I, like I'm sure many others were, wanted Valve's Steam Machine to hit the market at a price that shook up the old console space, but at over $1,000 it certainly won’t be doing that.
I'll admit, it's not Valve's fault that it hasn't. Companies like Microsoft and others have contributed to what I can only describe as an absolute f**kery of the memory industry, pushing prices to levels that analysts increasingly believe may never return to normal.
To be fair, though, we're not really here to talk about that. Instead, we're here to discuss the Steam Machine. While Valve initially marketed it as a 4K60 gaming machine, the company has now quietly removed those claims from the product listing page, replacing them with the far softer promise of "Up to 4K gaming with FSR 4.1, thanks to a discrete semi-custom AMD desktop-class CPU and GPU."
Previously the page stated the following:
"4K gaming at 60 FPS with FSR, thanks to a discrete, semi-custom AMD desktop-class CPU and GPU."
I'm actually quite impressed by Valve's Steam Machine, but its 4K60fps claims were certainly short-lived once reviewers got their hands on it. Admittedly, Valve always advertised that 4K60 would be achieved with FSR, so it's not as though the company committed some cardinal sin of false advertising, more so they stretched the truth by a noticeable margin.
Based on hands-on testing from reviewers, the Steam Machine appears to have fallen quite a way short of consistently delivering that 4K60 target, even with FSR enabled.
It is, however, nice to see Valve mention FSR 4.1, which I believe is new? Don't quote me on that though. FSR4 is something I covered recently, as many people, myself included, hoped Valve's reference to it in a backend update meant it would eventually come to devices like the Steam Deck, giving its already aging hardware a little more life.
I won't be getting a Steam Machine, at least not until it reaches a price I think it deserves, around $500. At this rate, that might not happen for another decade, and I'll be pushing 40 by then, which is a slightly depressing thought.
But enough about me. What do you think about Valve quietly dropping its 4K60 claim? Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and don't forget to take part in our poll!
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