Valve's Steam Machine is now available for purchase and that is the extent of the good news here. Starting today, there are four different configurations to choose from with the cheapest coming in at an eye watering $1,049.
That $1,049 will get you a Steam Machine with just 512GB of internal storage and no controller. If you want that same 512GB model with a controller, the price goes up to $1,128.
Besides the 512GB options, Valve is also offering 2TB options. The 2TB Steam Machine without a controller is $1,349. With a controller that price goes up to $1,428. Both of the Steam Machine 2TB options do come with two additional faceplates: Red Fabric and Solid Walnut. Perhaps those added faceplates will make the sting of those prices a little more palatable.
Valve says that they will begin shipping the Steam Machine directly in the United States, Canada, UK, EU, and Australia. Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong distributions will be available through KOMODO.
The asking price for the Steam Machine may not sting as much if the internal hardware was worth the asking price. Each Steam Machine will include:
Steam Machine Specs
- CPU: Semi-custom AMD Zen 4
- 6 cores / 12 threads
- Up to 4.8 GHz, 30W TDP
- GPU: Semi-custom AMD RDNA3
- 2.45GHz max sustained clock, 110W TDP
- Memory: 16GB DDR5 + 8GB GDDR6 VRAM
- Add-on slot: MicroSD card slot
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, Gigabit ethernet, Integrated 2.4 GHz Steam Controller wireless adapter
- IO: DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0
- USB: 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 (front), 2x USB-A 2.0 (rear), 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (rear)
- Size and Weight
- 152 mm (tall; 148 mm without feet) x 162.4 mm (deep) x 156 mm (wide)
- 2.6 kg
- OS: SteamOS 3 (Arch-based)
- KDE Plasma desktop
- LED: 17 individually addressable RGBB LEDs for system status and customizability
To compare, the Ryzen 5 7600 desktop CPU scores about 2,750 on single-core performance and about 12,000 on multi-core performance. The Ryzen 5 7600 was released in January 2023. As another point of comparison, the CPU in my desktop is the now six-year old Ryzen 9 5900X. On Geekbench, the 5900X scores a 2,198 for single-core and 11,779 for multi-core. Of course it's worth noting that the 5900X is 12-cores / 24-threads while the Steam Machine CPU is just 6-cores / 12-threads.
If the price to performance doesn't put you off too much, you can attempt to reserve a Steam Machine today. I say "attempt" because Valve is doing a randomized reservation process for Steam Machine sales. Interested buyers have until June 25 at 10 AM PT to sign up for the reservation system. At that time, Valve will do a one-time randomization to determine reservation order. Based on this random order, you will get an email on the 25th that says you've been added to the reservation queue and that a Steam Machine is reserved in your name or that you've been added to the waitlist and they'll let you know later when more supply is made available.
