Valve's Steam Machine and Steam Frame are still stuck in limbo, with both devices expected to hit the market before the end of June this year. The main reason for the delay is a shortage of RAM and storage chips, which have been driving up prices across the industry.
When Valve first announced the Steam Machine and Steam Frame last November, they deliberately avoided talking about pricing or availability details, knowing that these components were in short supply. But as time went on, the price spikes only intensified, forcing the company to reassess its plans.
"We planned on being able to share specific pricing and launch dates by now," says Valve's blog post. "But the memory and storage shortages youโve likely heard about across the industry have rapidly increased since then. The limited availability and growing prices of these critical components mean we must revisit our exact shipping schedule and pricing."
While there's no official word on when exactly the Steam Machine and Steam Frame will be released, Valve says they still expect to launch both devices in the first half of this year. But for now, that's all anyone can say - as the company continues to navigate the choppy waters of the AI industry's insatiable demand for memory.
One thing is clear: when the Steam Machine and Steam Frame finally do arrive, they'll likely be priced like comparable gaming PCs. However, the exact cost will depend on various factors, including RAM prices, which are notoriously volatile.
Those who have managed to build their own Steam Machines using commodity AMD hardware have already discovered some issues with running current SteamOS versions on dedicated GPUs. Games tend to run slower than they do on Windows, and even 8GB graphics RAM seems to be a limiting factor.
Valve is working on memory management improvements for the Steam Machine launch, which should help alleviate these problems. And as part of this effort, the company is also looking into improved upscaling and optimizing ray tracing performance in the driver - benefits that won't just apply to official Steam Machines, but also to homemade ones with similar hardware.
For now, though, Valve's Steam Machine and Steam Frame remain stuck in limbo, waiting for their manufacturers to sort out the RAM shortage before they can ship.
When Valve first announced the Steam Machine and Steam Frame last November, they deliberately avoided talking about pricing or availability details, knowing that these components were in short supply. But as time went on, the price spikes only intensified, forcing the company to reassess its plans.
"We planned on being able to share specific pricing and launch dates by now," says Valve's blog post. "But the memory and storage shortages youโve likely heard about across the industry have rapidly increased since then. The limited availability and growing prices of these critical components mean we must revisit our exact shipping schedule and pricing."
While there's no official word on when exactly the Steam Machine and Steam Frame will be released, Valve says they still expect to launch both devices in the first half of this year. But for now, that's all anyone can say - as the company continues to navigate the choppy waters of the AI industry's insatiable demand for memory.
One thing is clear: when the Steam Machine and Steam Frame finally do arrive, they'll likely be priced like comparable gaming PCs. However, the exact cost will depend on various factors, including RAM prices, which are notoriously volatile.
Those who have managed to build their own Steam Machines using commodity AMD hardware have already discovered some issues with running current SteamOS versions on dedicated GPUs. Games tend to run slower than they do on Windows, and even 8GB graphics RAM seems to be a limiting factor.
Valve is working on memory management improvements for the Steam Machine launch, which should help alleviate these problems. And as part of this effort, the company is also looking into improved upscaling and optimizing ray tracing performance in the driver - benefits that won't just apply to official Steam Machines, but also to homemade ones with similar hardware.
For now, though, Valve's Steam Machine and Steam Frame remain stuck in limbo, waiting for their manufacturers to sort out the RAM shortage before they can ship.