Steam Machine release date inches ever closer as benchmarks leak – here’s how it compares to PS5

Valve’s Steam Machine should be revealed in full soon

(Credit: Valve)

• 👀 Leaked Geekbench scores suggest an official reveal of Valve’s Steam Machine is likely only weeks away

• 💪 The system uses a custom AMD Zen 4 CPU with six cores and 12 threads, which is more modern than the PS5’s Zen 2 architecture

• 🆚 In benchmark testing, the Steam Machine is 40% faster than the PS5 in single-core performance, though it trails by 10-12% in multi-core tasks

• 💰 Due to the ongoing component crisis, analysts speculate the final price could potentially exceed $1,000

It feels like an official reveal of the Steam Machine’s release date, price, and specs is mere weeks away, as new benchmarks have leaked for Valve’s upcoming system.

Steam Machine, which is codenamed Fremont, has appeared on the testing site Geekbench, which measures a system’s performance. As first highlighted by Olrak29_ on X, the Steam Machine benchmark focuses on the CPU only, so we’re still in the dark over what its GPU is truly capable of.

According to the Geekbench score, the Steam Machine scored 2,282 and 2,334 for single-core performance, and multi-core hit 7,392 and 7,316. The Steam Machine features a custom AMD CPU, which has six cores and 12 threads. It has a 4.86 GHz base clock, 16MB L3 cache, and is based on the Zen 4 architecture.

(Credit: Geekbench)

To put the Steam Machine scores into perspective, it outperforms the PS5 in single-core CPU performance, which scored 1,650 to 1,700. That means the Steam Machine is 40% faster per core.

However, the PS5 inches ahead of the Steam Machine’s CPU when it comes to multi-core performance with a score of 8,000 to 8,500. It’s around 10 to 12% faster thanks to having eight cores. That’s actually a decent result for the Steam Machine, considering it has two fewer cores.

Steam Machine’s CPU is also more modern, running on the Zen 4 architecture instead of the PS5’s aging Zen 2. It should avoid bottlenecks at 1080p and 1440p, and allow for high-fps gaming at 120fps in CPU-heavy titles.

Early indications suggest that the PS5 features a slightly more powerful GPU than the Steam Deck, at least on paper. But again, with more modern architecture and optimization, expect the Steam Machine’s GPU to be comparable.

With the Steam Machine’s benchmarks leaking early, it’s more than likely we’ll hear about Valve’s powerful little box soon. How much it will cost will be a huge factor, as many now believe it will cost more than $1,000 because of the ongoing component crisis.

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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.