How the Raster Zero compares to the new Steam Machine

Valve's Steam Machine is here, and people keep asking how our Raster Zero stacks up. Here's our honest take, including where Valve impressed us and where we take a different path.

Valve's Steam Machine is finally here, and we have been watching it as closely as anyone. It landed this month to strong reviews and one steady complaint about its price. Reviews are live now, reservations close June 25, and the first orders go out to invited buyers starting June 29.

We build compact SteamOS machines for a living, so people keep asking us the same thing. How does the Raster Zero compare? Here is our honest take, including the places where Valve did something we genuinely admire.

The short version. The Steam Machine is smaller and quieter, and it earns those wins. The Raster Zero is faster, comes with more storage and VRAM as standard, and every part is socketed so you can upgrade or repair it. Depending on the build, it can cost less too. We made those choices on purpose, and here is why.

What Valve built

The Steam Machine is a small cube, about 4 liters. Inside is a semi-custom AMD chip: a 6 core Zen 4 CPU and an RDNA 3 GPU with 28 compute units and 8 GB of GDDR6, paired with 16 GB of memory and either 512 GB or 2 TB of storage. It runs SteamOS out of the box and starts at $1,049, or $1,349 for the 2 TB version.

We think Valve nailed the feel of the thing. It is quiet, it is tiny, and SteamOS on the big screen is excellent. The catch almost every reviewer landed on is the graphics. The GPU sits around a desktop RX 7600 or RTX 4060, which is fine at 1080p and workable at 1440p with upscaling, but it is not much power for the price. We understand why, since the 2026 memory crunch pushed costs up for everyone. It is still the question buyers keep asking. Why this much for this performance?

More room to grow

The Steam Machine's graphics top out at that RX 7600 level with 8 GB of VRAM, and that is permanent. We start the Raster Zero near the same tier with the RX 7600, then let you step up to the RX 9060 XT 16GB, the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB, or the RTX 5070. Every step is faster, and the bigger cards carry 16 GB of VRAM. We pair them with a desktop Ryzen 5 7600X that holds higher clocks than a 30 watt mobile style chip. If you want 1440p at high settings without depending on upscaling, that is the build we point you to.

Price, and how you count it

Here is where it depends on the build. The Steam Machine has one starting price, $1,049 for 512 GB, up to $1,428 with more storage and the controller. Our pricing moves with the configuration and what is in stock, and it has gone as low as $799. Plenty of Raster Zero builds land below the Steam Machine's starting price, so sometimes we simply win on cost.

Match them on what you get and the case gets stronger. Every Raster Zero ships with a 1 TB drive as standard, where the Steam Machine starts at 512 GB. And the Raster builds that line up with it on price give you a faster, upgradeable graphics card and a full desktop Ryzen 5 7600X instead of a 30 watt mobile style chip. Because we use standard retail parts, you can check any build against PCPartPicker and see exactly what you are paying for.

Built to be opened

This is the part we care about most. We build the Raster Zero entirely from socketed, standard desktop parts. The processor sits in an AM5 socket, the memory in standard DDR5 slots, the graphics card in a normal PCIe slot, and storage in M.2. Everything comes out with a screwdriver, and nothing is proprietary.

The Steam Machine is not built that way. You can change its RAM and SSD, but the GPU is fused into the custom chip and can never be swapped, and the memory is laptop style and awkward to reach. The graphics card is the part that ages fastest, and on the Steam Machine it is the one part you are locked out of. When a better GPU arrives in a couple of years, a Raster owner just drops it in. We would rather sell you a machine you can keep than one you have to replace.

Where Valve has us beat

Credit where it is due. The Steam Machine is about 3.85 liters and reviewers measured it as near silent under load. Valve engineered the cooling and acoustics around one low power chip, and it shows. The Raster Zero is bigger. Our Jonsbo C6 case is around 16 liters, a small desktop rather than a console. We tune our builds to run quiet, but a graphics card pulling over 100 watts moves more air than Valve's box. That extra size is the trade, and it is what makes room for the bigger GPU and the upgrades. For the people we build for, it is worth it.

A straight answer on SteamOS and Nvidia

Both machines run SteamOS, so the living room experience is the same. One thing to know up front. SteamOS officially supports AMD desktop graphics now, so a Raster Zero with the RX 7600 or RX 9060 XT runs SteamOS today, just like the Steam Machine. SteamOS does not officially support Nvidia cards yet. Valve is working on it, but it is not expected before late 2026. So if SteamOS is your priority, we will steer you to an AMD card. If you want an Nvidia card for the extra power, it runs Windows today and gains SteamOS later. Either way you keep the Windows option, which the Steam Machine does not give you.

Support that does not trap you

Valve backs its machine with a single warranty, and that is real peace of mind. We ship the Raster Zero with a 1 year warranty and 60 day returns, sold through eBay and Jawa. The bigger point is what happens after. Because we use standard parts, any shop or any owner can service the machine, and every component keeps its own manufacturer warranty. A sealed box goes back to its maker. A standard PC can be fixed by anyone, including you.

You can buy one today

Here is the practical part. The Steam Machine ships to invited buyers starting June 29, and only if your reservation gets drawn. You do not have to wait for us. A Raster Zero is on eBay and Jawa right now. The 1 TB build is $1,199, which is more storage than the Steam Machine's 512 GB base model, and it ships today. You can buy this exact build on Jawa.

So which should you buy?

If you want the smallest, quietest SteamOS box for the living room and you never plan to open it, the Steam Machine is a genuinely nice machine, and we will happily say so.

For most people, the Raster Zero is the smarter buy. You get more graphics power, more VRAM for the years ahead, the option of Windows, and a machine you can upgrade and repair instead of replacing. Depending on the build, it can cost less up front too. It asks for a bit more space. In return it stays fast longer, and it stays yours to change.

That is the whole idea behind Raster. A console-like SteamOS experience, built from standard parts you can actually own. If that sounds like your kind of machine, take a look at the configurations and build the one that fits you.