsense.

  • the Steam Machine for the cost of its components alone instead of subsidizing the price." $300 more for 1TB more SSD? Sounds like more than just component cost.

    • the Steam Machine for the cost of its components alone instead of subsidizing the price." $300 more for 1TB more SSD? Sounds like more than just component cost.

      It depends on what brand/model of SSD. Looking at Microcenter, I see some 512 GB SSDs for around $100 and some higher-end 2 TB SSDs for $350-400.

    • $300 more for 1TB more SSD?

      It's $300 for 1.5TB more. Without part numbers we can't really tell it that is slightly more than component cost or not. A Gen4 or Gen5 NVMe SSD is around $300 though. Also performance and reliability is better if the SSD has a small RAM cache which adds to the cost.

  • I have a Steam Link for sale. Good price. LMK.

  • DOA (Score:2)

    by dnaumov ( 453672 )

    Weaker than a 5 year old base model PS5. Costs several hundred more. GG.

    • Weaker? Zen 2 at 3.5ghz vs Zen 4 at 4.8ghz. RDNA 2 GPU pushing 10 teraflops, vs RDNA 3 pushing 17.

      Weaker how?

  • Producing hardware when you already have a monopoly on software distribution is a a monopolist d-move.

    • Good thing they are nowhere near having a monopoly then

    • Producing hardware when you already have a monopoly on software distribution is a a monopolist d-move.

      [sarcasm]Yes because Steam 100% controls all the software that they sell. No one else sells this software at all like GOG, Epic, Microsoft, every publisher themselves, etc. Also no one makes PC hardware that plays games. No one at all.[/sarcasm]

    • I dont think they are in danger of leveraging that monopoly with those prices and crap specs

  • The Atari VCS was $199 on launch in 1977, which is $1139 in 2026 dollars. By no means does this excuse the collusion and price gouging that is going on with PC component pricing, though.

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