Valve Announces Steam Machine and New Steam Controller, Designed with Steam Frame Headset in Mind

Valve today unveiled Steam Frame alongside two other new bits of hardware: the SteamOS-running Steam Machine and a new Steam Controller—both of which aim to work seamlessly with Valve’s latest and greatest VR headset.

Note: Like Steam Frame, both the new Steam Machine and Steam Controller don’t have confirmed prices or release dates yet, which Valve says we’ll learn about in “early 2026.”

Steam Machine

Valve says Steam Machine makes a great streaming companion for Steam Frame, the company’s newly unveiled VR headset which can wirelessly stream games from PCs with the included Wi-Fi 6E dongle—in addition to playing flatscreen and PC VR games natively via its onboard Snapdragon Series 8 Gen 3 SoC.

Valve is set to offer two models of Steam Machine: a 512GB model and 2TB model, which will ship in a bundle with Steam Controller, but will also be available standalone.

It’s difficult to tell the size by the images, but it’s actually impressively compact: only about 6 inches tall (152 mm – 148 mm without feet), 6.5 inches deep (162.4 mm) and a little over 6 inches wide (156 mm), weighting in a little over 5.5 lbs (2.6 kg).

Here’s a quick rundown of Steam Machine:

Specs

• CPU: AMD 6-core Zen 4 X86
• GPU: Semi-Custom AMD RDNA3 28CU
  • Supports 4K gaming at 60 FPS with FSR
  • Ray tracing supported
  • Over 6x more powerful than Steam Deck
• 16GB DDR5 + 8GB GDDR6 VRAM
• 512 GB & 2 TB SSD models
  • micro SD card slot for extended storage/portable catalog
• Internal power supply, AC power 110-240V

I/O

• DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0
  • CEC support
• Ethernet 1 Gbps
• USB-C 10 Gbps, 3.2 Gen 2
• 4x Type USB-A ports
  • 2x USB 3 in the front
  • 2x USB 2 in the rear
• 2×2 Wi-Fi 6E, dedicated BT antenna
• Integrated Steam Controller 2.4GHz radio

Other features

• Works with other controllers, accessories, and PC peripherals
• Wake with Steam Controller
• Runs SteamOS
  • Familiar, gaming first user experience
  • Fast suspend / resume
  • Steam cloud saves, and all the other Steam features you’d expect
• Customizable LED bar
  • Personalize with colors and animation
  • Reflect system status (e.g. downloads, booting, updating)

Steam Controller

Valve’s new Steam Controller is more than just a gamepad featuring full input parity with Steam Deck: it also has built-in IR LEDs so it can be tracked by Steam Frame.

While that probably doesn’t make it especially useful for playing VR games, users who want to use Frame like a Deck (but with a huge virtual screen) will be able to see the controller model in the virtual space so they can reference the buttons and get the extra features of Steam Controller. That’s handy, especially when you’re getting to grips with a new(ish) button layout.

The gamepad is also rated to work with any device that runs Steam, allowing you to connect up to four Steam Controllers to a single device using a low-latency connection puck, which uses a proprietary wireless connection that Valve says is more stable than Bluetooth.

Here’s a quick rundown of Steam Controller:

Works with any device that runs Steam

• Windows / Mac / Linux PCs
• PC handhelds
• iOS / Android (with Steam Link)
• Steam Deck
• Steam Machine
• Steam Frame

Three ways to connect

• Steam Controller Puck
  • Pre-paired, plug and play
  • Proprietary wireless connection
  • Low-latency (~8ms full end-to-end)
    • 4ms polling rate
    • measured at 5m
  • More stable than Bluetooth
  • Up to 4 Steam Controllers per Puck
• Bluetooth
• USB tethered play

Li-ion rechargeable battery

• 35hr+ play time
• Charge with Steam Controller Puck or USB

Features

• Magnetic thumbsticks (TMR): improved responsiveness and reliability
• Capacitive touch
• Grip sense: quick way to activate/deactivate gyro.
• Assignable input
• HD haptics: More advanced and powerful motors for high definition rumble

Full input list

• ABXY, D-pad
• L/R triggers, L/R bumpers
• Magnetic thumbsticks (TMR)
• View / Menu / Steam / QAM buttons
• 4x assignable grip buttons
• 2x trackpads with haptic feedback
  • Pressure sensitivity for configurable click strength
• 6-axis IMU
• Capacitive grip sense

More Steam Frame Announcement Coverage

Valve Unveils Steam Frame VR headset to Make Your Entire Steam Library Portable: Valve shows off Steam Frame, the standalone headset that can stream and natively play your entire Steam library—with only a few caveats right now.

Hands-on: Steam Frame Reveals Valve’s Modern Vision for VR and Growing Hardware Ambitions: We go hands-on with Valve’s latest and greatest VR headset yet.

Steam Frame’s Price Hasn’t Been Locked in, But Valve Expects it to be ‘cheaper than Index’: No price or release date yet, but Valve implies Steam Frame will be cheaper than $1,000 for the full Index kit.

Valve Says No New First-party VR Game is in Development: Valve launched Half-Life: Alyx (2020) a few months after releasing Index, but no such luck for first-party content on Steam Frame.

Valve is Open to Bringing SteamOS to Third-party VR Headsets: Steam Frame is the first VR headset to run SteamOS, but it may not be the last.

Valve Plans to Offer Steam Frame Dev Kits to VR Developers: Steam Frame isn’t here yet; Valve says it needs more time with developers first so they can optimize their PC VR games.

Steam Frame vs. Quest 3 Specs: Better Streaming, Power & Hackability: Quest 3 can do a lot, but can it go toe-to-toe with Steam Frame?

Steam Frame vs. Valve Index Specs: Wireless VR Gameplay That’s Generations Ahead : Valve Index used to be the go-to PC VR headset, but the times have changed.