Steam Machine inspired PC build for around $600 delivers solid performance in AAA games
Valve announced the Steam Machine on November 12 and while it revealed the specifications, the pricing is still unclear. The hybrid PC will go on sale sometime next year and pricing is expected to be unveiled closer to launch. Regardless, Valve was able to pack a decent amount of power in a relatively small form factor and is claiming 4K 60 FPS gameplay with FSR. While not quite reaching those claims, this YouTuber made his own Steam Machine that runs quite well, at around the same size, and a budget friendly price tag.
The ETA Prime YouTube channel has posted a video (linked below) showing a mini-ITX PC build attempting to get as close to Valve’s spec for the Steam Machine as possible. The YouTuber purchased some used parts from eBay as well as a Radeon GPU from AliExpress and put it all inside the ASRock Deskmeet X300 Mini PC (buy on Amazon) barebones kit. The case measures 218.3 x 219.3 x 168 mm which is a bit larger than the Steam Machine that sits at 152 x 162.4 x 156 mm.
The build
The CPU is a Ryzen 5 5600 based on Zen 3 architecture. While the core count is the same as the Zen 4 CPU in the Steam Machine, the latter is based on newer Zen 4 architecture. However, the Ryzen 5 5600 is a desktop CPU that can go up to 65W compared to the 30W TDP of the Valve offering.
For the GPU, ETA Prime wanted to source a desktop Radeon RX 6600 but ended up with a bios-flashed card that was actually an RX 6600M, though still with 8 GB of VRAM (same as the Steam Machine). It is based on RDNA 2 architecture and is capable of up to 100W which puts it at a disadvantage to the RDNA 3-based 28 CU GPU in the Steam Machine capable of up to 110W. This is said to be a Radeon RX 7600M-level GPU.
Wrapping up the build with 16 GB (same as Steam Machine) of DDR4 RAM and 1 TB of NVMe storage, ETA Prime used the included 500W PSU that came with the barebones kit and installed the latest version of SteamOS.
Performance testing
Starting with Elden Ring, the DIY build ran the game at 1,440p max settings and a locked 60 FPS. Spider-Man 2 was able to run at 1,440p medium settings using FSR (balanced) and output an average of 70 - 75 FPS. Turning FSR frame gen on and upgrading to high settings pushed it to over 100 FPS. Cyberpunk 2077 at high (1,440p) stayed over 60 FPS. Witcher 3 was a similar story with the Ultra preset delivering over 60 FPS, using FSR. Doom: The Dark Ages at 1,440p, medium settings, and FSR, saw 60 to 70 FPS. Borderlands 4 did show some ghosting with FSR frame generation but it was still very playable.
Price estimate vs Steam Machine
While ETA Prime did not share exact pricing for the parts they got and the overall price for the build, it would come out to around $600 to $650. At that price, having a full Windows experience and being able to run modern AAA titles at 1,440p is a great value outcome. Of course, FSR and frame generation is a strong contributing factor to the final performance. Valve has stated that the Steam Machine will be capable of 4K 60 FPS and will be priced similarly to a PC of the same spec. That being said, a known leaker recently shared that the Steam Machine could be priced under $600 based on the Bill of Materials (BOM) estimate. So, if the Steam Machine is able to deliver better performance than this DIY build for around the same price, it would be a major hit.
Source(s)
ETA Prime on YouTube
