Creating a mini-ITX system based on the 9060 is a pretty good alternative. It's gonna cost you, but so is the SM.

The Steam Machine itself is just a very fancy prebuilt PC - so while it is your preference, there's no reason a similar spec prebuilt wouldn't work too

As I understand it, Steam Machines are not particularly powerful so I think it would be worth exploring pre-builts that are around what you want to spend to see if you can get something comparable or better. SteamOS will be available to install on all desktops at some point but in the meantime there are plenty of gaming focussed distros that will do a superb job. Unfortunately with memory prices the way they are you aren't really getting the same bang for your buck that you did previously, but there isn't much any of us can do about it at present. Good luck with it all, it is certainly a very exciting time to be getting into Linux gaming!

I would recommend a pre-built system for two reasons:

1. Better performance for about the same price.
2. You will get it in a few days, for the Steam Machine you will wait until 2027!

The only real reasons to get a Steam Machine are if:

1. You really want your computer to be a 6" cube
2. You really want HDMI CEC support
3. You really want to give your money to Valve instead of some other company

Otherwise, something else will be cheaper and/or faster, at the cost of being a more normal desktop size and shape.

I haven't had a prebuilt desktop since I was 15, so I would definitely build my own. (In other words, if the thing stopping you is being nervous about screwing it up, don't be because it isn't actually hard.)

Otherwise, I don't have any specific prebuilt brand recommendations for you, but I'll echo the advice to get something with a Radeon 9060 XT (or better). Alternatively, if you think you might want to do AI things with it too instead of just gaming, consider a small-form-factor PC with a fast APU and a lot of unified memory (e.g. like the Framework Desktop or Minisforum MS-S1 Max) or a Radeon RX 7900 XTX (with 24GB RAM), but be aware that those would be a lot more expensive right now.

I just installed SteamOS on a mini PC that costs about half what the Steam Machine does (and less than the Deck under current pricing), and runs on an AMD 7840HS with 32GB of RAM in a form-factor that's the size of 3 stacked pieces of bread.

While that APU is likely powerful than the Steam machine's with its dedicated VRAM, I did test a few games and it definitely outperforms the Deck and the higher system RAM makes it potentially more versatile than either.

Hello from Germany,

hit me up with a message, maybe we can work it out

Hi, if you want to I can dig around and make you a list of components it will be cheaper and with a better performance ratio.

Building a pc is not that hard, it's closer to legos theese days and installing linux is easy ( I would recommend bazzite with kde ).

Gruezi, I built my own steam machine, with the following specs:

• AMD ryten 7 5800X cpu
• 16GB DDR4 leftover memory (2666MHz)
• AMD RX 9070 XT graphics card (they're a great deal at the moment compared to other graphic cards, great bang for bucks e.g. https://www.brack.ch/acer-grafikkarte-predator-bifrost-amd-rx-9070-xt-16g-oc-1841447)
• Lian-Li A3-mITX case (can accomodate graphic cards up to at least 32cm)
• asrock b550M pro-4
• be quiet pure rock slim 3
• lian - li edge gold 850W PSU (I bought this as it was advertised SFF on galaxus but it is in fact a regular ATX, which still fits but prevents graphic cards of 32cm or larger, mine just barely fit).

The main difference with the steam machine is that it is larger, does not have HDMI-CEC (which turns on your TV automatically when the pc turns on, but I don't mind), or the official valve support, but frankly, my experience with steamOS has been stellar, I've run it for multiple months and I really love it. But with the official steam controller (which I'm also waiting on) I'm sure my experience would be close enough to perfect for myself. Good luck!

I think easiest option as of now is to have some friends or family in one of the neighbouring EU countries and ask them to order it. If you have any.

I'd just build my own PC, duh.

Never understood the hype behind pre-builts. Over half the fun of owning a gaming PC is picking your own parts and assembling it yourself. By having someone else do that part, you're robbing yourself of the joy of owning your own custom machine.

BUY A DOCK. CONNECT TO YOUR TV OF CHOICE.

Once you have that set up, pair a controller/keyboard/mouse to the deck. You just replaced your PS5. Not in the sense of complete power or graphical fidelity, but its bananas what the games pumped through my docked steam deck look like on the tv.

I have been linux gaming for a couple of years. I was in a transition away from Playstation already due to expense of multiplayer and the general value that I WASNT receiving from Sony. I was a day 1 adopter of the original deck, and it has worked very well for me in handheld mode, so I bought a dock to try it out. I only use my desktop gaming PC for true keyboard and mouse games that make me want to be close to the screen.

Get a prebuilt PC which there are few vendors that has even has Linux pre-installed as well as the specs works great without much hassle.

Steam Machines are available here in my area. Instead, I repurposed a small form factor machine I already had that was much more powerful anyways that has a built in graphics card. At the time I purchased it a few years ago, it was about $1000CDN, the Minisforum Neptune HX99G.

Install Steam OS on a Linux PC. The Steam Machine is overpriced and mid range. It’s okay for beginners. Members of a Linux gaming comm can probably do better.

Note that presently, Steam OS is only for AMD builds. If you have Intel and/or Nvidia, you’ll need to wait. Support for those is coming soon.

Maybe you can have a friend getting it delivered in france or germany, then shipped again to you (or better, go see tbem irl to get it yourself!)

As someone who pre-order the OG steam controller and steam deck I'm sitting this one out. The hardware situation is just too bad right now. Then again there's no guarantee it will actually get better, but I have some faith in China still

Build one! If you've already got the money, building a computer is not as hard as it might seem. You can put SreamOS on there but Bazzite and CachyOS are good gaming options too.

So they sell the steam deck in your country now? You can probably just wait a good while for them to sell in your country.

If you wait long enough they might offer a barebones kit kind of like the old Intel nuks. You can get for cheaper and buy your own ram and storage. Its rumored that the failure for many ai data centers to come to fruition, will line up with the ram manufacturers getting new facilities up, will cause a crash in hardware prices. Don't know if that means cheap ram or if it gets more expensive in the wacky economy anymore, but its something to gain or lose from when you wait long enough.

I would definately not buy from a scalper though. The thing is barely worth it to me at 700 dollars as a fan boy who would love a new toy from valve. I could not imagine paying close to double for it, or risk getting just scammed. I'm sure I could do something like a charge back, or having to get on some Ai customer support to get my money back but its not worth it to me anymore.

The only way to get steam hardware, according to support, is to have a credit card, address and steam account from an EU country or other supported country. Or wait if a local reseller (like digitec) gets their hands on them.

What others are saying plus install bazzite

Raid a data center.

I would do what I always do and build my own computer. But as for what you should do, probably get a pre-built with AMD GPU, without operating system to avoid paying for Windows, and then follow Valve's instructions here to install SteamOS: https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/65B4-2AA3-5F37-4227