Speculation regarding the potential price of Valve’s Steam Machine is keeping many of us guessing, who hope for a reasonable entry point. It doesn’t matter which tech forum or YouTube tech/gaming channel one might go to, because sooner or later, there’s probably a mention or discussion regarding the worth of the Steam Machine. Valve’s upcoming hybrid cube, which some have taken to calling the Gabe Cube, has stirred up things on each side of the industry. From console gaming to the PC sector, it has attracted the eye of many who wonder what its true limits and potential will likely be, but its price may play essentially the most crucial factor for its success, or failure.
Steam Machine General Specs
- CPU: Semi-custom AMD Zen 4 6C / 12T as much as 4.8 GHz, 30W TDP
- GPU: Semi-Custom AMD RDNA3 28CUs 2.45GHz max sustained clock, 110W TDP
- RAM: 16GB DDR5 + 8GB GDDR6 VRAM
- Power: Internal power supply, AC power 110-240V
- Storage: Either a 512GB NVMe SSD or a 2TB NVMe SSD, each models include a high-speed microSD card slot
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 2×2 Wi-Fi 6E, Gigabit ethernet
- Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.3 dedicated antenna
- USB: 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports within the front, 2x USB-A 2.0 High speed ports within the back, 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port within the back
- Steam Controller with integrated 2.4 GHz Steam Controller wireless adapter
- LED Strip comprising 17 individually addressable RGB LEDs for system status and customizability
Linus Tech Suggestions attempted to give you their very own answer regarding a possible price point by assembling a PC using some comparable parts, which ended up at a complete cost of $605. Nevertheless, the chosen motherboard doesn’t include any WiFi or Bluetooth options, but for $20 more, one other board does. The one other notable missing component is the case and its various RGB strips.
- AMD Ryzen 5 8400F 6-core CPU
- ASRock B650M-HM.2+ Mobo
- Crucial Classic 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR5-5600 CL46 RAM
- Seasonic GX-550 550W PSU
- ASRock AMD Radeon RX 6600 Challenger GPU
- Kingston NV3 500GB M.2 2280 NVMe SSD
- GameSir Cyclone 2 Wireless Controller
While this experiment might narrow down the potential costs for constructing the Steam Machine, there’s still quite a little bit of other details to think about. Currently, the elephant within the room is the increased memory and storage costs that, sooner or later, will play a significant component not just for Valve but in addition for all consoles, mobile devices, and desktop devices.
Valve engineers were asked in an interview with Skill Up if the corporate plans to subsidize the Steam Machine similarly to how Sony and Microsoft have done with their consoles, to incentivize sales and stimulate market growth, and the reply was “No. It’s more in-line with what you would possibly expect from the present PC market. Obviously, our goal is for it to be an excellent deal at that level of performance.”
Valve’s engineers have also gone on record to say that the Steam Machine won’t be priced like current gaming consoles but slightly more according to a comparable PC. That being said, it has left speculation of costs starting from $600 to upwards of $1,000. That is partly because of the device using Steam OS, which, unlike gaming consoles, allows users to put in their very own apps.
“Yes, Steam Machine is optimized for gaming, however it’s still your PC. Install your individual apps, and even one other operating system. Who’re we to let you know learn how to use your computer?”
-Valve
Ultimately, if going by LTT’s construct, and adding additional costs for the upgraded motherboard with WiFi and BT, plus the case and RGB, it is likely to be a ballpark secure estimate within the $700 range. Consider other costs, and that total is likely to be around $700-$800 for the 512 GB model.