Valve still hasn’t revealed the full breakdown of what’s inside its new Steam Machine console or how much it will cost. Those details were delayed along with the device’s “early” 2026 launch due to an AI-fueled PC part shortage. But the company did offer a fresh clue about how the mini-computer will perform, and it almost sounds too good to be true.
“In our testing the majority of Steam titles play great at 4K 60FPS with FSR on Steam Machine,” the company wrote in a new update on February 4. “That said, there are some titles that currently require more upscaling than others, and it may be preferable to play at a lower framerate with VRR to maintain a 1080p internal resolution. In the meantime, we are working on HDMI VRR, investigating improved upscaling, and optimizing ray tracing performance in the driver, so we are approaching this from multiple angles.”
Steam users are…skeptical. “I don’t see how that’s possible on many, if not most current AAA games,” wrote one commenter. “The hardware just isn’t there. Isn’t this supposed to be a 3050 or lower class device?” Another wrote, “I don’t think the hardware is capable of delivering this promise. I have a 12 GB 3060. Which, presumably, is a significantly more powerful GPU than the one being offered. But it’s a still a lower-end GPU and I’m not playing any AAA games at 4K.”
It’s hard to know what exactly that means since thousands of new games come to Steam every year and most of them are small indie games that aren’t very demanding to run. The Steam Machine might run Hollow Knight: Silksong and Slay the Spire 2 at 4K 60FPS no problem, but what about Resident Evil Requiem and Crimson Desert, both AAA blockbusters coming to Valve’s storefront over the next couple of months? Not to mention all of the games that launched last year with PC performance issues like Monster Hunter Wilds and Borderlands 4.
If the Steam Machine can pull off 4K 60FPS for even some of those big games without too much frame generation or upscaling, it would have a lot to offer not just console players but people coming from lower-end or very dated PC gaming rigs. But it also probably won’t come cheap. Then again, in this new world where gaming gets more expensive every year, who’s to say what even still counts as “cheap.”
