How to Build a Better Steam Machine for (Slightly) Less

The Steam Machine is an awesome little system with serious gaming chops and cute aesthetics. They make a great entry-point for PC gaming if you’ve been sitting on the sidelines for a while and want that console-like experience, with some added PC functionality. But like everything else in 2026, they’re a bit expensive, and like everything Valve makes, hard to buy right now.



Fortunately, along with releasing the Steam Machine to the masses, Valve also dropped an updated version of SteamOS which works well with AMD GPUs, making it much easier to build your own homebrew Steam Machine. Yes, Bazzite is an option and is arguably more fleshed out, but if we’re going to be building our own Steam Machine, let’s use the real deal and make it as comparable as we can.

I’ve gone through more retailer listings than I can count, and here’s what I’ve managed to come up with for a DIY Steam Machine that will outperform what Valve made, for (slightly) less money. It’s not as compact, but it’s far more upgradeable, far easier to work with, and with its off-the-shelf components, far easier to fix and maintain, too.

From the outset, I wanted this build to be relatively compact, but there was no way we were going to be able to compete with the Steam Machine’s super-svelte design. It’s using bespoke hardware to deliver its performance and cooling potential in such a small footprint, and we just don’t have access to that.

What we do have, is an enormous range of components from a massive list of manufacturers, so we’ll be targeting a Micro-ATX system, which is smaller than a standard desktop system, but doesn’t have the price premium of maintenance headaches of Mini-ITX. So it's a mATX motherboard, mATX case, and nothing too huge on the cooling or GPU front.

The total comes in $58 less than Valve’s Steam Machine, giving us a useful saving that is well worth pocketing. However, if you still have that money handy and want to put it to good use, there are some upgrade options that aren’t too expensive you might want to consider. A faster CPU, dual-channel memory, maybe a bump to the next tier of GPU?

Let’s take a closer look at each of these components, why we chose them, and what alternatives there might be if your budget is a little lighter or has a bit more room to manoeuvre.

The 7600X is a great entry-level CPU from the AMD Zen 4 generation of CPUs, and it’s actually cheaper than the 7600 (non-x) for some reason, so we’ll go with that. It has six cores and 12 threads like the Steam Machine, but it can boost up to 5.3 GHz - 500 MHz more than the Steam Machine’s CPU. It pulls a lot more power, but this is a desktop chip; It’s bound to.

If you want to boost your CPU performance a little more, the Ryzen 5 9600X is only around $10 more, and offers 5-10% additional CPU performance, as well as better thermal efficiency, which can help keep temperatures down.



Thermalright has been one of the most prominent budget cooling brands for a number of years and it still offers some of the best coolers for absolutely bargain basement prices. For less than $20 you get a CPU cooler that’s big and powerful and will easily keep our 7600X within reasonable temperatures.

There are many alternatives, but you’re not going to find much better performance for this kind of money.

If I could spend less on a motherboard and have it do what we need it to, I would, but at the sub-$100 mark, you really lose a lot of features, and we risk hamstringing the CPU with weak power delivery. This affordable B650 motherboard from ASRock is the right size, still gives us PCIe 5 and 4 for fast SSDs and graphics, 2.5 Gigabyte Ethernet, and a good-enough mix of USB-A and USB-C ports.

We aren’t using an X3D CPU, so no risk of burning here, and though it only has dual memory slots, we aren’t planning on filling them both, yet.

The only feature I really wish it had was built-in Wi-Fi, but similar motherboards with that option were at least $30 more. You still have Ethernet as a high-performance option, and you can always get a decent USB Wi-Fi adapter for $20 if needed.


This is the part of this build that will likely change by the time you read it, and again by the time someone else reads it. Memory is in flux and what’s good and what’s cheap is changing all the time.

At the time of writing, though, you can get a single stick of PNY Performance DDR5 5,600 MT/s for $200. That does mean leaving some dual-channel performance on the table, but it makes upgrades easier in the future (just drop in a second 16GB stick, rather than replacing the whole lot).

Alternatively, for $220 you can get two 8GB sticks instead, which will give you dual-channel performance enhancements right off the bat, but future upgrades will be trickier and more costly.

It sucks that this is what we’re working with on a $1,000 budget in 2026, but it is what it is.

Our biggest money sink, and the one I wish I had more budget headroom for, is the graphics card. For $80 more you can get a 7600 XT. For $150 more a 7700 XT. For $200 more, a 9060 XT.



But we don’t have those budgets. We have less than $300 and it has to be AMD – for now. With no real support for Nvidia or Intel GPUs on SteamOS, the best card for the job at the time of writing is the RX 7600. It’s faster than the 7600-mobile equivalent GPU in the Steam Machine, and when you’re ready, you can drop in a faster GPU and enjoy a quick and easy upgrade.

It supports FSR 4.1 after the latest update, though unfortunately, AMD’s frame generation remains out of reach for now. Fortunately, that’s where Lossless Scaling comes in. Fully available within Steam on SteamOS, whatever GPU you end up putting in your homebrew Steam Machine, make sure you’re running Lossless Scaling in games that don’t natively give you FSR and your framerates should skyrocket, albeit with a latency cost.


Like memory, buying storage in 2026 feels a bit icky. You have to go with lesser-known brands, with smaller capacities than you’d like, and even older technologies. This PCIe 3 SSD from KingSpec is not going to keep pace with a Samsung 9100 Pro and its limited storage space isn’t ideal if you play a lot of big AAA games.

But this is a low-budget Steam Machine alternative. You’re not likely to be playing a lot of big, modern AAAs. That’s not what this PC is designed for.

But for handling a number of your favorite indie and older games? This is perfectly adequate. Games and SteamOS will still load up plenty fast and you’re getting it for well under $100. Capacity, speed, and pricing all increase linearly at the moment, so if you need more of the former two, expect to have to deal with more of the latter.

You don’t want to scrimp on a PSU, and overcompensating with wattage gives us scope for future upgrades. Although we could get away with a lower-wattage power supply, this one will cover everything we’re running and more, letting it sit comfortably in the best efficiency range and run cool and quiet during everyday use. It’s not modular, so you’ll likely have some wasted cables to tuck away, but we should have enough space for that in our case and modular designs add unnecessary cost.

As much as they’re easier to work with, you’re effectively paying more to not put cables in your PC.

You can go pretty cheap and nasty on a case. Stick it in a cardboard box if you really need to. But if we want something that approaches the Steam Machine experience, of a compact(ish), quiet(ish), good-looking (ish) gaming PC for the living room or bedroom, then we don’t want to go bargain basement.

For $70, the Montech Air 100 ARGB comes with a clear side panel, isolated PSU chamber, mesh front, and four RGB fans, so you don’t need to worry about system cooling. It doesn’t have front dust filters, and cable management is always a bit harder in tighter case designs, but that’s going to happen with any chassis this size.

It’s a lot of case for not a lot of money, and though you can save $20-30 if you go for something with fewer fans, you’ll feel the quality difference.

I won’t pretend that this rather hefty-alternative to Valve’s miniature little cube PC will directly replace a Steam Machine. It’s not the same kind of device. But once you have it set up with SteamOS, it will play anything a Steam Machine can and more, with better frame rates, better thermals, better upgradeability, and much easier maintenance.

I’d argue SteamOS will be the true legacy of the Steam Machine, with many more third-party alternatives than Valve’s hard-to-buy hardware. In the meantime, though, if you have some components lying around, or an old gaming PC gathering dust, homebrew Steam Machines are a fun project, and a great way to build a living-room gaming system to give you a console-like experience, without the classic headaches of Windows.