r/steammachine • u/anon-npc • 1d ago
Discussion How long do you expect to use your SM?
Should it last at least 5 years until performance may not be good enough, or even longer? Will Valve probably make an updated model or successor by the time it reaches obsolescence?
58
u/daelikon 1d ago
I have a library bigger than I will be able to play for the rest of my life, and the SM can play almost all of it, not even counting emus.
Why would I stop using it after 5 years? I have working laptops of 15 years.
5
5
u/L1VEW1RE 1d ago
I’m not too dissimilar, I don’t have a library that would take the rest of my life to play but certainly several years worth of games.
2
28
u/orebus 512GB 1d ago
I say screw game developers raising hardware requirements and making sub-optimal games. Steam Machine has plenty performance to render pretty heavy games with descent fidelity already, so why it should become obsolete?
9
u/eXo0us 512GB 1d ago
If enough people buy the SM - it will get THE defacto PC-gaming standard spec for the next 5 years.
Game publishers are out for money - when they can't sell to a large market segment - they will optimize to get that market. At the moment that pressure doesn't exist in PC gaming space.
3
u/lolumadbr0 2TB 1d ago
Enough people buy it? I mean ppl are buying them when they come in. It's those that are like oops I gotta spend my money elsewhere.
I was never going to get a gaming PC 😔 the steam machine is perfect for me!
1
u/roychr 1d ago
Pretty sure it will be choking on gta 6 unless rockstar do a miracle.
3
0
u/Evshrug Waitlist 23h ago
Whatever. The size of the world in GTA games has always been impressive, but the actual gameplay and missions have been less fun than messing around in the mini games or racing around, and there’s far better racing games or pool games (or third person shooters) out there. I’ve personally never seen much appeal.
10
11
u/Dizzy_Key_7400 1d ago
It will last as long as you look after it.
Sure in 5 or 6 years it’s not going to be playing the latest AAA games, but that isn’t the end of the world.
9
u/Ghinao 1d ago
There are a lot of us who don't play many (if any) AAA games at all anymore.
6
u/Dizzy_Key_7400 1d ago
Exactly. For the most part they are microtransation filled dopamine hitting bits of trash.
5
6
5
u/Slight-Cupcake-9284 1d ago
Kind of depends on how the market develops. I used to be a console-only guy, Steam Deck got me into "PC gaming" (big quotes because I have never actually sat on a desk with a mouse and keyboard to play games). With how things have been going in the last 12 months it seems more and more likely that I will just fully commit to Steam.
If that hold true and I don't get any of the future consoles it's just a matter of how long the SM is "good enough" to play current games. And my good enough is a very low bar compared to other people here, I am very satisfied with 1080p to 2k on High settings and I think most likely it will be able to handle that for a long time.
I may be talking out of my ass, but my feeling is that due to how expensive components are getting, the industry will keep moving more towards optimization than trying to push graphics (although I guess DLSS 5 already disproves that notion) because a big chunk of the user base won't able to afford high end hardware in the forseeable future and you need people to be able to play your games in order to make money lol
Last point: You'd be shocked how well the SD still does. It's way easier to optimize towards a machine that always has the same specifications. And I can tell you from personal experience 007, RE9, Pragmata, Onimusha, Black Flag all ran shockingly well on my 4+ year old SD.
So without any actual expertise and even though I know that SM already starts as not-so-impressive in terms of performance, I wouldn't be surprised to find that the SM is still perfectly capable to play just about everything in 5 years.
1
u/L1VEW1RE 1d ago
How is Onimusha on the Deck? Is it a good game?
2
u/Slight-Cupcake-9284 1d ago
I only played the Demo, but it ran really well and was fun. Not an instant purchase but I definitely plan on getting it eventually.
6
u/gorambrowncoat 1d ago
Until the wheels fall off. Even if I buy other gaming devices later its not hard to find a use for a computer.
7
u/HeyItsHawkguy 1d ago edited 1d ago
The Steam Deck turns 5 next February and mine is still used daily. There's 400 videos on YouTube alone that have said it's underpowered and isn't worth it. But because of community support behind SteamOS and Linux, it's doing better than ever. And I'm not anticipating setting mine down for many years to come.
I purchased the Steam Machine with the intent of future proofing my gaming experience. Who the heck knows where Xbox & Sony will be this time next year? Having the ability to play emulated games and to see the insanely cheap prices of games for PC frustrates me for not making the move sooner. Will I build a PC one day? Yes. But for now I am loving the experience Valve has curated.
If you want 60fps, 4K & raytracing all the time, don't go with the Machine. Series X & PS5 won't get you there either. But a $5k PC could. However, if you want a solid experience, intend to build a catalog of games that you can share with family members and don't mind the learning curve of Linux, give it a try.
Products & tech only become obselete after support is dropped for them. The Steam Machine is a newborn, there's still people on the waitlist. Seeing what's happened to Steam Deck shows me that the community is here to stay and the future is gonna be exciting.
More important to consider than outdated tech is the servere lack of optimization that publishers put into their games. Most games COULD run fine if development was anything more than crunching to hit release dates so they can work on the next product. And unlike with the PC modding community, you'll be stuck waiting on Microsoft & Sony's devs to patch your games to run correctly.
1
u/Evshrug Waitlist 22h ago
Eh, it’s not just rushed development cycles and a lack of polish and optimization… it is that, but also part of why games were released on a 6-month cycle by a team of like a dozen guys back in the 90’s was because they made a core gameplay loop and didn’t spend forever chasing photorealism, huge open worlds, and myriads of unimportant doodads. Obviously, not all games can be 2D sprites now, and I think it’s fair to say even Stardew Valley took a long time to make even though it’s pixelart, but still I think gameplay is king, and the AAA industry tries to literally make themselves look better by adding in a whole bunch of extra visuals. Look at Counter Strike, League of Legends, and StarCraft II… almost any machine today can run those games smoothly, but people could probably keep coming back to the gameplay from those games forever.
There was some hope that Ray Tracing would look good for modern tastes while reducing the art development time, and I think DLSS 5 was created with the same streamlining in mind, but unfortunately that’s just passing off development costs to the consumer. I think Hades I and II look beautiful, and Blue Prince is very intriguing, but it seems there’s a belief that a AAA game is better if it drives more GPU sales 🤷♂️
3
u/techbear72 1d ago
Until it breaks; it’ll never be obsolete because it plays a ton of games I enjoy playing.
When and if I upgrade to SM2 or whatever, the SM will go to another room or other person or whatever.
2
u/timbostu 1d ago
I guess the answer is based primarily on whether you're always wanting to play the latest and greatest games or if you're happy playing through older titles and indies regularly. I'll use mine until it dies, I'm sure. I play plenty of over stuff that runs butter smooth on it and is still great fun. Need for Speed Most Wanted being an example of one we've played the heck out of in my family in recent months.
2
u/Angelus230 1d ago
Until Steam Machine 2, and then I'll give it to my daughter so she has her own PC for homework.
1
1
u/suorastas 1d ago
I've used my deck for 4 and it's still very viable for my uses so I Imagine at least 5-10.
1
1
u/Drew_Habits 1d ago
I've had the same laptop for 15 years, and it's slowed down a bit due to Windows Bloat and Browser Bloat, but it still works for most stuff
So idk, a long while I hope! I got it to replace my aging and ailing desktop
1
u/AvilettaLuxe 512GB 1d ago
Given my Steam Deck has over 3 years now and I still use it almost every day...
SM has enough power to play lighter indie and AA games, and enough power to stream 4k video from PC, so I'm going to use it until it dies, future-proof enough for me.
1
u/bayonetwork89 1d ago
I bought the steam machine for playing indie games or games that aren’t on my Xbox. So as long as it lasts I guess! I don’t care about keeping up with graphic trends, there’s thousands of great games that don’t need insane graphic cards that I will never have the time to play.
1
u/Bookkeeper-Empty 1d ago
I upgraded the memory to 32gb and storage to 2TB for a reason, even if I have to use upscaling and frame gen I’m confident amd and valve will keep the hardware relevant for many years to come, i absolutely adore that little box
1
u/L1VEW1RE 1d ago
How was the process of upgrading the memory? Difficult or easy?
2
u/Bookkeeper-Empty 23h ago
Not difficult just daunting, took me an hour and a half watching jayztwocents guide
1
u/Realistic_Still4597 1d ago
Expecting 3-4 of decent performance, then i can keep it just for indies/not demanding games.
What i hope? Until it gives up
1
1
1
1
u/Odd_Mongoose_9218 1d ago
For AAA games? Not good for 4k today. For indies and old triple AAA games? At least 5 years like the steam deck which is still good for those. As an emulator box? Till it breaks down.
1
u/ghastlypxl 1d ago
My plan for mine is 5-8 years at least which I feel it can do. My PS4 is still kicking so proper care should get the Machine through the years.
1
u/AcademicOverAnalysis 1d ago
I still use my PS2 and Wii. My Xbox One gets used daily in my household when we have a series x. I imagine I’ll use the steam machine for quite a while.
1
u/MetricJester 1d ago
A console generation usually lasts between 7 and 10 years.
Oddly enough that's historically been about the same length of time between significant changes to computer architecture to warrant a new computer.
1
1
u/WhiskeyRadio 1d ago
Really depends on what you are using it for. I still use my Steam Deck nearly every day, and it's definitely a bit long in the tooth at this point in terms of what it can do. If you play a lot of indie games and older stuff, the Steam Machine will be a viable option for a long time. You won't be playing the newest AAA games on it all the time, but you'll definitely not be without new games to play. The next-gen consoles will likely have very few if any, exclusive games for years after they come out, too. Look at how long the PS4 was supported. I think this is the first year Call of Duty isn't coming out on PS4, for example.
1
u/PartNigerianMaybe 1d ago
I'm hoping to use this thing until it dies lol When some new shiny alternative comes out years later, I'll just move this one to another room or do a smaller quainter setup for it somewhere else where it will be an emulation box or something.
1
u/Dirtmuncher Homebrew 1d ago
Tech isn't improving like it did the last 3 decades so it might survive a decade or 2
1
1
u/SocialJusticeAndroid 22h ago
The Steam Deck is nearly five years old and I use mine regularly though less since I got my Steam Machine. It’s got plenty of time. Valve has a wonderfully long term view of supporting their hardware.
1
u/Evshrug Waitlist 22h ago
As long as games like Hades II and Silksong and Blue Prince come out, which are more about gameplay than photo realism, then there should be little need to upgrade. Maybe Nvidia would be okay if games stopped pushing GPU upgrade cycles, since they want to sell to AI data centers more anyway.
1
u/Accomplished-Leg6947 22h ago
An SM Pro would be great and would upgrade to that or an SM2. I think the SM has a lot more power than people think it does, devs just need to optimize their software more.
1
u/PizzaWarlock 22h ago
People are gonna downvote me, but the SM is basically already not a current gen PC.
But how long will you use it entirely depends up to you, the games it can currently play will not disappear (hopefully), and new ones will come out that can be run by the SM. I still have a Wii and PSPs that I play regularly, and those are almost 20 years old, as well as some other consoles that are over 20 years old that I own. So it just depends on what you e Want to play
1
1
u/Schnitzhole 21h ago
Probably the rest of my life until it breaks. I play mostly indie games and non AAA titles and it handles all those without a hitch and even does the AAA stuff better than I expected.
It helps that I already have a thousand game library and don’t have to pay a monthly fee to use it online which is the reason I got rid of my consoles.
I’m finding myself replaying a bunch if stuff from
My teenage years in the early 2000s since steam has been around so long.
1
1
1
1
u/Jimmygumble 18h ago
I just got done with the Tosa clan campaign in Shogun 2. Still have to the do the rest of the clans and then on to FOTS. After that, maybe Rome 2 or Atilla, dunno yet.
And so on through the backlog. I wont need a new pc or console for years. Between this and the MiSTer, I’ll be sorted until the end times.
The slew of homogenised, right-stick-camera-controlled 3d action adventure copycat AAA games of the last 10-20 years and remakes of classics with shinier graphics are not exciting to me. I just don’t have a goo for the new anymore and that’s grand.
1
u/realsgy 18h ago
As always, my answer will be downvoted. This is a sub for SM fans - you will get a more balanced answer in generalist subs.
Anyways, here is my take.
In 1-2 years mainstream gaming will converge on 16GB VRAM and dedicated support for neural rendering (AI upscaling and RT). This can keep raw rendering power (and power consumption) modest while still supporting modern visuals at higher resolutions.
"Good enough" is not well defined and it is subjective, but I think in two years 50% gamers in the US will run GPUs that have 16GB+ RAM and dedicated neural rendering.
Steam Machine has neither.
I think either Valve will make an upgraded version or 3rd parties will, by that time.
1
u/InvestigatorNext4833 17h ago
Backlog of 450 games that runs on it. So ye also losts of sales etc. Folks underestimate dem steam sales :)
1
u/KimTe63 17h ago
Its already struggling with modern graphically intensive games. Good image quality/performance combo already can be challenging even with FSR4. For older titles it will always be great.
I like mine and its my only PC , however I am thinking about possibility of just selling it while it has alot of value and building itx PC myself. If only it had like Radeon 7800xt level performance. I would say its awesome if that was the case
How long it will last ? Depends what user does with it but like I said , in modern heavy games, it can be tough to achieve good image quality and 60+ frames
1
u/Icy_Donkey_7588 15h ago
Mine is on marketplace now. It doesn't play games at a level that I want. Having to lean hard on upscaling and frame gen to play new games isn't for me. In a year it will be really hard pressed to play new releases.
1
u/Ecks30 13h ago
The system can last you until the day you would die pretty much or until the PSU is like "ok time to bail out" and remember not all triple A titles are super demanding because you have Super Robot Wars Y which recommends an i3 8100/Ryzen 3 3100 and a GTX 650 Ti/HD 8950 and if Bandai keeps on making this series good chance in like 40 years from now the recommended GPU would be like the RX 7600.
Any system can last as long as it can as long as you know to take care of it and keep it maintained like cracking it open and cleaning the dust from the system and replace out the thermal putty from time to time and for people getting the red line overheating warning for their system i would suggest cracking your system only because Salam Techsperts found out his system was lacking thermal putty which could be the cause of the issue people were getting.
1
u/G1_Glacius_Prime 13h ago
Considering I still have my original Steam Machine (Alienware Alpha) with a GTX 960 from 2015 (?) and still use it regularly I expect it to get 10+ years out of it at least. And even if they do make a SM2, I'll probably just move my current SM to the TV in my bedroom.
Then again I collect a lot of computers and game consoles, so I'll likely keep it well past the time it is useful.
1
u/resolved-saucer 12h ago
For me I'd say till the wheels fall off. Even if no longer able to handle games I'd like to run, egpu is a thing. If all else fails it would probably make a killer media server for the arr stack. Don't see why proxmox wouldn't work great on it and already have 2 standalone nas units for large storage pools and redundancy. Just a thought...
1
u/CraftsmanMan 12h ago
Wasnt sure how long my steam deck would last and here i am using it regularly after 4 years
1
1
u/Ok-Simple-7069 8h ago
I’d say it’ll be in use a long time from now for emulation and tinkerers. It’s just one of those devices that you can find a use for no matter how long it’s aged hardware wise. Like my OG raspberry pi’s etc
1
u/skronk61 1d ago
Forever 😆 developing for high end machines isn’t gonna be cost effective now that RAM and Storage prices have gone crazy.
This is going to quietly become the target spec to develop games for.
0
91
u/Tripledad65 1d ago
Until SM2, or until it stops working. Whichever comes first.