Steam Machine Could Only Be as Powerful as PS4 As Valve 'Pleads' For RAM

RAM shortages are the latest AI-driven nonsense crossing your feed, with consoles across the board facing price hikes and manufacturing slow-downs. Now, Valve is seemingly begging for your help in finding this precious component.

Simply put, random-access memory, or RAM, is one of the most important parts of your computer. It provides high-speed, short-term memory for your computer's CPU, which means things load quicker. If you’re scoffing at that explanation, I get it, you’re very clever.

With the upcoming release of their Steam Machine in 2026, a comment made during a talk at Game Developers Conference (GDC) might suggest turbulent times ahead for the Steam Machine.

Valve explained during GDC that “If you have a line on a bunch of RAM, we are in the market and would like to buy it.”

Me too Gabe, me too. I have a PC that’s been half built for two years now, I’d really like to use it some day.

This joke might be hiding a bitter pill to swallow when it comes to the future of the Steam Machine though.

What does this mean for you?

The Steam Machine has 8 GB of VRAM. Once again, simply, the difference between VRAM (Video Random Access Memory) and RAM (Random Access Memory) is what it’s responsible for loading.

VRAM is focused on the GPU - rendering high resolution graphics. Conversely, RAM is the system's general-purpose memory, used by the CPU for running the operating system and applications.

A small, but meaningful difference.

Steam Machine, PlayStation 5

While benchmarking data isn’t available, games like Hogwarts Legacy, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and The Last of Us recommend 12GB+ for high/ultra settings to avoid stuttering.

In comparison, the Xbox Series X has 10GB of VRAM, while the PS5 and PS5 Pro have 16GB.

We take a look at the full specs breakdown of the Steam Machine versus the PS5 here.

In fact, the last console to have 8GB of combined VRAM was the PS4, first released in 2013 (that’s 13 years ago, sorry to remind you).

However, Valve claims the Steam Machine is 4K60 in any game with the help of upscaling.

While no price has been confirmed, a recent rumour suggested the Steam Machine 2TB model could be breaking four figures.

There's a lot of features people would like to see the Steam Machine have, and more VRAM could be the answer to a lot of them.

So should you be worried about Valve begging on stage for RAM at GDC, with all this in mind?

Well, it’s probably fine. In the same talk, Valve confirmed we’re still on for a 2026 release.

If we want 16GB of VRAM, we’d have to pay for it, it’s as simple as that. However, I may eat my words when the price is officially announced.