Maxim Boldson
GAMES
July 06 2026
Views: 191
Users of the new Steam Machine gaming console have begun publishing the first independent reports on the device’s performance under real-world conditions. The author of a large-scale benchmarking study tested approximately forty games and reported that, in most cases, the SteamOS operating system and the built-in Proton compatibility layer deliver excellent results. However, three major games exhibited significant technical issues and crashes at default settings.
In the action RPG No Rest for the Wicked, the system incorrectly identifies the desktop console as a portable Steam Deck model and completely blocks the ability to set the screen resolution above 800p. Switching to the latest Proton GE versions and entering specialized launch commands does not resolve this issue. In the updated version of the space horror game Dead Space Remake At the initial stage, severe freezes lasting from 1% to 3% of a second were observed due to the shader compilation process, which continues in the background even after startup. Stable performance was only achieved by switching to a resolution of 1440p with FSR enabled in quality mode at medium detail settings, or at 4K with FSR enabled in ultra-performance mode.
The final problematic project was the shooter Borderlands 4, which traditionally suffers from poor optimization at launch. Aggressively lowering graphics settings allows the overall frame rate to rise above 60 frames per second, but gameplay is accompanied by sharp and severe performance drops. The most severe frame rate drop was observed when using vehicles to navigate the open game world. The author did not provide information on the exact system requirements for eliminating performance bottlenecks on this hardware configuration.
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