Steam Machine Specs Revealed, Here’s How They Compare To Xbox Series X|S

With Valve presenting its new Steam Machine today, the excellent team over at Digital Foundry has had practical experience with the device during the unveiling, and they have also revealed a list of specifications to provide us with an insight into its possible performance.

This also allows us to make some comparisons with the Xbox Series X and S! Before diving into the technical details (which, to be candid, isn’t our forte here at Pure Xbox), it’s important to note that Digital Foundry indicates the specifications suggest performance that sits somewhere between the Xbox Series S and PS5, possibly leaning slightly towards the PS5.

“It’s expected to launch in the relatively near future as a fixed-spec unit produced and marketed by Valve, and at first look, its specification sheet implies performance at a midpoint between Xbox Series S and the standard PlayStation 5, potentially leaning closer to the Sony console, with some caveats.”

Now, let’s examine those Steam Machine specifications! Here’s how Digital Foundry has listed them:

“Steam Machine accommodates M.2 storage replacements in both 2230 and 2280 form factors along with hot-swapping microSD cards utilized in other SteamOS devices. Furthermore, Valve engineers confirm that certain HDMI 2.1 features like HDR and AMD FreeSync are active, despite the official specification listing HDMI 2.0.”

Now, here’s a comparison of some similar specifications for both the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S:

Currently, Digital Foundry notes that Valve has not disclosed specific model numbers for its CPU and GPU, opting instead to label them as “semi-custom.” Digital Foundry assumes that the CPU’s Zen 4 architecture at the specified clock speeds should perform well concerning the system’s 4K/60FPS target (a target that is only relevant with AMD FSR in effect), but there are worries that the “most comparable” GPU is generally only linked with 1080p and 1440p gaming.

The outlet’s primary concern pertains to the Steam Machine’s 8GB of VRAM, which reportedly is a matter of “cost-effectiveness” but could restrict the system’s capability to be future-ready. Here’s how DF describes this:

“The choice to go for 8GB of GDDR6 memory has proved to be a limiting factor on numerous contemporary mainstream triple-A titles and falls short of the top VRAM pools and memory bandwidth accessible on both Xbox Series X and base PS5. To accommodate 8GB on impacted games, it is often necessary to reduce settings (especially texture quality) and avoid ray tracing.”

“Considering the increasing array of triple-A titles that do perform best with more VRAM, there is undoubtedly an argument that 8GB will suffice for the vast majority of the current Steam library, but explicitly setting out a 4K 60fps FSR target for the hardware reminds us of similar assertions made by console makers in the past. It’s a claim that may inevitably fall short when titles have such scalability built in and where every game has its own level of baseline performance. We’d need to engage with the hardware firsthand, certainly, but experiences from our GPU reviews suggest that expectations should be moderated in this regard.”

So, based on what we’ve observed thus far, it appears that the Steam Machine will likely reside somewhere between the Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X regarding performance, and now all that’s remaining is for Valve to determine a price for it.

Digital Foundry hopes it will be priced around the $399 mark at launch in 2026, but wouldn’t be astonished if market dynamics necessitated a higher figure. Remember that the Xbox Series S retails for $399.99 right now, so if Valve can achieve that price tag, it would match the most affordable next-gen console currently on the market.

“After a brief in-person presentation of the system and its accompanying, updated Steam Controller (also available for purchase separately), we are left very impressed, and we believe Valve has something noteworthy here in terms of delivering (largely) adequate PC-gaming performance and further challenging the Windows OS dominance on gaming PCs. However, we still have inquiries, not least of which is, how much is this system going to cost?”

What are your opinions on this? Share with us in the comments section below.