- Valve has officially launched its new Steam Frame VR headset
- The new Quest 3 rival can do both wireless PC VR and stand-alone gaming
- There is currently no word on pricing or a release date
It’s finally here – after more than four years of Valve Deckard rumours, Valve’s standalone PC VR headset has landed in the exciting form of the new Steam Frame.
In a surprising announcement (or maybe not so out of the blue if you’ve been following the latest rumours), Valve has revealed all the official details about the Steam Frame and how it compares to the best VR headsets.
In short, the Steam Frame is built to compete with Meta Quest 3 and to offer full PC VR gaming via a wireless adapter. But what else have we learned? Here are the seven most important things you need to know about Steam Frame…
1. It’s built for both PC VR and standalone gaming
In theory, Steam Frame could offer the best of both worlds for VR fans. For meatier PC VR games such as Half-Life Alyxa wireless Wi-Fi 6E (6Ghz) adapter is included for a stable, low-latency connection to your PC.
Although this already means no annoying wires, you can also go completely PC-free with the Steam Frame. That’s because it can also run less intensive games locally, a bit like a portable Steam Deck – or indeed a Meta Quest 3.
2. The specs are amazing
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On paper, the Steam Frame is an impressively powerful mid-range headset. You get 16GB of RAM (double that of the Meta Quest 3) and a mysterious 4nm Snapdragon ARM processor.
Valve hasn’t said exactly which processor it is, but there’s good reason to believe it’s a step above the XR2 Gen 2 you’ll find in the Quest 3. Storage-wise, there’s also 256GB and 1TB options, plus a microSD slot for expansion.
The latter is something you won’t find on the Quest 3. So while 256GB is the same amount of storage as the top-spec Meta Quest 3S, and only half of what you get on the Quest 3, the Steam Frame offers more storage flexibility.
3. There is no OLED version
Based on leaks that Valve was developing two Steam Frames, and the existence of a Steam Deck OLED, many assumed that one model would pack an OLED screen. This turned out not to be the case.
Valve makes two Steam Frames, but the difference is simply storage capacity (256GB vs 1TB, with an SD card slot for expansion); unfortunately there is no OLED version at the moment.
Instead, Steam opts for Frame LCD with a 2,160 x 2,160 pixel-per-eye resolution, which compares to 2,064 x 2,208 per eye for Meta’s Quest 3.
4. Where is the color flow?
Valve’s specs for the Steam Frame say it boasts a pair of monochrome cameras for passthrough, meaning black and white – so no full-color passthrough.
This means the Frame will be a proper virtual reality headset rather than a mixed reality device like what Meta, Apple and Samsung produce.
On the one hand, this is a frustrating downgrade – mixed reality has its uses, after all. But at the same time, most notable MR games also offer effective VR modes, so it might not feel as drown-grade as it appears on paper.
What’s more, Valve has also teased a “user-accessible expansion port,” which opens the door to the possibility of an optional module that adds full-color passthrough at an additional cost. We will have to wait and see.
5. Eye-tracking activated
As with other premium VR headsets, the Steam Frame is set to boast eye-tracking for one important reason: foveated rendering.
Basically, the VR headset can save on computing power by only rendering the part of the screen you’re actively looking at in full quality. This allows a game to boast more impressive graphics by simply using the same CPU and GPU more efficiently without requiring additional power.
Now, not many games have implemented this in the past, but Steam’s catalog is so expansive that I hope we’ll see many more games take advantage of this feature in the future.
6. No price confirmed
Valve has yet to confirm a price, but based on the specs, it won’t be cheap, with leaks suggesting it will cost $1,200 (around £915 / AU$1,830).
This feels right. It has some upgrades over the Quest 3 (namely eye-tracking), and lacks some of the advanced features of more expensive models (like the Galaxy XR’s OLED screen), so it makes sense to fall between the budget and premium price.
Of course, leaks should be taken with a grain of salt, and various factors can affect the final price, but I’d be shocked if it costs significantly more than the leak suggests. It would be a complete own goal for Valve, but extraneous technical decisions have been made.
7. No new software right now…
Valve Index launched along with a new Half-Life games, but so far there has been no word on exclusive games coming to Steam’s platform to celebrate the launch of Frame and the Steam Machine.
In what feels like an internet conversation ripped from the noughties, there has been plenty of online speculation and leaks suggesting that new games would be coming to the Steam Frame ahead of launch. Specifically, Half-Life 3.
Where true rumors begin and trolling ends is impossible to decipher Half-Life 3‘s name has been announced, but new software doesn’t seem entirely out of the question. Perhaps Valve is simply waiting until 2026, when it’s closer to launch, for its new technology to finally release these new titles to the public.
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