The gaming community is abuzz with discussions about the upcoming Steam Machine, a device that promises to revolutionize gaming with its potential performance capabilities. Reports suggest that this new console aims to deliver a 4K@60 FPS experience, though early analyses indicate that this achievement will heavily depend on AMD’s FSR technology and lower graphic settings.
The Makeshift Steam Machine Experiment
A YouTuber, The Phawx, attempted to simulate the performance of the Steam Machine by assembling a system with similar specifications. Using an AMD Ryzen 7 8840U CPU with adjusted settings, a Radeon RX 7600M XT GPU, and utilizing AMD Smart Memory Access, the setup aimed to verify if the Steam Machine could indeed outperform existing hardware like the Steam Deck. Testing revealed that the makeshift machine was indeed six times faster than the Steam Deck, even surpassing it by 6.5 times in certain GPU-bound scenarios due to its enhanced GPU attributes.
Challenges in Achieving 4K@60 FPS Performance
Despite the promising speed, the goal of sustaining 4K@60 FPS remains uncertain. Among the games tested, only God of War Ragnarok reached the 4K@60 FPS benchmark, and that too with Intel XeSS in Ultra Performance Mode and lower settings. Other titles such as Warhammer 40K: Space Marines 2, Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales, Starfield, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle fell short of this standard. Many of these games struggled, necessitating a potential cap at 30 FPS to maintain smooth gameplay, highlighting the limitations even with advanced upscaling and low graphic settings.
Though questions linger about its ability to deliver the highest 4K gaming experiences, the Steam Machine is set to offer a significant upgrade over many existing systems. Valve states that, despite its 8 GB VRAM limitation, the competitive pricing could make it a game-changer, much like the Steam Deck did for handheld gaming.