Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the enviable chance to spend a significant amount of time gaming on Valve’s Steam Machine.
We rated the Steam Machine a 6, and I’m not here to argue with my colleague Sean Hollister’s assessment. Still, despite already owning both a PS5 and an Xbox Series X — and despite running into the Steam Machine’s limitations myself — I’d pay the $1,049 asking price for one today.
Neither my PS5 nor my Xbox Series X can access the hundreds of titles sitting in my steadily expanding Steam library. They also don’t tap into Steam cloud saves, which make it effortless to move between my Steam Deck and Steam Machine without losing progress. They don’t work with my much-loved Steam Controller, and they don’t give me the freedom to mod games until they feel just right. They’re also enormous next to Valve’s compact little box. Compared with the Steam Deck, the Steam Machine delivers sharper visuals, smoother performance, and none of the fan noise reaching me from across the couch.
Since picking up a Steam Deck a few years back, most of my gaming has shifted to Valve’s handheld, which I frequently connect to my TV. So dedicated Valve hardware built specifically for living-room play sounded like an obvious fit for me — though Sean’s review gave me pause. The Steam Machine has real downsides: it’s expensive, it stacks up against console hardware that’s now six years old, and its GPU can’t be upgraded later to keep pace with more demanding games.
Even so, I’ve become hooked on how naturally Valve’s tiny 6-inch cube slips into my entertainment setup, my desk space, and my daily gaming routine.
The Steam Machine is nearly silent; I can’t recall a moment when I actually noticed it while playing. Not during Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, not with 007 First Light, and certainly not while playing Balatro. As expected, it pairs beautifully with Valve’s Steam Controller, which I’ve already praised at length in my review. I can place it almost anywhere in my TV cabinet, unlike my PS5 and Xbox Series X, which have to be crammed into a single compartment that leaves little room for anything else. I’ve also moved it to my desk a few times and connected it to a monitor, and I appreciate that doing so doesn’t require a full rearrangement of my already limited workspace.
The Steam Machine has quickly turned into my ideal way to play games on my TV. It boots up fast with the press of a button, plays nicely with my Sonos Beam soundbar, and lets me jump right into a game in a matter of seconds. So do the Steam Deck, PS5, and Xbox Series X sitting under my TV. But I haven’t missed any of them in my two weeks with the Steam Machine.
What I did miss was a reservation to actually purchase the Steam Machine. I signed up, but I didn’t get picked. I’ll be sad to pack the Steam Machine up and return it to Sean for further testing, especially when there’s no timeline for when I might get off Valve’s waitlist.
Instead of waiting on Valve, I’ve started looking into finally building my own PC. I’m in a very lucky spot with that, too: After I told a friend that I was thinking about building a PC, they kindly offered to give me an RTX 3070 Ti GPU and a 1TB SSD. That means I can theoretically make one that’s both more powerful and more upgradable than a Steam Machine without having to pay for two of the most expensive parts.
But even though I can now afford to build a PC, I still just wish I could get a Steam Machine. I’ve had a lot of fun perusing case options like the Fractal Ridge and the Velka 7, but they’ll be a snug fit for my TV console. I’m guessing nothing I put together will be as quiet as the Steam Machine. SteamOS isn’t available on Nvidia GPUs yet, so I’ll probably have to rely on Steam Big Picture mode on Windows or use a Linux OS like Bazzite. They won’t quite be the nearly seamless SteamOS experience I’m used to.
Photo: Kelsey McClellan / The Verge
Maybe I won’t buy anything at all. Just to be real with you, I spent the weekend going back to my Steam Deck on my TV, paired with 8BitDo’s Ultimate 2 Wireless Controller, and it worked better than I remembered. Yes, I was playing a relatively lightweight game (I can’t say which, because of a review embargo). But the game played great on my TV, and I could easily pick up my Steam Deck from under the TV and bring it around the house.
It was 90 percent of the Steam Machine experience plus portability — and most of the games I play run really well on the Steam Deck already, so I’m not sure I actually need the extra headroom of a full desktop in front of my couch.
I haven’t decided what I’m going to do: make my own PC, eventually get a Steam Machine when my spot on the waitlist comes up, or just keep chugging along with the setup I’ve got. My heart wants the Steam Machine, though. If I could buy it today instead of waiting indefinitely, I’d pay the asking price.
