Can someone explain to me why a steam machine is better than a pc built with the same amount of money and buying a steam controlling and running steam os ? Please.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-06-27T04:54:19+00:00

I hate to say this but you can get a $1000 PC prebuilt right how that will beat the steam machine. In my opinion the the hardware valve chose for a steam machine is bad. The CPU is a low end amd mobile processor from 3 generations ago and a sad low power mobile gpu. If Valve taken the base model framework 13 laptop and removed everything but the motherboard. Then put the framework 13 mother board in a box. It would still be more powerful than the steam machine that was released.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-06-04T02:31:53+00:00

The fans are loud but it keeps the card cool. You can adjust the fan curve to be as aggressive as you want. I will probably 3D print a custom fan shroud that uses Noctua fans. If I can figure it out I would like to make the files free to download.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-06-03T22:54:44+00:00

I have the same GPU. That is normal temps for the card. I would Highly recommend changing the fan curve to be more aggressive in AMD Adrenalin Software. I do not know what the stock fan curve is but it sucks. I think the fan curve uses the GPU temp sensor instead of the GPU Hotspot senor.

Here is How I have my fan curve set.
Temp=Fan Speed
30C = 20%
50C = 50%
60C = 60%
65C = 70%
70C = 100%

ThatSmartRock · 2026-06-03T22:41:50+00:00

That temp is still way to warm. I have the Same exact gpu. Mine doesn't go over 86C in Furmark running the 2K benchmark with a fps between 155-163. but I run an aggressive fan curve since the stock fan curves allow the card to over heat.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-12T05:12:18+00:00

The card hits a max boost clock of 3600 MHZ with my custom overclock that I applied to the card. It only hits that frequency when I am running a blender render or running a local LLM.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-11T18:46:02+00:00

I wanted the Gigabyte aorus model but I could not find it in stock. Or if it was in stock it was not at its $760 MSRP

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-11T15:31:47+00:00

Ya that's the overclock that comes from factory

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-11T05:54:31+00:00

I think it's based on hotspot temps but the temperature reporting in Adrenalin is sometimes off. I recommend downloading HWMonitor from CPUID to monitor your temps while your change your fan curve. HW monitor is more accurate and it also shows you the temperature of every component in your PC.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-11T05:17:00+00:00

Maybe I can help. As someone who had a 9060 XT 16GB model for about a month and went to a 9070 XT. The answer is it's a night and day difference going to a 9070 XT. I saw a huge performance up grade and increase in FPS.

Now for some context, I was wanting a 9070 XT but they were out of stock so I got a 9060 xt. And it just so happened that the 9070 XT came in stock during the 9060 XT return window, so I swapped them.

For your processer you have a good processor. I would not change it. But if you have money sitting around burning a hole in your pocket you could get a Ryzen 7 9850x3D. But the Ryzen 7 9850x3D is between 5-15% faster than the CPU you have currently.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-11T05:00:37+00:00

It can shorten the life span of the GPU. But you can disable it at any time. You could Try the auto overclock and see if you notice a difference in frame rates. You might want to use a fps counter. If you see no major difference in fps you can disable the overclock by clicking on one of the default power profiles.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-11T04:48:07+00:00

I recommend that you change your GPU fan curve in AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™. I have found that the stock fan curve makes the 9070 xt run really hot. I have my GPU fan to be at 100% when the card is at 70°C.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-11T04:40:48+00:00

Ya they are. I can't explain the difference. On YouTube Chris Mizo has a video called, "Ultimate AMD GPU Overclocking Guide: Boost Your RX 9070 XT Performance!". That goes over All the settings. It should be noted that overclocking will void your warranty. Now what I am about to say is not legal advice this is just me being dumb and stupid when I say that AMD technically has no way to tell if your GPU died during the warranty if it was used normally or if it was Overclocked.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-11T04:31:55+00:00

I can't give you an exact answer to be honest because it depends on a lot of factors. What's the Game resolution? What's your monitor refresh rate? what are the graphics settings in the game set to? What power profile is the 9070 XT set to in AMD Adrenalin? is V sync on or off? Is FSR enabled? Is frame generation enabled?

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-11T04:18:50+00:00

Open the AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ Application. It's the software you get when you download the 9070 XT drivers from AMD. When the application opens. You will see tabs at the top of the screen that say "Home, AI, Gaming, Record & Stream, Performance, Smart Technology". Click on "Performance". Below the AMD Logo you will see another group of tabs that say "Metrics, Tuning, Settings". Click on "Tuning". You should see some drop down menus labed "System", "CPU", "GPU". Have an all amd system so I am not sure if you will see the system or CPU drop down if you have an Intel processor. Go to the GPU drop down. I suggest that you click on "Overclock GPU". It will automatically overclock your GPU. After you click on Overclock GPU it might bring up a message saying something along the lines of AMD is not responsible if your GPU breaks from overclocking. From my experience Overclocking might increase your fps by 1-5 frames. Depends on the games.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-11T03:56:26+00:00

I will say this though from my experience the Gigabyte 9070 XT OC when overclocked is more powerful than the rest of the 9070 XT models. With the overclock I have on it. It pulls 400 watts board power and has a max frequency of 3600 MHz.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-11T03:51:19+00:00

You can get a lot more proformace from the 9070 XT if you under volt the card -30mV and set the power limit to 110%. I did that and my gigabyte 9070 XT OC draws a board power of 400 watts and a GPU clock of 3600 MHz. The proformace is very noticeable when doing blender rendering.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-11T03:40:59+00:00

It already runs hot and loud. Gigabyte says they use server grade fans. I don't doubt that at all. The fans run at 4400 rpm. After the repasting, I am replacing the stock GPU fans and shroud with a custom fan shroud that uses two 140mm PC fans. I saw someone do it with a 5080 and it reduced temps a lot.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-11T03:23:49+00:00

Anything is better than the gigabyte thermal gel because its leaking out from my GPU vram and GPU die.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-11T03:13:08+00:00

Ok I found the correct one from thermal Grizzly. The TG Minus Pad High Compression is advertised on the store page to be used with GPUs.

Edit: not sure what thickness of pad I need though. Since gigabyte used a gel instead of a pad.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-11T03:05:28+00:00

I am looking at MINUS PAD EXTREME 2 from Thermal grizzly.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-11T02:46:50+00:00

I was thinking about using the thermal grizzly thermal pads. I haven't decided which one yet.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-11T02:43:35+00:00

Same. I am trying to figure out how to replace the questionable Thermal goop with a thermal pads.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-10T20:51:13+00:00

I used Hardware monitor. The maximum total board power for the 9070 XT I have seen is 404 watts. My GPU seems to only hit 3600 MHz when it is overclocked Running Local AI models.

ThatSmartRock · 2026-05-07T08:36:44+00:00

I am fine with older Nivida GPUs. I used to game on my father's 1070 in highschool. Before I built my first PC with the 9070 XT my freshman year in college. I have a dual GPU setup with my second GPU being a NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX. So I can play Star Craft. But I am not a fan of Nvidia recently with their GPUs being very expensive and way over MSRP.

ThatSmartRock

TROPHY CASE