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Upon announcing the grand return of the Steam Machine last week, Valve also shared some curious specs for the compact mini PC. The black box promises a 4K 60fps experience that is impressive compared to consoles, but it's not exactly a monster compared to full-sized rigs.
At least, that's what you'd assume given that the Steam Machine is using a GPU comparable to a mobile RX 7600. However, when asked by Adam Savage’s Tested how the company arrived at a specs and performance target for the mini PC, Valve engineer Yazan Aldehayyat provided some surprising insights into at-home setups.
In addition to striking a balance between power and price, Aldehayyat says Valve also used the Steam Hardware Survey "just to give us a good benchmark of where people's home devices are at in terms of performance." The engineer then says the user-generated stats revealed that "the Steam Machine is equal or better than 70% of what people have at home," meaning the box will theoretically be an upgrade for the majority of players.
Before you start making plans to evict your current rig, I want to explain how the Steam Hardware Survey actually works. Rather than representing every player that uses the storefront, the monthly census instead uses a small percentage of participants who've opted in as a sample. It's anything but representative of all 154 million active users, meaning the statistic above isn't an absolute.
That's not to say that if you did actually collate the PC specs for every single Steam user out there, you wouldn't arrive at a similar percentage. But, while the statistics helped Valve narrow down the final Steam Machine specifications, I feel like the idea of the box beating 70% of gaming PCs out there kind of misses the point.
For starters, I fully believe the Steam Machine is closer in nature to a console than a conventional PC. Yes, it is a tiny rig, and there's nothing stopping you from pitching it up at your desk with a mouse and keyboard. But, you're talking about a compact box with a similar AMD APU setup to the PS5 and Xbox Series X, so most players will want to see how it compares to their living room system of choice.
Just like the way the Switch 2 uses DLSS to hit 4K 60fps, the Steam Machine will also be tapping into AMD's FSR tricks. Tools like AI upscaling and Frame Generation help the mini PC fill in frame rate gaps in a way that older GPUs that are technically more powerful cannot, resulting in a perceivable performance hike.
What I'm saying is that the Steam Machine may or may not actually be better than 70% of gaming PCs out there, but I'd try and view it primarily as a console rival. Everything from its lower power consumption to the gamepad-friendly SteamOS and even its optional new Steam Controller positions the system to take on Sony and Microsoft while retaining all the benefits tied to a traditional rig.
What will ultimately decide the mini PC's fate is MSRP. Some analysts believe the Steam Machine could cost up to $1,000, and while I don't subscribe to that figure as an expert within the gaming handheld and small form-factor rig scene, a high price could render the idea of it being better than current builds absolutely redundant.
Simply put, if the Steam Machine costs $400, whether or not it can beat your current PC will be irrelevant.
Already got Valve's portable? Swing by the best Steam Deck accessories and the best Steam Deck dock options for recommended add-ons. You'll also want to peek at the best retro consoles for ways to play classic capers on the go.
