Well, the Steam Machine's price has been announced, and at $1,049 for the base 512GB model, it's safe to say that any hopes people had that Valve would pull another Steam Deck and heavily subsidise the Steam Machine to make it more affordable have been dashed.
While the price of the Steam Machine isn't outrageous considering the PC gaming market, especially at the moment with component prices being so high, it's certainly not cheap, and the specs make me worried that it's both over priced and under powered.
If you're in the same boat, the good news is that it's pretty easy (dare I say, even fun) to build your own compact gaming PC that offers far more performance for your money. And, with Amazon Prime Day pretty much in full swing, despite it officially starting on Tuesday, it could even be quite a bit cheaper than the Steam Machine, which won't be getting any price cuts, since it's only been officially launched.
• Shop Amazon's full early Prime Day sale
I've been building my own PCs for decades now, including small console-like gaming PCs, and it's always fun and rewarding. Small form factor PCs offer a particular challenge, as you need to find components that fit inside a small chassis, ensure there's plenty of airflow even in small spaces, and installing the components can be tricky due to the cramped insides.
But, as I said it's a lot of fun. I've picked out some components below that you can put together to make your own Steam Machine. You don't need to buy an operating system, either, as you can download and install SteamOS for free.
The components I've picked below are all compatible with each other, and total $1,295.23. Now, that's more expensive than the base model of the Steam Machine, but you get twice the storage space (1TB) and faster RAM. You're also getting a discrete GPU, the Asus Dual Nvidia Geforce RTX 5060 8GB GDDR7 White OC Edition, which will outperform the integrated AMD RDNA 3 Navi GPU in the Steam Machine.
If you want to keep the price down, you could skip the graphics card, and rely on the integrated graphics of the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X chip. This reduces the overall cost to $940.84, well below the cost of the Steam Machine, though gaming performance will take a big hit.
I recommend buying a dedicated GPU for best performance, but the beauty of building your own PC is that you can always buy that later, though with Prime Day sales currently running, now might be the best time to buy all the components now.
Prime Day sale – quick links
- Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
- Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
- Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
Build your own Steam Machine
More Prime Day deals in the US
- Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
- Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
- Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
- Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair tools
- Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
- Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99
- Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
- Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
- Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
- Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99
- Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothing
- Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34
More Amazon Prime Day deals in the UK
- Amazon Prime: sign up for a 30-day free trial
- Amazon Devices: Fire TV, Ring & Blink from £21.99
- Apple: AirPods Pro 3 for a record-low price
- Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja, Tefal & Sage
- Essentials: household goods from under £10
- Laptops: from £149.99
- Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £125
- TVs: from £129.99
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