Valve’s Steam Machine will help PCs replace consoles—and I’m down | usagoldmines.com

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Well. I checked outside my window when news broke of a Steam Machine 2.0—no pigs. So with a bit of circular logic, I’ll say that Will shouldn’t have doubted the return of Valve’s living room gaming console.

It is true that the first Steam Machine didn’t take. The world largely regarded it as a curiosity. Valve’s hardware partners and their subdued marketing didn’t do much to help that perception. No one knew what to make of a thing not quite a PC or console, with less ability to play games.

I’ve seen this initial attempt called a “failure,” most recently by IGN in its news writeup of this reborn Steam Machine. But Valve held on for a long while—it gave the attempt several years. To me, its eventual withdrawal from the hardware market always suggested a retrenching, rather than abandonment.

And wow, what a comeback.

The new Steam Machine straddles the line between PC and console gaming so much more effectively. It looks more like a console, for starters. I would expect to see it in a living room in a media center next to a PlayStation 5 or Nintendo Switch. (I mean, you could mistake it for an Xbox Series X’s half-pint sibling.)

Simultaneously, its specs punch like a respectible budget gaming PC. Inside will be a semi-custom configuration of an AMD Zen 4 six-core, 12-thread CPU with a 30W TDP, AMD RDNA3 110W TDP GPU with 28 compute units and a 110W TDP, 8GB GDDR6 VRAM, and 16GB DDR5 memory. The storage and memory will be upgradable, too.

For the first time, I think the PC may be poised to grab a hefty chunk of console gamers.

Valve

Much has changed since 2014. Linux gaming support improved, in large part thanks to Valve’s work on Proton. Upscaling tech has progressed in leaps and bounds. The Covid pandemic put PC building and PC gaming on more radars. And Valve established with the Steam Deck that it can build excellent hardware. (Which conveniently serves as a showcase for said Proton development.)

And—somewhat crucially—two major console players shifted their behavior. Sony started to release its games on PC. And Microsoft began pushing hardware further into the background for its Xbox brand.

I consider myself an Xbox fan. I own multiple generations and even multiple variations of Xbox consoles. I love the Xbox 360 and Xbox One controllers, as I’ve mentioned many times on TFN. And yes, full disclosure, I still hold deep gratitude in my heart for its place in my career.

But I don’t play Overwatch 2 on my console. I play it on a PC. In fact, I’ve done most of my gaming on PC since the pandemic—and so have many of my friends. Tougher economic times and hardware scarcity forced us to be more pragmatic about where and how we play our games. And I don’t think we’re unusual.

So even if this second run at a Steam Machine ends up priced more than a typical console when it launches in early 2026, I don’t think it will fail. Even if it remains the plaything of enthusiasts and people with disposable income, I don’t think it will fail at all.

Valve

Because as excited as I am about its hardware, this Steam Machine’s existence could spark a PC takeover of console gaming. I believe the new Steam Machine will serve the same purpose as the Steam Deck. Not to win people over directly, but to make people pay attention to the software that powers it.

Software that could easily power a PC you already own—or build yourself. If the Steam Machine can prove that it’s feasible to treat a PC like a console (truly!), then the launch of SteamOS for anyone to install could easily pave the way for the PC to pull in console gamers who no longer care what hardware they play on.

I think with painful rising costs of memory and storage, that could happen faster than we all assume.

So it makes sense to me that the Steam Machine is back. Its time has finally come.

In this episode of The Full Nerd

In this episode of The Full Nerd, Adam Patrick Murray, Will Smith, and two special guests—Steve Burke of Gamers Nexus and Sean Hollister of The Verge—hash out the nitty-gritty of Valve’s major hardware announcements. Talk about a cornucopia of Linux-based gaming, just in time for Thanksgiving. Valve teased three new releases for early 2026: a new Steam Machine, Steam Controller, and VR headset (Steam Frame).

Both Steve and Sean got up close with the new hardware, and they drop multiple juicy details during the hour-plus of chatting. You want to know the real specs, like the rough street equivalent of the semi-custom CPU and how the upscaling to 4K works out? They talk about it.

(My favorite tidbit: The Steam Controller’s built-in lithium battery is user replaceable. I’m team Xbox controller in part because I like the flexibility of swapping rechargeable AA batteries on the fly.)

But that’s not all! Even after our guests had to go, Adam and Will go on to discuss AMD’s continuing success with Ryzen and PCWorld’s Best of 2025 picks for hardware and software.

Yeah, a lot has happened in November already.

Willis Lai / Foundry

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This week’s big nerd news

Valve’s announcement dominated this week—though in fairness, the new Steam Machine represents a huge potential paradigm shift, as Brad commented in a staff chat. But it wasn’t the only thing for us hardware enthusiasts to chew on. AMD confirmed Zen 7 chips and a glimpse at its roadmap for desktop graphics and NPUs, and memory makers seem eager to hike their contracts by an eye-watering amount. I’m starting to feel some emotional whiplash.

Also, I literally checked the calendar when I read about the Apple iPhone Pocket.

Chris Hoffman / Foundry

• AMD confirms Zen 7 CPU plans: In the same presentation to financial analysts, Dr. Lisa Su said that Ryzen holds over 50 percent of the desktop CPU channel. How times have changed.

• Sorry, Adam: Valve won’t be releasing a Steam Deck 2 any time soon.

• Memory makers will only modestly increase production capacity for 2026: Painful for consumers, but understandable from a business perspective. No one wants to be left holding the bag for expensive investments if (when) the AI bubble pops and demand collapses.

• Also understandable, but made me sigh: SanDisk reportedly is raising its NAND flash memory contract pricing by 50 percent. And it seems to have kicked off similar consideration in rival module makers. Man, 2026 is going to be a ride.

• This is why we use Firefox: Thwarting digital fingerprinting? Yes, please. (I wish more people would take privacy seriously, but I’m literally in the minority on this one. Both in terms of my preferred browser of choice, and this stance.)

• I’ve wanted a Windows “professional mode” for YEARS: Microsoft won’t change its course, but it was vindicating to hear a former Windows dev voice what I’ve grumbled about since Windows XP launched.

Apple

• What is fair use? I found the comments on this Ars Technica article more fascinating than the write-up itself, because of how strong the viewpoint seems slanted toward a U.S. take on fair use. What’s your country like?

• Wow, this isn’t a joke: Apple is selling a knitted sling for iPhones. Starting at $150. Topping out at $230. I had to double-check I hadn’t time-warped to April 1. (I guess this is good news for Etsy sellers who miss making iPod socks.)

• Speaking of Sony and PC gaming support: This tantalizing rumor about a counter to Xbox’s “Play Anywhere” feature would make it even easier to become platform agnostic.

• First the em dash, now good manners: Look, I’m no fan of AI bots, but there’s depressing irony in the idea that you have to look for toxicity to find real humans online.

• I miss the glory days of WordPerfect 6.1: Y’all probably already tinker with DOS emulators regularly. Normal people use them for games. Me, when I saw our site’s latest how-to guide on emulation? I immediately thought of my favorite word processing software. (Yeah, I know I’m weird.)

• I think I used to lug around a CRT TV this weight: Compaq. That’s a name that brings me back. Maybe not quite this far—but I still had a deep wave of nostalgia thinking back to IBM clones.

Speaking of console gaming—the Analogue3D will finally begin shipping on November 18. (Whoa.) With all the tariffs and the nearly year-long delay, I didn’t think I’d ever get mine. You’ll find me reliving my best younger years with a replay of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (in high resolution!) as soon as I set up the console in my living room.

Yeah, I could emulate it on PC (and I have), but that’s the beauty of being platform agnostic.

Catch you all next week!

~Alaina

This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and executive editor of hardware at PCWorld.