- A number of Steam Machine clones are now out there
- The latest is the 'Steamroller' from Meta PCs in the US
- While it has strengths over and above Valve's PC, it misses out on some key aspects, notably around its suitability for the living room
As the Steam Machine is now officially shipping — at least to some gamers who have reservations placed and paid for — we're seeing more alternatives to the best gaming PCs for those who haven't been able to secure, or simply aren't tempted by, Valve's latest hardware.
The latest Steam Machine alternative is the Steamroller (nice name) from US-based Meta PCs. Tom's Hardware reports that the Steamroller is a prebuilt featuring an AMD Ryzen 9600X processor, backed with 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a Radeon RX 7600 graphics card (with 8GB of video RAM). There's a 1TB NVMe SSD for storage.
All this is packed into a micro-ATX case (the Jonsbo D32), with a 240mm AIO liquid cooler inside and a 650W power supply (gold rated).
Preorders are open now, with the Steamroller requiring you to part with $1,299 of your hard-earned cash, with units shipping from July 7 (that's about £980 / AU$1,900, although this particular machine is only available in the US).
This certainly looks like a respectable compact build for a gaming PC; however, like all of these Steam Machine alternatives or clones floating around right now, it misses the point of Valve's creation in a few key ways.
Let's look at those — and also, for balance and fairness, the strengths of the Steamroller and similar devices compared to the Steam Machine, because this isn't just a one-way street.
1. Living room suitability
To focus on the looks of a PC may seem superficial, but in the case of the Steam Machine, this is a big part of the appeal. It's an unobtrusive and inconspicuous little cube that sits on your TV stand (or elsewhere), blending in and not drawing attention to itself (or potentially annoying your partner, say, who maybe isn't as keen on gadgets and gaming as you are).
These alternative builds all fall down in terms of not being nearly as subtle as the Steam Machine. The Steamroller (or rather the Jonsbo D32 case) measures 207 x 395 x 314mm. Compare that to the dimensions of the Steam Machine, which are 156 x 152 x 162mm. The difference is a compact cube versus an admittedly small PC, but still, something heftier that looks like a computer rather than a slick gadget that happily nestles near your TV without drawing undue attention to itself.
I think Valve's achievement in keeping the size of the Steam Machine down to this level is pretty remarkable, in fact (albeit it has had an effect on performance, of course).
2. Hot hot heat
Something else Valve has thought a lot about is the thermals of the Steam Machine, again in light of that living room setting — by which I mean the device might be crammed onto a little shelf, or inside a cramped TV cabinet. Valve's engineers have considered this (as explained to Eurogamer), and ensured that the vents and cooling system are designed to mitigate potential issues around positioning.
The likes of micro-ATX cases haven't, of course, been subject to that kind of design thinking (although you could refer back to the above point — meaning they probably wouldn't fit in some of these spaces anyway).
3. Bring the noise
Coming hot on the heels (sorry) of thermals is the noise made by a PC when the graphics card is potentially running at toastier levels under more intense gaming demands. Just as with a console, you don't want your living room gaming PC to assault your eardrums with overly intrusive fan noise (especially if you have the TV volume on low, later at night).
Going by reviews, the Steam Machine is a commendably quiet device, and indeed even better than consoles in this regard (mentioning some names, I was not impressed with the PS4 Pro's noise levels; the PS5 Pro is much better, though). Obviously these alternative prebuilt PCs using desktop-class graphics cards are not going to be as quiet, and exactly what you'll get in terms of noise in taxing games could be, shall we say, undesirable.
4. Console-like experience
Speaking of consoles, another thing Valve has done with the Steam Machine is to ensure that the device provides a really slick living-room gaming experience. For one thing, that means instant sleep and wake functionality. On top of that, you also get HDMI CEC support that allows you to adjust the volume on the PC with your TV remote control (or have the TV set switch on or off automatically with the Steam Machine).
These are really convenient touches that make using the Steam Machine feel a lot more seamless, akin to the major consoles as noted. Of course, you won't get these kind of quality-of-life features with an alternative prebuilt PC. And they are invaluable, frankly, if you want to just jump on for a quick five-minute gaming session here and there.
The other side of the fence
I should clarify that I'm not having a pop at this Steam Machine alternative from Meta PCs. As noted, the Steamroller looks to be a solid build, and certainly a much better idea than, say, attempting to pick up a cheap clone from China (which is a very bad idea in my opinion, in case you were wondering). And it actually has a few advantages over the Steam Machine in certain areas, too.
For starters, the Steamroller offers considerably faster performance for your PC games, mainly due to the beefier (desktop-class) GPU. However, given the asking price, the RX 7600, while certainly an upgrade on the Steam Machine's (discrete but laptop-class) custom RDNA 3 graphics card, feels a touch stingy. Other Steam Machine alternatives have gone with meatier upgrades to the likes of the RX 9060 XT, which will obviously provide even higher frame rates.
The Steamroller is also more flexible in terms of upgrades. You can swap out the GPU in the future, for example, or indeed do anything you can with a typical PC. With the Steam Machine, you can only upgrade the RAM or storage (and even then, a memory upgrade is seemingly annoyingly fiddly).
Those are very real benefits for the Steamroller (and its ilk), obviously, especially the additional performance. But the real point of the Steam Machine is to be a system that takes over living-room gaming, and works in a seamless way in that environment — bringing your existing Steam games library to the big-screen TV, enabling you to play in a more relaxed and convenient couch-based setting. And in that respect, these Steam Machine clones are missing some big parts of the picture.
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