Saving for a PC or wait for a Steam Machine? - Console peasant looking to join PC Master Race

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The Last Stand said:
Thanks for the tip on eBay bidding. I've never used eBay before like that. People like to pull scams.
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Make sure they have a high review score that is backed by a deep backlog of reviews. And for what it is worth, that seller had a score over 1,000. But that message they included is just weird. And always pay immediately. If you can't pay right away, don't bid.
 
Mister Fister said:
. 1400 bux and should meet your needs. Also Vulkan is fixing the d 12 bug fucking over NVIDIA in Linux.
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Make sure the BIOs are updated on that thing. Intel's 13th and 14th gen chips have become infamous for degrading performance and stability over time. Intel's fix for that supposedly helps. I'd just avoid the headache and get a computer with an AMD Ryzen 7, personally.

Everything else about that computer is fine as long as you haven't gone down the power supply rabbit hole. As long as the PSU isn't some Raidmax piece of shit and has enough wattage to handle everything hooked up to it, you're fine.
 
Researching pre-built machines is a good idea as the thread recommends, however $1,500 is actually a really great budget for a modern machine that can emulate PS3, as well as playing current, and future games even in the current PC landscape. Here is an example build I made with your requirements.

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 - $199
  • Motherboard: MSI Pro B650-A - $149
  • RAM: TeamGroup T-Force Delta RGB 2 x 8 GB 6000 MHz CL38 - $229.99
  • GPU: NVidia RTX 5070 Gigabyte Windforce OC - $599.99
  • SSD: Samsung 990 Evo Plus 1 TB - $154.99
  • PSU: Corsair RM750x Shift Gold Modular - $79.98
  • Case: Corsair 3000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower - $81.19
Total: $1,494.14

This has really good fundamentals, even with the challenges of today's market. However, there are some compromises that you probably wouldn't have encountered if you built a machine six months ago.
  • CPU: On AMD's previous generation Zen 4. However, Zen 5 wasn't a massive step forward, and since both use the same AM5 CPU socket, you can upgrade later if you want anyway.
  • Motherboard: One generation, and one tier behind AMD's current flagship X870E chipset. This only matters for more advanced motherboard features, which you'll be fine without.
  • RAM: Earlier in 2025 the typical recommendation was 32 GB, or even 64 GB of RAM. That's not reasonable with prices as they are now. You can buy more sticks of the same type later, but overall pricing and availability is weird, so just get something reasonable. Clock speeds of 6000 MHz are quite good though.
  • GPU: The only drawback here is this card only has 12 GB of VRAM, when 16 GB is ideal in the long term. You should be able to run most things with good settings unless they go nuts with textures, or ray tracing. If you want to run AI too that needs as much VRAM as you can get, but many people can work with only 12 GB.
  • PSU: The only better you can do here is by getting a Platinum, or Titanium efficiency grade power supply. Otherwise, this is decent.
  • Case: These can be a rabbit hole if you care enough about features. Chances are you should be happy with this one.
  • Price: Nowhere near the lower $1,200 end of your range. There isn't really a lot of fat to cut while still giving you most of what you want. It also doesn't include the cost of Windows if you don't already have a licence key.
  • Overall: I'm not sure how good PCPartPicker's retail outlet range is. Surprisingly, Micro Center doesn't doesn't come up, and there are many items that are just out of stock. You might find better prices, or components if you look around more.
Good luck with whatever direction you take. The Steam Machine is certainly interesting, but you'll certainly have a more capable system if you build, or buy something with your budget.
 
Console said:
GPU: The only drawback here is this card only has 12 GB of VRAM, when 16 GB is ideal in the long term. You should be able to run most things with good settings unless they go nuts with textures, or ray tracing. If you want to run AI too that needs as much VRAM as you can get, but many people can work with only 12 GB.
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12GB is more than enough for most games at 1080P and maybe 1440P. The only games I can think of where this is a problem are boring poorly optimized AAA games. The issue with the 5070's 12GB is the price. A $600 card from 2025 should have more than 12GB of VRAM.
Console said:
Case: These can be a rabbit hole if you care enough about features. Chances are you should be happy with this one.
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With the PSU on your list, case does matter a bit more. The Shift RMx PSUs have the ports on the side, which means having room behind the motherboard tray is pretty important. Unless you enjoy not having side panels or are a cable management wizard. The case you chose is one that PSU was made for, so not a big deal as long as OP sticks with that combo.
Console said:
It also doesn't include the cost of Windows if you don't already have a licence key.
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Use Groupon if you want a cheap Windows key. Be sure it's a pro version, not a home version. Pro versions allow you to disable automatic updates without potentially fucking something up in the registry.

Very important warning about any cables for power supplies: Never try to mix and match cables. No, not even the power cable. Always use the cables made for the exact model you bought. Put any loose leftovers in a bag with a label saying what those cables are for.

PSU cables are not standardized. This is the reason you never mix and match.
 
HairyBadger said:
My thinking, and this is just my thinking, if the MS Windows 11 fuckery continues, AND Steam can release a solid PC based SteamOS AND keep most of the base opensourced you will see a true linux alternative for high end gaming this year.

The developers will follow.
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Lol, lmao even
Devs cannot even handle AMD/NJEWDIA fuckery and you expect them to give a single fuck about the 8000000 linux forks
At best a few troons/bored devs might optimize it for a single proton fork/steamOS, other than that u linuxtroons are outta luck
 
Cod of War said:
Monitor? No but they do usually come with a cheap keyboard and mouse.
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about right yeah, also sometimes with speakers.
although the cheapness of the keyboard can be argued, i have one for two years already and most of the keys have lost their paint but the keyboard is standing strong and tall and it was like 20$, mouses usually don't last long but that depends more on you arsing yourself to open it to fix the button, unless water gets into it, speakers themselves is a coin flip, i have one that is nearly 10 years old working just fine (which i bought with my first DYI computer) but have lost others due to the magnets going fucky wucky... i guess it's the same for headphones and cheapness is more related to audio quality? that's interchangeable with speakers to a degree, if you buy chink speakers then you will most likely get a busted one no matter how much you paid for it.
Agent Abe Caprine said:
PSU cables are not standardized. This is the reason you never mix and match.
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in your country, lol, i can mix and match my PSU cables as long as they match the wattage and i keep some cables near the outlets whenever i need to move my PC.
still, power fluctuations are a bitch and it's usually nice to have a clamper to tank any fuck ups so your PSU doesn't become your PC killer, especially if you buy a prebuilt where they always pick some backwater PSU because it's like threefiddy for 700w, until a power outage makes it blow up because the components are held together with spit.
 
Last edited:
For my use case:
  • I don't play the latest games or online games.
  • I don't really care for mouse/keyboard games anymore.
  • I just like playing on my couch and getting into games quickly.
The Steam Machine experience (via a Steam Deck currently) has been fantastic. Windows 11 can suck a dick, I'm lazy and don't enjoy configuring shit anymore, so SteamOS is great for me. Steam Machine will be a much needed upgrade for the games which currently chug on a Steam Deck.
 
Agent Abe Caprine said:
Use Groupon if you want a cheap Windows key.
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or just flash a legit windows iso in your usb stick and use this gem right here: https://github.com/massgravel/Microsoft-Activation-Scripts.

or even better: do the same but with linux! you genuinely dont need pajeetdownsyndrome 11 with their pc destroying updates.

The Last Stand said:
Dumb question, but prebuilts do not come with monitors or keyboards?
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mine came with a cheap keyboard and mouse, i had to spend 150 bucks for a monitor.
 
i have a steamdeck and it runs ps3 emulation well and switch emulation decently (tho i haven't tried it on any recent emulators) given that the machine is alot better than the deck i dont think you will have any problems with emulation on the steam machine especially if tools like emudeck are updated for the machine.
 
When you do end up getting your PC, here’s a tip for emulation: you can either download and configure all your emulators individually and maybe get a frontend like EmulationStation or NeoStation to load games, or you can get RetroBat which does most of the configuration for you and allows for much easier changing of settings. It’s especially useful if you use multiple controllers for your games so you don’t have to go into emulator settings every time you want to change them.

Of course, that’s all assuming you’re using Windows. If you use Linux/SteamOS, then you can attempt to use EmuDeck or RetroDeck, and may God have mercy on your wretched soul.
Calandrino said:
No point spending a thousand dollars on some fancy gadget when the Atari 2600+ costs only ~$130 new and plays all the classics, from Yars' Revenge to Missile Command.
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Even better:
IMG_8448.jpeg
 
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