Building a PC to BEAT the STEAM Machine!

[00:00] The Steam Machine just crash-landed on

[00:03] the market at nearly double the price of

[00:06] a more performant console. Truly,

[00:09] it was a dark day for PC gamers.

[00:14] But

[00:15] that was yesterday, and today is a new

[00:17] day. So, rather than carrying a rational

[00:19] grudge towards an inanimate object,

[00:21] we're going to move on. And okay, PC

[00:24] parts, they're not as affordable as we'd

[00:26] like right now, but if we start with the

[00:28] price of Valve's latest box, which is

[00:30] $1,050,

[00:32] we're going to build a PC that dunks the

[00:34] performance of the GameCube without,

[00:36] hopefully, giving up too many of the

[00:38] creature comforts that make it so

[00:40] unique. Although we will be giving up

[00:44] some.

[00:45] For example, at first glance, our CPU,

[00:48] the Ryzen 5 7500F, looks nearly

[00:51] identical to Valve's. Six Zen 4 cores,

[00:54] 12 threads, and even similar boost

[00:57] clocks.

[00:58] But the devil's in the details, and to

[01:00] keep power consumption and noise

[01:02] extremely low, Valve chose a more

[01:05] expensive mobile CPU, meaning that

[01:08] our CPU alone draws nearly as much power

[01:11] as the entire Steam Machine in a light

[01:14] gaming workload. With that said though,

[01:16] we're still talking 65 W, which I don't

[01:19] think is a major concern for most

[01:21] desktop users. And the same goes,

[01:24] hopefully, for size. To find a

[01:27] motherboard,

[01:29] we fired up Newegg, filtered by B850

[01:31] chipset and Wi-Fi, and then sorted by

[01:34] price.

[01:35] The PC hardware industry is kind of

[01:37] struggling with sales volumes right now.

[01:39] So, if you shop around, you can actually

[01:41] find some pretty desperate-looking

[01:43] pricing on motherboards, like this mATX

[01:46] ASRock board with Wi-Fi for $130,

[01:50] or if you're willing to go even bigger

[01:52] to full-size ATX, we tracked down this

[01:55] board with Wi-Fi 7 for just 130 US

[01:58] dollars including shipping on Newegg

[02:00] Canada.

[02:01] What a freaking deal. We didn't go with

[02:03] that one though since most folks trying

[02:05] to build something more console like are

[02:07] probably going to go a bit smaller than

[02:09] that. So we grabbed an MATX board for

[02:11] our demo build here. The exact model is

[02:13] not too important. It doesn't impact

[02:15] performance much these days. So don't

[02:17] overthink it. Just pick a motherboard

[02:19] that has the IO and the features that

[02:21] work best with your [music] budget. No

[02:23] matter what you choose though, it is

[02:25] worth noting your system will be larger

[02:27] than the Steam Machine but it should

[02:29] offer greater expandability with a

[02:31] socket for future CPUs, a PCI Express

[02:35] Gen 5 slot for future GPUs, not to

[02:37] mention extra slots for both storage

[02:39] drives and for other add-in cards. This

[02:42] expandability gives us the ability to

[02:44] match Valve's many antenna approach for

[02:47] Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and their Steam

[02:50] Controller in the future, [music]

[02:51] but we opted not to spend our budget on

[02:54] dedicated cards and we're just going to

[02:55] stick with our onboard Wi-Fi.

[02:58] Now for the most painful part,

[03:00] RAM.

[03:01] Once again, we filtered and sorted by

[03:03] price choosing a dual channel 16 gig kit

[03:06] of DDR5 running at 6,000 [music]

[03:09] megatransfers per second CL36.

[03:12] This may be a controversial choice, but

[03:16] hear me out.

[03:17] While DDR4 can be had for less than half

[03:21] of the price of DDR5, RAM is just 1/3 of

[03:24] the platform triforce and we found that

[03:28] while DDR4 motherboards can be had for

[03:30] cheap,

[03:30] >> [music]

[03:31] >> the AM4 CPUs that go in them are in such

[03:34] high demand that brand new pricing for

[03:36] them is just not that attractive.

[03:39] Especially when you consider their last

[03:41] last generation performance. [music] Now

[03:44] if we were scrap yard warring this and

[03:45] we were buying second hand like we have

[03:47] with our previous console killer

[03:48] machines, DDR4 would likely have been

[03:51] the better choice.

[03:52] But we've seen your feedback that many

[03:54] [music] of you would prefer if we do

[03:56] these with all new hardware. And in this

[03:57] case, we felt that due to the pricing of

[04:00] the Steam machine, that was doable. Just

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[05:17] With storage prices being as high as

[05:19] they are right now, I think a lot of

[05:20] folks are going to be looking at the 512

[05:22] gig Steam machine today and then plan to

[05:25] upgrade that in the future once things

[05:26] cool down. That seems wise. So, we went

[05:30] spelunking for the cheapest half

[05:33] terabyte we could find

[05:35] with a warranty from a reputable

[05:36] company, which this week happened to be

[05:39] an Adata Legend for $85.

[05:42] Would I rather have something with a

[05:43] DRAM cache and or a more modern PCIe Gen

[05:46] 4 interface?

[05:48] Yes.

[05:49] Yes, I would. Either of those things

[05:51] would give our drive a longer, more

[05:53] productive life. But, for gaming,

[05:56] this is hopefully going to allow us to

[05:58] wait out the storm. Continuing today's

[06:00] theme, to find a case, we sorted mATX

[06:03] cases by price and

[06:05] were pleasantly surprised. Zalman used

[06:08] to be a mainstay in the enthusiast air

[06:11] and water cooling space, but in recent

[06:13] years has made a name for themselves

[06:15] offering up exceptional value on cases.

[06:18] And the Qubik's G here is no exception.

[06:20] $30 for USB-C, three included fans, and

[06:25] two tempered glass panels?

[06:27] Desperation pricing strikes again.

[06:30] And the good news is if Zalman regains

[06:33] their sanity by the time you're

[06:34] shopping, there's also the good

[06:36] old-fashioned Cooler Master Q300L for

[06:39] just $10 more. It is a worse case than

[06:42] the Zalman one, but it can be reliably

[06:43] found for like 40 bucks. So, happy case

[06:46] shopping. For our part, we're just going

[06:48] to be throwing our parts onto a test

[06:50] bench since the case doesn't impact

[06:52] performance at all.

[06:55] Our cooler is a bit of a tricky one.

[06:57] See, that ASRock board that we

[06:59] highlighted before actually came with a

[07:01] free Cooler Master Hyper 212, but then

[07:03] by the time we actually filmed this,

[07:06] that offer had expired. So, the budget

[07:09] for it is kind of Schrödinger's $20.

[07:12] Until you go shopping for yourself,

[07:15] you're both spending it and not spending

[07:17] it.

[07:18] Either way, if you don't get a Hyper 212

[07:20] for free, there are a lot of other great

[07:23] options in this $20 price range from

[07:25] brands like be quiet!, Sama, and

[07:27] Thermalright.

[07:29] I know that it can make shopping a

[07:30] little bit more complicated, but that

[07:32] free cooler is not the only place that

[07:34] we saved money by shopping deals. On top

[07:37] of the low cost of the parts we chose,

[07:39] we saved an extra $50 by targeting

[07:42] combos. Now, there are trade-offs to

[07:45] this approach. Sometimes it can be a

[07:47] better value to buy all of your parts

[07:49] from different retailers one by one. But

[07:51] other times, it's better to just bundle

[07:54] up and send it even if you don't get

[07:56] quite exactly the thing you wanted.

[07:58] Speaking of not quite the thing we

[07:59] wanted, sadly, we didn't find any great

[08:02] deals on a power supply. So, we budgeted

[08:05] about $65 for you to get something

[08:07] that's not completely bunk and that will

[08:10] accommodate some of the upgrades that

[08:12] our custom PC allows here. If you're

[08:14] looking for a power supply, just find

[08:16] something that's a good price and then

[08:17] cross-reference against the labs website

[08:20] or one of these super handy PSU tier

[08:22] lists. We found that this MSI MEG A650BN

[08:26] had a rating of C, which is

[08:29] not great, but

[08:32] it is technically a pass.

[08:35] You know what's going to do more than

[08:36] pass though?

[08:38] This GPU. The Sapphire Pulse Radeon 9600

[08:41] XT 16 gig edition features double the

[08:45] VRAM of the Steam Machine. It has a

[08:47] whole generation newer architecture with

[08:49] vastly improved ray tracing and we got

[08:52] it for $430,

[08:54] which

[08:56] is a lot of money. I would have actually

[08:58] loved to be able to recommend an Intel

[09:00] Arc B580 for $290,

[09:03] but

[09:05] while Valve is working on seamless

[09:07] operation with Intel cards, for now,

[09:09] Steam OS works best with AMD. If you're

[09:12] ready to venture outside of Steam OS,

[09:14] Bazzite and Catchy OS are popular

[09:17] distros that can offer a better

[09:18] experience with a wider range of

[09:20] hardware but

[09:22] we're trying to build a Steam Machine

[09:23] killer, not a DIY Linux gaming machine.

[09:27] With that last component installed,

[09:29] overall, we're looking really good right

[09:31] now. We've got a faster CPU with bigger

[09:34] caches, twice as much VRAM on our GPU,

[09:38] we've got more expansion. I mean, as the

[09:40] great philosopher and poet DJ Khaled

[09:42] said, "All I do is win, win, win, no

[09:45] matter what."

[09:47] But,

[09:48] okay, sometimes I do take big fat L's,

[09:50] and there are a couple that we've got to

[09:52] talk about here.

[09:53] Without Valve's specialized hardware, we

[09:56] are not getting support for HDMI CEC.

[10:00] That means no automatic synchronization

[10:02] between my

[10:04] console here and my TV, audio system,

[10:08] etc., etc. Also, while I do benefit from

[10:11] Valve's quick resume feature, and I

[10:14] >> [music]

[10:14] >> can wake the system up from a, you know,

[10:16] USB peripheral, what I can't do is power

[10:19] on from a Steam controller at this time.

[10:22] Oh, right. And, of course, for better or

[10:24] for worse, we had to spec it, build it,

[10:27] and now we have to configure it to get

[10:28] the most out of it. And, if it doesn't

[10:30] boot, we're on the hook for figuring out

[10:33] why. But, it will, right?

[10:36] Everything's showing up. All we got to

[10:37] do is activate expo,

[10:40] save,

[10:41] and we should fire up right into Steam

[10:43] OS. Now, it's time for our side-by-side

[10:45] comparison. David will be gaming on the

[10:47] Steam Machine, and I will be gaming on

[10:49] the

[10:50] Vapor Contrabption.

[10:52] Here we get

[10:53] >> Wait. You're going to need a controller,

[10:55] and thankfully, Valve gave us a ton of

[10:57] room in our budget.

[10:58] >> All right. Yes, it's not cheap.

[11:01] >> It's 100 bucks stand-alone, 70 bucks if

[11:02] you get it bundled with your console.

[11:04] So, for 65 bucks, I'm going with the

[11:05] Vader 5 Pro, uh a controller that I

[11:08] really enjoy. It's 80 bucks MSRP, but 65

[11:10] bucks on the street. This thing rocks.

[11:13] >> Yeah, this is the like Goku skin one,

[11:15] but you can save 10 bucks by going with

[11:16] the black one. It doesn't have track

[11:18] pads. I'm sorry, I don't use them. I

[11:20] don't mind that.

[11:22] How could you?

[11:24] What do we want to start with?

[11:24] >> Let's start with Final Fantasy VII

[11:26] Remake.

[11:26] >> Okay, let's do [music] it.

[11:28] Right out of the gate in Final Fantasy

[11:29] VII Remake, it is close.

[11:33] You're within the 8 gigs of VRAM of the

[11:36] Steam Machine,

[11:36] >> Mhm.

[11:37] >> but that GPU is just plain not as

[11:41] powerful.

[11:43] >> This is a fairly well optimized section

[11:44] of the game, too. I was seeing drops to

[11:47] like 30, sub 30 sometimes in other

[11:49] parts.

[11:50] >> Both systems are running high 4K with no

[11:53] upscaling, though. So, in fairness to

[11:56] the Steam Machine,

[11:57] it's not like it can't run the game. It

[11:59] just doesn't run it as well.

[12:03] Let's move over to something that we can

[12:04] sort of play around with the settings on

[12:05] a little bit more. How about 007? This

[12:08] is going to be the apples-to-apples

[12:09] comparison.

[12:10] 4K medium quality, FSR set to quality,

[12:13] motion blur off.

[12:15] That's another big fat win for the Vapor

[12:18] Contraption.

[12:20] This is not close. I mean, I'm running

[12:23] 50% faster.

[12:24] >> Well, I'm curious how low my settings

[12:26] need to go to match your performance.

[12:28] >> Sure.

[12:30] >> Can I leave that low?

[12:32] Low.

[12:33] >> Okay, come on. That's got to be enough.

[12:34] That's got to be enough.

[12:35] >> Even that's not enough?

[12:36] >> That's got to be enough.

[12:38] That's not enough.

[12:40] Wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on.

[12:41] I I think we're right on par now. In

[12:44] fairness,

[12:45] that's a pretty decent-looking game at

[12:48] low settings.

[12:50] But, you can really see how they're

[12:51] using some cheats, right? Like, there's

[12:53] a lot more of sort of Vaseline smear

[12:57] cinematic out of focus on yours.

[13:00] When actually that's just clearly a hack

[13:02] for the

[13:04] lower view distance and lower texture

[13:06] quality.

[13:07] And yeah, especially if we look out over

[13:08] here.

[13:11] >> Hey.

[13:11] >> Oh, yeah. I've got way more sharpness in

[13:14] the details on the hills.

[13:16] >> It's certainly playable on this side,

[13:18] >> Oh, yeah.

[13:19] >> if I had to pick between the two, I it's

[13:21] no contest.

[13:22] >> How's our main character? Cuz that tends

[13:23] to be where they'll they'll cheap out

[13:25] last.

[13:26] Yeah.

[13:26] >> Not too different. Like, you're sharper

[13:28] cuz you have more internal resolution.

[13:29] >> Yeah, but it's not by that much. This is

[13:32] a clear win, but one that I don't think

[13:34] is going to be that impactful for a lot

[13:36] of gamers.

[13:38] Oh, this would be an interesting one for

[13:40] us to

[13:42] put the machines to sleep and then

[13:43] resume.

[13:44] >> 2 1 go.

[13:48] Oh.

[13:50] >> All right.

[13:51] >> I'm doing pretty good.

[13:52] >> Holy schnikes.

[13:54] >> Oh, you're doing really good.

[13:56] >> [laughter]

[13:57] >> This is a no offense markedly smoother

[14:01] experience than what I'm looking at over

[14:03] there.

[14:03] >> That being said, I'm still above 100

[14:05] frames. I would never say this is

[14:07] anything but a good experience.

[14:09] >> I mean, here, touch my stick.

[14:12] >> Huh?

[14:13] Oh, that's better.

[14:14] >> [laughter]

[14:17] >> That's smoother, yeah.

[14:19] >> That doesn't even look like 100 FPS to

[14:20] me.

[14:21] >> No, I

[14:22] >> I wonder if the sleep and resume didn't

[14:24] work properly. You know what's ironic? I

[14:26] was expecting the Steam machine to

[14:27] actually have an advantage in sleep and

[14:29] resume but

[14:32] it works perfectly on here. Other than

[14:35] that, I can't wake it up with my

[14:36] controller. Like check this out. By the

[14:38] time David troubleshoots this, I can

[14:40] probably put my machine to sleep and off

[14:44] and wake it.

[14:46] And I'm back in game and running

[14:47] smoothly.

[14:48] >> Way smoother.

[14:49] Oh, I thought this was going to be like

[14:50] the one time I got to be like, "Steam

[14:52] machines are really good use case for

[14:53] indie games."

[14:55] And it's I think it still is. It's just

[14:57] not as good a use case.

[14:58] >> Yeah, wait, you're locked at 60 now.

[15:00] >> Yeah.

[15:01] >> What the heck?

[15:02] >> Maybe it's worth doing a reboot.

[15:03] >> Yeah.

[15:04] >> What? Now I'm getting to 250 frames.

[15:07] >> Okay, that's more like what I would

[15:09] expect.

[15:09] >> Yeah, me too.

[15:10] >> [laughter]

[15:11] >> Way smoother.

[15:11] >> So, we may have found a bug. Sometimes

[15:15] when the quick resume borks, it seems to

[15:18] bork more [music] than just your resume

[15:20] speed.

[15:20] >> Yeah.

[15:22] It's good to know that it can get

[15:23] better. And this is pre-release

[15:24] software. I expect Valve to fix it, but

[15:27] >> They're not going to be able to fix this

[15:29] performance delta.

[15:30] >> Oh, yeah.

[15:30] >> Yeah, you have over 200 frames per

[15:32] second, but yeah, I have over 300 frames

[15:35] per second.

[15:36] >> [laughter]

[15:37] >> Both will provide a very good indie

[15:39] gaming experience.

[15:41] >> Some just better than others.

[15:43] This is a game that I'm expecting to

[15:45] look a lot better on mine.

[15:46] >> I fully agree.

[15:48] >> All right.

[15:50] Here we are. Oh, yikes.

[15:52] >> Neither of these look very good.

[15:54] >> [laughter]

[15:55] >> I mean, some of them look more or less

[15:57] gooder than others.

[15:58] >> Well, you have much more performance

[16:00] headroom too, if you wanted to tweak.

[16:02] I'm barely hanging on above 30.

[16:05] >> While it is clear that for the same

[16:07] price, you can build a much more

[16:09] powerful PC than the Steam Machine for

[16:10] gaming, you will be making some

[16:13] compromises.

[16:14] Some can be addressed, like we could

[16:17] have cut down our GPU slightly for a

[16:20] better quality SSD.

[16:21] But some of them can't be addressed,

[16:23] like the complete lack of CEC control.

[16:26] And for some people, those conveniences

[16:28] are more important than raw performance.

[16:31] And for some people,

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[17:27] If you guys enjoyed this video, hey, go

[17:29] check out our full review of the Steam

[17:31] Machine where we dived a little bit

[17:33] deeper into the performance as well as

[17:35] some of the features that make this

[17:37] machine legitimately

[17:39] completely unique on the market.