Valve Corporation’s upcoming Steam Machine may launch at 699.99 US Dollars, according to new price estimates.
In his recent video, Linus Tech Tips has offered a detailed and data-driven estimate of the price of Valve’s upcoming Steam Machine. After visiting the company and getting a transparent look at the hardware’s specs and capabilities, he concluded that enough clues exist to make a highly educated guess about the final MSRP. In fact, he was so confident that he joked that if the estimate is off by more than 60 US Dollars, he’ll “eat an entire portal cake on the WAN Show,” adding that this time “the cake [is] true.”
Valve has kept one major detail firmly under wraps i.e. the price. With no official figure yet, Linus set out to simulate a matching system using retail PC components. The analysis began with Valve’s semi-custom AMD six-core processor and an RDNA3-based GPU with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. Because these parts aren’t available off-the-shelf in desktop form, Linus built a functional equivalent i.e. a Ryzen 5–based platform paired with an RX 6600, chosen because its performance aligns closely with the mobile-class chip Valve is using for the Steam Machine. From here, he compared minimum historical pricing, current retail pricing, and realistic bulk manufacturing costs.
Even using aggressively cheap historical prices, the DIY counterpart cost “just over $600.” In today’s market, the same parts total “close to $900.” However, manufacturers like Valve benefit from bulk component deals, streamlined margins, and fully custom boards designed for compact assembly. Taking these factors into account, Linus estimated that Valve’s internal build cost still lands “under $600 to $650” given rising costs for RAM, SSDs, and global supply pressures.
From there, Linus concluded that Valve wants its hardware business to be “sustainable,” rather than subsidized like a traditional console. As such, according to him, this puts the most realistic MSRP at, “699 US [Dollars],” adding that his estimate falls in line with Valve’s desire not to undercut PC partners or accidentally sell the device too cheaply to businesses that would use it as a general-purpose computer.
