I've had people tell me that rolling distros are bad but in the last year I've had had less issues in total even when compared to using "stable" distros. The CachyOS peeps are really on the ball, there's been some breaking packages on Arch but they smartly roll back on their own repos where needed.
November 18, 2025 at 7:44 PM
I've had people tell me that rolling distros are bad but in the last year I've had had less issues in total even when compared to using "stable" distros. The CachyOS peeps are really on the ball, there's been some breaking packages on Arch but they smartly roll back on their own repos where needed.
I landed on CachyOS, before the hype, and have been really happy with it. Its sensible defaults all the way down and its been very resilient even when fucking around at a low level.
November 18, 2025 at 7:25 PM
I landed on CachyOS, before the hype, and have been really happy with it. Its sensible defaults all the way down and its been very resilient even when fucking around at a low level.
People doing those estimates are using the RX 7600s (the laptop part with the same # CUs) as a comparison without taking into account the boosted clocks that Steam Machine is running it at. Given the RX 6700 is around PS5 equivelent, the most OC'd 7600S actually beats the avg. desktop 6700.
November 17, 2025 at 9:54 PM
People doing those estimates are using the RX 7600s (the laptop part with the same # CUs) as a comparison without taking into account the boosted clocks that Steam Machine is running it at. Given the RX 6700 is around PS5 equivelent, the most OC'd 7600S actually beats the avg. desktop 6700.
Every TV has this built in now.
November 17, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Every TV has this built in now.
The PS5/SXS have 16GB total. ~3GB is reserved for the OS, so effective 13GB. Most games use RAM for more than just graphics, say 4-6GB. That leaves around 8GB for graphics.
November 17, 2025 at 9:40 PM
The PS5/SXS have 16GB total. ~3GB is reserved for the OS, so effective 13GB. Most games use RAM for more than just graphics, say 4-6GB. That leaves around 8GB for graphics.
People are reading into vague comments Valve devs made in press interviews like tea leaves. "It's priced to a similarly spec'd PC" can mean a *lot* of things. Do they mean a desktop PC? Because you could get the performance it's offering for around $500-600 if choosing parts very carefully.
November 15, 2025 at 8:40 AM
People are reading into vague comments Valve devs made in press interviews like tea leaves. "It's priced to a similarly spec'd PC" can mean a *lot* of things. Do they mean a desktop PC? Because you could get the performance it's offering for around $500-600 if choosing parts very carefully.
The CPU is 6c/12t, not high end, but like the GPU they're leaning on their brute force thermal solution to make up for the loss of 2 cores via high clocks, along with Zen4 architectural improvements.
My guess is about 500USD, it makes sense to match PS5 as that's around it's performance target too.
My guess is about 500USD, it makes sense to match PS5 as that's around it's performance target too.
November 15, 2025 at 8:38 AM
The CPU is 6c/12t, not high end, but like the GPU they're leaning on their brute force thermal solution to make up for the loss of 2 cores via high clocks, along with Zen4 architectural improvements.
My guess is about 500USD, it makes sense to match PS5 as that's around it's performance target too.
My guess is about 500USD, it makes sense to match PS5 as that's around it's performance target too.
The Machine uses recovered silicon for the CPU (an APU part with the presumably faulty iGPU fused off) and a low-mid range mobile GPU with significantly boosted clocks, thanks to the chunk of aluminum and big fan. They've cost optimized the hell out of it, I think they're being coy about price.
November 15, 2025 at 8:34 AM
The Machine uses recovered silicon for the CPU (an APU part with the presumably faulty iGPU fused off) and a low-mid range mobile GPU with significantly boosted clocks, thanks to the chunk of aluminum and big fan. They've cost optimized the hell out of it, I think they're being coy about price.
When I look at comparatively spec'd SFF PCs... I dunno. Given the CPU is apparently a scrap part (an APU with the iGPU fused off) and the use of a heavily OC'd mobile GPU, my hunch is they cost optimized the fuck out of the thing. I doubt it'll cost more than a PS5.
November 13, 2025 at 9:01 PM
When I look at comparatively spec'd SFF PCs... I dunno. Given the CPU is apparently a scrap part (an APU with the iGPU fused off) and the use of a heavily OC'd mobile GPU, my hunch is they cost optimized the fuck out of the thing. I doubt it'll cost more than a PS5.
Digital Foundry often have blindspots. For one, I don't think they considered how high Valve pushed the clocks on the GPU.
It's true that upscaling will be required to hit 4K60 but that's the case with PS5 too.
It's true that upscaling will be required to hit 4K60 but that's the case with PS5 too.
November 13, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Digital Foundry often have blindspots. For one, I don't think they considered how high Valve pushed the clocks on the GPU.
It's true that upscaling will be required to hit 4K60 but that's the case with PS5 too.
It's true that upscaling will be required to hit 4K60 but that's the case with PS5 too.
What mistakes? A lack of a substantial library? Requirement for Linux ports? Shipping an OS with a poor quality GPU driver? Running games on a compositor that can't handle edge cases like windowed mode? No controller profiles to support non-gamepad games? Cost prohibitive, off the shelf hardware?
November 13, 2025 at 2:17 PM
What mistakes? A lack of a substantial library? Requirement for Linux ports? Shipping an OS with a poor quality GPU driver? Running games on a compositor that can't handle edge cases like windowed mode? No controller profiles to support non-gamepad games? Cost prohibitive, off the shelf hardware?
500-600 is more likely but at that price point it's still very competitive against offerings in the SFF PC market as well as the PS5/XSX on a performance level.
I don't really see why you're such a curmudgeon about this thing. It didn't kill your dog.
I don't really see why you're such a curmudgeon about this thing. It didn't kill your dog.
November 13, 2025 at 2:06 PM
500-600 is more likely but at that price point it's still very competitive against offerings in the SFF PC market as well as the PS5/XSX on a performance level.
I don't really see why you're such a curmudgeon about this thing. It didn't kill your dog.
I don't really see why you're such a curmudgeon about this thing. It didn't kill your dog.
At $300 it would be the cheapest PC of it's class by a country mile, the bargain of the century. You say something like that and you're just admitting that you don't know what you're taking about.
November 13, 2025 at 1:48 PM
At $300 it would be the cheapest PC of it's class by a country mile, the bargain of the century. You say something like that and you're just admitting that you don't know what you're taking about.
They described Van Gogh in the deck as semi custom too, that customization being they took a bunch of cheap cast off chips and lasered a hole in them.
November 13, 2025 at 1:19 PM
They described Van Gogh in the deck as semi custom too, that customization being they took a bunch of cheap cast off chips and lasered a hole in them.
They've mentioned in interviews that the APU they're using has an unused iGPU in it that they fuse off. They're not making chips with a bunch of dead silicon specifically for the Steam Frame.
November 13, 2025 at 1:18 PM
They've mentioned in interviews that the APU they're using has an unused iGPU in it that they fuse off. They're not making chips with a bunch of dead silicon specifically for the Steam Frame.
APUs that have defects in the GPU block. It's fairly common to see those kinds of chips find their way into low cost hardware, like PS5 and XSX APUs that end up on custom integrated boards sold mostly outside of the west.
November 13, 2025 at 1:16 PM
APUs that have defects in the GPU block. It's fairly common to see those kinds of chips find their way into low cost hardware, like PS5 and XSX APUs that end up on custom integrated boards sold mostly outside of the west.
Its not premium, but it should be able perform within a hair of PS5. Maybe a bit below in raster performance, bit better in CPU.
I don't think VRAM will be a problem given the performance level it's targeting. It's the minimum for something like Indy, but it still looks and runs great on 8GB GPUs.
I don't think VRAM will be a problem given the performance level it's targeting. It's the minimum for something like Indy, but it still looks and runs great on 8GB GPUs.
November 13, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Its not premium, but it should be able perform within a hair of PS5. Maybe a bit below in raster performance, bit better in CPU.
I don't think VRAM will be a problem given the performance level it's targeting. It's the minimum for something like Indy, but it still looks and runs great on 8GB GPUs.
I don't think VRAM will be a problem given the performance level it's targeting. It's the minimum for something like Indy, but it still looks and runs great on 8GB GPUs.
Valve did something similar with the Deck, it's SoC was repurposed from a design made for the Magic Leap 2, only with neural silicon fused off and eventually removed when they got custom chips for the OLED Deck. It's how they hit that $399 price point.
November 13, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Valve did something similar with the Deck, it's SoC was repurposed from a design made for the Magic Leap 2, only with neural silicon fused off and eventually removed when they got custom chips for the OLED Deck. It's how they hit that $399 price point.
The CPU is an APU with the (probably faulty) iGPU fused off, the GPU is a mobile part with it's clocks cranked to max. Using chips AMD scraped off the floor and OCing the hell out of a laptop GPU part, those are indications of clever cost optimization. They're building these for cheap.
November 13, 2025 at 1:01 PM
The CPU is an APU with the (probably faulty) iGPU fused off, the GPU is a mobile part with it's clocks cranked to max. Using chips AMD scraped off the floor and OCing the hell out of a laptop GPU part, those are indications of clever cost optimization. They're building these for cheap.
SteamOS is just desktop Linux with Steam Big Picture running on a custom user session by default. Drop to desktop and you get a full blown KDE Plasma UI with the Flathub store with a full suite of Linux apps.
November 13, 2025 at 12:29 PM
SteamOS is just desktop Linux with Steam Big Picture running on a custom user session by default. Drop to desktop and you get a full blown KDE Plasma UI with the Flathub store with a full suite of Linux apps.
Heroic, a launcher for EGS and GOG games on Linux, supports cloud saves. For the games that support it at least.
There's solutions for emulators and whatever random game you install too but those require some setup.
There's solutions for emulators and whatever random game you install too but those require some setup.
November 13, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Heroic, a launcher for EGS and GOG games on Linux, supports cloud saves. For the games that support it at least.
There's solutions for emulators and whatever random game you install too but those require some setup.
There's solutions for emulators and whatever random game you install too but those require some setup.
*waydroid not wayland
November 13, 2025 at 5:13 AM
*waydroid not wayland
An ARM CPU with an unlocked bootloader running desktop Linux by default with a built in x86>ARM compatibility layer, Android compatibility via Wayland and a full KDE desktop.
Everyone else grafted VR features onto mobile OSes. This is a PCVR headset, by itself. That's a new approach.
Everyone else grafted VR features onto mobile OSes. This is a PCVR headset, by itself. That's a new approach.
November 13, 2025 at 5:11 AM
An ARM CPU with an unlocked bootloader running desktop Linux by default with a built in x86>ARM compatibility layer, Android compatibility via Wayland and a full KDE desktop.
Everyone else grafted VR features onto mobile OSes. This is a PCVR headset, by itself. That's a new approach.
Everyone else grafted VR features onto mobile OSes. This is a PCVR headset, by itself. That's a new approach.
These are efficient mobile parts too, so when combined with a monster cooling setup, they can hit high frequences and punch above their weight.
I think there's a good chance it'll be price competitive.
I think there's a good chance it'll be price competitive.
November 13, 2025 at 5:04 AM
These are efficient mobile parts too, so when combined with a monster cooling setup, they can hit high frequences and punch above their weight.
I think there's a good chance it'll be price competitive.
I think there's a good chance it'll be price competitive.
There's a detail that's been missed. Deck used an SoC designed for the (failed) Magic Leap 2, with neural compute fused off. This is likely why it was cheap, they were using junk parts.
With Steam Machine, similar story: it uses an APU with a fused off GPU and a GPU with compute cores disabled.
With Steam Machine, similar story: it uses an APU with a fused off GPU and a GPU with compute cores disabled.
November 13, 2025 at 5:02 AM
There's a detail that's been missed. Deck used an SoC designed for the (failed) Magic Leap 2, with neural compute fused off. This is likely why it was cheap, they were using junk parts.
With Steam Machine, similar story: it uses an APU with a fused off GPU and a GPU with compute cores disabled.
With Steam Machine, similar story: it uses an APU with a fused off GPU and a GPU with compute cores disabled.