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[LectureMaster]

How to Build a PC Equivalent to the Steam Machine - IGN

Valve says the Steam Machine will cost as much as an equivalent PC, but what does that mean?

www.ign.com

---

Component	Product Name	Price (USD)
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 7600	$184.00
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-L9x65 chromax.Black	$79.87
GPU	Powercolor Fighter Radeon RX 7600	$239.99
RAM	Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 5600 (16GB)	$177.99
Storage	Samsung 990 Evo Plus	$104.99
Motherboard	MSI MPG B650I Edge WiFi	$169.99
Power Supply	Cooler Master V750 SFX Gold	$139.99
Case	Cooler Master MasterBox N200	$59.99
TOTAL		**~$1,156.00**

Is It Worth It?

It's so hard to recommend anyone go out and buy a bunch of PC components right now, thanks in large part to RAM prices. I've seen RAM get expensive in the past, but not to the point where a basic 16GB kit costs almost as much as a graphics card. My advice would be to wait until Valve reveals the pricing for the Steam Machine and then make a judgement call. Because if Valve's console comes in under $700-800, then it's going to be a much better deal than building a PC with these specs right now.

All of these parts together, assuming you're going to be installing SteamOS or Bazzite, will come to $1,156 total at the time of writing. You can save a bit by going for a standard ATX build, but thanks in large part to the high RAM prices right now, you're still looking at a total build cost of $959.

 

[SNG32]

How to Build a PC Equivalent to the Steam Machine - IGN

Valve says the Steam Machine will cost as much as an equivalent PC, but what does that mean?

www.ign.com

---

Component	Product Name	Price (USD)
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 7600	$184.00
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-L9x65 chromax.Black	$79.87
GPU	Powercolor Fighter Radeon RX 7600	$239.99
RAM	Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 5600 (16GB)	$177.99
Storage	Samsung 990 Evo Plus	$104.99
Motherboard	MSI MPG B650I Edge WiFi	$169.99
Power Supply	Cooler Master V750 SFX Gold	$139.99
Case	Cooler Master MasterBox N200	$59.99
TOTAL		**~$1,156.00**

Is It Worth It?

It's so hard to recommend anyone go out and buy a bunch of PC components right now, thanks in large part to RAM prices. I've seen RAM get expensive in the past, but not to the point where a basic 16GB kit costs almost as much as a graphics card. My advice would be to wait until Valve reveals the pricing for the Steam Machine and then make a judgement call. Because if Valve's console comes in under $700-800, then it's going to be a much better deal than building a PC with these specs right now.

All of these parts together, assuming you're going to be installing SteamOS or Bazzite, will come to $1,156 total at the time of writing. You can save a bit by going for a standard ATX build, but thanks in large part to the high RAM prices right now, you're still looking at a total build cost of $959.

And people think this is going to be 700 dollars especially when valve said they aren't subsidizing it. Even though this will be doa they got money to burn.

 

[Zathalus]

I can buy a PC more powerful than the Steam Machine for €699 right now. Has a 4060 in it so has DLSS as well.

 

[DenchDeckard]

The ram situation is going to hamper PC growth next year for sure. It's a poor situation.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

No one uses AMD. The should offer and Nvidia variant

 

[Killer8]

I feel like building your own PC to a similar or better spec is just kind of missing the point of the device. Looks and form factor matter here. The target market doesn't want a fucking Coolermaster mini-tower visible under their TV lmao.

They want this:

Actually, the target market doesn't want to even build a PC at all!

 

[SNG32]

I feel like building your own PC to a similar or better spec is just kind of missing the point of the device. Looks and form factor matter here. The target market doesn't want a fucking Coolermaster mini-tower visible under their TV lmao.

They want this:

Actually, the target market doesn't want to even build a PC at all!

Who is the target market?

 

[Geometric-Crusher]

Buy a laptop, you don't need to build one, it's small, stylish, and comes with Windows so you can play BF6, COD, and maybe GTA 6 multiplayer. Who guarantees that the Steam Machine will run GTA 6 online ?

 

[Crayon]

Wow that sucks.

 

[Geometric-Crusher]

Who is the target market?

Nobody, not even Valve, knows the answer to that question. They just think they know, but in reality, nobody does.

 

[Mr Hyde]

I listened to a couple of YouTubers who built an equivalent PC for 420$ but that was before the RAM prices skyrocketed in the last couple of days. I still think Steam Machine comes in at 699$. They need this console to be affordable considering the target audience.

 

[Killer8]

Who is the target market?

Gamers who want as frictionless of an entry into PC gaming as possible. "PC gaming in a padded room", as Digital Foundry put it.

Normies do not want to research parts and build it themselves. They want an attractive box they can plug and play without all the funk that usually comes with a PC.

Ease of use is the reason why consoles continue to have appeal. You could distil it down further and just say Valve wants the console market.

 

[Poppinfresh]

I can buy a PC more powerful than the Steam Machine for €699 right now. Has a 4060 in it so has DLSS as well.

I said the same thing in another Steambox thread.

You can get a laptop with a 4060 for around $700.

I wonder what the screen, keyboard, trackpad, and Windows license cost on that laptop would add up to? $150 - $200?

If the Steam Box doesn't come in around $500 (maybe $595 with the controller) it's not going to be a good deal at all.


EDIT: In the IGN example above, I know you can find a cheaper CPU cooler and probably a cheaper motherboard as well.

 

[SNG32]

Gamers who want as frictionless of an entry into PC gaming as possible. "PC gaming in a padded room", as Digital Foundry put it.

Normies do not want to research parts and build it themselves. They want an attractive box they can plug and play without all the funk that usually comes with a PC.

Ease of use is the reason why consoles continue to have appeal. You could distil it down further and just say Valve wants the console market.

There's no such thing as frictionless when it comes to PC. If it's not performing good they will have go in to the graphic settings and play around with it. Also if they want to play games like Battlefield 6 or Fortnite they have to put windows on it and because of this the normies will go back on PlayStation. I would say the steam deck is a better option because atleast it's portable. The PS5 will play triple A games better than this because the games will be optimized better.

 

[Crayon]

There's no such thing as frictionless when it comes to PC. If it's not performing good they will have go in to the graphic settings and play around with it. Also if they want to play games like Battlefield 6 or Fortnite they have to put windows on it and because of this the normies will go back on PlayStation. I would say the steam deck is a better option because atleast it's portable. The PS5 will play triple A games better than this because the games will be optimized better.

"As frictionless as possible." Steam Deck does what its supposed to do. Most will agree it feels more like a console. You get a reference hardware with a suitable os, you are going in the console direction at least.

 

[damidu]

lol i guess thats how they'll try to shill this thing at $700+
much better deal my ass.
bomba of the decade incoming, will make series look like a runaway success.
i guess they can always try again in 2040

 

[reinking]

 

[Life Diff]

No one uses AMD. The should offer and Nvidia variant

Unless you're Linux as Nvidia support on there isn't great.

 

[The_hunter]

Videos about building a steam machine like device:

 

[Topher]

Why are they trying to build a mini ITX? Valve said the pricing would be competitive with PCs with a similar spec. Not similar spec and form factor. Valve said the form factor would be the selling point. I don't think this is a good build in which to try and predict the price from.

 

[Donald mac Ronald]

The only people I see buying this is affluent pc enthusiast who like the idea of a small easy box they can plug into their big TV and maybe play some of their casual controller like games.

Or gaben loyalists. It's too complicated for casuals and console kids. Your average pc gamer would be mad to buy this over upgrading their current pc.

Less market than the steamdeck basically.

 

[Gaiff]

$140 750W Gold Certified PSU for that piece of shit build is laughable.

 

[nkarafo]

No, it's not worth paying $1000+ to buy a Desktop PC that will be completely obsolete in less than a year. That thing will be completely RAM/VRAM starved.

Steam machine at least has the form factor and the possibility that it's going to be cheaper than that.

Better buy a slightly more expensive desktop that has a proper graphics card with at least 12GB VRAM and 32GB of main RAM. But not right now because that's like the worst time to buy a PC.

 

[PeteBull]

Ign build pc has much stronger cpu, stronger gpu too, and lol at putting in there 80 usd top air cooler, 750W goldrated psu and 2x as expensive as needed mobo just to baloon up the cost

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4XHjfd

Under 700$ and that gpu is at least 50% stronger from laptop rx 7600m(so desktop rx 6600 non xt) thats in gabecube, its also rdna4(gabecube's is rdna3) so better rt and ai upscaling capabilities

AMD Radeon RX 7600M Specs

AMD Navi 33, 2410 MHz, 1792 Cores, 112 TMUs, 64 ROPs, 8192 MB GDDR6, 2000 MHz, 128 bit

www.techpowerup.com

Thats the dung of a gpu we getting in gabecube, only difference is 90W vs 110W tdp in gabecube so lets be generous and add that 15% performance on top...

 

[SScorpio]

You could just buy this one directly from HP that matches Linus's specs for $550

https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/omen-16l-gaming-desktop-tg03-0055m-pc-b73mkaa-aba

 

[Durin]

I get the point they're trying to make, RAM prices do suck, and probably Steam Machine won't be PS5 cost...but this build is dumb in multiple places, and you easily shave a few hundred off this.

Literally the SSD price you could cut in half if they picked a 512gb instead of this 1tb Samsung, given the Steam Machine is 512gb.

No idea why they're using a 750w power supply when the equivalent parts they just picked work at 550w or less, and the cost for a gold-rated PSU at that wattage would be half.

Also, an $80 cooler for a budget CPU from 2023 that doesn't generate much heat, and comes with its own cooler with your purchase...why? If you want more, just buy a cooler master hyper 212 for $20.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

I get the point they're trying to make, RAM prices do suck, and probably Steam Machine won't be PS5 cost...but this build is dumb in multiple places, and you easily shave a few hundred off this.

Literally the SSD price you could cut in half if they picked a 512gb instead of this 1tb Samsung, given the Steam Machine is 512gb.

No idea why they're using a 750w power supply when the equivalent parts they just picked work at 550w or less, and the cost for a gold-rated PSU at that wattage would be half.

Also, an $80 cooler for a budget CPU from 2023 that doesn't generate much heat, and comes with its own cooler with your purchase...why? If you want more, just buy a cooler master hyper 212 for $20.

Yeah, this build is stupid in many ways but I wouldn't expect any different from IGN.

 

[Minsc]

You could just buy this one directly from HP that matches Linus's specs for $550

https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/omen-16l-gaming-desktop-tg03-0055m-pc-b73mkaa-aba

To be fair the MSRP is $1100 there. So it's just on sale for $550? Given the time of year, it's possible the sale may not last a few months from now in to next year or maybe it will.

I do think all the people posting laptops and other devices, I wouldn't exactly call them as good until I saw the actual benches and stress tests and noise levels. I don't think a laptop can compare in noise or durability long term, not a budget one for sure. Also they tend to be throttled a lot harder than this device, some don't even hit 100W.

 

[SScorpio]

Yeah, this build is stupid in many ways but I wouldn't expect any different from IGN.

They have to keep up expectations and live up to the old, "You can spell ignorant without IGN".

 

[SScorpio]

To be fair the MSRP is $1100 there. So it's just on sale for $550? Given the time of year, it's possible the sale may not last a few months from now in to next year or maybe it will.

I do think all the people posting laptops and other devices, I wouldn't exactly call them as good until I saw the actual benches and stress tests and noise levels. I don't think a laptop can compare in noise or durability long term, not a budget one for sure. Also they tend to be throttled a lot harder than this device, some don't even hit 100W.

It definitely won't. But that $1,100 is the price of a pre-built which are generally marked up much higher. The point is that even at the sale price they wouldn't be selling it for a loss. Valve has some room to maneuver

I previously posted a Microcenter build with Ryzen 9600X and RX 7600XT for $650.

Valve hopefully have already have purchased a pool of parts so they won't be buying at the height of the memory price spike. But those $700 estimate really seem high if it's not the 2TB model. We'll just have to see, I'm really hoping for $500, but I see $600 being reasonable if it includes a controller. That was surprising that Linus had it in his budget when nowhere I've seen has mentioned one being bundled.

 

[StereoVsn]

No, it's not worth paying $1000+ to buy a Desktop PC that will be completely obsolete in less than a year. That thing will be completely RAM/VRAM starved.

Steam machine at least has the form factor and the possibility that it's going to be cheaper than that.

Better buy a slightly more expensive desktop that has a proper graphics card with at least 12GB VRAM and 32GB of main RAM. But not right now because that's like the worst time to buy a PC.

Right now is the time to buy a prebuilt ASAP before prices go up in another week or two.

You can get a better box for cheaper at Microcenter, BestBuy, Newegg, etc… as we speak.

And as far as GabeCube goes, it's going to be simple as heck to setup. I just got Lenovo Go S Z1E handheld and it took me 20 min to set it up. 15 min was because I wanted to install Decky loader and a few other things on desktop side. 95% of users won't need to do that.

 

[Shubh_C63]

The only people I see buying this is affluent pc enthusiast who like the idea of a small easy box they can plug into their big TV and maybe play some of their casual controller like games.
Or gaben loyalists. It's too complicated for casuals and console kids. Your average pc gamer would be mad to buy this over upgrading their current pc.

Less market than the steamdeck basically.

I think the target market is exact opposite of what you said.
PC enthusiast already have beefy PCs and won't buy a gimped box. It's definitely for casual and console people who wanna plug and play solution but with all the benefits of a PC ecosystem. Just like me who rely on Gaming laptops, which makes this an instant buy (given its cheaper than the laptops).

 

[Avid Reading Horse]

LectureMaster what is this? Where is meme?

 

[Fess]

I would upgrade to better hardware. That's the whole point of PC gaming, you're never stuck with the weak console prebuild hardware.

 

[existensmaximum]

I can buy a PC more powerful than the Steam Machine for €699 right now. Has a 4060 in it so has DLSS as well.

But you won't get Steam OS.

 

[existensmaximum]

Buy a laptop, you don't need to build one, it's small, stylish, and comes with Windows so you can play BF6, COD, and maybe GTA 6 multiplayer. Who guarantees that the Steam Machine will run GTA 6 online ?

Many would disagree that it's stylish, and I for one wouldn't want to keep a laptop hooked up next to my TV permanently. The aesthetics, form factor and the OS are the main selling points, no?

 

[intheinbetween]

And people think this is going to be 700 dollars especially when valve said they aren't subsidizing it. Even though this will be doa they got money to burn.

Tbf, if Valve isn't subsidizing it they couldn't care less how many units will be sold, they already run a more than wealthy business Steam, worst case scenario is generating more customers since they won't be eating any loss

 

[Zathalus]

But you won't get Steam OS.

Yeah, but you can install Bazzite. Or just stick with Windows.

 

[kikii]

reminds me of

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Buy a laptop, you don't need to build one, it's small, stylish, and comes with Windows so you can play BF6, COD, and maybe GTA 6 multiplayer. Who guarantees that the Steam Machine will run GTA 6 online ?

Gaming laptops are ergonomic abominations - huge, weight a ton and have shitty "gamerz" aesthetic.

 

[Dr.D00p]

You have to be some kind of stupid to think a company as smart as Valve hadn't already locked in a contract for RAM supplies, before prices blew up....