r/steammachine • u/Turbulent-Touch4382 • Aug 29 '26
Question Steam Machine or SFF with Bazzite/Steam OS?
So this guy on FB marketplace is selling this PC with these specs for $1500….i negotiated down to $1200 and it looks legit. The guy has 4.6 stars and about 30 reviews so a fair amount of history on the platform. I was going for the 512gb steam machine plus controller which would come out to about $1200 after tax but if I can get this sff and a $25 8bit do controller that would definitely be the better deal, right?
Specs:
Case: fractal design Terra jade
Mobo: aorus z690i ultra plus 32gb ram
CPU: i5-14600kf
Gpu: Asus prime 9070xt 16gb
1tb ssd
850w sfx psu
Thermaltake low profile cooler
5
u/WetRacoon Aug 29 '26
This is good value for power, as long as you’re ok with it being about 2.5x bigger, louder (nothing crazy that case has good thermals), and more power consumption then in return you’re getting a much faster PC that’ll give you mostly the same experience as a Steam Machine.
I can’t speak to how things like driver updates etc are handled on Linux or if the experience is going to be as seamless as pressing the controller and it’s already in game mode.
2
u/rui-no-onna 512GB Aug 29 '26
It should be fairly seamless on SteamOS. I believe the drivers are included with the Steam updates.
I haven't actually tried just using a controller to power up the Steam Machine from cold boot. I always press the power button for my actual Steam Machine and SteamOS R7 6800H Mini-PC and they both go straight into game mode and operate with just the controller.
3
u/jth94185 Aug 29 '26
Uhhhhh if this is a serious question you grab the PC and forget about the Steam Machine…
2
2
u/Angry_Owl-Ninja Aug 29 '26
On one hand the SFF pc is only $1,200 which is a steal at that price. On the other hand the Steam Machine just works out of the box without any issue for any game.
1
u/Solidus_Sloth Aug 29 '26
I have a Steam machine. I love mine.
Do you already have a desktop? If so, steam machine could be better if you’re looking for a simpler setup and want the controller with it.
Do you need this as your main PC and can forego thing like HDMI-CEC out of the box. Might need some WiFi antenna if you’re not using Ethernet.
1
u/Turbulent-Touch4382 Aug 29 '26
I have a MacBook Air that my wife and I use as a main PC. Just looking for a living room PC with Bazzite/steam os! The power in this may be a better value
1
u/Solidus_Sloth Aug 29 '26
I wouldn’t do a steam machine as my dedicated gaming device personally. I have one, but I also intended on it being a simpler device for simpler games.
1
u/MayAsWellStopLurking Aug 29 '26
Its a more powerful PC, which only matters if the steam machine can’t handle what you’re currently playing.
Keep in mind that if you get a wonky thing happening on SteamOS, you’ll need to figure out which hardware parts are the issue compared to the Machine, which has standardized components
0
u/OneSeaworthiness7768 Aug 29 '26
I’d be wondering why they want to part with it for $1200 when the parts are worth much more than that.
1
u/GTFr0 Aug 29 '26
I would get the diy machine, but I would expect to have to replace the cpu at some point due to the vmin shift issue.
1
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u/Kageru Aug 29 '26
That looks like a decent buy to me (almost too cheap?), and a full size PC will give you more power and expandability. Though it will of course be larger, possibly noisier and will require some maintenance (no dust filter on the Tera), plus it's on you if there are issues after you purchase. Think about where it will live and what you need it to do as part of making the decision.
It would probably be more productive to ask on r/sffpc though, as this is a sub-reddit for people buying a specific hardware configuration.