Booted up E33 and it does pull stable 30 now, but last time I was fighting a boss with pretty cinematic attacks. I didn’t have tearing on though and I’m still not sure if resolution needs to be set to low manually for upscaling, I did it now to be sure like someone suggested. Maybe it was also the constant speeding up and slowing down of attacks that messed with perception. A few UI bugs happen still. Don’t worry, the difficulty is fine.

Reading all this and looking up Steam Boot ups does make me consider my own setup, true, but I’d just at most end up with a stronger and upgradable (and probably pricier) Steam Machine anyway. And if I only upgrade every 4-5 years or so, like I have up to this point, I might be starting from scratch anyways. (Had a gaming laptop around 2010, then budget laptop at 2020 that couldn’t play PS4 games well anyway, then Steam Deck at around 2022)

The breaking point was Expedition 33, which even with optimization mods I can’t get to stable 30fps in combat, which breaks at least one skill and seems to mess with parries. PS4 games at 60fps would be nice too though, Elden Ring is ~50 at ok settings.

My friend’s problem was picking out parts, which was harder for him since besides playing STALKER 2 he wanted to potentially render videos in the future. The friends we asked also gave split opinions for things like futureproofing - apparently some Ram setups are harder to upgrade than others, or are related to picking PUs? Same with power supply, etc.

Also, I have a pretty tiny room. I have a TV for consoles that’s there to stay, and shelves 13x13x13 inches below it the SM would fit in, while a desktop would have to be SFF (which, I only learned about now) or a small tower but I’m not sure about ventilation then. Without SteamOS it seems I’d need a keyboard/mouse out for every boot too. The desk always has a budget laptop for work on it, so among other crap there’s little space for a desktop. No space below/besides desk either.

I’m also not knowledgable about specs, but I figured when, say, Borderlands 4 is not playable at 4K 60fps, then I could just deal with Full HD 30-40fps, which would be enough. Or if I decide to stream to Deck, not even Full HD.

Edit: The closest solution is PS5 Pro or PS6 when it comes out (and they fit on shelf, never checked size) but, no Steam library then. Or mods, emulation. All in all, it seems I’m in an extremely specific situation where buying SM seems optimal.

I was going to get a PS5 since Steam Deck is finally running out of steam for games I actually care about. (And after the hassle a friend building his PC had, desktops scare me)

But then Valve announced Gabecube anyway, so the only reason I’d want one is for maybe reselling physical games after beating them. And I already have a Switch 2 to do that with.

The thing is that since Steam Deck’s release, a lot of competitors made handhelds, and it’s mostly keeping up because of SteamOS. It sounds to me like Valve just needs the Steam Machine to once again offer software, convenience etc. above everyone else in the couch gaming market this is aiming for.

Then the only upgrade most users would want is from Valve themselves, but the same goes for Steam Deck - they said they might make a new one with a big enough generational leap, and then the old SD’s become outdated too. We had emulation machines before Steam Deck - being able to play last gen games on it was still a big appeal.

Also, is constantly upgrading PCs better, when instead of selling off/scrapping the PUs and other parts every 5-10 years, you sell off/scrap PUs annually? I don’t think people doing that are the target audience here anyway. I think some patient gamers would buy a used GabeCube 15 years from now for a low price.

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.

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.

Well I know that, but isn’t that good in the context of waste (OP’s problem)? Since PS6 hasn’t been released yet, it’s seems the PS5-like specs here will last a decade and be future proof enough. PS4 is almost 13 years old and still has games coming out. The Switch 2 is PS4 level and it seems to be successful for now, and Steam Deck was aiming for that benchmark too.

(You can tell I’m a tech idiot by how I measure power in Playstations)

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.

I’m not a hardware guy, how is this different from the Steam Deck? Is the hardware here used of crappy quality by comparison? I thought most people liked the Deck (and everyone in here, I thought this is general Linux for a second), I sure do and will likely use it for a decade.

I prefer GabeCube