Why You Probably Aren't The Target Audience For Valve's Steam Machine

Valve has finally revealed the price of its long-awaited Steam Machine, and thanks to AI bros ruining technology for all of us, it comes with a price tag that many consider unacceptable.

Starting at $1,049/£879 for a 512GB model and rising up $1,349/£1,149 for 2TB storage, it’s a machine that, as with regular games consoles, has limited scope for upgrades like a PC has. It also costs significantly more than even Sony’s heftily-priced PlayStation 5 Pro ($899.99/£789.99), despite being technologically inferior.

Now, I get it. Many of you were excited for Steam’s new cube, which promised a lot when first revealed. It still does — the official store cites 4K gaming at 60fps using FSR, and the claim that it can “play your whole Steam library, including your favorite triple-A titles” remains true.

Early hands-on reviews, such as this one from PC Gamer, have suggested that there are large caveats to this when compared to similar PCs though. If you’re playing the likes of Cyberpunk 2077, hitting 60fps is a pipe dream even at 1440p. Ultimately, its underwhelming specs relative to cost make it a bridge too far for many, and that’s completely fair.

However, here’s where I paint a target on my back — this machine is not for you, and never was.

The Eye of Gaben Sees All, Especially Your Hardware

One crucial point that many currently engaged in discourse online seem to be forgetting is that Valve has huge swathes of information on what hardware Steam accounts are running on, thanks to its monthly survey. This gives it granular data on what CPUs, GPUs, RAM configurations, and even how much hard drive space players have to play with. And it’s clearly this data that has driven Valve’s decision-making on making hardware like this.

Let’s compare the Steam Machine’s specs to the survey, with regard to the most commonly returned response:

Spec

May 2026 Steam Hardware Survey

Steam Machine

CPU Speeds

2.3 GHz to 2.69 GHz (20.10%)

Up to 4.8 GHz

Physical Cores

6 cores (28.02%) / 8 cores (27.45%)

6 cores

RAM

16 GB (41.14%)

16 GB

GPU VRAM

8 GB (25.89%)

8 GB

Primary Display Resolution

1080p (51.89%)

Up to 4K / 60fps

Storage

Above 750 GB (73.98%)

512 GB / 1 TB

Percentages indicate the proportion of Steam accounts participating in the survey in that particular bracket. So, for example, 41.14 percent of all accounts in the survey are running on 16 GB RAM.

So, when you factor in the fact that the Steam Machine uses more up-to-date components such as DDR5 RAM and GDDR6 VRAM, Valve’s claim that it will be more powerful than 70 percent of what Steam users have at home would appear to hold up.

PC Master Race? You’re Missing The Point

Questions surrounding just who the Steam Machine is for are completely valid. It’s ambitious in its desire to be a viable alternative to your PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch, but its pricing has obliterated that ambition, at least for the time being, leaving it in a weird place. However, one thing I think we should all agree on is that it was never designed for PC purists, many of whom are the loudest dissenting voices online. They might want a Steam Machine to put under their televisions, but I bet these very same people have a powerful PC and a couple of consoles already.

It’s not a Frankenstein’s monster put together of disparate parts from many manufacturers, like regular PCs are. Sure, it appears underwhelming on the surface, but we need to stop looking at just the hard specs and think about the Steam Machine in another light — as a highly optimised piece of kit designed for relative ease of use. A console, but not a console, because it comes with (most of) the benefits of Steam and PC gaming in general. It’s an important new platform.

For @aftermath.site, I reviewed the Steam Machine. It costs $1049 base. It is beautifully designed. It might be one of the most important computers ever made, launched at the worst time imaginable. aftermath.site/steam-machin... — Chris Person (@papapishu.bsky.social) 2026-06-22T17:19:58.095Z

And just like consoles, Valve will roll out updates aimed at optimising the machine further, such as a planned update to AMD’s improved FSR 4. The Steam Verified program aims for a base of 1080p at 60fps — six times the Steam Deck’s power — which shows it is prioritising a smooth experience for playing on your TV rather than graphical fidelity or fancy sunbeams.

There’s no juggling Windows, Nvidia Control Panel, AMD Adrenalin, or any of the other tuning programs you need to get your regular machine ticking along nicely. The Steam Machine, to me, is really for people who don’t want the hassle of micromanaging a PC.

The Best Value For Valve’s Average User

I’m far from a PC technician, but I did a search using PCPartPicker to find components that were the closest match to the Steam Machine based on known specs like clock rates. Just the four main parts of CPU, GPU, RAM and storage came out at around £700. That’s not factoring in the case, cooling, motherboard, power unit, and other necessary components. It’s also not considering the fact that the CPU and GPU on the Steam Machine are semi-custom, with Valve having worked with AMD to design chips that work better with the hardware than just throwing in any old retail chip.

A quick, uneducated look at retailers such as PC Specialist, SCAN, Currys and Argos tells me that similarly priced prebuilds either come with outdated components (DDR4 over DDR5 or 6 RAM, for example) or just straight-up worse parts. So, while more seasoned heads might be able to find better options than me or build custom rigs, it just seems like so much work to do so.

Whichever way you look at it, Valve’s offering is still going to be the best value in the current market, for the target market. Filthy casuals, not Master Race doyens.

Time To Say Goodbye, Windows

Despite the discourse, I fully expect the Steam Machine to sell out. There will be many who buy one just because it’s the Shiny New Thing, and many who buy because of the weird parasocial relationship people have with hardware manufacturers or platforms. I see it having a wider appeal in a way akin to the Xbox Series S that, according to leaked court documents, at one point had sold three times better than the more powerful Series X. It offers a gateway to PC gaming without such a high barrier to entry.

I also see it occupying a broader space for those like myself, who either want to upgrade from an older PC or laptop to the convenience of a plug-and-play PC, or to (finally) ditch Windows, for a decent price point. I tend to play things like DayZ or Final Fantasy 14 on my laptop, and reserve AAA games for my PS5. I don’t need something that can solve dense linear equations.

With the Steam Machine, I get everything I need from a PC, with a better and more optimised user experience, for £879. The reality is that computers just cost that much money these days, and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon. Let’s all go back to being angry at AI bros, eh?

Steam Machine