4 Graphics Cards More Powerful Than The Steam Machine's

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The much anticipated Steam Machine released this year to relatively mixed opinions. On one hand, it provides an incredibly polished and compact console-like experience, but on the other, the $1,049 base asking price is a tough pill to swallow when you consider the middle of the road performance on offer. Based on benchmark scores and in-game performance from sources like GamerNexus, the Steam Machine most closely resembles the performance of Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3060 or AMD's Radeon RX 6600.

While the alternative solution isn't as simple as saying "just build your own PC" (today's DIY market looks decidedly bleak, with RAM and storage prices soaring to historic highs and no end in sight), there are a number of readily-available graphics cards that offer superior performance to the Steam Machine's integrated RDNA 3 GPU.

Whether you're on Team Red, Team Green, or the relative newcomer, Team Blue, there's a graphics card on the market that will beat out the Steam Machine. The most affordable of the bunch, the  Intel Arc B580 12GB, has an impressively low MSRP of just $249 (though it's typically on sale for between $230 to $320 today). On the other end of the spectrum, the enthusiast-grade Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 has an MSRP of $1,999 (but good luck finding one at that price) and remains the upper echelon of graphical computing prowess.

You probably don't think of Intel first when it comes to graphics card manufacturers, but it's doing its best to change that notion with truly outstanding budget cards like the Intel Arc B580 (released December 2024 at an MSRP of $249). This GPU, which comes complete with 12GB of VRAM and a clock speed of 2670MHz, offers an affordable entry point into 1440p gaming (with stellar 1080p performance).

Compared to the Steam Machine, which averaged 59FPS in "Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty" at 1080p Ultra settings, the Intel Arc B580 12GB averaged 79.9FPS. The lowest FPS values, however, are nearly identical at 41.8FPS for the Steam Machine and 41.9FPS for the B580, meaning Intel's Battlemage GPU will outperform the Steam Machine on average, but will experience the same level of struggle during particularly resource intensive scenes.

The Intel Arc B580 12GB is a great choice if you're into competitive online games like "Rocket League" or "Counter-Strike 2." These titles benefit greatly from sustained solid performance, but don't need the substantial computing resources required for grand epic tales like "Red Dead Redemption 2."

AMD's entry into this lineup, the Radeon RX 7600 XT (released January 2024), has an MSRP of $329, positioning it comfortably in the budget graphics card category. As for tech specs, it comes equipped with 16GB of VRAM and a clock speed of 2470MHz.

When tested for in-game performance, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT was able to average 105.8FPS in "Resident Evil 4" (1080p) compared to the Steam Machine's 93.5FPS. For the low-end FPS values, the Radeon RX 7600 XT dropped to 90.4FPS, whereas the Steam Machine's bottom limit was 74.3FPS. Meaning in this test, the Radeon RX 7600 XT's performance was considerably more stable.

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is slightly more performant than Intel's Arc B580, making it an excellent pick for multiplayer online titles where performance counts. But it's also fantastic for more demanding single player games at 1080p to 1440p resolution, with upscaled 4K gaming feasible thanks to AMD FSR.

Moving into the midrange graphics card bracket, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 — released in April 2023 — has an MSRP of $599. It features 12GB of VRAM and a base clock speed of 1920MHz. When tested in "Cyberpunk 2077" at 1080p resolution on Ultra settings, the GeForce RTX 4070 was able to crank out an average of 85FPS. The Steam Machine, as mentioned, averaged 59FPS on the same settings. That's a considerable 26FPS difference, which will definitely be noticeable on the low end.

The RTX 4070 also lets you take advantage of Nvidia GPU features like DLSS 4.5, the most powerful consumer upscaling technology available on the market. You can reliably hit 60FPS at 4K resolution in a number of titles with DLSS enabled — something the Steam Machine can only dream of.

Aim for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 if you're building a midrange PC with plans to play resource-heavy titles at 4K 60FPS (or 1440p at 120FPS+). If 1080p is the main resolution you plan on gaming at, you don't need the performance that the RTX 4070 provides (or the price increase that comes with it) — go with one of the cheaper cards on this list instead. Similarly, if you want to take advantage of a high refresh rate monitor in tandem with that crisp 4K resolution, you'll need to look at something like the RTX 5090.

The graphics card that needs no introduction: the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090. Released in January 2025 at an eye-watering MSRP of $1,999 (though 5090 prices have soared substantially since release), it goes without saying that its graphical computing power is far ahead of the Steam Machine's, but that's because it's far ahead of every other GPU on the market. If you're building an enthusiast rig and want the cream of the crop, this is it.

As for performance metrics, the GeForce RTX 5090 simply has no rival. It averaged a massive 395.1FPS in "Resident Evil 4" with a low FPS value of 271.6FPS. Even at the lowest FPS moment, the RTX 5090 is still nearly three times as performant as the Steam Machine's 93.5FPS average (low of 74.3FPS).

Of course, you should only consider Nvidia's flagship GeForce RTX 5090 if you're building a top-of-the-line enthusiast PC. It's overkill for everything besides 4K ray-traced gaming at well over 60FPS — but if that's what you're after, this graphics card will give it to you.

First, we analyzed the performance of the Steam Machine to set the standard for which GPUs are considered more performant. Recognizing the Steam Machine's performance as comparable to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, we searched for current graphics cards that comfortably exceed the 3060's performance.

In order to accomplish this, we studied expert and user reviews — placing a particular emphasis on how well these graphics cards performed in real-world use cases such as gaming at various resolutions — and selected four cards that offered greater average and low FPS values in popular modern titles such as "Cyberpunk 2077" and "Resident Evil 4."

We also took other key factors into consideration, such as price, availability, design, and overall performance. With the data compiled, we then narrowed the picks for this list down based on how well the products perform in each of the categories mentioned, as well as which are most applicable to the majority of PC gamers. In other words, do we believe the product is genuinely worth recommending to most people in the market for a new GPU? If so, we listed it here.