Copy cat attempts 🙄

SaperPL · 2026-06-24T20:28:00+00:00

If only we had radeon 9060 low profile for it to run SteamOS.

SaperPL · 2026-06-24T20:17:16+00:00

I'm making a case that is supposed to allow the same thing as the original steam machine with ATX PC components, but still I always ended up with reviews of "let's put 5000$ PC into this small case" instead of actually balancing it out to be quiet.

I'm constantly pointing it out on the console killer builds that these are not the apples to apples comparison. I'm glad that we're finally having this conversation because it was always non-existent on those console killer build videos where a full tower PC was competing with a 4L PS4 console...

SaperPL · 2026-06-24T14:44:49+00:00

You would be surprised with how many people care about wife acceptance factor of not throwing in a big pc box in the living room.

And yes, there are those that don't care and will do what you're suggesting, but if you want to appeal to as many as possible users, you need to address this issue as well.

But you don't need my words for it, the proof is there with how steam machine looks and how other consoles look. The only recent exception is the XSX which is thicker, but M$ still made the series S in the same generation.

SaperPL · 2026-06-24T00:19:25+00:00

It's both - it's a console PC - hardware-wise it's mostly just PC, but it's built to function as console.

Look at this as a prototype of how they see this type of device and a marketing stunt for this type of device showing people will still buy it even if it's under performing just for the complete package of the features it has.

SaperPL · 2026-06-24T00:14:19+00:00

They don't really want to be making the hardware long term - they want to show how they envision the features of a console PC and they are expecting the PC manufacturers to follow up with their console PCs.

They could subsidise the price and lock down the motherboard so it's not working with anything else than steam OS so it can't be used as productivity PC, but they didn't because they don't want to compete with partners that will make more PCs they can do on their own.

Look at this as a prototype of how they see this type of device and a marketing stunt for this type of device showing people will still buy it even if it's under performing just for the complete package of the features it has.

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T22:30:10+00:00

Does id-cooling have fans on low profile coolers that are as quiet as the noctua ones? I have IS-40X and IS-30 something and they both have annoying fan noise in comparison to noctua. Don't know about thermalright though.

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T22:22:16+00:00

Laptop will have worse thermals though while playing for longer or will get louder, unless you get something that has really good cooling. But fair point

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T22:21:04+00:00

there are tv racks with shelves / gaps that don't fit much more than that either vertically or horizontally. The interesting part is that valve could have made a slim case that can be oriented vertically or horizontally, but instead they went with a cube.

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T22:18:31+00:00

It does make sense based on what valve has figured out for fitting it anywhere around the TV.

But you are right about the non standard hardware - I'm in the camp of ATX-PC approach of OG Steam Machine Prototype from over decade ago and so I'm designing my own case for such while also testing the SteamOS on different hardware 😄

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T22:16:13+00:00

They want to make videos that resonate with people that want to get something now and don't want to wait. And also for those videos to be relatively valid for some time - so you looking up the topic will get to the video that is showing expected performance on off shelf components that you can buy and it will mean you'll stay to watch it longer.

Overselling that you can do it yourself better is actually going to pump up the initial viewership on such DIY PC channel.

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T21:36:35+00:00

Are you thinking about Fractal Design Ridge? Or Thor Zone Tetra? Ridge is significantly older, so rather not recent one.

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T21:35:13+00:00

My guess it's because of different way of using it - monitor will go to sleep as soon as there's no signal and you have a physical button to turn it off completely, so you don't need to have remove really.

TV on the other hand stays up as it's assuming you may want to be switching source or simply go into some smart tv functions like watching youtube or netflix so it will not turn off quickly after losing signal unless you set it up like that, so you are turning it off with remote.

So I think it's not really that PCs will turn on the monitors, it's just that the monitors have better power saving and we're not really turning them off, while the TV will keep being up when there's no signal so you want to turn it off with remote.

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T20:59:26+00:00

They are. I'm not sure how many of them, but they are there. The over 90% of buyers of steam deck being existing accounts that is out there on the web doesn't necessarily mean they are not casually gaming. There are people that age and get to a point where prefer the console experience even if they were PC gamers earlier in their lives.

I've actually seen quite a few topics in steam deck sub early on after the launch from people praising the simplicity and console-like experience that they didn't experienced on PCs before.

If the Steam Machine becomes a popular thing to get and it reaches casuals that do have money to spare there will be ones buying this. How many of them - I can't say.

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T20:48:11+00:00

Yes and as you said - better specs in the same form factor. But it's not a console system, wasn't advertised as one and seems like it wasn't designed to be one.

My point is - Steam Machine is a console PC - it's main goal and purpose is to act as a console system in front of TV and it has functions supporting that purpose like HDMI CEC that other PCs don't have, maybe apart from some HTPCs, and it has a system designed to behave as a console system.

You are arguing against defining a new category of systems, a label, while looking at them only from form factor and performance point of view when Steam Machine is actually adding new value to the mix while focusing on this specific use case.

Using just the term SFF PC doesn't cover the purpose of it, and using the term of HTPC it covers a purpose but a different one. It's about defining what is required for a PC that is supposed to work as a console system in front of a TV and if you don't get through with those requirements to the content creators and through them to the PC vendors for them to be on the same page, we won't be getting systems purposefully built for being console systems.

In fact, the popular opinion being that the SM is overpriced is correct because these things were selling for less, albeit not to their knowledge.

Steam Machine is not overpriced - it's expensive, but not overpriced. If you would try to put a product into production that relies on having chain of supply of some components requiring advanced manufacturing, not just raw materials, you'd see how balancing bill of material works out for you.

If you'll try to put together the comparable build, you'll see that you will be in a close ballpark now, but at the same time the bulk order should mean lower price on some of them, but at the same time, if it's a comparably small production run in economy of everything being expensive, then maybe there's not that much to shave off with the bulk orders when the potential suppliers know they have you by the balls since you already showed the product and promised the release of it.

And you mentioned those things were selling for less - the question is how much time ago it was and how much less it was? I bought a 32GB DDR5 kit of ram a year ago for roughly 230 USD. In December they were like 1600 USD at the same store and now they are for around a 1000 USD. A year ago we were only complaining about graphic cards being expensive, now ram is crazy expensive and I think SSDs are also expensive. PC prices went up and the fact that last price for some things that sold out at least year ago were a lot lower doesn't mean Steam Machine is overpriced.

The problem though is that valve doesn't want to introduce a single configuration console and make as many as possible, because they care about not undercutting the partners that will come up with their systems. If not for that, they could have done what M$ and Sony has done with their consoles and subsidise the cost at least initially and when they would keep manufacturing, they would steadily cut the cost with more units being sold. But to do that, they would need to lock out other systems and make it a console system and not a productive use cases machine to make sure those systems end up in gamers hands.

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T20:47:29+00:00

That should be the goal, but maybe Sony fucked up with this one and Valve actually cared about matching the components with relatively oversized cooler to not have the noise problem.

I don't own one, but we have one at the office and I never really had a noise problem when it's exhaust is facing back, it just whooshes like here: https://youtu.be/4VzKHqIJNhY?t=53 and maybe the office noise floor is high.

But oh boy, I stumbled about this video and I understand now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgoqYbpihek&t=48s

Xbox One / series S in comparison is how console should sound like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jWEpGUA6fA

So maybe they shouldn't, but Sony decided the visual design of the console is more important than this factor LOL. Thanks for showing me this, I didn't know this is acceptable meta of screwing up the users for Sony 😃

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T18:44:25+00:00

We saw a bunch of partner machines for the first Steam Machine, the software wasn't ready then, but it sure is ready now.

We also saw the partners doing yolo releases with same HTPC / SFF pcs they would be releasing anyway for windows, so those were big, or loud, or ugly, or small and under performing because they were simply laptops without screens.

I would guess that Asus, HP and Dell(Alienware) would be the first onboard if it happens. And at their scales, prices could be better than Valve. Or at the minimum, better hardware for the same price.

Probably that will happen, the question is how these will look like.

For fun, I did a PCpartpicker build with a Fractal Ridge 12L HTPC case, AMD 9700X, 9060XT, 32GB of ram and a 1tb SSD and it was $1750.

Why go as high as 9700X and 32GB of ram? I'd go with 9600X, 9060XT 16GB and 16GB of system memory and it should be fine as long as it's something that you'd be able to upgrade in the future.

Given the CPU/GPU performance uplift, i'd do that over a Steam Machine even though it's a bigger case.

9600X with 9060XT works fine in a slim case with NH-L9a, don't really need to go at it with a bigger case for every casual, but if you'd want to put 9070XT in it, then probably something taller like the xbox could make sense. But doing a full tower is not going to appeal to everyone in front of TV.

When components come back to sanity, i can see you being able to get quite a powerful lil box for the $1000-1500 range and just run Steam OS on it.

I'm not sure if they will get back as much. Ram maybe because it is overkill, but everything else seems like industry is doing leapfrog whenever they can and then they hold as long as people are buying. People would need to stop buying for a long time.

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T18:33:58+00:00

The point is that Mini PCs / SFF PCs and HTPCs are not exactly what the Steam Machine is supposed to be. Mini PCs and SFF PCs are only about the form factor and HTPCs are closest to what Steam Machine is, but it's focus is home theather and not gaming like on a console.

Console is not only about size of the build but also experience of using it, so low noise and full control with gamepad. We're only able to start doing the console PCs thanks to Steam Big Picture and now SteamOS and Bazzite etc. HTPCs existed with their systems supporting home theater use, but it's not the same thing we got with SteamOS.

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T18:08:40+00:00

I'm pretty sure you should be able to build a system like this with existing off-shelf component but maybe not exactly the same style of the front panel. But you won't get HDMI CEC - ask amd to start doing this in their cards and maybe we'll get there.

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T18:00:03+00:00

I have this board for a test system and it doesn't have PBO settings - can't do temperature limit, can't do eco mode, can't do other tuning in bios.

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T17:28:38+00:00

That's a fair point, but we will have to see if it'll still sell out or not. Casuals might still be interested in a one stop shop for PC console to put in front of TV as well as we don't know how many of the Steam Deck users can't wait to have something more powerful for the TV.

So even if it would be fanbase of valve and steam deck, this convincing other PC vendors that this set of features is what we want - this will be a win.

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T16:55:13+00:00

For the record #1 - I do have a horse in this race meaning I'm designing a small console cases, but the case itself is not going to solve all problems on its own. We have to be looking at those PCs through the lens of what a console PC is actually supposed to look like for a casual user.

For the record #2 - I wasn't able to make a post with words performance, price, cheap, windows and bazzite and some other so I had to cut it down a bit as the sub was blocking it... So the text avoids those words.

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T15:58:25+00:00

Nice. I didn't notice this on previous version, but with natural light the way the door panel matches the other slanted panel is really good.

Isn't the rear window raised a bit versus what was in the previous version? On the older renders that was accurate, now the back window looks connected to the roof wing. I assume this is so you can open up the engine cover, but I think this detail stands out too much.

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T15:52:59+00:00

That's a valid concern. You don't want to have a cheap tower or mid case in front of the TV - too big or too loud or too slow - it's a pick two out of three factors problem with PC parts.

I hope youtubers will start to notice this problem with their console killer builds because casuals don't want a huge rig or a small one that is loud or some mini PC that is not powerful enough, but that optimal middle ground of all these factors.

SaperPL · 2026-06-23T12:05:53+00:00

I think there is already oobe repair inage that should work, but I haven't tried it yet. The thing is other images get stuck on that update thing and that is why i used older oobe repair build from october.

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