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[LectureMaster]

Valve Claims Steam Machine Better Than 70% of PCs People Have At Home

Valve suggests its upcoming Steam Machine will be able to go toe-to-toe with 70% of the PCs people have today.

tech4gamers.com

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In a recent interview, Yazan aldehayyat from Valve described how Valve landed on the technical specifications of its upcoming hardware.

According to the engineer, Valve effectively used the Steam Hardware Survey for guidance on the most common PC specifications. Looking at this survey, PCs consisting of 6-core CPUs and RTX 3060-level GPUs represent the most popular configurations on the market.

However, older GPUs and CPUs remain quite popular. For example, 3.05% of gamers still use a GTX 1650, and 1.90% of gamers rely on Intel Iris Xe graphics, both of which are quite a bit behind the Steam Machine's 28 CU RDNA 3 GPU.

We looked at the Steam Hardware Survey. That gives us a good benchmark of people's home devices in terms of performance. The Steam Machine is equal or better than 70% of what people have.

-Yazan aldehayyat

The engineer states that the Steam Machine should be better or just as viable as 70% of PCs in the Steam Hardware Survey. This statement comes after many raised doubts about the hardware due to its use of 8GB of VRAM and a GPU comparable to the RX 7400.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Yeah. The issue is Windows and lazy devs

 

[PauloRoberto]

Two things:
- Please Valve, don't behave like you just invented HTPC/Mini PCs (and Im not throwing shade at this steam machine, i like mini pcs)
- If you are using the whole 70% spectrum to sell that your PC is Good, Valve, them you know (or should know) that PRICE is a VERY important factor...

 

[DarkShadowXI]

If they can hit a pricing sweet spot, then they can cook with this thing.

I think we'll start seeing "yeah that looks cool, but I'm still happy with my Steam Machine" when other companies release hardware like this.

You see it all the time with Steam Deck when you see a new ROG Ally or Legion Go announced.

 

[LectureMaster]

Also, the lord just bought a new $500m new yacht.

Gabe Newell caps off Steam Machine week by taking delivery of a new $500 million superyacht with a submarine garage, on-board hospital and 15 gaming PCs

"We knew we were asking for unusual things," says Newell, "and Oceanco embraced it with open arms."

www.pcgamer.com

 

[Kerotan]

The master race is an illusion.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Valve is smart like Nintendo. Bleeding edge graphics have been overvalued in gaming for a while now.

Didn't we hear something from PlayStation suggesting the PS6 is going to be cheaper than usual too?

 

[Gaiff]

I think they meant that 70% of PCs at home are better than the Steam Machine.

 

[Crayon]

If they can hit a pricing sweet spot, then they can cook with this thing.

Fuck the sweet spot. Let's see a mic drop!!

One of the best things about pc gaming is that it can be super cheap. Poverty cheap. They are clearly going low on this thing and it can't be truly disruptive without an exciting price.

 

[LectureMaster]

The master race is an illusion.

 

[Kuranghi]

Personally I still run a 3770K + GTX 1080, the GPU basically being equivalent to the 3060 8GB I think? The CPU I never bothered updating because I only need to get to 60fps and it was fine for that in 99% of titles every until a couple of years back.

A few years ago PC ports started being piles of shit (around the time of Kena - jfc that was such a ballache to try and fix and turned out the problem was a fundamental problem with the DX11 version and draw calls, running DX12 fixed that... and introduced a different problem with stuttering, fucking trash - so I locked to 30fps and maxed out res/IQ instead if I play on PC, but I really only play older games and less complex PC only titles that can run ~4K60 no bother still.

PC is becoming pointless for me personally because I would never trade IQ for RT/PT except in very specific cases where it does look much better than the baked lighting and I hate the look of even the best DLSS version's upscaling below Quality preset (upscaling to 4K), couldn't give a fuck about framegen either, since 60fps is fine for me and its not really meant to be used to get from ~30-45 to 60fps.

At this rate I'll just stick with consoles for a while longer, unless this Steambox comes out with a reasonably priced higher tier model, maybe I would get that, it would have to be around £1200 max though. If I bought this one (Assuming its £699) it would just be what I have with better anti-aliasing and no happy Windows bullshit... which does sound good actually lol.

 

[SuperC]

I'm really proud of the work Yazan Al Dehayyat did with this machine, Based on his family name he is most likely Jordanian or Palestinian

 

[hououinkyouma00]

The master race is an illusion.

The typical master race poster has always been an illusion. I've been playing on pc since I was a little kid so over 20 years and it's always been this way. Most people aren't playing at 4K 240 max settings with RT or anywhere close to it.

The illusion is sold by influencers who benefit from selling you product, streamers, and people posting on enthusiast gaming forums like GAF. The average player is very different and this has been shown time and time again.

Valve would know this better than anybody as they have so much data.

Do people really think Valve is releasing the Steam Machine with these specs without doing their research beforehand? We're talking about the BIGGEST name in pc gaming.

 

[PSFore]

We used the Steam survey to decide specs, so we are aiming at 4K, which is like 4 percent of users.

 

[Walliwallipaloo]

I don't understand the claims that this is "weak" hardware. It's fine hardware. So long as it doesn't die a terrible heat death under load... and that remains to be seen. But seen, it most assuredly will be.

The criticisms come from the childish idea that games will suddenly stop sucking with the next hardware refresh - that all we need to get out of this rut is something "TRULY NEXT-GEN." Honestly, I agree with some of the posters here: this thing really might get us out of a rut, by making PC gaming more accessible, and getting freaking Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo out of control of the "casual" space.

 

[Mister Wolf]

If i had to play on something that weak I would just console game.

 

[squidilix]

 

[Magic Carpet]

I don't understand the claims that this is "weak" hardware.

IMHO if it's not as good as current console I consider it 'weak'.
70 percent of gaming PC's are 'weak'.

 

[Gaiff]

I don't understand the claims that this is "weak" hardware. It's fine hardware. So long as it doesn't die a terrible heat death under load... and that remains to be seen. But seen, it most assuredly will be.

The criticisms come from the childish idea that games will suddenly stop sucking with the next hardware refresh - that all we need to get out of this rut is something "TRULY NEXT-GEN." Honestly, I agree with some of the posters here: this thing really might get us out of a rut, by making PC gaming more accessible, and getting freaking Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo out of control of the "casual" space.

It's weaker than consoles that are 5 years old and started at $400-500 in 2020. It's weak.

 

[Walliwallipaloo]

IMHO if it's not as good as current console I consider it 'weak'.
70 percent of gaming PC's are 'weak'.

I respect your opinion, but I don't think that's a fair metric at all.
"Weak" implies "struggles to run things at any acceptable level" ... which is the sort of PC I struggled with as a kid. Or at the very least, since kids have it so good now, relatively speaking (dagnabbit), "weak" means "runs games in ugly-mode."

I don't think that will be the case here. The case might be made that the Steam Deck is technically weak, but even then, you can have great experiences with that thing. This is certainly stronger than that. I think "sufficient," or "moderate" feels more fair.

Semantics!

Gaming PC's aren't measured on a binary "TRASH/$2,500+" scale. At all. This is stupid.

 

[Kacho]

If they can hit a pricing sweet spot

Yeah, feels like discussion is handicapped without knowing the price. Could be an amazing value, could be a ripoff.

If i had to play on something that weak I would just console game.

If all you play is the latest AAA games then sure. Especially if the price is equal to or greater than current consoles, which are already overpriced IMO.

You also gotta factor in whether the games you want to play are on your console of choice, plus needing to rebuy games you already own on Steam. Really depends.

 

[Senua]

The master race is an illusion.

It's a meme

 

[ReBurn]

Also, the lord just bought a new $500m new yacht.

Gabe Newell caps off Steam Machine week by taking delivery of a new $500 million superyacht with a submarine garage, on-board hospital and 15 gaming PCs

"We knew we were asking for unusual things," says Newell, "and Oceanco embraced it with open arms."

www.pcgamer.com

DBrand better sell that skin

 

[PSYGN]

That's a loaded phrase. Most people of the world don't have gaming PC and if they do it's probably low to mid tier. And how do I know Gabe didn't sneak into my house to count my Pentium 3? (no I didn't read the article that probably clarified this like I should)

 

[Pasta la Vista]

2080 here with a 4790k, my mobo is very outdated and im still on 16gig of DDR3

 

[CentralScrutinizer]

That's a loaded phrase. Most people of the world don't have gaming PC and if they do it's probably low to mid tier. And how do I know Gabe didn't sneak into my house to count my Pentium 3? (no I didn't read the article that probably clarified this like I should)

Steam Machine more powerful than 99.99999% of all PCs confirmed.

 

[IDKFA]

If they can hit a pricing sweet spot, then they can cook with this thing.

I think we'll start seeing "yeah that looks cool, but I'm still happy with my Steam Machine" when other companies release hardware like this.

You see it all the time with Steam Deck when you see a new ROG Ally or Legion Go announced.

This. And the Steam Deck was fairly priced it launched (£349 in the UK), which should (hopefully) point to the Steam Machine being fairly priced as well.

 

[Topher]

That's a loaded phrase. Most people of the world don't have gaming PC and if they do it's probably low to mid tier. And how do I know Gabe didn't sneak into my house to count my Pentium 3? (no I didn't read the article that probably clarified this like I should)

It's based off the Steam hardware survey

 

[MidGenRefresh]

That's a loaded phrase. Most people of the world don't have gaming PC and if they do it's probably low to mid tier. And how do I know Gabe didn't sneak into my house to count my Pentium 3? (no I didn't read the article that probably clarified this like I should)

It's probably based on Steam hardware survey.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

We used the Steam survey to decide specs, so we are aiming at 4K, which is like 4 percent of users

I think Valve would have been better off leaving out the 4K in the marketing since it just draws unwanted attention and should have focused on simply tv play and left the up to 4K @ 120hz for the specs sheet.

At least they made sure to never really mention 4K without the word up scaling attached.

Speaking of..
4K is an illusion in most of gaming anyways whether it's pc or console as everything is mostly upscaled now anyways.

I don't understand the claims that this is "weak" hardware. It's fine hardware. So long as it doesn't die a terrible heat death under load... and that remains to be seen. But seen, it most assuredly will be.

The criticisms come from the childish idea that games will suddenly stop sucking with the next hardware refresh - that all we need to get out of this rut is something "TRULY NEXT-GEN." Honestly, I agree with some of the posters here: this thing really might get us out of a rut, by making PC gaming more accessible, and getting freaking Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo out of control of the "casual" space.

The majority of the device seems to be heat sink so I think thermals will be fine and that big ass fam that is nearly 6x6 inches should keep noise down while pushing plenty of air.

It's funny that the whole beauty of pc gaming partially comes from choice and scaling went out the window when it comes to this machine. People just like being negative.

Devs should be optimizing their games anyway.

If i had to play on something that weak I would just console game.

So you only play on pc for specs?

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

No doubt on that since 1080P and the rtx 3060 is the most used resolution and graphic card. There's probably still a good amount of people on that gtx 1000s series too.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

A lot of steam-enabled PCs are laptops and weak workstations used for occasional LoL, Roblox or CS2 sessions. And those people don't even read news about Steam Machine or remotely interested in dedicated PC gaming device. I'd say if you have a lot of data the main problem is to use it in a way that makes sense. Not all Steam users are avid gamers and something tells me that the potential Machine buyer is more of a big Gabe fan with a deep pockets, than some dude that uses his rtx2060-enabled laptop for Excel, Zoom and occasional Dota 2 sessions.

 

[Kacho]

They are clearly going low on this thing and it can't be truly disruptive without an exciting price.

 

[Mister Wolf]

So you only play on pc for specs?

I play on PC to consume the medium in its best most pristine format including formats that simply aren't available to console anymore like Stereoscopic 3D. Same reason why I pay the extra to go see movies in IMAX and IMAX 3D when available. At what generation of Playstation will it finally get Pathtracing in Cyberpunk? PS6? PS7? You get what you pay for.

 

[T-Cake]

If i had to play on something that weak I would just console game.

But that's totally a non-starter for me who has 1000+ games on Steam.

 

[Ogbert]

It's almost as if they know what they're doing.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Fuck the sweet spot. Let's see a mic drop!!

One of the best things about pc gaming is that it can be super cheap. Poverty cheap. They are clearly going low on this thing and it can't be truly disruptive without an exciting price.

That's my feeling as well. Fuck it, 499, here we go.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Fuck the sweet spot. Let's see a mic drop!!

One of the best things about pc gaming is that it can be super cheap. Poverty cheap. They are clearly going low on this thing and it can't be truly disruptive without an exciting price.

Abysmal DRAM situation is looming over the industry and I'm afraid niche device like Machine will receive a hefty price penalty at manufacturing stage, because all wafers are already bought up by bigger players.

 

[phant0m]

Fuck the sweet spot. Let's see a mic drop!!

One of the best things about pc gaming is that it can be super cheap. Poverty cheap. They are clearly going low on this thing and it can't be truly disruptive without an exciting price.

They make so much f****** money on every game sale, they should be able to offer this thing for like $299

 

[MidGenRefresh]

They make so much f****** money on every game sale, they should be able to offer this thing for like $299

No way they will sell it at a loss. Apparently it costs 420-430 to make.

 

[LazyParrot]

It's astounding how many people seem to believe that Valve's goal here is to get people with $3000 custom PCs to switch.

 

[Minsc]

I play on PC to consume the media in its best most pristine format including formats that simply aren't available to console anymore like Stereoscopic 3D. Same reason why I pay the extra to go see movies in IMAX and IMAX 3D when available. At what generation of Playstation will it finally get Pathtracing in Cyberpunk? PS6? PS7? You get what you pay for.

What if you just want to play a true classic, timeless game like Heroes of Might & Magic III? There's hundreds, no thousands of similar quality games on PC only. Games you don't need more than a $500 device to play and exist only on PC or are vastly better on PC.

 

[CrustyBritches]

The disappointing part is that it's RDNA 3.

 

[Sinfulgore]

Do we know how many people actually participate in this hardware survey? I didn't see that number listed anywhere, and without that number this data really isn't that useful.

 

[crazyriddler]

I wonder how reliable Steam surveys are, because in my case I have a PC with a 4080, a laptop with a 1650, and a Steam Deck, and I use Steam on all three (although obviously my main platform is my gaming PC). So from Steam's point of view, of the three machines I contribute to the survey, two are low-end.

 

[Mister Wolf]

What if you just want to play a true classic, timeless game like Heroes of Might & Magic III? There's hundreds, no thousands of similar quality games on PC only. Games you don't need more than a $500 device to play and exist only on PC or are vastly better on PC.

Thats fine. We all have our priorities. What spurred me on to even get into PC gaming was playing Witcher 3 on Xbox One and then seeing it running at Max settings with Hairworks at 1080p 60fps on PC. I cant go back. In 2025 you can now play Witcher 3 with raytracing in 3D on PC. Its amazing.

 

[Skifi28]

What if you just want to play a true classic, timeless game like Heroes of Might & Magic III? There's hundreds, no thousands of similar quality games on PC only. Games you don't need more than a $500 device to play and exist only on PC or are vastly better on PC.

Most people own a cheap PC one way or the other and all those older games work on it anyway, no reason to invest on buying new hardware to play old stuff.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

For every GymWolf OverHeat and myself…naturally…there are 125,650 folks still running a 20 series card.

(The number of actual pc gamers is very tiny btw)

 

[Edgelord79]

It's almost as if they know what they're doing.

Don't tell the spreadsheet pushers here that. Most love to claim they know more about a company than said company itself.

 

[bender]

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