The Steam Machine rises again as Valve readies 2026 hardware trifecta
- Reference: 1763129536
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/11/14/valve_steam_kit/
- Source link:
Valve Corporation has pre-announced a range of three new gadgets to entice gamers, which will all arrive at some point in 2026. There's a standalone gaming PC, the [1]Steam Machine , a new generation of the [2]Steam Controller , and an Arm-powered VR headset, the [3]Steam Frame .
It's enough to induce a temporary bout of chronological uncertainty. The Steam Machine was first announced way back in 2012, as [4]The Register reported at the time . In 2013, El Reg [5]returned to the subject with pictures , and also [6]covered the forthcoming Steam Controller – although [7]one version of that did ship in 2015.
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The 2010s version of Valve's machine never appeared, despite [9]multiple partner companies' claims and [10]CES demonstration models . The only third-party Steam hardware The Reg got its hands on was the [11]Gigabyte Brix Pro , and that ran Windows. One intrepid vulture did hack it into [12]running the original Debian-based SteamOS , though. Moving on, a dozen years later...
[13]
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[15]Youtube Video
The 2026 Steam Machine
The Steam Store's [16]product page has tech specs, and the machine is a black cuboid, measuring 6 x 6.5 x 6.1 inches (152 x 162.4 x 156 mm). It will have a "semi-custom" AMD Zen 4 processor, with six cores/twelve threads, and an RDNA3 GPU with 28 compute units, coupled with 16 GB of DDR5 main memory and 8 GB of GDDR6 VRAM. It has five USB ports, Ethernet, DisplayPort 1.4, and HDMI 2 outputs, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3. Buyers have the choice of a half-terabyte or 2 TB SSD.
The reason that this vulture is writing about it, of course, is that it's a Linux box. It will run SteamOS 3, the same as the Steam Deck that the company launched in 2022. This is a retail computer that comes pre-installed with Linux, and it's not locked down. The announcement page says:
…and it's a PC
Yes, Steam Machine is optimized for gaming, but it's still your PC. Install your own apps, or even another operating system. Who are we to tell you how to use your computer?
The viability of Linux as a daily driver consumer desktop OS is adequately demonstrated by [17]annual sales of tens of millions of Chromebooks , but SteamOS is a different sort of beast. We [18]described some of the technology in 2023, but the significant thing is that unlike ChromeOS – or any other distro – the primary purpose of SteamOS is to run unmodified Windows software. As we [19]covered earlier this month , something approaching 90 percent of Steam games run on Linux now.
The Steam Frame
SteamOS is even more versatile than we previously realized. Valve's new VR headset, the [20]Steam Frame , also runs it.
Steam Frame is a PC!
It runs SteamOS
Quick suspend/resume. Cloud saves. All the features of SteamOS that make for a great user experience are now available in VR. Just like any SteamOS device, install your own apps, open a browser, do what you want: It's your PC.
Unlike its larger sibling, though, this 0.97 pound (440 g) headset is an Arm computer. That means SteamOS is already cross-platform and has an Arm64 version, and it also implies that Valve is confident it can run x86 games through CPU emulation fast enough to be enjoyable to play.
The specs say it's a "4 nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3," although [21]PC Gamer is more specific and says it's a Qualcomm SM8650 SoC. This is a fairly high-end chip. In [22]benchmark tests , it's comfortably ahead of the Gen 2 part in [23]Meta's Quest 3 headset from 2023, but pretty far behind the M2 chip in [24]Apple's Vision Pro – although to be fair that device costs several times what the Steam Frame is likely to go for.
[25]Game on! Penguin levels up as Linux finally cracks 3% on Steam
[26]Steam cuts the cord for legacy Windows and macOS
[27]Valve powers up Arch Linux – because who needs Windows when you have a Steam Deck?
[28]Windows 11 and Linux gain ground among Steam gamers
The Steam Controller 2026
The new version of the [29]Steam Controller upgrades the version from a decade ago in several aspects. The new model has two thumb-controlled joysticks, as well as two trackpads and a D-pad plus A/B/X/Y buttons. It can connect wirelessly, obviously, but you will also be able to use it over a USB-C cable while it's charging (so it outdoes the Apple Magic Mouse 2, then).
You don't need special Valve kit to use it – it's compatible with anything that can run Steam and talk Bluetooth 4.2. For lower-latency connections, it also has a direct 2.4 GHz radio connection via the optional charging puck – although that link is built into the Steam Machine. The company has even [30]upstreamed Linux support code already.
Where next?
The new hardware is notable in several different ways. These are Linux machines aimed squarely at a mainstream, non-techie, consumer market. That's good to see. The AMD-powered machine is designed and built to run Windows apps under emulation, which is remarkable, but the Qualcomm-powered hardware is designed to do that including x86 emulation on Arm. That's [31]been a reality for productivity apps for a while, but for gaming, it's bold.
Valve's move can be seen as trying to sell Windows games into the market for proprietary games consoles. Devices like the [32]Xbox Series S and X and [33]Sony PlayStation 5 are already x86-64 based – in fact, both use [34]AMD Zen 2 family processors. Industry commentator Xe Iaso, author of the [35]Anubis anti-LLM-bot crawling tool , thinks that [36]Valve is about to win the console generation . Interesting times are coming in 2026. ®
Get our [37]Tech Resources
[1] https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steammachine
[2] https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steamcontroller
[3] https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steamframe
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2012/12/10/valve_chief_confirms_steam_pc/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2013/11/04/valve_steam_machine_console_photos/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2013/09/27/valve_plans_to_take_the_joysticks_out_of_games_with_steam_controller/
[7] https://store.steampowered.com/app/353370/Steam_Controller_2015/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aRdgKT1V_92EvQB8faDMtAAAAYY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2014/01/08/valve_steam_machine_hardware_partners/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2014/01/09/stars_of_ces_2014/?page=2
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2014/05/13/review_gigabye_brix_pro_ultra_compact_pc_kit/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2014/08/20/game_theory_steamos_beta_review/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aRdgKT1V_92EvQB8faDMtAAAAYY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aRdgKT1V_92EvQB8faDMtAAAAYY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmKrKTwtukE
[16] https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steammachine
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/11/chromebook_refresh_cycle/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/27/osseu_steam_os_3/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/04/steam_on_linux_numbers_up/
[20] https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steamframe
[21] https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/vr-hardware/steam-frame-specs-availability/
[22] https://www.notebookcheck.net/Qualcomm-Snapdragon-8-Gen-3-Processor-Benchmarks-and-Specs.762133.0.html
[23] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/28/meta_connect/
[24] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/25/apple_vision_pro_china/
[25] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/04/steam_on_linux_numbers_up/
[26] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/20/valve_steam_legacy_os/
[27] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/03/valve_sponsors_arch/
[28] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/04/windows_11_linux_steam/
[29] https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steamcontroller
[30] https://www.google.com/search?q=steam+controller+upstream+support&udm=14&tbs=li:1
[31] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/21/lenovo_thinkpad_x13s_the_stealth/
[32] https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/consoles
[33] https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/ps5/
[34] https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/zen-core.html
[35] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/09/anubis_fighting_the_llm_hordes/
[36] https://xeiaso.net/blog/2025/valve-is-about-to-win-the-console-generation/
[37] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Desktop Linux?
As someone who runs native Linux applications on the desk laptop that's the way it strikes me too but as Microsoft pushes so many users into the remote versions of their S/W it's hard to see how a Chromebook would differ in those terms.
Meanwhile a Linux OS running MS Office & other Windows S/W locally is going to confuse a number of commentards here but I suppose they can bleat about it being inconsistent with whatever UI MS currently imposes and other Windows users are complaining about.
Wish they were more honest about what it can and cannot do
This new Steam Machine is being marketed as being capable of 4K output and run even the newest AAA games... but with the given hardware, the two are quite unlikely to be true at the same time. To say nothing about how future proof this is looking. Somewhat unlike Valve to prioritize short-term sales against long-term customer satisfaction.
Re: Wish they were more honest about what it can and cannot do
They've obviously had to make sacrifices because of the current AI nonsense but [1]the Digital Foundry view is it's around PS5/XBSS level and unlike an equivalent PC it won't be running the albatross that is Windows 11.
I have a Deck and most games run fine. It does start sweating when it runs Unity 5 games but if the GabeCube is worth about 6 Decks as Valve claim then it should be okay. The emulation technology in the Frame is the most interesting, it not only translates Windows 11 to Linux but x86 to ARM. Valve are getting really good at running Windows software on Linux, so much so that Microsoft are in danger of having their lunch eaten because in a year or two there'll be nothing keeping people on Windows apart from kernel level anti-cheat, so I expect MS will use it and do some dirty backroom deal with EA and Ubisoft so they use it too.
[1] https://www.digitalfoundry.net/features/hands-on-with-steam-machine-valves-new-pcconsole-hybrid
Re: Wish they were more honest about what it can and cannot do
>This new Steam Machine is being marketed as being capable of 4K output and run even the newest AAA games... but with the given hardware, the two are quite unlikely to be true at the same time.
There is something wrong with the claimed specifications. The website says HDMI 2.0 and up to 4K @120Hz, but HDMI 2.0 only supports upto 4K @60Hz. It is HDMI 2.1 that supports up to 4K @120Hz. Perhaps this a typo, as I would expect HDMI 2.1 support.
Also DisplayPort 1.4 does seem rather old, surely this should be 2.0 or even 2.1.
>To say nothing about how future proof this is looking.
It would seem Steam are following Apple more than Wintel as there is no internal expansion capability other than via a USB hub (single USB-C Gen 3.2 port.).
Whilst the website shows two monitors being used, I suspect this is being achieved via DisplayPort daisy chainiing rather than each being directly connected to the system unit.
So I would suggest this initial offering isn't particularly future proof, but is sufficiently powerful to compete with existing consoles. As for ruuning the newest AAA games, suspect that is true, just that you won't be running them in their highest resolution/framerate mode.
A concern has the be just how compatible it is with existing x64 application binaries, as if running as a desktop, don't really want to complicate matters by having to locate and download platform specific binaries.
Sigh
SystemD, so not for me.
At least, not unless it's cheap enough to buy as a bare metal box and just blast Devuan over the top.
GN
Gamers Nexus just did a couple of really in depth reviews on the hardware behind all of these products. Well worth looking up on YT. A lot of engineering went into them. Enough to make me mildly interested.
The problem for valve is they're pushing VR long after most people have abandoned it.. there may be some revival but enough to justify the long development cycle?
Then they're releasing a midrange minipc, branding it a console, but they'll have to hit console prices to compete with the PS5 and I'm not sure valve is large enough to get the prices down that far.. Sony can make a loss as they make so much on the games.
> VR long after most people have abandoned it
Well, I mean yes, strictly, true -- but Apple was flogging its nerd goggles as a cool new way to -- I don't really know -- Do Computer? Watch movies on the plane? All for 3.5 kilobucks. Meta was flogging nerd goggles as a way to -- go to meetings with crappy 3D avatars of your friends?
Valve is saying: here, try walking around inside Half Life 2 or Portal. Oh and it's one-tenth as much as Apple's. (We don't really know yet but that's apparently the best guess.)
Screw blowing three grand on a personal cinema -- even my home TV is a freebie cast-off. And screw Facebook and its privacy-invading half-arsed metaverse. Screw Zuck in general.
Actually *become* Gordon Freeman in HL2? Go on then. I'd love a go at that.
No pre-orders yet?
Subtitle says on pre-order but I can't see the option on the Steam Store? Plenty of hero pages and specs subject-to-change, but no button to pre-order or reserve units.
(I really want to play No Man's Sky in that VR rig!)
Re: No pre-orders yet?
> I can't see the option on the Steam Store
Oh. Oops. I have no payment method on my Steam account. I thought it was just me. Sorry -- I may have got that wrong.
Either way you can't have it yet, so cross your legs. :-D
Patience, young grasshopper. Good things come to those who wait.
Some additional info
Not mentioned in the article, but the Steam Frame, as well as being able to run things locally on ARM, is also designed to act as a wireless VR headset for any other PC running SteamVR (including the Steam Machine, or any other regular PC with Steam on it), so you're not just limited to the GFX performance of the headset itself.
Also no lighthouses this time like with the Valve Index etc, tracking is done from the visor using four cameras.
The new controller also includes the same VR tracking tech as the VR controllers that come with the Frame, so if playing something better suited to a regular controller (flight sims, driving etc), then you can see the new controller in VR, so no lifting up the visor, or using the external cameras, trying to find the thing.
Desktop Linux?
"The viability of Linux as a daily driver consumer desktop OS is adequately demonstrated by annual sales of tens of millions of Chromebooks."
This sentence is doing some *very* hefty lifting - and of a variety that a party political communications official would be proud of.
A/C (because, etc).