Steam Machine reservations are finally open at a hefty price and I am still excited
Valve opened Steam Machine reservation signups with a $1,049 starting price, a randomized queue, and a few upgrade questions I am already thinking about.
Valve has opened Steam Machine reservation signups, and I am still more excited about this box than the price should probably allow.
The official starting price is $1,049 USD or 1,039 EUR for the 512GB Steam Machine. The 512GB bundle with the new Steam Controller is $1,128 USD or 1,108 EUR. The 2TB Steam Machine is $1,349 USD or 1,359 EUR, and the 2TB bundle with controller is $1,428 USD or 1,428 EUR. The 2TB versions also include two extra faceplates: red fabric and solid walnut.
Apart from storage size and the controller bundle, the core spec sheet is the same across the models:
- CPU: Semi-custom AMD Zen 4, 6C / 12T
- GPU: Semi-custom AMD RDNA3, 28 CUs
- 16GB DDR5 plus 8GB GDDR6 VRAM
- 512GB or 2TB NVMe SSD, microSD card slot
- Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, Gigabit ethernet
- Integrated Steam Controller wireless adapter
- Small form factor, about a 6 inch cube
- SteamOS 3
That is expensive. I do not think there is a way to make the number look small, especially when the 512GB model already lands above a lot of people's idea of a living-room Steam box. Valve's explanation is basically that the RAM and storage market moved against them, and that the launch stock is limited because some parts became hard to source at all.
I believe that explanation, but it still hurts a little.
The reservation queue
Valve is using a randomized reservation system instead of a normal first-come launch. You can sign up until June 25, 2026 at 10 AM Pacific, then Valve will randomize the reservation and waitlist order once.
Emails go out on June 25. If you get a reservation, you still have to wait for Valve to send a purchase email. The first batch starts on Monday, June 29, and once your purchase email arrives, you have 72 hours to buy before the reservation moves on.
There are a few limits. Your Steam account has to be in good standing, you need to have made a Steam purchase before April 27, 2026, and Valve is limiting it to one signup per household. You can sign up for more than one model, though. If you land reservation spots for more than one, Valve says you will get the highest-end option and be removed from the others.
That makes the whole thing feel a little like a lottery. Signing up for all four models may give me more ways to land an early purchase email, but it also means I have to be fine with whichever model Valve offers me. For me that tradeoff is okay because I want to test it early. If you only want the cheapest version, signing up for the 512GB model alone is probably the saner move.
The model I would actually choose
If I was making the sensible choice, I would probably go for the 512GB Steam Machine without the controller bundle. I already own a Steam Controller, so I do not need another one right away.
I already have a Steam Deck microSD card full of games I could move over quickly for lighter titles, and the Steam Machine has a microSD slot. For bigger installs, I am much more interested in the SSD situation than paying the full jump to 2TB at checkout. I still have a 2TB SSD from my Legion Go here, so if the Steam Machine is as easy to open and upgrade as it looks, that might be the better path for me.
The 2TB model is still tempting, but not because of the faceplates. The walnut one looks cool, the orange one is not really for me, and I would happily pass that one to someone else. The jump from 512GB to 2TB is large enough that I would want to think twice before pretending it is the obvious pick.
The RAM is the part I keep thinking about
The one spec detail that annoys me is the memory setup. The Steam Machine lists 16GB DDR5 plus 8GB GDDR6 VRAM, but the system memory is a single SODIMM setup, so it runs single channel out of the box. Digital Foundry's RAM analysis backs up the direction of that concern, but it is more careful: Valve's single 16GB DDR5-5600 stick does create a performance penalty, while their Steam Machine testing suggests it mostly disappears when the box is GPU limited. The risk is in CPU-heavy or memory-heavy games, and Digital Foundry had not yet done a proper single-channel versus dual-channel swap test on the Steam Machine itself.
This was the first video I watched yesterday evening after making my reservations.
That is a bummer. Not a dealbreaker for me, but definitely the first thing I started mentally poking at. If the module is easy enough to reach and compatibility is not weird, I might look for a matching stick or cheap used SODIMMs on eBay and go to 32GB right away. Or maybe two cheap 8GB sticks make more sense. I would wait for real teardown and compatibility notes before telling anyone else to do that.
Why I am still excited
The Steam Machine is not cheap, and the reservation queue already makes it feel like launch units will be scarce. But I still want one.
The funny part is that I already built the overkill version of this for myself. My current SteamOS PC sits in a Fractal Ridge case with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, a Radeon RX 7900 XTX, and 64GB of RAM. With current RAM prices, that last part almost feels like bragging. It is small, it looks great, and it can do 4K 60, but it is still a PC I have to tune.
The Steam Machine still pulls me back because it feels more like living-room hardware than my own build does. The small cube, the front light strip, and the integrated controller behavior all help. The big thing for me is that I should be able to turn it on with the controller, not only wake it from sleep. I like turning devices off, so that matters more to me than it probably should.
I am also curious about noise. My PC can be quiet, but it takes tinkering, and the fans can still annoy me when I am trying to keep 4K 60 stable. If Valve's box ends up being as quiet as early impressions make it sound, that could be the boring feature I end up loving most.
So yes, I am still excited. Not because the price is easy. Mostly because the idea still feels right.
Now I just need the reservation email to be kind.