Steam Machine / GabeCube

So this got announced:

This is Valve's latest assault on the console market, a six-inch cube that's actually a mini PC using everything they've learned from the Steam Deck. It promises six times the power of the Steam Deck, offering 4K gaming at 60fps on current titles and obviously works with your existing Steam library. Out early next year, apparently.

I think it's really interesting, and the timing is very telling. Obviously this is a massive shot across the bows for Microsoft, who have been making noises about their next console effectively being an Xbox-branded PC: Valve are clearly aiming directly at this market, and honestly having seen what they've done with SteamOS and the Steam Deck I would trust them to deliver great gaming performance far more than I would with whatever generic Windows box MS decide to cook up. I've been all in on Xbox this gen but clearly I'm going to need an exit strategy and I love my Steam Deck so I'm definitely in the target market for this.

I've got a couple of concerns though. Firstly, it appears slightly underpowered, i.e. it's coming in at about Series X/PS5 levels at precisely the point that those consoles are reaching the end of their lifespans. If this was more like the start of next gen in terms of actual horsepower then I'd be all in, day one, but that doesn't appear to be the case. And secondly, it's still a PC, and while Valve have done wonders with the Deck in terms of making it a seamless console experience, there's no getting away from the fact that some games still require quite a bit of tinkering. I don't mind that, but it does mean this is always going to be an enthusiast product rather than anything mainstream.

Not going to lie though: I kind of want one. Anyone else?

I'm not getting one, just because I have a PC that's pretty much on par with this box. But if it does well, I'll almost certainly get Gabecube 2 as this PC's replacement.

The 4K60 stuff must be bollocks, based on my experiences over the last year. My 8GB GPU wouldn't even dream of a stable 4K60 with ray tracing, even with fancy image reconstruction wotsits. But if they've somehow managed to crack that (they haven't), and it costs under 500 quid (it won't), then this will be a must-buy for a lot of people I reckon.

It's good news for PC gaming in general. If this thing sells bucketloads, everyone with moderately powered PCs (which is most of us) will suddenly become the target benchmark for developers. Maybe they'll finally stop forcing UE5 on everyone.

I think DLSS or similar upscaling / reconstruction is just a given these days, really, for everything. Native 4K is incredibly demanding and honestly not worth aiming for.

While I'm curious about the λbox (most of my PC gaming is on the lower-end of the graphics spectrum anyway, so the lesser graphical oomph isn't a dealbreaker, depending on price, obviously), I am very intrigued by the controller. The first-version Steam Controller was an interesting curiosity but ultimately a failure and not that nice to use. I'm guessing that their Steam Deck experience has taught them a lot about improving the button layout and the general feel of the thing. And if it means I can play Timberborn on the sofa, even streaming onto the Steam Machine I still have, then I'm in.

Someone explain the slight dooming over the 8gb vram

It's largely the fault of Digital Foundry, who claim that using 8Gb of VRAM is only one stage removed from murdering baby seals.