News: 0184035856

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Valve Will Finally Let You Build Your Own Steam Machine With SteamOS For Desktop (theverge.com)

(Monday June 22, 2026 @05:00PM (BeauHD) from the DIY-friendly dept.)


With the price of the new Steam Machine [1]starting at $1,049 , you might want to consider making your own Steam Machine instead. An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge:

> Valve says that "starting with the SteamOS 3.8 release, [2]you can put together your own Steam Machine using whatever PC parts you want." SteamOS 3.8.10 [3]launched last week with a slew of updates, including "improved compatibility with recent Intel and AMD platforms." Alongside that improved compatibility, Valve is giving gamers the green light to install SteamOS on their own desktops. In an interview with The Verge, Valve's Pierre-Loup Griffais said Valve has been "rolling out improvements to [SteamOS] so it's more compatible with desktop hardware," including eventual support for Nvidia graphics. Griffais says Valve has "a growing team" working on Nvidia driver support for SteamOS, adding, "We're collaborating with Nvidia very closely." While he mentioned that Nvidia support might not come this year, Griffais emphasized that "it's certainly something that we're working on in the background."

>

> It's technically been possible to run SteamOS on your own hardware for a while now, but compatibility has been mostly limited to AMD systems. So far installing it has also required using a Steam Deck recovery image, a process that, speaking from experience, is much less straightforward than the installation process for most other Linux distributions. Trying to run SteamOS on Intel or Nvidia hardware has not been easy so far. According to Griffais, Valve is working to change that, which could mean that down the line, you'll be able to run SteamOS on just about any gaming PC hardware you want, including Nvidia.

>

> For the more immediate future, Griffais says SteamOS in its current state should offer a "good experience" on console-like PC setups: "If you have something that is similar to the use case of a Steam Machine, where you have a PC that's gonna be plugged into a TV, and has a single hard drive that you're not going to try and dual boot [] you can put SteamOS on there, and you'll have an experience that is very similar to a Steam Deck docked or a Steam Machine, with some caveats, of course," like a lack of HDMI-CEC support. But "the core bits of the experience are there. The SteamOS graphics driver, the shader precompilation [...] you can get at all of that with the SteamOS."

Griffais says SteamOS does not yet offer an easy way to dual-boot alongside Windows or another operating system, but envisions "a time where it's a better experience to install on your desktop and have it coexist with a different operating system."



[1] https://games.slashdot.org/story/26/06/22/1716254/valve-prices-the-steam-machine-at-1049

[2] https://www.theverge.com/games/953411/valve-steamos-desktop-nvidia

[3] https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1675200/view/697641379212298072



Re: (Score:2)

by Narcocide ( 102829 )

People have been begging to install SteamOS on their own hardware basically since Steam Decks have been on sale.

Re: (Score:2)

by sound+vision ( 884283 )

Is there something wrong with the SteamOS .iso I downloaded a month or two ago, or is Slashdot just running that far behind?

Re: (Score:2)

by thecombatwombat ( 571826 )

If only there were some sort of linked article that explained. Maybe /. could link to such articles, and then if people looked past the headline, they would know what's what?

We could have some sort of phrase, maybe an acronym that . . . Nah.

"It’s technically been possible to run SteamOS on your own hardware for a while now, but compatibility has been mostly limited to AMD systems. So far installing it has also required using a Steam Deck recovery image, a process that, speaking from experience, is muc

Re: (Score:2)

by Himmy32 ( 650060 )

From the summary:

> It's technically been possible to run SteamOS on your own hardware for a while now, but compatibility has been mostly limited to AMD systems. So far installing it has also required using a Steam Deck recovery image, a process that, speaking from experience, is much less straightforward than the installation process for most other Linux distributions. Trying to run SteamOS on Intel or Nvidia hardware has not been easy so far. According to Griffais, Valve is working to change that

Re: (Score:2)

by sound+vision ( 884283 )

Glad I didn't try installing it then. Or maybe I did, and it wouldn't install. Either way, it didn't make it into consideration after my distro shootout.

Datacenters have effectively killed gaming (Score:1)

by Anonymous Coward

Wayyyy too expensive now. Thankfully, we have a ton of old games that will run on modest hardware for the occasional binge.

Re:Datacenters have effectively killed gaming (Score:4, Interesting)

by sound+vision ( 884283 )

The article quotes that $1000 figure as if it's something outlandish. It was a normal price for lower-mid-tier gaming PC last year. And this year the $1000 mark is more of a floor, a minimum you have to spend to get a gaming PC. Anything under that, you might as well get a Playstation. Although those are raising up now too.

Yeah the problem isn't valve (Score:2)

by rsilvergun ( 571051 )

The problem is AI data centers and a complete lack of antitrust law enforcement so nobody is going to risk getting into RAM or storage manufacturer even though there's half a dozen companies that could be up and running in 6 months to a year. Several of them have had their CEOs interviewed and just quietly hinted that they wouldn't take the risk. They usually talk about the bubble but the underlining thing that they will hint at but never outright say is that they all know if they enter the market the exist

Year of the Linux Desktop (Score:2)

by Grady Martin ( 4197307 )

This may be the catalyst.

Historically, focus has been placed on “converting” existing users. This is an uphill battle against adults set in their ways. Kids, meanwhile, are largely blank slates, have free time, and want to play games.

Get the kids to install SteamOS, and you can have your year.

Re: (Score:2)

by aergern ( 127031 )

The "Year of the Linux Desktop" started a long while ago, we're not waiting. It intensified when Win10 was abandon. We will never get the 1 req folks seem to think we need which is laptops and desktops with Linux preinstalled sold at BestBuy. It won't happen. BUT that doesn't mean Linux is niche anymore.

If I have steam installed on top of Linux (Score:2)

by sarren1901 ( 5415506 )

Then why would I bother with this? Does SteamOS give me more access to games that the regular Steam platform cannot do? I guess I literally don't see the point in SteamOS if you already have a desktop already.

Maybe someone can enlighten me on this one.

Lisp Users:
Due to the holiday next Monday, there will be no garbage collection.