- Valve’s Steam Machine apparently sold out immediately in Japan
- Reservations go for up to $3,000 in the US on eBay
- If you are tempted to look at cheap alternatives from Asia given all this, be very careful about that idea
Given the price of the Steam Machine (and some other wrinkles with the device), it’s not surprising that many gamers are looking for alternatives, but you have to be careful about it – although you might find it hard to believe that some people are willing to pay a lot more than the official MSRP for Valve’s gaming PC.
Before we get into the tale of how much scalpers are reselling Steam Machine reservations for, the cautionary development is similar to what appear to be super-affordable Steam Machine clones being offered in China.
A good example on Reddit is a white Steam Machine copy which claims to be built around a Ryzen 5 5500 processor with 16GB of DDR5 RAM along with an AMD RX 6750 GRE graphics card with a 2TB SSD. This retails for the equivalent of $688 in China, so compare that to what Valve charges for the Steam Machine with 2TB of storage: $1,349 in the US.
So on the face of it, you’re not looking far from half the price of the Chinese clone PC, but there are a few weighty caveats attached, which I’ll get back to in a moment.
Meanwhile, while there are those looking for a cheap alternative to the official Steam Machine, at the other end of the spectrum there are those willing to pay something like double the asking price to secure one of the original Steam Machine models to roll off the production lines.
As TweakTown noted, there are people trying to resell their reservations for a Steam Machine on eBay. In case you weren’t aware, Valve offered the chance to reserve a spot to buy its gaming PC (using a randomized lottery system, rather than first-come, first-served), and some successful people are effectively selling their place in line.
Some of these auction listings are for sale approaching $3,500 over in the US (for the 2TB model), and TweakTown notes that there appears to be a confirmed sale for $2,800. It’s hard to believe that anyone would pay that much, but apparently it’s true (unless the seller is somehow involved in shenanigans).
On top of that, Notebookcheck.net highlighted another apparent indication of the Steam Machine’s popularity, as Valve is set to open pre-orders (for those with a reservation). In fact, the device is already on sale in the Asian market and the PC is already sold out in Japan. Apparently the retailer put the Komodo Station Steam Machine directly on the shelves (instead of using a reservation system) and the PCs didn’t hang around long before they disappeared.
Analysis: reasons to be afraid
There is certainly a level of demand for the Steam Machine, so while this could, and indeed I would argue likely will, be a reflection of stock levels as much as it is demand. Nevertheless, there are disgruntled gamers in Japan who are complaining on social media about not being able to get a device.
This is also reflected in the apparent eBay prices for US reservations, although there is an important point to note here: most of these have not sold (yet). If you’re considering this route, keep in mind that you have a lot of faith in the seller to ultimately fulfill your order. It’s not an approach I’d recommend, nor is buying a Steam Machine clone from Asia, because that seems like a bargain and a half.
What are the dangers of the latter? Well, mainly that you don’t really know what you’re getting. Taking the highlighted example of the Chinese PC on Reddit above, there are some notable red flags with the listing, including that the Ryzen CPU is paired with DDR5 RAM, which the platform it runs on (AM4) doesn’t support.
On top of that, the RX 6750 GRE is a relatively chunky GPU, as several Redditors point out, and it seems highly unlikely that it will fit in the chassis pictured for the device. What about the thermals, the cooling solution and the fan noise? I would be particularly concerned on those fronts.
Who knows: you might get a much larger box than the case illustrated, or components that are different than advertised. I’m not saying this will necessarily be the case with the sample product shown, but this is the concern with all these kinds of deals from Asia, and it’s why I’d take a hard no on any such purchase when shipping outside of China.
Remember, there’s the added cost of importing the PC to factor in too, not to mention if the device goes bad or runs too hot and unstable, good luck with the return process. There are also the potential security risks of a PC from an unknown vendor in China, which may be loaded with a dodgy version of SteamOS to catch the unwary.
In short, there are plenty of potential pitfalls, and if you want a more affordable alternative to the Steam Machine – or a more performance, bang-for-buck living room PC like the so-called ‘Stim Machine’ – then buy something local, and from a trusted (national) retailer.
Or just take the DIY route and build your own Steam Machine, which is the other option available to those unimpressed by Valve’s pricing. Of course, keep in mind that the RAM crisis – which forced the price of the Steam Machine up in the first place – will make this a much more difficult endeavor than it would have been a year ago. There are also elements of Valve’s PC that a DIY build won’t be able to replicate, such as HDMI CEC support.
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