Technology companies tend to be quite cagey when talking about their design processes. What did the esports team you consulted change with this mouse? What other materials did you consider for this speaker? Typically questions like this don't lead to satisfactory answers, but Valve's engineers are open-minded. Steam engine? Oh yeah, we selected a fan big enough to cool the components and started working in reverse.
This is a slight oversimplification, but it's not far off from what Valve hardware engineer Yazan Aldehayat explained to me.
“If you know how much heat you need to remove and what temperatures you're dealing with, then you know how much air you need. And if you know how much air you need, you can fix the fan design pretty early on. And if you know how big the fan is, everything else kind of doesn't work. [into place] from this.”
So, based on an estimated maximum GPU power of 130W and a maximum CPU power of 30W, plus an additional 40W of headroom for other components and any connected peripherals, the total system power should not exceed 200W when you're playing games at maximum performance. Valve installed a 140mm fan, the same size found in many PC cases, and the end result is a cube that's just over 140mm in every dimension – actually 156x152x162mm, or about six square inches.
Most of this space is dedicated to what Valve calls the “thermal module” or what I would call a “really big heatsink.” Yazan says the fan and thermal module are optimized for limited airflow (cfm, cubic feet per minute) with a relatively low idle speed that should be less noticeable than the Steam Deck since it's quieter and nicer in tone. Of course, you can adjust the fan curve to suit your requirements, but out of the box everything should work reliably.
After all, as Yazan explains, “living rooms are actually one of the most challenging thermal environments imaginable.” Literally, desktop PCs will always have some space around them to dissipate heat, but consoles tend to be shoved into corners or tucked away in nearly airtight cabinets. That's why the Steam Machine has feet to provide ventilation to the vents underneath the unit, as well as additional air intakes around the perimeter of the magnetic faceplate. There is also a power cable coming out of the back of the device, which does double duty as a physical barrier to blocking the car's rear exhaust.
Combine this with other tricks, like a jumper that prevents warm air from recirculating back into the case, and you get a box that should operate at decent temperatures even if you don't think about airflow at all. And if you think about the best place to place your steam engine – somewhere with a good supply of moving air – then you can get better results.
Of course, cooling is only one part of the equation, but it could prove crucial if the Steam Machine aims to deliver console-beating performance at a similar price.
To learn more about how the steam engine was developed and how powerful it is, visit our full technical review of Steam Machine.
