Valve still hasn’t revealed the full breakdown of what’s inside its new Steam Machine console or how much it will cost. These details have been delayed with the device launching “early” in 2026 due to a shortage of AI-powered PC parts. But the company has offered a new clue about the minicomputer’s performance, and it seems almost too good to be true.
“In our testing, the majority of Steam titles run flawlessly at 4K 60FPS with FSR on Steam Machine,” the company said. wrote in a new update on February 4. “That said, some titles currently require more upscaling than others, and it may be better to play at a lower frame rate with VRR to maintain 1080p internal resolution. In the meantime, we’re working on HDMI VRR, investigating improved upscaling, and optimizing ray tracing performance in the driver, so we’re approaching this from multiple angles.”
Steam users are… skeptical. “I don’t see how this is possible on many, if not most, current AAA games,” one commenter wrote. “The hardware just isn’t there. Isn’t it supposed to be a 3050 or lower class device?” Another wrote: “I don’t think the hardware is capable of delivering on that promise. I have a 12GB 3060. Which, presumably, is a significantly more powerful GPU than what’s on offer. But it’s still a low-end GPU and I’m not playing any AAA games at 4K.”
It’s hard to know what exactly this means since thousands of new games come to Steam every year and most of them are small indie games that are not very demanding to run. The steam engine can work Hollow Knight: Song of Silk And Kill the Arrow 2 in 4K 60FPS no problem, but what about Resident Evil Requiem And Crimson Desertthe two AAA blockbusters that will arrive in Valve stores in the coming months? Not to mention all the games released last year with performance issues on PC like Wild Monster Hunters And Borderlands 4.
If the Steam Machine can achieve 4K 60FPS even for some of these big games without too much frame generation or upscaling, it would have a lot to offer not only console gamers, but also people coming from low-end or very outdated PC gaming rigs. But it probably won’t be cheap either. Here again, in this new world where the game gets more expensive every yearwho’s to say what counts as “cheap” anymore.
