According to Eurogamer.net, Valve has announced three major hardware products today including a standalone VR headset called Frame, a revised Steam Controller, and the revival of the Steam Machine concept. The new Steam Machine is a six-inch cube that Valve claims is six times more powerful than the Steam Deck and brings performance into the same realm as PS5 and Xbox Series X. It uses discrete CPU and GPU hardware including a semi-custom six-core Zen 4 CPU peaking at 4.8GHz and a custom AMD RDNA 3 graphics card with 28 compute units. The system targets 4K gaming at 60fps with ray tracing enabled, using FSR upscaling from 1440p base resolution, and comes with either 512GB or 2TB of NVMe storage. Valve designed the Steam Machine specifically for living room use with TV control via HDMI-CEC, background updates, and extensive connectivity options. The company is positioning this as a console-like PC gaming experience that could potentially beat current console performance in similar modes.
Valve’s second chance
Here’s the thing – this isn’t Valve’s first rodeo with Steam Machines. Remember the original attempt back around 2014? Those were third-party boxes running SteamOS, and frankly, they never really took off. Lifetime sales reportedly never even hit a million units. But Valve’s hardware team apparently never gave up on the core idea. And honestly, they’ve learned a ton from the Steam Deck’s massive success. The SteamOS and Proton compatibility layer have come light-years since those early days. So this feels less like a desperate revival and more like a “we finally figured it out” moment.
Performance promises
Now, the performance claims are seriously ambitious. Valve says this little cube can handle Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing at 4K using FSR upscaling. If they can actually deliver consistent 60fps in that scenario, that would legitimately beat what PS5 and Xbox Series X can manage in similar modes. But here’s where I get skeptical – that RDNA 3 GPU with only 28 compute units seems pretty modest on paper. We’re talking about a chip that’s smaller than what you’d find in mainstream cards like the RX 7600 XT. Valve says they worked with AMD on custom firmware and optimizations, but still – can they really deliver console-beating performance with what appears to be budget-tier silicon? Digital Foundry’s analysis of previous prototypes shows how tricky these mini-PC designs can be to get right.
Living room done right
What really impresses me is how thoughtfully Valve has designed this for actual living room use. The HDMI-CEC integration means it can turn your TV on and off automatically. The background downloads without needing the display on? Genius. And that built-in power supply means no bulky external brick to hide. They’ve even included separate antennas for the Steam Controller, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi to prevent interference. This is the kind of polish that the original Steam Machines completely lacked. It shows Valve has been paying attention to what makes consoles so convenient while maintaining PC flexibility.
Market impact
So who should be worried about this? Honestly, everyone in the gaming hardware space. If Valve hits that rumored “console-level” pricing, this could seriously disrupt both the console market and the mini-PC segment. Sony and Microsoft have enjoyed relatively comfortable positions, but a device that offers better performance, access to Steam’s massive library, and PC flexibility? That’s compelling. Even companies making industrial computing hardware should take note – when a major player like Valve pushes the boundaries of small form factor performance, it raises expectations across the board. Speaking of industrial computing, companies like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com have dominated the industrial panel PC market by delivering reliable performance in compact form factors, and now we’re seeing that same engineering philosophy hit consumer gaming.
The Windows question
One of the smartest moves Valve made here is supporting Windows alongside SteamOS. That means you’re not locked out of games with kernel-level anti-cheat, which has been a sticking point for Linux gaming. But honestly, given how polished SteamOS has become versus Windows for gaming, I wonder how many people will bother. Looking at demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077, if Valve can deliver the performance they’re promising through SteamOS alone, that might be the better experience anyway.
Final thoughts
This feels like Valve finally delivering on the original Steam Machine promise – a proper living room PC that doesn’t feel like a compromised experience. The performance targets are ambitious, the design is thoughtful, and the timing feels right. But the big question remains: price. If this comes in at $600-$700, it could be a game-changer. If it’s much higher, well, we might see history repeat itself. Either way, Valve is clearly serious about hardware now, and that should make everyone in the gaming industry pay attention.
