Steam Machine shows how the RAMpocalypse has inflated PC prices

I've just finished reviewing the Steam Machine, Valve's TV-friendly gaming PC for the masses, and the memory crisis has turned it into a product with a price tag that doesn't add up. The base-level, 512 GB, non-Steam Controller-including Steam Machine retails for $1,049, rising to $1,128 with a controller—far above our pre-RAMpocalypse average guess of around $525 made last November.

The 2 TB model I reviewed costs $1,349 without a controller and $1,428 with one, a large sum for a machine that struggles against budget gaming PCs and some previous-generation systems. It delivers only modest performance in demanding games and, for the money, fails to feel consistently refined.

On the software side it feels a little half-baked: I found myself hunting through settings to configure it for my TV and enabling compatibility game settings to get past some Linux quirks. There are rough edges and occasional stutters in places where, given the effective premium price, I expected more polish.

steam machine, valve, rampocalypse, memory crisis, gaming pc, steam controller, 512 gb, 2 tb, linux quirks, budget gaming