It’s been two whole weeks since the Steam Machine was revealed to the world, and we still have no idea how much it’ll cost. I still don’t know when Valve is going to announce the price, but in the meantime, you can build a PC that’s pretty close to what the Steam Machine is going to be – albeit you won’t get exactly there. After all, as we’ve written about repeatedly at this point, Valve has said that the Steam Machine will cost roughly the same as a PC with equivalent hardware – so we wanted to see how much that equivalent hardware actually costs.
But it gets complicated, because the Steam Machine is largely going to be using mobile-class hardware, like you’d find in one of the best gaming laptops, rather than the PC components that go into building a gaming PC. So, even though I picked out the Radeon 7600, where the Steam Machine is going to be using the equivalent of a 7600M, the desktop version is going to be measurably more powerful.
The same is true of most of the components here. Just keep in mind that this isn’t going to be an exact one-to-one recreation of the Steam Machine, but it is a good way to estimate how much an “equivalent gaming PC” might cost.
Unfortunately, due to recent jumps in RAM pricing, building out this PC is significantly more expensive than it would have been even a few weeks ago. Let’s just hope that Valve got its hands on memory before the current NAND shortage started.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600
Just like the Steam Machine’s semi-custom processor, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is a 6-core, 12-thread Zen 4 processor. However, unlike the Steam Machine, this desktop processor has a TDP of 65W, compared to the 30W of Valve’s little PC. With twice the power, you get higher clock speeds and more headroom to boost during demanding workloads. Unfortunately to get the kind of power limit that Valve is working with, you either have to go for mobile parts or for CPUs that would be significantly weaker.
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9x65 chromax.Black
When you’re building a mini gaming PC like this, you want to get a CPU cooler that will keep things cool, but not take up a ton of space. The Noctua NH-L9x65 chromax.Black will be more than enough to keep up with the Ryzen 5 7600, and can even keep up with some more power-hungry chips if you choose to upgrade. Plus, this chromax.Black model has a beautiful black colorway that’ll look great in the Cooler Master MasterBox N200.
If you don’t care about having something small, though, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Pro has always been the budget CPU cooler that I recommend, and it’ll be even better at keeping the Ryzen 7600 cool.
GPU: Powercolor Fighter Radeon RX 7600
Just like the processor, Valve is going with a slightly stripped back mobile version of the Radeon RX 7600. The Steam Machine is using an RDNA 3 GPU with 28 Compute Units and a 110W TDP. That lines up pretty neatly with the mobile version of the Radeon 7600, but the desktop version is a little bit more powerful. This graphics card is also an RDNA 3 GPU, but has 32 CUs and a 165W TDP. It’s not going to be a night-and-day difference or anything, but the desktop card is going to be more powerful.
RAM: Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 5600, 16GB
If these were normal times, this kit of RAM would be the most affordable part of this mini PC build. These aren’t normal times, though, and this kit of RAM costs nearly as much as the graphics card. This 16GB kit of Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 will get the job done, but it’s not the fastest out there, and has far from the lowest latency on the market. But it’s still $177 at the time of writing, as opposed to $60-$80 during normal times. Right now, if you’re looking to do a build like this, my recommendation is to try and scrounge up some memory from somewhere else if you have the chance. It’s simply not a good time to buy RAM right now.
Storage: Samsung 990 Evo Plus
The Samsung 990 Evo Plus is still one of my favorite SSDs on the market right now. It strikes a great balance between speed and affordability, and has capacities of up to 4TB if you’re feeling extra wild. And, yeah, I know the Steam Machine starts with 512 GB of storage, but let’s be honest: you don’t want to limit yourself to that unless you’re really trying to save some cash. Honestly, my recommendation here would be to grab a 1TB drive, just to save some extra cash for RAM, even though the Steam Machine comes with either a 512GB or a 2TB drive.
Motherboard: MSI MPG B650I Edge Wifi
This cute little motherboard might not look like much, but the MSI MPG B650I Edge Wi-Fi is really everything you need for a mini PC like this. It’s not packed with the same high-end features that a beefier X670 board would have, but unless you’re going to try and overclock, you don’t really need them. You just need a board that will let you plug everything in, and still fit in a tiny PC case. And, well, this MSI board does that in style. That said, one thing you won’t get by building your own is the custom wireless solution Valve has built into the Steam Machine, which lets you wirelessly connect up to four Steam Controllers without an additional dongle.
Mini-ITX boards do tend to be more expensive than standard ATX boards, though, so if you’re fine with a traditional tower, something like the ASRock B650 PG Lightning will be much more affordable.
Power Supply: Cooler Master V750 SFX Gold
When picking a power supply for this build, I went for something that would fit in a small chassis, but still be affordable without cutting too many corners on reliability. The Cooler Master V750 SFX Gold has a power limit of 750W, which means you won’t be anywhere near its upper limits, which is excellent for power efficiency. And with its 80+ Gold rating, you can be extra sure that this power supply is going to stay reliable for years.
If you don’t care about matching the Steam Machine’s small size and just want something basic to get the job done, the Cooler Master MWE Gold 750 is $50 cheaper and has the same power capacity and efficiency rating.
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox N200
Due to the size of desktop components, it’d be nearly impossible to build a gaming PC that’s the same size as the 6-inch-on-all-sides Steam Machine. Instead, I just went with my go-to mini-ITX case, the Cooler Master MasterBox N200. It’s cheap, and it’s not a complete pain in the ass to build in. And, even though it is bigger than the Steam Machine, it’s still small enough that you’ll be able to fit it into your living room setup without it standing out too much.
Larger cases will usually cost extra unlike most other components. But if you got the larger parts I suggested, you’re probably going to want to get something like the Darkrock EC2 Black. It’s not nearly as nice as this Cooler Master case, but it’s also about the same price.
Is It Worth It?
It’s so hard to recommend anyone go out and buy a bunch of PC components right now, thanks in large part to RAM prices. I’ve seen RAM get expensive in the past, but not to the point where a basic 16GB kit costs almost as much as a graphics card. My advice would be to wait until Valve reveals the pricing for the Steam Machine and then make a judgement call. Because if Valve’s console comes in under $700-800, then it’s going to be a much better deal than building a PC with these specs right now.
All of these parts together, assuming you’re going to be installing SteamOS or Bazzite, will come to $1,156 total at the time of writing. You can save a bit by going for a standard ATX build, but thanks in large part to the high RAM prices right now, you’re still looking at a total build cost of $959.
If you want to read more about Valve's new hardware, check out our previews for the Steam Machine, Steam Frame and Steam Controller.
Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra
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