Valve's Steam Machine demonstrates surprising power for its compact size, often performing similarly to the PlayStation 5, though it falters in more demanding scenarios. While offering PC's characteristic flexibility in graphical adjustments, the Steam Machine's high $1,049 price point positions it as a niche product, likely better suited for existing PC gamers than those seeking a pure console experience.
When comparing the Steam Machine and the PS5, direct parity is difficult to achieve. PCs, including the Steam Machine, allow for extensive tweaking of visual and performance settings. In contrast, consoles typically offer limited preset options. Console games are generally optimized for specific frame rates, adjusting internal resolution to maintain them. While PC games can employ similar techniques through upscaling technologies like DLSS or FSR, games without dynamic resolution scaling require manual adjustment of settings to achieve target frame rates, a process that can still result in performance drops during intense moments.
To assess the Steam Machine's capabilities, testing involved setting games to a 'medium' preset at 4K resolution with FSR set to 'Performance' mode, aiming to emulate the PS5's typical 'Performance' mode targets, which usually lock games to 60 frames per second. Four titles were tested: Cyberpunk 2077, 007 First Light, Resident Evil Requiem, and Death Stranding 2.
The Steam Machine held its ground surprisingly well in Cyberpunk 2077 and Resident Evil Requiem. In Cyberpunk 2077, it averaged 68 fps at 4K with FSR on 'Performance', occasionally dipping to 56 fps but mostly staying within the 60-70 fps range. This performance closely mirrors the PS5's locked 60 fps, though close inspection revealed slightly more detail on the PS5 version, a consequence of the Steam Machine's medium preset favoring lower texture quality. Similarly, Resident Evil Requiem maintained an average of approximately 60 fps, with minor drops into the low 50s, a performance level comparable to the PS5's steady 60 fps.
However, the Steam Machine began to struggle with 007 First Light. At 4K with mixed medium and low settings and FSR on 'Performance', it averaged 53 fps, with significant drops to around 35 fps during explosive sequences. While reducing the resolution to 1800p on the Steam Machine boosted the average to 70 fps and eliminated severe drops, the PS5 maintained a locked 60 fps. The PS5 achieved this by lowering its internal resolution as low as 720p in demanding scenes, a trade-off that the Steam Machine, at 1800p, avoided, resulting in a sharper image despite the resolution difference.
Death Stranding 2 proved to be the Steam Machine's most challenging test. At 2160p with FSR on 'Performance' and medium settings, the game averaged only 35 fps. Even after lowering the resolution to 1440p and settings to 'Low', performance hovered between 45-50 fps. Achieving a stable 60 fps required dropping the output resolution to 1080p with the medium preset and enabling dynamic resolution scaling, even when outputting to a 4K display. In this configuration, the PS5 version, running at a locked 60 fps, presented a significantly more detailed experience with denser vegetation and superior global illumination and shadows, making the Steam Machine's visual output in this title resemble that of an older console generation.
Despite these variances, the Steam Machine and PS5 generally perform at comparable levels, with a slight edge to the console. The Steam Machine's advantages lie in its compact size, being roughly a third the size of the PS5, and its quieter operation under load. For users already invested in a Steam library or those who value PC gaming's customization, the Steam Machine offers a viable, albeit expensive, option. However, for individuals seeking a straightforward gaming machine, consoles like the PS5 remain a more practical choice.