Valve no longer claims the Steam Machine is capable of running games at 4K resolutions and 60 frames per second. The company updated the official Steam Machine product page to replace “4K gaming at 60 FPS with FSR”, with “Up to 4K gaming with FSR 4.1”.
The change was made without prior announcement, and was noticed by users on X and ResetEra forums. This is especially notable as, now that the Steam Machine has launched, its hardware capabilities are under increased scrutiny.
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As recently as February, Valve continued propagating the claim that 4K at 60FPS is a reasonable visual/performance target players can expect from the Steam Machine.
“In our testing the majority of Steam titles play great at 4K 60FPS with FSR on Steam Machine,” Valve said on a Steam Machine FAQ. “That said, there are some titles that currently require more upscaling than others, and it may be preferable to play at a lower framerate with VRR to maintain a 1080p internal resolution.”
Indeed, when media outlets reported on the Steam Machine’s initial announcement, they likewise revealed, based on information provided by Valve, that 4K at 60FPS was the goal.
“Like the base model PS5 and Xbox Series X, the goal here is to support modern games with ray tracing at 4K resolution and 60 frames per second, using FSR upscaling (typically from a 1440p base resolution),” Will Judd wrote in Eurogamer’s Steam Machine preview in November last year.
Image credit: Valve
It’s not clear what prompted Valve to make that change, or when it was made. RPS deputy editor James Archer told us in a technical analysis Q&A that it’s best to consider the Steam Machine as a 1080p device.
“It’s built for 1080p, to be sure, but with lowered settings and enough upscaling, you’d be surprised,” said Archer, who added that major games will require using FSR upscaling on Performance mode to reach decent framerates.
We’ve reached out to Valve to try and understand why the change was made.
As Chris Tapsell notes in the Eurogamer Steam Machine review, the experience of living with the console-like PC is about a lot more than simple hardware specs. If you’re the sort of person who’s okay with the high price of the Steam Machine, you’re not likely to be too fussed about its performance.