Valve Steam Machine review: Great idea, poor execution
The Steam Machine is too expensive and underpowered compared to current consoles, with no upgrade path, making it a hard sell at $1,049.
Engadget has published a review of the Valve Steam Machine, scoring it 6.5 out of 10. The reviewer criticizes the device's high price and underwhelming performance, calling it too expensive and underpowered compared to modern consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X, or even a gaming PC from 2021.
The Steam Machine is priced at $1,049 ($1,349 for the 2TB model) and uses semi-custom AMD hardware: a Zen 4 CPU with six cores, an RDNA3 GPU with 28 compute units, 16GB of RAM, and 8GB of VRAM. It runs SteamOS but can also boot Windows. In benchmarks, the system struggled with demanding titles. Black Myth: Wukong averaged just 43 fps at native 1080p high settings, and ray tracing was not feasible. Cyberpunk 2077 ran below 60 fps at 1080p ultra, requiring upscaling to lock at 60 fps.
On the positive side, the machine is whisper-quiet even under load. Post-launch updates improved Wi-Fi speeds from 180 Mbps to a steady 1 Gbps. The Steam Controller remains a solid gamepad, and the software is easy to use. The machine handles indie games and less demanding titles effortlessly, but the reviewer questions the target audience. With no upgrade path and hardware already lagging behind, the Steam Machine may become obsolete quickly.
The review concludes that the Steam Machine is not worth its price, especially given current economic conditions and the looming next generation of consoles. While the concept of a living-room PC is appealing, the execution falls short.
