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This is Valve's Steam Machine, and it's the most exciting hardware innovation of 2026. But there is a big problem-the price. This little box costs $1,050 without the controller. If you compare it to something like the PS5 Pro, which at $900 is n't cheap either, then it's a pretty dubious proposition. So I have $1,050 to put together a gaming PC that will compete not only with the Steam Machine but also with the PS5 Pro to find out what is actually the best option for you. Of course, we're here at our awesome sponsor Micro Center to build our gaming PC. The thing about the Steam Machine is that, although it's a very compact device, it's actually not that powerful. When it first came out, Valve advertised it as a 4K capable device, but
in reality it's more of a 1080p device where you'll use FSR to scale closer to 4K. And that's largely because the stuffing inside is pretty stale, right? The Steam Machine has a previous generation processor and graphics card. It uses a mobile chip. It's not very powerful. Of course, it's much better than the Steam Deck, but it's not that difficult to build a more powerful PC. But the question is, how much and how easy is it to do within a budget of $1,050? I think it will be a little more complicated than it seems at first glance. The main thing is that if I want to stay within the $1,000 budget, I need to choose a fairly affordable case. So something like the H3 Flow for $60 is actually a pretty good option. Of course, it's probably an order of magnitude
larger. But here's the thing. You practically can't build a PC that small, period. It's even smaller than an ITX motherboard, not to mention the power supply and everything else. You simply won't be able to match it in size without using special parts. Hopefully I can match his performance. The advantage is that the Steam Machine is not very powerful. The processor that's there can't be bought in a store, but it's roughly equivalent to an AMD Ryzen 7400 or something similar. It is actually designed for laptops. So, I can get a slightly better processor, which will give me more options for work. For example, there's this Ryzen 5 7600X, which costs $150. But since we're with our wonderful sponsor Micro Center, it's almost always
worth taking advantage of the bargain kits. So, I see here a gaming kit with a 7500X3D-it's a significant processor upgrade, and it includes a microATX motherboard. This kit includes a processor, motherboard, and 16GB of memory for $400. It sounds like a lot , but that's most of our most important components, especially considering the 16GB of RAM. Here's where things get really tricky, with the graphics. Again, Valve does not use standard off-the-shelf components. And while I would really like to use something like the 9070XT, I don't have the budget for it. In addition, at least for this build, it is important to use AMD graphics not only for correct
comparison, but also because I am running Steam OS on this system, and at the time of recording the video, it is better to use AMD graphics. Nvidia is n't really supported there. There will be support someday, but it's much easier to just assemble a system that's as identical as possible. It seems like Steam Machine has something like.yes, 7600. In fact, I think it might even be a little weaker than the 7600. So I might just get this graphics card, it's very close in specs, for $320. But, I think I can afford a little more. So, this is the 9060XT, which should be a real step forward. It costs only $350. That's a $30 price difference. I think if we take the 9060XT, we can bypass the Steam Machine in any scenario. We will have a more powerful processor
and a slightly more powerful graphics processor. If I put the rest of the components into a budget of $1000, it will be quite good. How much do SSDs cost now, huh? They are very affordable and easy to find, right? Yes, everything will be fine. How bad can it be? Well, I actually feel pretty confident. So, we have everything we need. We have essentially matched Steam Machine in every way. We have a 512 GB SSD, 16 GB of RAM, a more powerful processor and GPU, of course, the case is larger, but I think we stayed within budget.
He said confidently, heading to the cash register and counting everything in his mind again. So, friends, the total for our Steam Machine-rivaling build is $1,004.94. It feels like every time I do this, I count everything in my head, go to the cash register and be like, "Oh, right. I forgot it existed, and I was wrong." But this is really a $1,000 gaming PC that should just be a good gaming computer. But I also hope that it will compete well not only with the Steam Machine, but maybe even with the PS5 Pro. So, let's get started, shall we? This should be pretty easy, especially since the motherboard already has a processor installed. This even simplifies the task. As always, if you need a complete guide to building a gaming PC, we do one every year, so you can
check out our 2026 guide. But, uh, let's get started, okay? We chose a predominantly white aesthetic. If we're not going to be like Steam Deck, the last thing we want is to be the same color. I want him to be unique and special, just like me. Oh, is that what your mom said? No. The good thing is that this power supply should fit perfectly since it is white. Hooray. Okay, let's put that aside for a second. Let's put this motherboard together, it should be the easiest thing in the world because they've already done half of my work. A big reason why we were able to build a PC of this level for this price is, of course, that used a kit from Micro Center. The only thing this kit doesn't include is a cooler, so you'll have to buy one, which we of course did at
Micro Center. So, we have our Ryzen 5 7500X3D. Regarding memory, we almost completely agree: the Steam Machine has one slot for 16 GB, which is what we have here. And so it is. The RAM is installed, now let's install our SSD. We chose something that almost completely matches the Steam Machine. So, this is the TN320. This is a fairly basic 512GB SSD. To be honest, I don't know why they couldn't turn the port the other way, but that's how it is. I'll pretend I didn't have to look up at this with a frown. Yes! Now all we have to do is install the cooling and secure everything in the case. Good. I have to say, it looks pretty good.
I think everything looks neat, so all we have to do is install the GPU and hopefully everything will start working. Good. So, let's put it here, and basically everything should be ready. Oh, it's actually very bright. Wow. Oh, the keyboard lit up. The keyboard turns on. Everything looks promising. Gay! Let's go! Okay, friends, let's do this. Although, no, you know what? Alex, do we have Steam OS? Yes, take it. Devil. You did it wrong. True strength. Okay, let's do this live. Let me plug this in and see if we can boot Steam OS.
This.How long? Installation, how long did it take? It was 45 seconds? I didn't even have time to joke. Good. So, we see our 7500X3D, 16GB of RAM, and our RX 9600 XT. So now let's wipe the device and install Steam OS. I would be happy to. Although I've said this before, I want to emphasize: Steam OS supports AMD graphics, right? So if you are using a GPU from Nvidia, you will not reach this stage. So I advise you to do a quick Google search if you are building your own system to install Steam OS. Make sure nothing catches you by surprise. Okay, my friends. So, we have a small battle coming up. In the middle we have a good old classic. Steam Machine, which came out literally 5 minutes ago. On the right we have the 5 Pro, and on the left is what
is the most attractive piece of hardware here. I say this without any bias. So the point is, we're launching Cyberpunk in the same scene. The PS5 runs in standard ray tracing mode, which is targeted at 60 FPS. We set the ray tracing level to medium on both of our systems running Steam OS. And as you may have noticed, or perhaps not, since the video runs at 30 frames per second, there is a clear outsider in the group, and that is Steam Machine. So, without touching anything, just standing in roughly the same spot, we get around 30fps with medium ray tracing settings on this thing, which is quite decent. And honestly, if I were playing on a Steam Machine, I would probably turn off ray tracing. This, mind you, is at 1440p resolution. But with the same
settings, our special collection from Micro Center produces 50 frames / s. Now I also want to draw your attention to the PS5, which may run at higher resolutions and frame rates. So the PS5 Pro is a pretty good deal. And considering that it has a 2TB SSD, as opposed to 512GB in our other systems, this seems logical. And also, GTA 6 will be released on it this year. In any case, why don't we just hang around for a bit and see how they do? After all, to match the PS5 in terms of visuals, it looks pretty good, and the ray tracing in this game, of course, looks fantastic. However, I would also point out that even this system lags in frame rate.
I think it's safe to say that our PC simply outperforms the Steam Machine, right? It is cheaper. It is actually much more powerful. It runs on the same Steam OS, so all the games and everything else will be identical. And it is almost the same size. What do you think of our gaming PC? I have to say, I'm glad we were able to put together something that can compete with the Steam Machine for the same money thanks to our awesome sponsors at Micro Center. And of course, you should check out some of their promotions. Links to them will be in the description. Let me know in the comments, friends, what would you take home from this? I'm not on the list of options. I mean computers and consoles.
We know. Okay, I just wanted to make sure. People may misunderstand. I don't want to mislead anyone. I am married to the game. And on his wife. In exactly that order. Does she know about this? You'll find out when you watch this video. Will she watch a video about Steam OS? Please.
