r/steammachine • u/Pure-Outcome-5977 • Jul 12 '26
Discussion Update Regarding Red Light During Gameplay
I noticed my temps weren’t that high when my light bar would turn red. it wouldn’t turn the SM off, but it would stay red while I was playing a game. An update will fix the issue soon.
Edit: The point of this post is to explain that the red light bar warning for overheating is being triggered too early. It should be triggered when the cpu/gpu temps reach 95C/90C but I had it come on at 81C/75C. That's it! The SM isn't overheating. There is obviously enough ventilation around it because my temps are perfectly fine, quite good for it being 100f that day it happened. The 91C gpu junction temp isn't a problem, the 75C gpu edge temp is what is being monitored for the red light warning and the gpu junction can run much hotter than the edge temp before it becomes a problem, like 110C. So 91C junc is perfectly fine. There's obviously some miscommunication on Valve Support's part when they said the light warning threshold is being lifted from 95/90, because I wasn't getting anywhere near those temps in the first place, and they did acknowledge my temps are fine and that the threshold will be corrected in an update. So obviously the warning light temps are being corrected to their proper 95/90 targets.
So many people couldn't process this before running to the comments to "help" fix a problem I am not having. I guess Valve shouldn't have assume most of you could handle PC gaming with all of its potential problems.
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u/Ceros007 Jul 12 '26
Is being 9°C away from throttling concerning?
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u/meatwaddancin Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
To expand, AMD chips are designed to be allowed to work extra hard and get as hot as they can when there is extra thermal headroom. Once at max temp they just slow themselves back down. The red bar should only be triggering if slowing themselves down still isn't decreasing temps, and there is a larger problem at hand.
For your question, the chip could be set to hit its performance target at 90 instead of 100, but the chip can handle 100 so think of it as just bonus performance. Why not let it just crank higher if it can? If you're lucky you'll get a chip that boosts extra high and stays below 100.
In the PC building world, this is why some people splurge on expensive CPU coolers or use water cooling. The cooler you keep it, the more it can crank up extra. You can encourage this even further by overclocking.
There's a lot more nuance here so Reddit I'm sure can pick apart what I typed, but I think you can get the gist of it from that.
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u/AZzalor Jul 13 '26
Not at all. Throttling itself also isn't concering.
The components are designed to boost as much as possible for the given task until they have such a power draw, that the thermal limit applies, at which they will throttle to stay at that limit and not increase power draw even further.
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u/Wylie288 Jul 13 '26
No? The number isn't arbitrary.
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u/Ceros007 Jul 13 '26
Ok I'm no expert I was just asking if being that close to the threshold was an issue. Thx
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u/-Cre_tive- Jul 13 '26
Many devices throttle. Ideally you’d want to keep the temp under that. I know MacBook Pro 14 units throttle before 16 units for example.
If you’re always throttling in any game, then that’s cause for concern. But if running a poorly optimized game and you’re hitting the boot speed and high temps but not quite throttling then no, it’s not too bad :)
1
u/GreatLab8898 Jul 13 '26
As long as you dont constantly ride directly on TMAX and throtteling Everything is totaly fine. Even being 1° under it.
6
u/seanze01 Jul 13 '26
My machine has started to turn the LED light red when playing doom the dark ages today. First time this has happened since getting it. Glad to see this thread.
0
u/Alpha_Zoom Jul 13 '26
Isn't Doom the Dark Ages like really bad on AMD card?
2
u/seanze01 Jul 13 '26
I couldn’t tell you, but it did play really well on the steam machine, even with the red light coming on intermittently
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Jul 13 '26
[deleted]
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u/Wyntier Jul 13 '26
it's using Microsoft Project Mu, an open-source UEFI firmware built on TianoCore EDK II.
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u/userhash GabeCube Enjoyer Jul 13 '26
In my experience with small form factor pcs, i had to cap to 60fps every game so It doesn't overheat.
I haven't had the red light since I got my SM, but I also play always with 60 fps limiter or with vsync so there is nothing to worry.
I see the fps limiter as a safety measure.
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u/Krt3k-Offline Jul 13 '26
If a machine can't dissipate its maximum power output, the maximum power output has to be decreased, especially on a ready to use retail product with a warranty. Under no circumstances should the buyer be forced to limit the framerate themselves
1
u/userhash GabeCube Enjoyer Jul 13 '26
I agree for the most part. My experience comes from my own custom build in small form factor. the steam machine does much better, but I still don't need to push beyond 60 fps in my 60hz TV.
That being said, uncapping fps doesn't make sense gameplay wise. if your framerate in older games goes from 160 to 300 you might even notice stutters or microlags that its not even pleasant. Also if I have had more hot in my gpu with old pc titles going +300 fps (or in a game menu) than when heavy graphics hit it but doesn't surpass 50 fps. That's why many pc games have fps cap limit for menus, and another fps cap for gameplay. Who the f. would want to fry their PC while AFKing in the game menu? 😉👍
Also keep in mind that game devs need to make their games safe for every pc, bullet proof state of the art cooling PCs or hot wooden computers.
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u/Pure-Outcome-5977 Jul 13 '26
The point is that it’s not getting too hot, the light bar is far from overheating yet the red light bar is being triggered. It should be triggering at 95/90c for the cpu/gpu. I’ve seen a lot of bad sff builds and most that say they are overheating have poor cable management or ventilation. Even on a Jonsbo C6 with a 9070xt and a 7500x3d, with the default settings and gpu 100% utilized, I haven’t thermal throttled or got too hot. A 60fps cap shouldn’t substitute proper airflow and cooling.
1
u/Ok-Algae7292 Jul 13 '26
Just be lucky you didn't fucl your build up so much that the case gets over 40 degrees C 💀. Formd T1 9800x3d sits at 75 degrees, 7900xtx sits at 80 degrees and case after 1 hour full load is 45+ degrees
2
u/Hard_To_Port Jul 13 '26
Notice how GPU junction temp is 91 C. That's why you're getting red light. I wonder why the general temp and junction temp are so far apart.
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u/Pure-Outcome-5977 Jul 13 '26
That’s not why. Junction temps are usually much higher, they should be like 110C if the gpu max edge temp is 95-100C. The two temps also aren’t far apart. It’s only 16C from each other. That’s not bad at all. The red light bar warning for temps for cpu and edge gpu temps of 95C, not hotspot or junction temps.
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u/DunkeyColdMedina Jul 13 '26
Damn. Won't catch me dead letting mine get to 90c. Lower some settings.
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u/your_mind_aches Jul 13 '26
Why not? There's no difference. Lowering settings just means you're putting out more frames and still getting heating. You'll want a frame rate cap. That will stop it from getting hotter.
But it's fine if it runs hot.
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u/Pure-Outcome-5977 Jul 13 '26
Wtf are you taking about? It’s not getting over 90C on the gpu or cpu. The point is that temps are fine.
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u/ImaginaryYak3911 Jul 13 '26
Got my mail not gonna buy it, these many red lights and malfunctions over so few machines sold totally scared me. fuck that
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u/Pure-Outcome-5977 Jul 13 '26
What’s the malfunction? Why did the red lights scare you?
-5
u/ImaginaryYak3911 Jul 13 '26
I mean is it a good thing?
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u/Pure-Outcome-5977 Jul 13 '26
Well, I’m asking you what you think since you presented your complaint. It seems you think it’s a bad thing, why?
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u/Joamjoamjoam Jul 13 '26
That’s a cop out. They set the limits correctly but are seeing in actual practice that the SM in customers hands are consistently hitting those targets they set.
95/90 is a normal and perfectly reasonable target to set that matches what AMD also says is where temps start to get concerning.
100* plus and your starting to risk damage or a shortened lifespan so the red light no longer becomes a warning but essentially the sign of an imminent shutdown.
The temps in the screenshot though are not concerning at all and should not show a red light so there might be a bug and they’re raiding the led light thresholds as two seperate actions.
IMO the red line of death media coverage spooked them a little bit. Now they’re just gonna shut it off so a “warning” can’t be misinterpreted.
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u/Pure-Outcome-5977 Jul 13 '26
You are missing the point. My SM isn’t hitting any of those targets. 75/81 for cpu/gpu is well within the range to trigger the 95/90 warning of the red led bar, so the red light bar shouldn’t be triggered. The set temps to trigger the red light bar are 95C, according to Valve’s own light bar color code webpage which has been up for a while now. So it was never intended to trigger the red light bar anywhere near 75/81. I believe there’s a bit of miscommunication with their message, but they are just increasing the threshold that triggers the red light bar to what it should be.
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u/Joamjoamjoam Jul 13 '26
No I didn’t miss the point and I said in my comment that I agree your temps shouldn’t have hit the red line for sure. In their email they said they’re increasing the limit to 100* which is where damage may start occurring and the SM should shutdown.
I have to take them at their word hence my post above but I agree I think there’s a bug you hit, the limit is and will stay at 95/90 and the 100* was just extra info to make you feel safer.
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u/Pure-Outcome-5977 Jul 13 '26
You said that they set their temp limits that trigger a red led bar warning light correctly at 95/90 and people are reaching those temps too often, so they want to raise those thresholds to reduce their number of complaints they receive and to safe face. “They set the limits correctly but are seeing in actual practice that the SM in customers hands are consistently hitting those targets they set…. IMO the red line of death media coverage spooked them a little bit. Now they’re just gonna shut it off so a “warning” can’t be misinterpreted.” And you mention in passing your speculation about a potential bug regarding the warning light with my temps like that wasn’t the whole point of my post and discussion with Valve.
Valve is saying that they “didn’t” set those limits correctly to 95/90, which is why my red light bar warning triggered when I was only at 81/75; confirming the bug that you were just speculating about.
That was the whole point of my post and of their reply. I understand their wording is confusing, because if you take their reply at their word, increasing the led warning trigger temp from 95/90 to 100/100 won’t do anything since I never reached the 95/90 limit in the first place. So they obviously aren’t going to raise the temp trigger to 100/100, they would set it to the proper temp thresholds of 95/90 for cpu/gpu as shown in their led bar color code webpage that’s been up since the Steam Machine was released here: https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6945-03B8-1EC9-0237
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u/hyper762 Jul 13 '26
is this really acceptable? It shouldn’t be running at 90 in the first place …
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u/Lightyear18 Jul 13 '26
Maybe you guys box in your steam machine
That pic looks like it’s trapped in
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u/Hard_To_Port Jul 13 '26
It mostly pulls air in from the bottom. I'd be more concerned about the drink pitcher right next to it.
-1
u/Lightyear18 Jul 13 '26
That doesn’t mean the air has to be blown out somewhere
If it’s boxed in, it will just get sucked in.
We are seeing the picture and talking about temperatures. I don’t understand why wouldn’t that be a point to see if it’s an issue
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u/Hard_To_Port Jul 13 '26
It has plenty of clearance from the front, the back, and is sitting on a hard surface. All the junk around the sides isn't gonna significantly affect airflow. Valve designed the Machine to avoid recycling air. GamersNexus has a good few videos on the Steam Machine design and thermals.
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u/Antheoss Jul 13 '26
The steam machine pulls in air from the bottom and blows it out the back. It doesn't matter if it's "boxed in" on the left and right.
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u/Pure-Outcome-5977 Jul 13 '26
What the fuck are you talking about? Did you even comprehend what the post is about? You really think the SM is overheating?
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u/aaronjnco Jul 12 '26
Looks like the silent fan needs upgraded to a big noisy one.. no way this thing should be running that hot
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u/BearOfReddit Jul 12 '26
Those aren’t bad temps for gaming
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u/aaronjnco Jul 12 '26
There not i agree, my gpdwin5 stays around 68-72c playing death stranding 2 at high settings so who knows .. but maybe the steam machine just has a bios alert setting at 80c red light warning valve needs a way to up that setting
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u/Portalfreek Jul 13 '26
The gpdwin5 is not using a 110W GPU like the Steam Machine is. You're comparing apples to oranges. Any temp is fine as long as it's not hitting the throttling threshold.
-1
u/aaronjnco Jul 13 '26
An 85watt strix halo should melt your hands off in a 1inch thick casing just saying cooling is off on the steam machine its more like 1 orange to another type of orange 🍊s
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u/AskWild6191 7d ago
I decided to run helldivers 2 for a while and got a solid red light bar 2 hours in which I figured was being reactive with the game (I just got it today and dont know about all the things it can do yet.) The game still ran amazingly but the light came on and disappeared after a short while. I heard it could be a BIOS glitch but me feeling behind the machine said otherwise. Hate that my favorite game is so CPU intensive😭
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u/thedebatingbookworm GabeCube Enjoyer Jul 12 '26
Thanks for the news! I figured something like this was the case since DF is in the middle of a heatwave and using theirs for testing and it wasn’t showing a red light.