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[Shogmaster]

No shit. RAM-pocalypse and all that.

But IMO its not just the AI shitfest. Its the choice of hardware as well. If they aimed just 6 months later, they could be using the new Strix Halo SKU instead of garbage bin laptop parts from 2023.

Strix Halo? $2000 Steam Machine you nuts? Actually no. AMD saw pressures from Panther Lake coming, so they lined up cheaper Strix Halos for 2026: AI Max 388 (8x CPU, 40 CU GPU) and 392 (12x CPU, 40 CU GPU). Of the two, 388 would have been perfect for Steam Macine: Single CPU chiplet plus the I/O-GPU chiplet making it much cheaper than 3 chiplet AI Max+ 395.

Cost wise, think about these factors:

- Die size for 7540U (178mm²) and RX 7600M (204mm²) is bigger combined than AI Max 388 (379mm²).

- Dual chip and dual RAM type motherboard complexity vs single SoC and unified RAM pool (Valve engineers talked extensively about mobo layer complexity to accommodate GDDR6 on Gamers Nexus interview).

- Cooling needs are less costly (140W combined vs 120W). The cooling rig on Steam Machine is crazy with giant heat sink and crazy heat pipes for 2 separate chips. The overall box size could have been smaller to boot.

- PSU could shrink from 300W to 230W (GMKtec AI MAX 395 mini PC).

Even if all those factors even out with newer and more expensive SoC vs goodwill AMD laptop parts, the performance gains you get for similar price point is crazy:

- 7540U gets 2250 single thread and 8000 multi thread on Geekbench 6 while 388 gets 2500 and 14,000.

- RX 7600M gets 11,000 on Passmark GPU test while 8060S in 388 gets 18,000.

- 16GB DDR5 5400 gets you about 80ish GB/s, 8 GB of GDDR6 for 7600M gets you around 256GB/s, while 388 gets you 32GB of 256GB/s LPDDR5X.

- 24GB of RAM for Steam Machine makes Valve juggle 2 SO-DIMM slots and 2 GDDR6 chips soldered on mobo while you only have 4 soldered LPDDR5X 8000 chips on 388 mobo for 32GB.

If I was Valve, I would be kicking myself in the ass for rushing the Steam Machine by mere 6 months...

 

[Moses85]

Valve isn't stupid. This is a multi-million, even multi-billion-dollar company. They will have thought this through before bringing a console to market, securing components in time at competitive prices rather than buying overpriced parts five minutes before release.

 

[diffusionx]

if you care about all this nerd shit, the Steam Machine is not for you

 

[Kupfer]

Could also be A BIG chance if they price it right. Many people would potentially grab a Machine rather than a way too expensive, even mid-range, gaming-pc

 

[Loomy]

If the Steam Deck has shown anything, it's that Valve cares more about a reasonably priced, reliable, and efficient medium, than min/maxing performance. So I doubt they're kicking themselves. Not to mention the margin for the parts they're using is likely higher than the ones you outlined. I think they're quite content.

 

[Gen.Grievous]

They should easily be able to keep their machine affordable from the 30% of everything they rake in.

 

[ClanOfNone]

I wish they would hurry up and give us a price point/release date so I can decide to go Deck or Box.

 

[Magic Carpet]

No news or rumors anywhere about what the Steam Machine is up too. Submarine under the artic ice waiting to surface.

I really need to work on my AI prompts. I gave it a picture of the steam machine and what popped out of the ice looked goofy AF.

 

[Kupfer]

I wish they would hurry up and give us a price point/release date so I can decide to go Deck or Box.

I'm also stuck somewhere in limbo, just waiting for the prices. Frame, Machine, or an OLED Deck, or all of them?
Valve needs to get with the program and reveal the pricing already!

 

[Brakum]

If an electronic device was thinking about what they could do a few months from now versus now, then no device would have ever released.

 

[Moses85]

No news or rumors anywhere about what the Steam Machine is up too. Submarine under the artic ice waiting to surface.

I really need to work on my AI prompts. I gave it a picture of the steam machine and what popped out of the ice looked goofy AF.

They are experts in this… one Word.
Half Life 3

 

[Hudo]

Luckily for them, everyone else is fucked, too.

 

[violence]

I suppose they could take advantage of the situation and sell at a loss, but it doesn't sound like that's the plan.

 

[ReyBrujo]

Valve isn't stupid. This is a multi-million, even multi-billion-dollar company. They will have thought this through before bringing a console to market, securing components in time at competitive prices rather than buying overpriced parts five minutes before release.

They will most likely just (quietly) cancel it just as they did before.

 

[_oni_]

Wanted to edit but accidentally sent another comment below:

 

[_oni_]

AI Max 388 might be cheaper than 395, but I think it's still too expensive for the kind of product Valve is trying to sell

 

[MrCunningham]

I don't know if they really got unlucky here. Given how pricey it is to build a DIY machine right now, I think that prebuilts might actually be the cheaper option right now. Dell is in a really good position to pick up on sales, given that they can marginalize the costs of rising RAM and SDD prices. I think a Steam Machine might actually do pretty well in this climate.

 

[Shogmaster]

Valve isn't stupid. This is a multi-million, even multi-billion-dollar company. They will have thought this through before bringing a console to market, securing components in time at competitive prices rather than buying overpriced parts five minutes before release.

Strix Halo is over a year old brah. 5 minutes before release? And dont you think AMD told Valve about 388? Hell, they already knew about 385. Valve chose to launch 1st Q 2026 because OMG momentum or whatever. Now its gonna bite them hard in da ass.

 

[Shogmaster]

AI Max 388 might be cheaper than 395, but I think it's still too expensive for the kind of product Valve is trying to sell

You're gonna see a glut of 388 Mini PCs 2nd half of this year. Who wants to bet they're gonna be spitting distance of Steam Machine pricing? Keep in mind GMKtec sells 395 with 64GB of RAM for $1600ish right now on Amazon.

 

[Sentenza]

I mean, the timing is unfortunate, sure.
I just don't think "waiting few months" would have made any difference.

It's just a bad moment to buy hardware in general and it doesn't look like things are going to change anytime soon.

 

[Little Mac]

Day 1.

 

[Fess]

It'll be fine. If you want a highend PC device you ain't buying a Steam Machine. I'm thinking it's for those who use laptops and maybe some loud decade old PC, and for those who want something convenient and cheap and console-like in the living room.

 

[Moses85]

Strix Halo is over a year old brah. 5 minutes before release? And dont you think AMD told Valve about 388? Hell, they already knew about 385. Valve chose to launch 1st Q 2026 because OMG momentum or whatever. Now its gonna bite them hard in da ass.

I was just exaggerating with the five minutes. Of course it wasn't five minutes before release. Everything is planned down to the smallest detail, and it has been for years. They're not amateurs.

 

[The Cockatrice]

I think it's a gamble they can afford to take. If the doom-saying rumors are true and it's the beggining of the end for PC market, now is their chance to boost themselves especially with Windows 11 killing itself slowly as well. Problem is I dont know how Valve is going to handle the hardware production. I doubt they have better deals than AI companies. Guess we will see.

 

[Shogmaster]

I was just exaggerating with the five minutes. Of course it wasn't five minutes before release. Everything is planned down to the smallest detail, and it has been for years. They're not amateurs.

I didn't say they are dumb. I said they were very unlucky.

 

[adamsapple]

RIP dream of $299 GabeCube

 

[ricardo_sousa11]

They might have overestimated the market for a PC console if they always intended to price it at 1k.

This had to be released at 499 tops, ideally 399.

Having said this, I dont think they will suffer.

 

[crackajack]

Could also be A BIG chance if they price it right. Many people would potentially grab a Machine rather than a way too expensive, even mid-range, gaming-pc

Yup. High end is currently just for the most extreme PC Master Race people. Mid range or even low end can't be considered good value. If they have a console priced alternative, just like the PS5 is, PC might get an okay device for comparatively good value.
With Panther Lake also shaking things up, finally APUs might properly fill the gap traditional now overpriced cpu+gpu combos leave open and have a decent gpu element that isn't holding the cpu element much back.

 

[Moses85]

I didn't say they are dumb. I said they were very unlucky.

All are unlucky. If I had known this before I had upgraded to 64GB of RAM und bought a RTX 5090. We are all fucked.

 

[Moses85]

RIP dream of $299 GabeCube

299? If you really expected this, you are out of your mind.

 

[adamsapple]

299? If you really expected this, you are out of your mind.

I voted $599 in the GAF prediction thread but I don't think that shit is happening either.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Valve isn't stupid. This is a multi-million, even multi-billion-dollar company. They will have thought this through before bringing a console to market, securing components in time at competitive prices rather than buying overpriced parts five minutes before release.

One and one.

 

[Shogmaster]

All those arguing DYI PC vs Steam Machine, you are burying your head in the sand regarding other SFF/ Mini PCs.

Coming later this year are Panther Lake Mini PCs (Lenovo already announced their line at CES), and 2 chiplet Strix Halo mini PCs (i.e. 388 and 385). I predict $1000~1200 for ones with B390, B380, B370, AI Max 385, and AI Max 388, replacing ones with Arc 140V, 140T, and AI Max 370 in the same range. All of them will have 32GB RAM minimum.

 

[DeepEnigma]

We are less than 3 days away from January being over.

We are a bit past "just after the turn of the year" for more information.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

No shit. RAM-pocalypse and all that.

But IMO its not just the AI shitfest. Its the choice of hardware as well. If they aimed just 6 months later, they could be using the new Strix Halo SKU instead of garbage bin laptop parts from 2023.

Strix Halo? $2000 Steam Machine you nuts? Actually no. AMD saw pressures from Panther Lake coming, so they lined up cheaper Strix Halos for 2026: AI Max 388 (8x CPU, 40 CU GPU) and 392 (12x CPU, 40 CU GPU). Of the two, 388 would have been perfect for Steam Macine: Single CPU chiplet plus the I/O-GPU chiplet making it much cheaper than 3 chiplet AI Max+ 395.

Cost wise, think about these factors:

- Die size for 7540U (178mm²) and RX 7600M (204mm²) is bigger combined than AI Max 388 (379mm²).

- Dual chip and dual RAM type motherboard complexity vs single SoC and unified RAM pool (Valve engineers talked extensively about mobo layer complexity to accommodate GDDR6 on Gamers Nexus interview).

- Cooling needs are less costly (140W combined vs 120W). The cooling rig on Steam Machine is crazy with giant heat sink and crazy heat pipes for 2 separate chips. The overall box size could have been smaller to boot.

- PSU could shrink from 300W to 230W (GMKtec AI MAX 395 mini PC).

Even if all those factors even out with newer and more expensive SoC vs goodwill AMD laptop parts, the performance gains you get for similar price point is crazy:

- 7540U gets 2250 single thread and 8000 multi thread on Geekbench 6 while 388 gets 2500 and 14,000.

- RX 7600M gets 11,000 on Passmark GPU test while 8060S in 388 gets 18,000.

- 16GB DDR5 5400 gets you about 80ish GB/s, 8 GB of GDDR6 for 7600M gets you around 256GB/s, while 388 gets you 32GB of 256GB/s LPDDR5X.

- 24GB of RAM for Steam Machine makes Valve juggle 2 SO-DIMM slots and 2 GDDR6 chips soldered on mobo while you only have 4 soldered LPDDR5X 8000 chips on 388 mobo for 32GB.

If I was Valve, I would be kicking myself in the ass for rushing the Steam Machine by mere 6 months...

Valve isn't stupid. This is a multi-million, even multi-billion-dollar company. They will have thought this through before bringing a console to market, securing components in time at competitive prices rather than buying overpriced parts five minutes before release.

Yes, because multi-million dollar companies NEVER, EVER make any mistakes, correct?

 

[Black_Stride]

Valve isn't stupid. This is a multi-million, even multi-billion-dollar company. They will have thought this through before bringing a console to market, securing components in time at competitive prices rather than buying overpriced parts five minutes before release.

Microsoft is a multi trillion dollar company yet still did TV-E3 with the Xbox One.
They manged to fuck up Lionhead, FASA, WingNut, Ensemble, The Initiative and Dakota.......having a lot of money and clever people or whatever doesnt preclude them from making mistakes or fucking shit up.



But to your real point.
Yeah by now they should have already secured their first batch at whatever the price was when they made the deal for the DRAM.
Assuming thing sells well, there will be a price cut sooner rather than later for when they need to make a new order for DRAM.
OP saying they should have waited for the newer chips to be available is also a nonstarted and not really logical......thats like saying the PS5 should have waited for the Ryzen 5000 series before settling on Ryzen 3000 derived parts.......thats not how manufacturing works.....both Sony and Valve knew during negotiations about what was coming and at what price.....waiting for technology sometimes isnt worth it when you can get the product to market at a beyond passable level.

 

[Shogmaster]

Microsoft is a multi trillion dollar company yet still did TV-E3 with the Xbox One.
They manged to fuck up Lionhead, FASA, WingNut, Ensemble, The Initiative and Dakota.......having a lot of money and clever people or whatever doesnt preclude them from making mistakes or fucking shit up.



But to your real point.
Yeah by now they should have already secured their first batch at whatever the price was when they made the deal for the DRAM.
Assuming thing sells well, there will be a price cut sooner rather than later for when they need to make a new order for DRAM.
OP saying they should have waited for the newer chips to be available is also a nonstarted and not really logical......thats like saying the PS5 should have waited for the Ryzen 5000 series before settling on Ryzen 3000 derived parts.......thats not how manufacturing works.....both Sony and Valve knew during negotiations about what was coming and at what price.....waiting for technology sometimes isnt worth it when you can get the product to market at a beyond passable level.

388 was well within their timeline. Hell, 385 was a whole damn 18 months earlier! Since 8050S in 385 is a binned 8060S in 395, with the expected volume, AMD would have given them hell of a discount.

They simply rushed the launch. No one held a gun to their head to launch 1st Q 2026.

 

[evanft]

The Steam Machine is a dumb product and would have been overpriced in the best circumstances.

 

[Crayon]

I bet they got real good deals on those parts.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

They skimped a little too much on the specs for the price to begin with. It convinced me to just buy a dock for my steam deck and I'll probably buy the steam controller.