{"id":525,"date":"2026-06-22T21:13:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T21:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=525"},"modified":"2026-06-22T21:13:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T21:13:40","slug":"even-valve-knows-you-may-be-better-off-with-a-cheaper-steam-machine-alternative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=525","title":{"rendered":"Even Valve Knows You May Be Better Off With a Cheaper Steam Machine Alternative"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you want Valve\u2019s 6\u00d76-inch PC\/console hybrid, you\u2019ll have to spend at least $1,050. But if you want a \u201cSteam Machine,\u201d in the abstract sense, you don\u2019t have to stick with Valve\u2019s own hardware. In today\u2019s RAM-ravaged wasteland of PC prices, you may be better off cobbling some other system together that you can also turn into a gaming device.<\/p>\n

Read more Top Intel Agencies Say AI-Driven Cyber Catastrophes Are Imminent: \u2018The Timeline Is Not Years, It Is Months\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

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Valve is well aware that the cost of its upcoming Steam Machine, which is set to start shipping June 29, is obscene. In its blog post announcing the price, the company wrote, \u201cour original goal for the price of the Steam Machine is no longer viable.\u201d While console makers, like Xbox or Sony\u2019s PlayStation, subsidize their hardware to a certain degree, Valve is explicitly treating this like a PC, saying the cost \u201creflects the price of the components as we\u2019ve secured them over the past [six] months.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement to The Verge, Valve said, \u201cWhen companies sell their hardware under cost for competitive advantage, or buy exclusive content for it, they\u2019re doing that to build a more closed system, one where you don\u2019t get to choose what software you want to use.\u201d Meanwhile, one of the company\u2019s software engineers, Yazan Aldehayyat, told Tom\u2019s Hardware that, unlike consoles, their Steam Machine is \u201cnot subsidized by software sales.\u201d<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s an interesting statement, considering Valve makes the lion\u2019s share of its money by taking a 30% cut of game sales on Steam. In reality, Valve wants its hardware to push Steam, and that means it doesn\u2019t care as much how gamers get there.<\/p>\n

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The Steam Machine was initially built as a way to put Steam in the living room for the legion of PC gamers who don\u2019t have a standing desktop rig. As such, you shouldn\u2019t treat the Steam Machine as your only option, and Valve is making the hunt for alternatives easier.<\/p>\n

Read more Indie Darling A24 Takes $75 million From Google for \u2018AI Research\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

One of those alternatives is the operating system. Valve has the opportunity to make SteamOS a de facto PC gaming environment. The Linux-based OS has become extra popular thanks to the (now way too expensive) Steam Deck, though it\u2019s not nearly as easy to install it on other PC hardware. While SteamOS works well with AMD CPUs and GPUs, Valve software engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais told The Verge the Steam maker will work with Nvidia to support that company\u2019s GPUs. Full support may not arrive until 2027 or even later.<\/p>\n

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Valve may also put more emphasis on Intel CPUs. SteamOS\u2019 latest update better supports Intel\u2019s previous-gen Lunar Lake chips on an older MSI Claw 8 AI+ handheld. Intel didn\u2019t offer Gizmodo any commitments, but it seems the company is willing to get SteamOS working on the upcoming Claw 8 EX AI+\u2014obstensibly making it compatible with current-gen chips.<\/p>\n

Valve\u2019s saving grace may come in the form of third-party hardware. The six-core, \u201csemi-custom\u201d AMD-made APU (accelerated processing unit) is billed as a 4K-ready processor, but you can get much more powerful PCs for a similar price as a 2TB Steam Machine. Other pint-sized PCs like the Framework Desktop pack an AMD Strix Halo CPU for $1,269 (though you\u2019ll have to spend more money on an SSD and other components). That system may make for a more powerful Steam Machine than anything you can get from Valve.<\/p>\n

Valve is actively working to make the Steam Machine better, telling multiple outlets it will add in additional support for hardware-accelerated ray tracing and other performance improvements. Valve may also go the same route as Sony\u2019s PlayStation 5 Pro with its PSSR update. This could bring AMD\u2019s FSR 4 upscaler to Valve\u2019s Steam Machine. That update may bring the better upscaler to other systems as well. Even if you don\u2019t own a Steam Machine, Valve\u2019s costly console may make PC gaming better for everyone.<\/p>\n

Read more Valve Finally Put a Price on the Steam Machine, and You\u2019re Not Going to Like It<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Valve may make PC gaming better, so long as you don’t mind installing SteamOS yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gadgets"],"yoast_head":"\nEven Valve Knows You May Be Better Off With a Cheaper Steam Machine Alternative - Long Haul Moving Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=525\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Even Valve Knows You May Be Better Off With a Cheaper Steam Machine Alternative - Long Haul Moving Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Valve may make PC gaming better, so long as you don't mind installing SteamOS yourself.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=525\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Long Haul Moving Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-22T21:13:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=525#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=525\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ed9c8f732aec56889e8fd0602fe5af4b\"},\"headline\":\"Even Valve Knows You May Be Better Off With a Cheaper Steam Machine Alternative\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-22T21:13:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=525\"},\"wordCount\":712,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=525#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/a26f72a4e2a4fc998384225aee298025.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Gadgets\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=525#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=525\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=525\",\"name\":\"Even Valve Knows You May Be Better Off With a Cheaper Steam Machine Alternative - 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