Valve has finally decided to set a launch date and sale price for its Steam Machine gaming PC.
The 512GB version is priced at $1049, and the 2TB version is priced at $1349. However, these prices are without any controller. If you want Valve’s Steam Controller, you’ll have to opt for the bundle, which is $1128 for the 512GB model and $1428 for the 2TB model. You don’t need to get a Steam controller though, as you can use your other existing controllers with the Steam Machine. Finally, no matter which model you choose, you get two additional faceplates, red cloth and solid walnut.
As far as availability is concerned, you can sign up on the Steam Store page if you’re interested, and you can do so until June 25th at 10:00 AM ET. Once the time is up, there will be a one-time randomization to determine who gets to make the purchase. Those who are selected will be informed to place their order from June 29 and failing to do so within 72 hours, it will be passed on to the next person on the waiting list. Additionally, for purchases made before April 27, 2026, you must have a Steam account in good standing.
The Steam Machine runs on a 6-core, 12-thread AMD Zen 4 CPU that can clock up to 4.8GHz, and an AMD RDNA3 GPU with 28 compute units, which can clock up to 2.45GHz. You get 16GB of DDR5 system memory, which reviewers have reported is a 16GB 5600 SO-DIMM unit in single-channel. However, there are two slots available, so the user can choose to populate both at a later date, possibly without taking out a mortgage on the home. There is also 8GB of GDDR6 memory available for the GPU. There is a built-in power supply unit.
As mentioned earlier, you can choose between 512GB or 2TB storage configurations. And since the machine uses standard M.2 drives, you can choose to upgrade it later, potentially without taking out a second mortgage on the house. There’s also a microSD card slot available, and you can swap cards between the Steam Machine and the Steam Deck.
On the software front, you get Valve’s excellent SteamOS 3, which the company has also released for installation on other devices on their websites.
The company first announced the Steam Machine in November last year, and very quickly it became clear that the launch would be put on hold indefinitely due to the ongoing memory crisis (thanks, Sam Altman!). While Valve never announced a price, it became clear that whatever the original launch price was supposed to be was no longer going to be it.
Valve recently announced a massive 44% increase in Steam Deck pricing, bringing the 1TB model to $949, which is now a brutal number for a boiled potato with a screen. The price of the Steam Machine, while still ridiculous, doesn’t seem so bad in comparison.
Still, it’s significantly more expensive than the $900 PlayStation 5 Pro, not to mention the $600 standard PlayStation 5, even though it’s nearly on par with the latter in terms of performance. Yes, it’s essentially a Linux PC, and thus more flexible, but if a PC is all you want you’re probably better off building a PC yourself, and you can still get a more powerful PC for less money. It won’t be that small.