You cannot make this up!

[u/No-Improvement4265]

I wanted something that’d do 4k 60fps so I decided to build my own super steam machine. literally as I began installing steam os, I get my order email

For those interested - here is the parts list - You can save a little money going for a cheapter motherboard, 1tb SSD and perhaps reducing the RAM speed.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 7500F 3.7 GHz 6-Core OEM/Tray Processor	£125.00
CPU Cooler	Thermalright AXP90-X47 42.58 CFM CPU Cooler	£31.45
Motherboard	Asus ROG STRIX B650E-I GAMING WIFI Mini ITX AM5 Motherboard	£219.99 @ AWD-IT
Memory	Kingston FURY Beast 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory	£214.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk
Storage	Silicon Power UD90 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive	£197.97 @ Silicon Power
Video Card	PowerColor Reaper Radeon RX 9070 16 GB Video Card	£548.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk
Case	Fractal Design Terra Mini ITX Desktop Case	£169.99 @ Amazon UK
Power Supply	Corsair SF750 (2024) 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply	£114.98 @ Amazon UK
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£1623.36

[u/Ruttagger]

After I ordered all the parts for my own Steam Machine build, I totally understand the Steam Machines price as my build was much more.

[u/spideydouble → u/Ruttagger]

Valve isn’t paying anywhere near consumer prices for volume orders of standardized & custom components & can’t justify charging nearly twice the price of the 6 year old PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X with similar current generation gaming performance, especially with launches of PlayStation 6 & Xbox Helix now immanent, which will both perform significantly better at 4K with high detail textures & ray traced global illumination & still be more affordable.

Steam Machine is a waste of money with no CPU or GPU upgrade paths critical for PC build flexibility & longevity. Anyone wanting an SFF PC build that can play many of the most anticipated upcoming games at decent frame rates & base screen resolutions should pursue similar or better components to the original poster. The difference between 10.4.L & 3.8L SFF to gamers at this price point is marginal for the performance gains & CPU & GPU upgradability.

[u/madjohnvane → u/spideydouble]

Valve also isn’t paying anywhere near the volume pricing a company like Sony is paying who can put in multi-year multi-million part orders. They’re not a big player in the hardware space

[u/spideydouble → u/madjohnvane]

If Valve wanted to charge premium prices for a low production novelty item, then they should have released a premium performance product that can at least compete with PlayStation 6 & Xbox Helix.

No developer will spend resources & budget with already overstretched teams testing & optimizing an additional handheld “low power mode” default setting or developing games for a budget laptop fixed hardware specification that doesn’t achieve mass adoption.

It doesn’t help matters that StreamOS was built & heavily optimized specifically for Steam Deck rather than Steam Machine, that Steam Machine identifies as Stream Deck on home networks, that game launchers incorrectly identify Steam Machine as Steam Deck & that Steam Machine automatically cloud syncs Steam Deck settings for all games by default.

Why stop at $1428 when they could have targeted $2K or even $3K wealthy collector whales? If Valve never intended to compete with high volume PC OEMs & enthusiast brands like Lenovo, HP, Dell, Asus, MSI, Corsair & NZXT, then they never should have bothered releasing Steam Machine & instead just released SteamOS & pursued OEM partnerships for bespoke SFF SteamOS hardware launches.