Steam Machine specs either match or beat over 70% of existing users’ hardware, says Valve
Valve’s little black box should deliver enough performance for most people
🆚 The Steam Machine’s specifications were designed to match or exceed the hardware of 70% of existing Steam users, based on the Steam Hardware Survey
👉 Valve’s goal was to make the device both affordable and powerful enough to play “every game on Steam” at 4K, 60Hz, using upscaling
👍 Hardware engineer Yazan Aldehayyat confirmed the Steam Machine is intended to be a simple and easy upgrade path for players with older PCs
💪 The average user hardware data (October 2025) shows most users play at 1080p, with 16GB RAM and a GPU with 8GB VRAM, suggesting the Steam Machine’s 4K capabilities will be a significant upgrade
There’s been a lot of talk about the Steam Machine’s specs, and whether Valve’s console-like PC is powerful enough. With only 8GB of VRAM and a GPU that’s technically weaker than the PS5’s, some detractors believe the compact cube won’t cut it when it releases early next year.
However, Valve has referred to the Steam Hardware Survey when designing the Steam Machine. And it means the Steam Machine will either match or outperform 70% of existing users’ hardware.
Speaking to IGN, hardware engineer Yazan Aldehayyat said that Valve wanted to make the Steam Machine affordable, but also powerful enough that players know it can handle practically every game in their library.
“The mandate that we had was that you need to be able to play every game on Steam, or at least have enough performance to play every game on Steam at 4K, 60Hz, when using upscaling.
“We didn’t want people to worry about whether their Steam Machine supports whatever game they’re playing. We just wanted a pretty simple message that yes, if it’s on Steam, this device will have enough performance to play at these settings.
“But we also wanted to make the device affordable. We understand that affordability is really important, so we kept that in mind so the device is reachable for a lot of people.”
Aldehayyat also said it was the Steam Hardware Survey that helped the company decide on how powerful the Steam Machine should be.
“Another piece of information that we always had available is the Steam Hardware Survey. You know, we can essentially look at everybody’s devices. We understand what the medium performance looks like for people. We understand where the Steam Machine is going to be positioned relative to those.
“Essentially, we think it’s going to be a great upgrade path for a lot of people, especially people who are on older machines. It will be an easy, simple way to kind of get more performance and get back into PC gaming.
In another interview, Aldehayyat summed it up clearly by saying, “The Steam Machine is equal or better than 70% of what people have at home.”
The numbers don’ t lie
And Aldehayyat is right. According to the Steam Hardware Survey, the most popular PC specs as of October 2025 are:
OS: Windows 11: 63.57%
CPU Brand: Intel: 57.11%
CPU Cores: 6: 28.69%
CPU Clock Speed: 2.3 Ghz - 2.69Ghz: 20.94%
GPU Brand: NVIDIA: 73.93%
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060: 4.30%
GPU VRAM: 8 GB: 33.46%
System RAM: 16 GB: 41.49%
Display Resolution: 1080p: 53.47%
The stats show that most people still play at 1080p, and have a system with 16GB RAM and a GPU with 8GB VRAM. The average user’s CPU has six cores, with a clock speed of 2.3Ghz to 2.69 Ghz.
It’s easy to think that everyone owns an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 with the fastest CPU on the market, but that simply isn’t true.
A compact PC that can play games at 4K and features a significantly more powerful CPU should be an upgrade for many, and more importantly, gives gamers an easy way to play their Steam library in the living room.
Up next: Steam Machine just put the PS5 and Xbox on notice – if Valve nails one more thing
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.