The most consequential part of this week's Steam Machine news for Linux users is not the price tag but the operating system underneath it. With the SteamOS 3.8.10 stable release, Valve has given the green light to install SteamOS on any desktop you assemble yourself. The company's own words: "starting with the SteamOS 3.8 release, you can put together your own Steam Machine using whatever PC parts you want."
That update is a substantial one for desktop Linux. SteamOS 3.8 moves to a newer Arch Linux base running kernel 6.16, switches the KDE Plasma 6 desktop to Wayland by default, and adds improved video memory management for systems with discrete GPUs alongside better compatibility with recent Intel and AMD platforms. Custom installs remain in beta, and only the Steam Deck, the Steam Machine, and the Lenovo Legion Go S currently carry official "Powered by SteamOS" status, with hardware like the ASUS ROG Ally and the original Legion Go sitting in beta support. According to The Verge, the best results come from AMD's RX 6000 cards, which share RDNA 2 with the Deck, and RX 7000 cards, which share the RDNA 3 architecture used in the Steam Machine itself. Both families run on AMD's open-source amdgpu driver via Mesa 26.1.2, the same stack underlying the Steam Deck, and a recent Proton update adds FSR 4.1 upscaling to RDNA 3 hardware through a fallback mode AMD developed alongside Valve.
Nvidia hardware is the notable gap for DIY builds. Valve has said it is working with Nvidia on SteamOS driver support but has not committed to a timeline. Builders who need Nvidia compatibility today have Bazzite, a Fedora atomic community build that uses the same Gamescope session and Proton compatibility layer as SteamOS while extending support to Intel and Nvidia GPUs alongside AMD.
For anyone who would rather buy the box than build it, Valve has now published pricing and opened the waitlist. The 512GB model starts at $1,050 (€970), or $1,130 (€1,040) bundled with the new Steam Controller. The 2TB configuration runs $1,350 (€1,250), rising to $1,430 (€1,320) with the controller. Valve attributes the figures to the ongoing memory and storage shortages affecting component costs across the industry.
The purchase process changes too. Rather than first-come, first-served, anyone who registers before 2026-06-25 at 10 a.m. PT will be entered into a randomized pool, with selected buyers emailed an invitation to order shortly after. Sign-ups also pick the specific configuration they want up front instead of registering for every model at once. Pricing and availability for the companion Steam Frame headset have not yet been announced.