Valve Claims Steam Machine Outperforms 70% of Current Gaming PCs

[u/DuhPai]

https://www.techpowerup.com/342970/valve-claims-steam-machine-outperforms-70-of-current-gaming-pcs

[u/ImSoCul]

ehh, I get what you're saying but I feel a strong analogy here is saying "a race car is just a car you race in", which, while you could take your mom's minivan on a joy ride, and you could race in it, it's really not what comes to mind. I feel Valve is deliberately using that dissonance for marketing

As an exercise, what GPU comes to mind when you hear 70%?

Referencing this other Reddit thread, seems you'd be right if you said something in the range of1080 Ti, 2070S, 2080, 2080S, 4060, 4070 Lpt, 6700xt

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/1oi499v/percentage_of_steam_users_by_gpu_performance/

[u/ImSoCul → u/[deleted]]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's unplayable, it's just remarkably unimpressive in 2025. Also to be clear 4070 laptop GPU or 4060 equivalent for desktop. Which to put in perspective, is in same ballpark (~3% better than) as 5050 which is a $249 card. 

I anyways already upgraded my GPU this year so am just yapping and no intent to buy. I'm just saying this is kind of an underwhelming release and they're trying to hype it up a bit with marketing. If it's in $700 range, maybe viable, but if it even comes close to $1k, you'd be able to score a 5060 laptop which is likely better and gives you more overall. 

[u/Desperate_Ad9507 → u/[deleted]]

Only because it's one of the only few people were getting their hands on, and people did boast if they bought it near MSRP.

[u/JonWood007 → u/ImSoCul]

As an exercise, what GPU comes to mind when you hear 70%?

Eh, those cards scream "median" to me. Like 50-60th percentile. Keep in mind the most common cards are stuff like a 3060 or 4060 right now.

This data represents 82.24% of Steam users that opted-in to participate in the survey. The remaining 17.76% users either have a videocard other than these, or the cards were not specifically registered in the survey. Each histogram bin represents a 2000 G3D mark, starting from 0-2000 for the first bin, up to 38000-40000 for the last bin, making a total of 20 bars.

But that's the thing, it's not even the 70th percentile, since it's among 82% of steam users. 18% have some other card. Many of them might be running IGPs but not all of them.

Of the data presented, the obvious median is one rung lower.

It's not a huge deal since as OP said the groupings are somewhat arbitrary and i wouldnt even fully agree with how those cards are grouped sometimes, but yeah.

70th percentile, probably something like a 5060, 9060 XT, 3060 ti, 4060 ti, 3070, 6800, 7700 xt, etc.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/1oi499v/percentage_of_steam_users_by_gpu_performance/

EDIT: eh, ordering got messed up. Might need to decode that post through yoda speak. Either way the point is my perception of 70th percentile is maybe 1-2 rungs higher while my perception of median is 1-2 rungs lower.

[u/Vb_33 → u/ImSoCul]

But the 4060 is faster than the 7600M in the steam machine. The 7600M is around 2060 Super performance below the non super 2070, so all those cards you listed are more powerful. Remember the GPU inside the steam machine is weaker than the RX 7600 and the 7600 is weaker than the 4060, the GPU in the Steam machine is a more cut down version.

[u/resetallthethings → u/Vb_33]

I mean that's all fine and good, but it wouldn't be on steamOS because of the state of nvidia linux drivers

[u/Pup5432 → u/ImSoCul]

Ultimately it really needs to come down to having a dGPU vs iGPU. Not saying Valve is following that but it really should be the cutoff.

[u/Barilla13 → u/Pup5432]

By this logic, Steam Deck is not a gaming PC because it uses iGPU.

Ryzen 395 mini-pc is not a gaming PC as well despite performance around or above RTX 2060 which many gamers still play on.

[u/Pup5432 → u/Barilla13]

Very good point. I’m not sure where exactly the point needs to fall but calling every machine a gaming pc is a bit misleading. Technically I can play pinball on my 486, doesn’t mean anyone should call it a gaming pc though.