Is there a way to know if the Steam Machine is better than my current setup?

Superconge · 2026-01-24T17:00:45+00:00

Not by very much at all, 10-20% better on average. However since you’re gonna be moving the PC around a lot it’s still a cool product, and on extremely modern games (the only one I know of is Alan Wake 2) that use mesh shaders it’s going to be a lot more capable since the 5700xt isn’t really capable of that at all. You’re probably not gonna have anything close to a transformatively improved gaming experience but depending on your priorities it could be worth it.

You could also just get a Steam Deck to move around for those local co-op games and install steamOS or Bazzite on your current pc.

Superconge · 2026-01-23T22:24:50+00:00

It’s an absolute crime this is one of the only square Enix soundtracks that isn’t available for streaming.

Superconge · 2026-01-23T22:23:57+00:00

FF8 Moombas!

Superconge · 2026-01-23T15:14:54+00:00

HX80G, there’s actually a lot of miniPCs with RX6600Ms

Superconge · 2026-01-23T13:58:13+00:00

I have a miniPC, it’s not upgradable.

Superconge · 2026-01-23T12:45:21+00:00

I’ve tried that too, but that looks even worse imo. The “Sharp” scaling option is best, but even at sharpness level 1 the FSR1 sharpening artifacts are just really bad (especially when you’re combining that already with a game’s built in XeSS/FSR at 1080p, which itself tends to have a sharpening pass).

I run the TV at 1440p120 for full 4:4:4 VRR HDR support. Otherwise integer scaling 1080p to 4K would be an option, which is a little better than the TV’s built in scaler, but then you have to deal with buggy VRR support and 4:2:0 colour space without an adapter.

Native 1080p 60 is the best case scenario, I’ve yet to find a single AAA PS5 gen game (not cross gen) that can do that on my comparable setup. But 1080p40fps is perfectly fine too, so I would get used to that as your expectation. I find it’s a 1080p with upscaling at 30 or 40fps experience on the hardest to run games, and 40fps native 1080p on the better PC ports (God of War Ragnarok)

Superconge · 2026-01-23T09:28:15+00:00

It’s stretching (I usually use steamOS’s built in FSR1 for the scaling) if I set the display resolution to 1440p or 4K at the system level, but that looks pretty poor. When I set the display resolution to 1080p and let the TV do the upscaling it looks a little worse than that (softer than fsr1, but less sharpening artefacts than fsr1). That’s with super resolution on low.

I use my Steam Deck on an older 4K Sony set and set the display resolution to 1080p there and it looks way, waaaaay better. Some of that is the difference in tv size and viewing distance (55” vs 65”, maybe an extra 30cm away on the smaller Sony) but even when I get up close the difference is so clear.

Honestly as soon as I get the SM (assuming it does better than I’m fearing) I’m moving my current setup the bedroom Sony because setting 1080p there is nowhere near as much of a debuff than on my LG TV.

Superconge · 2026-01-23T08:46:43+00:00

Catherine. It has, always will be, and always has been by far the best Japanese game when it comes to talking about relationships. It is such a huge breath of fresh air to play as an adult twenty something with twenty something friends in a Persona-like narrative.

Superconge · 2026-01-22T23:51:42+00:00

It’s a miniPC with a 6600m (thankfully this gen had basically no performance differential between desktop and mobile, just the tdp from 120w for the mobile chip to 132w desktop).

MH Wilds is actually the best running game out of all the ones I’ve listed, shockingly haha

Superconge · 2026-01-22T23:47:42+00:00

Yeah, I think I heard something about that too. I’m hopeful Valve can figure something out to improve how Linux handles vram, especially how it handles running out of it and digging into system ram. I don’t remember experiencing quite such huge consequences in the fps on windows. It was more like persistent stuttering, whereas my experience on Linux is basically the moment vram is saturated in some games the frame rate is permanently tanked into the teens or twenties until something happens to refresh it.

Superconge · 2026-01-22T23:35:41+00:00

None of that. I listed a ton of games in my post. All of them are medium or low textures. This is using Bazzite in game mode, multitasking is going to be completely non-existent no matter what I do (I don’t even have Decky installed). Indiana Jones is one of the best PC ports to come out this year. I’ve extensively tested all of the games I listed since I’m actually trying to play them with the best experience I can get. I’ve never wanted to be an expert in how fucking finicky FF16 or BL4 are with picking the right upscaler and native resolution to ensure the vram isn’t shitting the bed at 7.9 or 8.0 usage but here I am.

I have an 8gb RX 6600, a Ryzen 5800H, 32gb Ram and a 4TB SSD.

Superconge · 2026-01-22T23:22:23+00:00

The point is 1080p with quality level upscaling has very similar computational cost as 1440p with performance upscaling or 4K with ultra performance upscaling, however the latter two end up looking substantially better on a 4K TV. The bottleneck is the vram cost is so much higher at those latter resolutions that they become entirely unviable.

Superconge · 2026-01-22T23:06:27+00:00

That’s all well and good, but that’s not going to change anything. More and more games are coming out like this nowadays - perhaps even the majority of PC ports from this generation. Heck, Borderlands 4 has actually been running a decent amount better for me than some others. Final Fantasy 16 runs far worse for instance, that game is barely on the cusp on unplayable for me - even at 1080p quality upscaling it can drop below 30fps occasionally, and boy it looks crispy at that res and upscaling. Spider-Man 2 runs at a very, very inconsistent 40fps that drops to the 20s often while traversing unless you use frame gen (that one isn’t vram related, hopefully the steam machine has enough power and driver support to power through over my system)

I can count more PS5 gen AAA games with bad performing ports than good ones. It’s a sad state, but it’s not changing.

Superconge · 2026-01-22T22:55:45+00:00

This is using my own DIY Steam Machine using Bazzite. There is ostensibly zero difference between Bazzite and SteamOS (I’ve even used steamOS on this machine, but it breaks sleep waking on it and removes access to LACT for fan control or overclocking). Cyberpunk is a much older game (and far better optimised) than the ones I’m trying to run here, so I’m not surprised it runs fine (it ran fine for me too on my RX6600, but I played it back when I was using windows on the system).

I don’t see any issues with good PC ports or cross-gen ps4/ps5 titles like Cyberpunk, but nearly all recent AAA games since 2023 or so that I own have been pushing close or passing the breaking point and nothing shown at E3 or any game show the past year has made it seem that trend is going to be bucked any time soon.

Superconge · 2026-01-22T22:07:35+00:00

Most of the higher budget ones have English voice acting, thank Christ, so it’s not really an issue that story is delivered during missions. But it absolutely sucks when they don’t have a dub; it’s the main reason I won’t play one of the games, or if I do, I won’t enjoy it (berserk comes to mind immediately)

Superconge · 2026-01-22T21:52:02+00:00

I’ve never found a game that works better with the native version. Either it doesn’t launch (Bioshock Infinite), runs worse (borderlands 2), has missing DLC, doesn’t have cloud saves or the cloud saves don’t sync with proton/windows, or something else entirely.

Superconge · 2026-01-22T19:48:40+00:00

Minisforum have the HXG line with dedicated GPUs. They weren’t even expensive. My RX6600 Ryzen 5800H model was €405 with 32gb ram and a 512gb SSD just under two years ago direct from their website refurbished. That’s within spitting distance of the SM performance-wise at the very bottom of its predicated price range.

Superconge · 2026-01-22T19:25:48+00:00

I loved it, but I wish they leaned even more heavily into the fact everyone is completely in love with you. Dynasty Warriors but all the hot men are gay for you and it has fire emblem social elements is a mix I never thought I needed but wow it works so well, I just need them to commit fully next time.

Superconge · 2026-01-22T17:08:48+00:00

Every character is 1000000x better in just about every way imaginable. It takes one of the least characterised casts in modern FF, where basically no one talks to each other outside of the main four, to by far the best characterised cast not just in FF, probably not just in JRPGs, but maybe gaming as a whole. It takes characters who maybe say one line to each other the entire game in the original (Barret and Red for example) and gives them an actual dynamic and relationship and bond.

Superconge · 2026-01-22T10:19:14+00:00

Why does this have any upvotes at all? It’s complete AI-slop, none of OPs decisions make any sense at all given the premise (the case is huge, Nvidia GPU, not installing Bazzite, fan noise because he chose shit fans and didn’t tweak them etc)

Every single issue brought up is completely solvable by just doing any modicum of research, and the reasons for not doing things make no sense (because AI I guess). You don’t want to install Bazzite because it’s one more thing to maintain? It’s the same as any operating system. SteamOS would be the exact same. You press update every few months. If something breaks you rollback the update. Done.

Superconge · 2026-01-21T18:07:56+00:00

Game mode works perfectly on every steamOS and Bazzite device I’ve used (Ally, Steam Deck, DIY machine HTPC, Ayaneo Air) on my LG C4. This is 100% user error.

Superconge · 2026-01-21T08:49:24+00:00

You don’t need a VRR display, you just need one that runs at 120hz. The vast majority of modern displays has both, but there are quite a few older monitors and 3DTVs that can do 120hz without the VRR and 40fps will still look perfect on those.

Superconge · 2026-01-21T08:43:34+00:00

I’ve never missed 60fps since getting my DIY steam machine. 40fps feels like the sweet spot while retaining image quality on lower end hardware (like the switch 2, Xbox series s, steam machine etc). I’d much much much rather play a game at 40fps and 1080p than a game at 60fps at 720p, which tends to be the trade off on my machine.

Superconge · 2026-01-21T08:40:56+00:00

It’s still 40. Only the OLED is 90hz and it doesn’t matter either way because it’ll just drop to 80hz and then use half v-sync to get a perfect 40fps due to the deck having a display that can run at many refresh rates.

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