However, with the volatility of RAM and storage costs these days, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what the total costs and asking price of a Steam Machine will be by the time we reach the early 2026 launch window. Griffeis pointed this out to Skill Up, noting that “it's hard to get a really good idea right now of what the price will be because there's a lot of different things… a lot of external things.”
Unless the Steam Machine costs significantly less than an equally powerful gaming PC, some gamers may decide to simply build their own Steam Machine alternative. installing SteamOS on a custom PC buildCertainly. This route also gives players a chance to guard against some of the Steam Machine's potential downsides, such as its relatively paltry 8GB of VRAM.
But Griffeis told Skill Up that the official Steam Machine will still differentiate itself from similar gaming PCs with features like a small form factor, ultra-quiet fan design, HDMI-CEC support, and strong integration with the Steam controller and other Bluetooth controls.
“There are people who will be perfectly happy building their own PC at any level of specification, and it will be a great experience for them,” Griffeis said. “But we expect this machine to be a good basic offering that will allow you to have some features that are otherwise hard to get.”
