Steam Machine: Price, DIY builds and target audience
Steam Machine review: Pricing starts at 1,039 euros. Against consoles and DIY PCs, Valve's cube has a lot to justify.
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Price: Valve's cube leaves console territory
It is time to address the large, cube-shaped elephant in the room: how much does the Steam Machine actually cost? The answer is somewhat sobering. The cheapest version of the Steam Machine starts at 1,039 euros. That gets you the model with a 512 GB SSD, but without the Steam Controller. With the controller, the price rises to 1,108 euros. Those opting for the larger version with a 2 TB SSD pay 1,359 euros without the controller or 1,428 euros as a bundle with the controller.
The problem is that, at this price point, Valve is no longer really competing in the console segment. The company made clear early on that it would depart from the common practice in the console market and would not cross-subsidize the Steam Machine. As a result, the price is closer to that of lower-cost PC systems. And that is exactly where the comparison becomes rather uncomfortable for Valve.
More hardware for similar money
A self-built system running Bazzite as a SteamOS-like operating system can be put together in a similar price range. Our sample configuration based on AM4 comes in at around 1,010 euros. The AM5 variant with a Ryzen 5 7500F and 16 GiB of DDR5 instead of 32 GiB of DDR4 comes in at just under 1,150 euros. Both systems are larger, less elegant and not as tightly tailored to living-room use, but they offer better hardware.
| Komponenten | Bazzite Machine (AM5) | Bazzite Machine (AM4) | Steam Machine | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 7500F | Ca. 120 € | AMD Ryzen 5 5600 | Ca. 120 € | AMD Zen 4 6C 4,8 GHz, 30 W |
| Mainboard | Asrock B850M-X WiFi R2.0 | Ca. 110 € | Gigabyte B550I Aorus Pro AX | Ca. 140 € | Proprietär |
| RAM | Kingston Fury Beast 16 GiB, DDR5-5600 | Ca. 230 € | G.Skill Aegis 32 GiB, DDR4-3200 | Ca. 190 € | 16 GiB DDR5 |
| GPU | AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GiB | Ca. 400 € | AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GiB | Ca. 400 € | AMD RDNA 3, 28 CUs, 2,45 GHz, 110 W TDP, 8 GiB |
| Kühler | Arctic Freezer 36 | Ca. 25 € | Arctic Freezer 36 | Ca. 25 € | Proprietär |
| Netzteil | Be Quiet System Power 11, 650 Watt | Ca. 80 € | Be Quiet System Power 11, 650 Watt | Ca. 80 € | Intern |
| Gehäuse | Endorfy Ventum 200 Air | Ca. 40 € | Endorfy Ventum 200 Air | Ca. 40 € | Proprietär |
| SSD | Patriot P400 Lite, 1 TB, PCIe 4.0 | Ca. 140 € | Patriot P400 Lite, 1 TB, PCIe 4.0 | Ca. 140 € | 512 GB/2 TB |
| Betriebssystem | Bazzite | – | Bazzite | – | SteamOS 3 |
| Gesamt | Ca. 1.145 € | Ca. 1.010 € |
We also pointed out this exact discrepancy to Valve during our interview. The company's answer, however, is something each reader will have to assess for themselves. Valve still considers the price aggressive. The company argues that its pricing ambitions have not changed. What has changed, according to Valve, are the costs. Components have become significantly more expensive, which is why the Steam Machine now lands in a price range higher than Valve itself would have liked. At the same time, Valve acknowledges that the price excludes some potential buyers.
That is a plausible explanation, but not a complete absolution. In the end, buyers do not compare only development effort, form factor and market conditions. They compare actual products. And in that comparison, the Steam Machine is in a difficult position. Compared with a traditional console, it is significantly more expensive. Compared with a self-built PC, it is less flexible. Compared with many prebuilt systems, it has to explain why 8 GiB of VRAM and a proprietary compact design should be enough in this price class.
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Target audience: Who the Steam Machine makes sense for
Is the Steam Machine worth it? And if so, for whom? That question is now easier to answer, not least because Valve has provided part of the answer itself. At the very least, the company made very clear in our conversation who the Steam Machine is not meant for, and that is something we can fully agree with. Anyone who wants a lot of performance and is willing to pay more for it already has many options in the PC market. The Steam Machine, by contrast, is aimed more at players who are not looking for a high-end system, do not plan to build a PC themselves, but want a ready-made gaming PC with as little friction as possible.
That is an advantage the Steam Machine does deserve credit for: it is intuitive, and as a user, all you have to do is connect it to a monitor or TV. Even after that, the cube handles a lot on its own. Turn off the Steam Machine, and the monitor turns off with it. Turn on the Steam Machine, and the monitor turns on as well. PC players also have far more opportunities to buy games cheaply than they do on various consoles. And even if the technology is sobering, it is still welcome that the Steam Machine is another device helping to make Linux more acceptable in the mainstream.
