Steam Machine Loses Up to 19.4% Performance on Single-Channel DDR5 RAM
Updated
Updated · techpowerup.com · Jun 30
Steam Machine Loses Up to 19.4% Performance on Single-Channel DDR5 RAM
3 articles · Updated · techpowerup.com · Jun 30
Summary
Gamers Nexus found Valve’s Steam Machine can gain up to 19.4% in CPU-heavy workloads when moved from its stock single-channel DDR5 setup to dual-channel memory.
1080p gaming gains were smaller but still notable: Baldur’s Gate 3 improved 15.3% at low settings and 8.7% at Ultra, while Outer Worlds 2 rose 14.7% and Resident Evil 4 gained 10%.
Valve appears to have accepted the tradeoff to ship at a lower price or amid memory sourcing constraints, even though early reviews had already criticized the machine’s middling performance and high cost.
Upgrade paths may be messy for buyers: Gamers Nexus reported boot instability with some DDR5 SODIMMs, had to match Valve’s OEM stick exactly, and said Valve does not list RAM speed compatibility.
The Steam Machine ships with DDR5-5600 memory with weak timings, suggesting additional upside may exist if faster, stable RAM configurations prove supported.