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This is the weirdest looking humidifier I have ever seen.
Companion Cube 😍
The only thing the old Steam Machines were missing a decade ago was good Linux compatibility via Proton, but now we’ve got that! I have literally never been more excited for a new “console.” Goodbye, Steam Deck.
Goodbye, Steam Deck.
Nah, just stream from the Steam Machine to your Steam Deck.
I, for one, can’t wait for the limited edition companion cube edition to get released exactly 30 days after I have my steam machine delivered.
Thank you for your sacrifice. The same thing happens to me at my bus stop whenever I open my umbrella on a rainy day. The bus arrives as soon as I open it.
Goodbye to Steam Deck for this? Both, both is good.
I’m buying this not just for TV play, but hopefully also streaming to SD as a performance upgrade (without handing a ton of money annually to GeForce for laggy inputs), as someone who hasn’t had a desktop to do that in a long while. At that point, Steam Deck is a GabeCube accessory turning it into a Switch.
That sounds like the perfect setup! If the Steam Deck were smaller, that’s exactly what I’d do too.
After finally getting a pay raise and trying Switch 2, the size is pretty subjective. I appreciate SD’s bigger size giving not only a better controller grip, but also actually good speakers.
It’s totally a personal preference thing, but the Deck really deserves the love it’s gotten. The screen and speakers are amazing, which is rare for handhelds. I have high hopes for the AYN Thor as an eventual successor to my 3DS.
Ah, I should keep an eye on that. I love Steam Deck but the 3DS is the best console I’ve ever had, and was hoping some replacements would be available in 20 years when it breaks and used are hard to find.
I’m excited to see what it can do at idle power draw along with the price. This can end up being a really good miniPC if it’s priced as competitively as the Deck was when that launched
I’m a bit concerned about the vram situation. 8Gb is not a lot nowadays, particularly if you start adding stuff like ai framegen and stuff which these types of machines tend to need further down the line.
An extra 8gb wouldn’t have killed the profit margins.
Would it be safe to assume their processor/gpu magic that brought us the deck has advanced enough since then to compensate?
I’m no hardware guru, but wouldn’t it be possible to use a swap file or other methods to simulate extra ram if optimized and efficient enough?
As a deck owner, it’s not that powerful, you’re never going to drive it at full settings on most modern games, so the size of the vram does not matter all that much.
Also, the GPU already does the cache work itself if the vram is full anyway, and GDDR is much faster than regular DDR, which is why you see stuttering on 8gb GPUs when texture resolution is pushing the limits.
With the spot price if GDDR6 modules it’s frankly disappointing to only see 8gb.
Plus, add in the fact that FSR/DLSS models take up valuable vram size to work for framegen and stuff, it reduces even more the availability for actual data.
An extra 8gb wouldn’t have killed the profit margins.
I see you haven’t checked ram prices lately…
Bulk pricings has increased sure, but not to the extent consumer price did. Capitalism, ho!
Given that they’d have locked in the supply at least half a year ago, though, it would be funny (though unrealistic) to find out they contributed to the price hike 😂
It seems to just be a 7600m laptop GPU which comes with 8Gb. I don’t think this is a custom chip like SONY uses but, just off the shelf stuff AMD sold for a discount.
The GabeCube looks awesome! The GabeGoggles probably aren’t riddled with spyware. The controller fucks so hard it could be an aphrodisiac. Massive win for valve today.
Valve just casually changing the entire PC gaming landscape on a Wednesday…
They used to do it with their games, now it’s with their hardware
Pretty exciting announcement! I was thinking about building a new rig and retiring my current machine with a 3080 to the TV. This might change that.
What I’m more curious about is how are the folks at Microsoft reacting to this news, since it sounds like the next Xbox was essentially going to be a PC. With Valve doing it first and the fact that the Steam store is so huge, I’m imagining this makes them a bit nervous.
Never buying Microsoft after the recall bullshit. Also not paying monthly subscription to enable Internet on my device
don’t wait for this, get or build a normal pc that you can change parts anytime you want, you will not regret it.
If I were 20 years older, I’d be happy to spec out a mini-ITX build. But with a 3 year old running my life, my time is limited and if the price of this is right, it might make more sense for where my current life is at.
I’ve got 3 under 10 and it’s brutal trying to find time for hobbies. I paid someone to repaste my GPU and that felt weird as hell
I completely understand where you’re coming from, no shame in that game!
if you have time to play videogames on one of these you also have the time to build your own pc. You don’t have to anyway, you can pay someone to build it for you, the price would be about the same.
This is not only about gaming. If this low consume high performance sweety is actually affordable, 2026 could actually become the biggest year ever for Linux users. SteamOS is based on Arch Linux, and considering the power of the machine, editing should be more than doable. Now, i’m not too sure about the current compatibility/emulation of windows native software on linux, but with a substantial increase in desktop users, there could be some serious breakthrough, just like we already had with Proton for the games.
Litetally two days ago, I said that Proton is the most important project in the history of linux, in terms of getting linux to a mass adoption / user base.
Got mostly downvotes.
Then this happens.
Another thing I’vr been saying for a while:
Kernel Anti Cheat profileration in huge AAA games has the effect of stymying wider linux adoption.
It will be MSFT’s last trump card, now that they’re basically just a mega publisher, in terms of video games.
The relevant bit is not that SteamOS is based on Arch, but that it is running KDE Plasma desktop.
with a substantial increase in desktop users there could be some serious breakthrough like we already had with Proton
Most desktop users are not going to turn developers.
I don’t think that’s what they mean. They mean it’ll show these companies that there’s a market and money to be made by releasing Linux versions of their software.
Both really.
The bearded madman did it! He really nailed it!
Removed by mod
This thing has pretty interesting hardware:
The chip almost looks like a cut down AMD Ryzen AI Max 385, but with fewer CPU cores and GPU CUs, but the GPU gets its own dedicated VRAM, rather than sharing it, like it does in something like a Framework Desktop.
It also seems like it gets a decent amount of power, so likely at higher clock speeds, performance should be pretty good for not that much money. If this is supposed to be a console then it can’t be much more than a PS5 at $550 or PS5 Pro at $750.
Moore’s Law is Dead is estimating a $425 cost to produce, sale price between $450 to $600, depending on how hard they want to fuck Microsoft out of gaming.
I suspect the CPU is probably some Ryzen 7640u and the GPU is a 7600m equivalent.
This doesn’t seem to be an APU
I was going to build a gaming pc for the first time in years on Black Friday
This news put it on hold immediately. I’ll just get the Steam Machine instead, it’s exactly what I’ve wished for: a more powerful Steam Deck without a screen or controller built in.
AND it’ll run 4k games so I don’t need to downscale to my monitor.
I’m perfectly fine with it being FSR and only 60fps, as 99% of the stuff I play are single player games anyway.
With 8GB of VRAM, 4K gaming will suffer some.
4k FSR, so it’s not rendered at 4k, but upscaled on the GPU
Which I’m perfectly fine with
Then it’s not actually running games at 4K, now, is it?
Nope, and I’m perfectly fine with it. It’s still better than 1080p
Is it an APU, or is it a “desktop” CPU and GPU on one board? CPU specs are close to the 7600x but downlocked. And with dedicated vram I’d assume the GPU is it’s own separate thing.
GPU looks like it’s probably a tweaked RX 7400 based on the specs.
Is it an APU, or is it a “desktop” CPU and GPU on one board?
2 separate chips, both soldered to the board
This seems to blur the lines between desktop and mobile APU’s, but I would bet that’s it’s closer to a higher clocked mobile chip, than it is to desktop. The only reason I think this is the case is due to the similarity spec wise with the Max 385, and that it’s semi-custom.
If it was just a 7600x CPU + 7600 GPU I think they would have just said so. It could be separate CPU+GPU, but I think it might be possible that it is built more like a SOC, where the GPU is just given its own dedicated VRAM.
Looking at the hardware of say a PS5, it has 16 GB of GDRR6, the same as the Steam Machine’s VRAM.
If everything is soldered anyway, there is no reason to have separate chips for CPU+GPU, especially if that hardware already exists like the AMD Ryzen AI Max line.
If everything is soldered anyway, there is no reason to have separate chips for CPU+GPU, especially if that hardware already exists like the AMD Ryzen AI Max line.
Cost is a factor because just as with Steam Deck the two SKUs will only differ in storage space, not in performance. Using last gen RDNA3 is 100% a cost driven choice.
There was the story recently that AMD demanded a very high minimum order (10 million or so?) for semi-custom versions of the lasest Ryzen and RDNA iterations for some Xbox handheld which is unlikely that handheld would sell.
By going this route, Valve avoided this. Surely there is spare manufacturing capacity for RDNA3 by now.
To keep the package small, they might still have laptop type discreet GPU, just integrated on the same board.
I would have thought unified memory would pay off, otherwise you spend your time shuffling stuff between system memory and vram. Isn’t the deck unified memory?
What you lose shuffling between CPU and GPU you gain by not having your GPU and CPU sharing the same bandwidth.
Apple gets away with it by having an ungodly massive memory bus. I don’t think valve is getting a 512 bit memory bus on what’s probably a RX 7400/Ryzen 7600 tier CPU. Both of those combined would be like half that?
Apple gets away with it by having an ungodly massive memory bus.
It’s kind of impressive how effective Apple’s marketing team was towards developers when they started that push towards ARM PCs. A lot of people can remember that having shared memory benefits from not having to copy memory between the CPU and GPU, but barely any of them remember that the only reason it’s feasible is because Apple gave their devices insanely high memory bandwidth.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, look no further than the original Nintendo Switch. With an incredible 64-bit memory bus and 1600MHz memory clock speed, it was already being bottlenecked by its memory bandwidth 2 years into its lifespan. And that’s counting first/second-party titles like the Link’s Awakening remaster, not even shitty ports of games made for other consoles.
I’m wondering how much horsepower this stationary device have compared to a PS5 or Series X.
I’m not the best at gauging this but it seems it’s meant to be carried around and plugged into a 4K TV and operate okay at 60fps for most games that multiple people would play while in the same room. The specs seem to align with that. What would the GPU be comparable to? A 6700 (non XT)?
GamersNexus estimates a 7600.
Retro Game Corps was estimating $500-$600 and they are defintely out to lunch with that
Depends on tariffs.
You call pretty interesting hardware what looks like non-replaceable parts?
I sort of gave up on upgrading my under TV Steam machine so this actually looks like a nice way back in.
This will no doubt be good for linux pc gaming. On the steamdeck Valve contributed greatly to the opensource proton project.
Linux PC gaming is already here. The only games that don’t work with Proton are if the developers specifically disable support for Linux (via intrusive anti cheat).
I’m still surprised that there’s no USB c on the front. I’ve felt this way for 3 hours now since I first saw the picture.
Agreed, I wonder if this has to do with pricing? I imagine they can save on PCI lanes this way, and can keep the cost of components down.
And only HDMI 2.0, not 2.1. At least it has DisplayPort.
@dangrousperson @WhatGodIsMadeOf The hardware is apparently capable of HDMI 2.1, but the HDMI Forum doesn’t allow open source to have HDMI 2.1 drivers.
If you hook this up to a monitor you can use DisplayPort with the full features. I wish TVs had DisplayPort.
🎶 They’re here! They’re here! They’re fina-lully here! There’s no more time for expectat–
Is Steam OS available for public use, or only Steam devices?
How much jank are you willing to deal with?
Minimal jank
Use Bazzite, or ChimeraOS if you do’nt care about desktop mode
It is available for public use. https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steamoslandingpage?l=english
It is also arch linux based
based af
They do not list support for desktops, only Steam Deck and some other handheld devices.
Those are the only officially supported devices. They do also provide instructions on how to install SteamOS on other devices, and even encourage feedback on the experience.
They provide the instructions, but last time I checked they took down the install files. Im hoping they come back because i would love to give it a try on my system.
Edit: Just rechecked and it looks like everything is there including files. I know what im doing tonight!
Love to see it! Been very excited about the rumors of the steam machine! Probably won’t get one for a while cuz money, but I’ll probably pick up a steam controller!
