Steam Machine's first copycat product is here. The French hardware retailer announced the Stim Machine, which costs the same but has a CPU and GPU ahead of the Steam Machine.
Stim Machine is priced at 1,039 euros, which is exactly the same price as the basic version of Steam Machine. It has the same appearance and cube style.
However, the similarities between the two machines end there.
Stim Machine is essentially a pre-installed computer that uses off-the-shelf components and is installed in a small chassis. Compared with Steam Machine, Stim Machine is more powerful in performance. This is where Steam Machine gets the most complaints.
Stim Machine's chassis size is larger (222 × 181 × 285mm vs. 156 × 152 × 162mm), and it also has more advantages in terms of CPU.
The Stim Machine's CPU is a 6-core AMD Ryzen 5 8400F, which is better than the Steam Machine's Zen 4 6-core/12-thread processor. The biggest difference, however, is the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT GPU.
Despite having the same video memory capacity, the RX 9060 XT's performance is a generation ahead of Steam's semi-custom AMD RDNA 3 GPU. According to Gamers Nexus review,. The performance exceeds Steam Machine by 70%. Additionally, it's worth noting that the PC's individual components have more headroom for power consumption, allowing them to further outperform the Steam Machine.
Considering the Steam Machine's small size, controlling temperature is obviously a goal for Valve, but it also means the company must limit the power consumption of the CPU and GPU.
Exclusive Advantages of Steam Machine
Compared with Steam Machine, Stim Machine's hardware advantages are obvious, but this does not explain the whole problem. In addition to its small size and low power consumption, the most impressive feature of the Steam Machine is that it can be perfectly linked with your TV like a PlayStation or Xbox.
True console-level experience (hardware-level CEC technical support):
The Steam Machine's HDMI interface supports the CEC protocol. This allows it to be perfectly linked with the TV like PS5 or Xbox (for example, the TV turns on simultaneously when turning on the controller, and the TV can recognize it immediately when switching signal sources). Ordinary PCs cannot do this due to the lack of CEC support at the hardware level.
Worry-free system and maintenance without hassle (SteamOS is highly integrated with software and hardware)
Although Valve has opened the independent version of SteamOS 3.8 system, even if ordinary PCs use this system, they still cannot break through the limitations of the lack of CEC on the hardware. In addition, ordinary PCs require players to manually update drivers and do daily system maintenance, while Steam Machine, like a game console, automatically takes care of all these tedious background maintenance.
In one sentence:
Ordinary PCs have higher hardware performance, but when connected to a TV, only Steam Machine can truly provide a seamless experience of "turn on and play without any hassle" like a console.
Foreign media Eurogamer reported: "Valve made a wise decision to provide CEC technical support for its HDMI interface, which allows the Steam Machine to work normally on the TV like a game console. You can turn on the Steam Machine and turn on the TV at the same time, or you can turn off the Steam Machine by turning off the TV. In addition, CEC also ensures that the TV can always recognize the Steam Machine whenever you switch input sources.
The lack of CEC (Computer Interactive Control) functionality, or any reliable way for the PC to communicate with the TV, was the reason all attempts to build a console PC failed. While SteamOS does a better job than Windows at this point, without hardware-level improvements, your TV still won't recognize the Stim Machine (or any other PC) as a gaming console.
To that end, Valve recently released a standalone version of SteamOS 3.8, the same operating system that Steam Machine runs on. This allows anyone to build their own Steam Machine using any off-the-shelf components, but it doesn't get around the inherent limitations of the HDMI and CEC protocols. You'll also need to keep your drivers updated and perform routine maintenance like any PC, and Steam Machine will do this for you automatically. "
Steam Machine:
