Companion Cube 😍
The only thing the old Steam Machines were missing a decade ago was good Linux compatibility via Proton, but now we’ve got that! I have literally never been more excited for a new “console.” Goodbye, Steam Deck.
Goodbye to Steam Deck for this? Both, both is good.
I’m buying this not just for TV play, but hopefully also streaming to SD as a performance upgrade (without handing a ton of money annually to GeForce for laggy inputs), as someone who hasn’t had a desktop to do that in a long while. At that point, Steam Deck is a GabeCube accessory turning it into a Switch.
That sounds like the perfect setup! If the Steam Deck were smaller, that’s exactly what I’d do too.
After finally getting a pay raise and trying Switch 2, the size is pretty subjective. I appreciate SD’s bigger size giving not only a better controller grip, but also actually good speakers.
It’s totally a personal preference thing, but the Deck really deserves the love it’s gotten. The screen and speakers are amazing, which is rare for handhelds. I have high hopes for the AYN Thor as an eventual successor to my 3DS.
Ah, I should keep an eye on that. I love Steam Deck but the 3DS is the best console I’ve ever had, and was hoping some replacements would be available in 20 years when it breaks and used are hard to find.
I, for one, can’t wait for the limited edition companion cube edition to get released exactly 30 days after I have my steam machine delivered.
Thank you for your sacrifice. The same thing happens to me at my bus stop whenever I open my umbrella on a rainy day. The bus arrives as soon as I open it.
Goodbye, Steam Deck.
Nah, just stream from the Steam Machine to your Steam Deck.
This is the weirdest looking humidifier I have ever seen.
Pretty exciting announcement! I was thinking about building a new rig and retiring my current machine with a 3080 to the TV. This might change that.
What I’m more curious about is how are the folks at Microsoft reacting to this news, since it sounds like the next Xbox was essentially going to be a PC. With Valve doing it first and the fact that the Steam store is so huge, I’m imagining this makes them a bit nervous.
Never buying Microsoft after the recall bullshit. Also not paying monthly subscription to enable Internet on my device
don’t wait for this, get or build a normal pc that you can change parts anytime you want, you will not regret it.
If I were 20 years older, I’d be happy to spec out a mini-ITX build. But with a 3 year old running my life, my time is limited and if the price of this is right, it might make more sense for where my current life is at.
I’ve got 3 under 10 and it’s brutal trying to find time for hobbies. I paid someone to repaste my GPU and that felt weird as hell
I completely understand where you’re coming from, no shame in that game!
if you have time to play videogames on one of these you also have the time to build your own pc. You don’t have to anyway, you can pay someone to build it for you, the price would be about the same.
I’m a bit concerned about the vram situation. 8Gb is not a lot nowadays, particularly if you start adding stuff like ai framegen and stuff which these types of machines tend to need further down the line.
An extra 8gb wouldn’t have killed the profit margins.
An extra 8gb wouldn’t have killed the profit margins.
I see you haven’t checked ram prices lately…
Bulk pricings has increased sure, but not to the extent consumer price did. Capitalism, ho!
Given that they’d have locked in the supply at least half a year ago, though, it would be funny (though unrealistic) to find out they contributed to the price hike 😂
Would it be safe to assume their processor/gpu magic that brought us the deck has advanced enough since then to compensate?
I’m no hardware guru, but wouldn’t it be possible to use a swap file or other methods to simulate extra ram if optimized and efficient enough?
As a deck owner, it’s not that powerful, you’re never going to drive it at full settings on most modern games, so the size of the vram does not matter all that much.
Also, the GPU already does the cache work itself if the vram is full anyway, and GDDR is much faster than regular DDR, which is why you see stuttering on 8gb GPUs when texture resolution is pushing the limits.
With the spot price if GDDR6 modules it’s frankly disappointing to only see 8gb.
Plus, add in the fact that FSR/DLSS models take up valuable vram size to work for framegen and stuff, it reduces even more the availability for actual data.
It seems to just be a 7600m laptop GPU which comes with 8Gb. I don’t think this is a custom chip like SONY uses but, just off the shelf stuff AMD sold for a discount.
This will no doubt be good for linux pc gaming. On the steamdeck Valve contributed greatly to the opensource proton project.
Linux PC gaming is already here. The only games that don’t work with Proton are if the developers specifically disable support for Linux (via intrusive anti cheat).
I’m excited to see what it can do at idle power draw along with the price. This can end up being a really good miniPC if it’s priced as competitively as the Deck was when that launched
I sort of gave up on upgrading my under TV Steam machine so this actually looks like a nice way back in.
Is Steam OS available for public use, or only Steam devices?
It is available for public use. https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steamoslandingpage?l=english
It is also arch linux based
based af
They do not list support for desktops, only Steam Deck and some other handheld devices.
Those are the only officially supported devices. They do also provide instructions on how to install SteamOS on other devices, and even encourage feedback on the experience.
They provide the instructions, but last time I checked they took down the install files. Im hoping they come back because i would love to give it a try on my system.
Edit: Just rechecked and it looks like everything is there including files. I know what im doing tonight!
How much jank are you willing to deal with?
Minimal jank
Use Bazzite, or ChimeraOS if you do’nt care about desktop mode
🎶 They’re here! They’re here! They’re fina-lully here! There’s no more time for expectat–
I still don’t get why didn’t they just use an ITX motherboard with a Ryzen 7600 and a Rx 7600 in an ITX case and called it steam machine instead.
Less resources for engineering the thing that could’ve been sued for software development.
Is it less resources though? At that level to buy consumer grade?
I mean you can literally build your own steam machine with that. You can install the os into any PC. That’s the ultimate goal I imagine.
I mean, they could’ve used all that engineering budget that was used in the design of the device for something like, enhancing proton
That’s not how engineering works.
Trust me I know. I am en engineer XD I just don’t remember most of what I learned in university, just the necessary stuff for work
Exactly, if you’re a hardware designer, no amount of money will turn you into a software developer within a month. A dollar of software development is not equal to a dollar of product design. That’s the mindset of shareholders. “Give me $12.99 engineering, and give it now”
Can’t they just hire overqualified people with multiple degrees?
And if farts were rocket fuel I could fly. We all have dreams.
Trust me they are improving proton all on their own. Proton let’s them sell games. That is how they make money - selling games not hardware.
I imagine that’s because that’s what they tried back in 2015 with the Alienware steam machine.
Because they were forced to do the work of making a custom cpu for the handheld, now they have the contracts and relationships to tailor a CPU for their 2026 machine. But you can tell they still want it to be primarily a PC because they only “lightly modified” it.
Couldn’t they just make sure their software worked properly in the CPU/GPU combo of their choice?
After investigating various releases, I suspect that that) slightly modified likely mostly means ‘directly welded to the motherboard instead of socketed’ and it is otherwise probably mostly stock.
I imagine the direct welding is a cost-saving measure to make the product more competitive with consoles.
Given that they announced that the recovery image should now work with a wide variety of systems and that they have stated in multiple places that they plan to eventually release a general version of the OS, they’ve done the work of making it compatible with mostly all AMD stuff. My bet is they’re also working with Nvidia and and their driver support is the holdup.
They have said in interviews that the main reason they made it was to respond to the fact that the majority of steam deck owners keep it docked to a TV most of the time. It is meant to be a living room appliance with all the sound and heat dissipation issues related.
It’s smaller than an Xbox and barely larger than a GameCube. According to the reviewers that saw it, it is also much quieter and smaller than the smallest ITX case, while also being six times more powerful than the deck. It’s targeting a very specific audience that just wants a plug and play gaming experience and don’t want the hassle of PC building.
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Why are people so excited about what looks like custom proprietary hardware designed to have a limited lifespawn and that will end up in a landfill in less than a decade?
I wish it had a more defined upgrade path, I really do. I was actually going to get a Framework 16 until their controversy came to light. For those of us who care for that sort of thing, the only game in town left the building.
So my answer is that this device checks all my boxes except for that. It’s built with Linux in mind, it’s small, it’s not a laptop, it has quality assurance and I don’t have to build it myself, and it can run all my favorite games. And it is still repairable, just not upgradable. But I’m going to get as much life as I can get out of it, and I’m not going to just throw it out or sell it when the next Steam Machine comes around. I’ll make do with what I have until it breaks or becomes unusable.
For those of us who care for that sort of thing,
what sort of thing? a SFF pc? you can build one quite easily of pay someone to build it for you, it’s cheaper and more reliable
I didn’t want to get too specific, but by “that sort of thing” I meant not supporting companies who financially contribute to certain political organizations and individuals. That’s a personal decision and I didn’t want to ruffle any feathers on an unrelated thread.
I’ll also say that not everyone wants to build their own PC and would prefer the assurance that everything will just work out of the box, yet still don’t want a locked-down experience that you’d get with consoles. And that’s okay.
Steam Deck was one-of-a-kind for having a console-like pricing model, while having a high ifixit repairability score, and because it’s not a custom build, there’s a tutorial out there for most repairs or other problems you’ll encounter. So that’s pretty reliable in my book.
I’ll also say that not everyone wants to build their own PC and would prefer the assurance that everything will just work out of the box, yet still don’t want a locked-down experience that you’d get with consoles. And that’s okay.
some people don’t want to cook their launch and get mcdonald
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I’m seriously stoked about this, even though I’m not planning to buy any of the new hardware! It all comes down to the fact that Valve’s hardware projects force them to pump huge resources into open-source development, and we all get the benefits. That means the compatibility tools like Proton—which are essential for the high-end Steam Machine and Steam Frame—are immediately available to my desktop rig. By pushing Linux into the living room, VR, and high-performance space, they’re pressuring game developers to finally treat Linux as a serious platform. Basically, Valve’s huge investment accelerates development and developer adoption, which makes my own Linux desktop a way better and will hopefully get more people into Linux and open source.
Remember that valve main product is a proprietary third party software launcher that doesn’t share much with what linux stand for. With this hardware to me it looks like they are trying to make a console out of a pc.
And yet, with Proton they’re one of the biggest contributors to Linux adoption in the past several years. They’re allowing millions of users to cut the last string that was binding them to Windows
And yet, with Proton they’re one of the biggest contributors to Linux adoption in the past several years.
They are also routing million of users through a proprietary third software launcher. Don’t forget that steam was built on and fueled the windows ecosystem for two decades.
fueled the windows ecosystem for two decades.
That’s nonsense, as if Windows needed any help being dominant in its heyday
Most people don’t really use windowns because they like it but because of the third parties applications that only run on windows, so yea you can point the finger at third parties.
Most people don’t really use windowns because they like it but because of the third parties applications that only run on windows
Most techies, maybe. MAYBE. Linux has not been anywhere near user friendly enough over the past 2 decades to be remotely usable by normal people. Not a chance.
If only a giant corporation like steam made their own Linux based OS and poured huge resources into an open source compatibility layer(maybe even call It proton) that would move more people to Linux and even create more incentive for third party developers to have Linux versions of their applications because of the growing market sjare of end users using linux that would be exciting… 👀👀👀
This is a custom small form factor PC with many of its components being user replaceable. The GPU and CPU are soldered, which is unfortunate, but it is still significantly more upgradable and repairable than any other console that has existed. So what the hell are you on about?
And Valve already has a partnership with iFixit to offer replacement parts for their handheld gaming device, the Steam Deck, and they intended to continue that partnership with their new hardware products.
I think you’re just dumb and don’t know what you’re talking about.
This is a custom small form factor PC with many of its components being user replaceable. The GPU and CPU are soldered, which is unfortunate, but it is still significantly more upgradable and repairable than any other console that has existed. So what the hell are you on about?
Well there seems to be exactly one component that’s upgradable that you don’t have on the other consoles, which is the RAM. And at first sight I think you’ll have to remove the heatsink to get to it.
If you want any ‘usable’ upgradability it’s better to compare to modern minipc’s where you can easily replace the RAM and WiFi, have multiple SSD slots and even have the option to connect an external GPU.
This is a custom small form factor PC with many of its components being user replaceable. The GPU and CPU are soldered, which is unfortunate, but it is still significantly more upgradable and repairable than any other console that has existed. So what the hell are you on about?
Consoles are garbage, bringing a PC close to these is rowing in the wrong direction. Their presentation doesn’t say much about components being replaceable and hint at fix storage. GPU is one of the most important pieces in a machine that is supposed to be dedicated to videogames
I think you’re just dumb and don’t know what you’re talking about.
You are on lemmy, a decentralized and open source platform that doesn’t share peanuts with steam or for profit companies like valve, i may be dump but i encourage you to learn more about open source software/hardware and decentralized platforms.
I’ve used fedora for the past 5 years and run GrapheneOS. I’m familiar with open software dude
It’s a console for PC gaming. Consoles have always been like that. The original Steam Machines were small modular PCs built by system integrators and they sold barely any of them.
the original steam machines had linux in a protonless time so they didn’t have much appeal in the first place
consoles are PCs running proprietary software
So are PCs lol
Don’t get confused, not all PCs are sold with windows preinstalled or require microsoft software to work.
What makes you think you wouldn’t be able to load a different Linux distro on this box? Sounds like it’s just a PC with steam OS pre-installed. Or are you just against an OS being pre-installed?
Sounds like it’s just a PC with steam OS pre-installed.
And soldered parts that you cannot swap easily (not only hardware problems, proprietary firmwares can cause compatibility problems too)
I mean the hardware is a cool toy but everyone else here is excited for the software that will be available and accessible elsewhere. Gotta be honest sounds like you just want to hate it lol which more power to you but you’re not really making sense to me. 🤷
I’m not a hardware guy, how is this different from the Steam Deck? Is the hardware here used of crappy quality by comparison? I thought most people liked the Deck (and everyone in here, I thought this is general Linux for a second), I sure do and will likely use it for a decade.
The steam deck is a portable device, soldering components and custom parts in devices that need to be small it’s more justifiable because it can save space. This box on the other hand is a SFF pc that has to be small only for marketing reasons.
Some people don’t want the same beige tower as you.
With this machine you are stuck to a specific case. With a modular setup you can chose the case you want between thousand.
Fractal design terra has a similar design and can fit a big GPU
Hardware in the cube is said to be roughly 6x more powerful.
Well I know that, but isn’t that good in the context of waste (OP’s problem)? Since PS6 hasn’t been released yet, it’s seems the PS5-like specs here will last a decade and be future proof enough. PS4 is almost 13 years old and still has games coming out. The Switch 2 is PS4 level and it seems to be successful for now, and Steam Deck was aiming for that benchmark too.
(You can tell I’m a tech idiot by how I measure power in Playstations)
The difference is in the form factor. The Steam Deck is a purpose-built device for handheld gaming, with the expectation that it won’t be useful for AAA games that push current PC hardware. It’s found that niche and serves very, very well there. For that reason, it will likely outlive its tech specs - it will continue to work for many lower-spec indie games, because expectations will be reasonable.
The Steam Machine, on the other hand, is positioned as something that can play all current games (that aren’t kernel-level DRMed to hell and back, at least). These become outdated the moment new games start coming out that run poorly on it. Since it’s not upgradeable, the whole device becomes outdated and will need to be replaced if you want to play the next new hotness at a good FPS.
The thing is that since Steam Deck’s release, a lot of competitors made handhelds, and it’s mostly keeping up because of SteamOS. It sounds to me like Valve just needs the Steam Machine to once again offer software, convenience etc. above everyone else in the couch gaming market this is aiming for.
Then the only upgrade most users would want is from Valve themselves, but the same goes for Steam Deck - they said they might make a new one with a big enough generational leap, and then the old SD’s become outdated too. We had emulation machines before Steam Deck - being able to play last gen games on it was still a big appeal.
Also, is constantly upgrading PCs better, when instead of selling off/scrapping the PUs and other parts every 5-10 years, you sell off/scrap PUs annually? I don’t think people doing that are the target audience here anyway. I think some patient gamers would buy a used GabeCube 15 years from now for a low price.
SteamOS, the trackpads that drastically increase the breadth of games that are reasonable to play on it, AND the price-to-performance ratio that blows nearly everything else out of the water.
You’re not wrong; it’s possible that the SM will see a longer lifespan than its specs suggest. I do think it’s more likely to get bumped in less time than the SD though.
This thing has pretty interesting hardware:
The chip almost looks like a cut down AMD Ryzen AI Max 385, but with fewer CPU cores and GPU CUs, but the GPU gets its own dedicated VRAM, rather than sharing it, like it does in something like a Framework Desktop.
It also seems like it gets a decent amount of power, so likely at higher clock speeds, performance should be pretty good for not that much money. If this is supposed to be a console then it can’t be much more than a PS5 at $550 or PS5 Pro at $750.
Moore’s Law is Dead is estimating a $425 cost to produce, sale price between $450 to $600, depending on how hard they want to fuck Microsoft out of gaming.
I suspect the CPU is probably some Ryzen 7640u and the GPU is a 7600m equivalent.
This doesn’t seem to be an APU
You call pretty interesting hardware what looks like non-replaceable parts?
Dave2D mentioned that Valve said it isn’t aiming to directly compete with consoles, but rather sff PCs. So the price will likely be in the $700-900 range(?)
I can see this going for around $750 personally
Below this price it will literally “evaporate” in seconds after release.
It probably will anyway.
Index and Steam Deck both sold like crazy on release, Valve has already proven itself with their hardware.
Last time they’ve locked the sell on account base. Hopefully they’ll do the same this times too.
You’re not fitting a 6 core processor and a **60esque card in a ssf case for less than $1k I don’t think, so even $900 is competitive
I think you can. The Ryzen 7600 and Rx 7600 are kinda cheap nowadays, even better if you use a 7500f.
You use a Chinese b650 ITX motherboard around 150 dollars and boom. You don’t need to buy expensive stuff to make a passable small PC.
I believe that Valve can afford to sell hardware at cost or even a little in the red. Getting people in the steam store ecosystem makes it back and then some in the long term.
They said they wanted to sell it at PC prices not console prices. Probably because this thing is literally a PC that can be used without ever downloading a single game. If it were too cheap companies could buy it as cheap office PCs.
Normally that only works if you have DRM that locks the games to your platform, so that people don’t get the hardware at a discount then use it to run someone else’s software.
But, in Valve’s case, it really has no competitors in the PC gaming space. That might not last forever, but it almost certainly will last as long as this PC / console is around.
Well, they already did that with the Deck, they earn very little from the hardware. Chances are they’ll do the same.
Is it an APU, or is it a “desktop” CPU and GPU on one board? CPU specs are close to the 7600x but downlocked. And with dedicated vram I’d assume the GPU is it’s own separate thing.
GPU looks like it’s probably a tweaked RX 7400 based on the specs.
Is it an APU, or is it a “desktop” CPU and GPU on one board?
2 separate chips, both soldered to the board
This seems to blur the lines between desktop and mobile APU’s, but I would bet that’s it’s closer to a higher clocked mobile chip, than it is to desktop. The only reason I think this is the case is due to the similarity spec wise with the Max 385, and that it’s semi-custom.
If it was just a 7600x CPU + 7600 GPU I think they would have just said so. It could be separate CPU+GPU, but I think it might be possible that it is built more like a SOC, where the GPU is just given its own dedicated VRAM.
Looking at the hardware of say a PS5, it has 16 GB of GDRR6, the same as the Steam Machine’s VRAM.
If everything is soldered anyway, there is no reason to have separate chips for CPU+GPU, especially if that hardware already exists like the AMD Ryzen AI Max line.
According to Dave2D’s review, RAM is upgradeable, and GPU has dedicated VRAM.
Well I’m probably wrong then, framework said they couldn’t get good performance and maintain signal integrity with upgradable memory for the Ryzen Max cpus, so this is likely discrete Cpu and GPU. Probably all soldered in the same mainboard though.
Well I’m probably wrong then, framework said they couldn’t get good performance and maintain signal integrity with upgradable memory for the Ryzen Max cpus
On the other hand, Framework is run by far right sympathizers and are a few billion short of what Valve’s R&D might have access too.
If everything is soldered anyway, there is no reason to have separate chips for CPU+GPU, especially if that hardware already exists like the AMD Ryzen AI Max line.
Cost is a factor because just as with Steam Deck the two SKUs will only differ in storage space, not in performance. Using last gen RDNA3 is 100% a cost driven choice.
There was the story recently that AMD demanded a very high minimum order (10 million or so?) for semi-custom versions of the lasest Ryzen and RDNA iterations for some Xbox handheld which is unlikely that handheld would sell.
By going this route, Valve avoided this. Surely there is spare manufacturing capacity for RDNA3 by now.
To keep the package small, they might still have laptop type discreet GPU, just integrated on the same board.
I would have thought unified memory would pay off, otherwise you spend your time shuffling stuff between system memory and vram. Isn’t the deck unified memory?
What you lose shuffling between CPU and GPU you gain by not having your GPU and CPU sharing the same bandwidth.
Apple gets away with it by having an ungodly massive memory bus. I don’t think valve is getting a 512 bit memory bus on what’s probably a RX 7400/Ryzen 7600 tier CPU. Both of those combined would be like half that?
Apple gets away with it by having an ungodly massive memory bus.
It’s kind of impressive how effective Apple’s marketing team was towards developers when they started that push towards ARM PCs. A lot of people can remember that having shared memory benefits from not having to copy memory between the CPU and GPU, but barely any of them remember that the only reason it’s feasible is because Apple gave their devices insanely high memory bandwidth.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, look no further than the original Nintendo Switch. With an incredible 64-bit memory bus and 1600MHz memory clock speed, it was already being bottlenecked by its memory bandwidth 2 years into its lifespan. And that’s counting first/second-party titles like the Link’s Awakening remaster, not even shitty ports of games made for other consoles.
I was going to build a gaming pc for the first time in years on Black Friday
This news put it on hold immediately. I’ll just get the Steam Machine instead, it’s exactly what I’ve wished for: a more powerful Steam Deck without a screen or controller built in.
AND it’ll run 4k games so I don’t need to downscale to my monitor.
I’m perfectly fine with it being FSR and only 60fps, as 99% of the stuff I play are single player games anyway.
With 8GB of VRAM, 4K gaming will suffer some.
4k FSR, so it’s not rendered at 4k, but upscaled on the GPU
Which I’m perfectly fine with
Then it’s not actually running games at 4K, now, is it?
Nope, and I’m perfectly fine with it. It’s still better than 1080p
I’m wondering how much horsepower this stationary device have compared to a PS5 or Series X.
I’m not the best at gauging this but it seems it’s meant to be carried around and plugged into a 4K TV and operate okay at 60fps for most games that multiple people would play while in the same room. The specs seem to align with that. What would the GPU be comparable to? A 6700 (non XT)?
GamersNexus estimates a 7600.
Retro Game Corps was estimating $500-$600 and they are defintely out to lunch with that
Depends on tariffs.
This is not only about gaming. If this low consume high performance sweety is actually affordable, 2026 could actually become the biggest year ever for Linux users. SteamOS is based on Arch Linux, and considering the power of the machine, editing should be more than doable. Now, i’m not too sure about the current compatibility/emulation of windows native software on linux, but with a substantial increase in desktop users, there could be some serious breakthrough, just like we already had with Proton for the games.
Litetally two days ago, I said that Proton is the most important project in the history of linux, in terms of getting linux to a mass adoption / user base.
Got mostly downvotes.
Then this happens.
Another thing I’vr been saying for a while:
Kernel Anti Cheat profileration in huge AAA games has the effect of stymying wider linux adoption.
It will be MSFT’s last trump card, now that they’re basically just a mega publisher, in terms of video games.
The relevant bit is not that SteamOS is based on Arch, but that it is running KDE Plasma desktop.
with a substantial increase in desktop users there could be some serious breakthrough like we already had with Proton
Most desktop users are not going to turn developers.
I don’t think that’s what they mean. They mean it’ll show these companies that there’s a market and money to be made by releasing Linux versions of their software.
Both really.
The bearded madman did it! He really nailed it!
The GabeCube looks awesome! The GabeGoggles probably aren’t riddled with spyware. The controller fucks so hard it could be an aphrodisiac. Massive win for valve today.
Valve just casually changing the entire PC gaming landscape on a Wednesday…
They used to do it with their games, now it’s with their hardware
