• 2 min read
Valve Steam Machine Hits 4K With Major Compromises
Valve’s Steam Machine reaches 4K with FSR, but unsupported and poorly optimized games expose its limits, especially on demanding TVs.
Image: Wired
Valve says its Steam Machine can reach up to 4K at 120 Hz on supported displays through HDMI 2.0, using AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) upscaling rather than native 4K. Yet the Steam Store’s planned Steam Machine Verified label is based on a 1920 × 1080 benchmark.
I tested the device on a 55-inch 4K OLED TV and a 27-inch 1080p monitor, both running at 120 Hz over HDMI. Frame rates came from the Steam Machine’s built-in Performance Overlay, enabled through the Steam Controller’s “…” button. The reference games were Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, Crimson Desert, Lego Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, and Granblue Fantasy Relink: Endless Ragnarok.
4K performance with upscaling
Spider-Man defaulted to 2048 × 1152 on the TV and maintained a smooth 60 fps. Running at native 3840 × 2160 with FSR disabled and graphics set to High reduced performance to 30–45 fps. Enabling FSR and Dynamic Resolution Scaling with a 60-fps target restored the desired frame rate at 4K without noticeable image degradation. The HDR TV also delivered stronger color and contrast.
At 1080p, the Steam Machine easily held 60 fps, although the non-HDR monitor looked more muted. Of the tested games, Spider-Man produced the strongest overall results.
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Crimson Desert is officially unsupported, but it launched successfully. At Ultra settings with FSR and Native Anti-Aliasing, it managed roughly 40 fps in menus, falling to 20–25 fps during gameplay. High settings improved that to 25–30 fps, but introduced tearing in cutscenes. Lowering the upscale mode to Quality produced 30 fps, while Balanced approached 60 fps at the cost of foliage, water, and other environmental detail.
The 1080p monitor was a different story: Crimson Desert delivered a solid 60 fps even at Ultra, with shadow ray tracing and advanced weather effects enabled. That is a notable result for a game Valve says the system cannot run.
Poorly optimized games remain a problem
Lego Batman was far less consistent on the TV. At 4K with FSR and High settings, it ranged from 15 to 45 fps. Performance-focused FSR stabilized it around 45 fps, occasionally reaching 75–90 fps, but vehicle sections could fall below 30 fps.
At 1080p with High settings and Ultra Performance upscaling, it finally reached a stable 60 fps. Improving image quality, however, pushed performance back toward 30 fps. Similar problems appeared on the more powerful MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ gaming handheld, suggesting the game is poorly optimized for PC—and that the Steam Machine struggles when software is the bottleneck.
Culture Editor
Maya explores gaming, streaming, and the internet as a place where people actually live. From deep-dives into creator economies to the anthropology of digital communities, she tracks platform drama and cultural shifts so you don't have to. She believes the best tech stories are fundamentally about human behavior.
via Wired
