Steam Machine not for you? I found 5 great mini PCs starting at just $549 that can reliably game at 1080p

Beelink SER9 PRo — (Image credit: Windows Central / Zac Bowden)

The Steam Machine is getting a fair amount of heat due to its $1,049 price, but no matter how you look at it, Valve's new device is a particularly powerful mini PC. Not everyone needs that much power or wants to pay that much, which is where the Windows mini PC market comes into play.

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Amazon Prime Day has knocked prices down considerably on a bunch of our favorite mini PCs, and while they won't match the Steam Machine's discrete graphics, they're still fully capable of running a wide range of games AND Windows 11, no extra effort necessary. Just plug in an HDMI cord, hook it up to your TV, and start gaming.

How do these discounted mini PCs compare to the Steam Machine's performance?

Steam Machine for 2026 — The Steam Machine boasts a respectable amount of gaming power thanks to a discrete AMD GPU with 8GB of VRAM. (Image credit: Valve)

The Steam Machine is causing a ruckus in the tech world, namely due to its price-to-performance ratio now that reviews have gone out into the wild. It's true that you can build a full-size gaming PC or buy a pre-built gaming PC for less money and with superior power, but what about a mini PC that's a closer match to the form factor?

👉I found these pre‑built gaming PCs that beat Valve’s Steam Machine on price and performance, and it’s not even close

Well, that's where the real genius of Valve's device comes into play. It is indeed capable of delivering quite a bit of gaming performance in a super compact form factor, something that most of the mini PCs on the market for a similar or lower price simply aren't capable of doing.

The Steam Machine's discrete custom AMD Radeon GPU with 8GB of VRAM is fairly close to a desktop-class AMD Radeon RX 7600 card, which the integrated graphics in most mini PCs can't touch.

Regardless, at $1,049, the Steam Machine isn't for everyone. There are plenty of PC users who just want a compact, capable PC that runs Windows 11 without breaking a sweat, while at the same time having capabilities to handle lighter games. That's where these great mini PCs excel.

The mini PCs I've highlighted in this roundup all have an integrated AMD Radeon 780M GPU or a comparable Intel Arc integrated GPU. I can't stress enough that these GPUs will not match the Steam Machine's gaming power.

However, the Radeon 780M will still do a bang-up job of gaming, and for a lot less money in a significantly smaller package, often with more RAM and storage.

Just how powerful is the integrated GPU? It will effortlessly run esports games like League of Legends, Counter-Strike 2, Valorant, and DOTA 2 at 1080p, hitting somewhere between 60 and 90 FPS with medium to high settings. Games like Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox are in the same boat.

👉 Geekom's mini PCs enjoy massive savings during Prime Day — I handpicked the 7 top deals up to 15% off for a limited time

I'd venture to say that the Radeon 780M is an indie game superstar, and those who prefer roguelikes, platformers, deck builders, puzzle games, and simulators will have no issues.

Those hoping to play demanding AAA titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, Baldur's Gate 3, and others will find that the Radeon 780M can get the job done at 1080p, albeit with lower frame rates and with AMD's FSR enabled. If you're going to mainly focus on AAA games, I'd recommend checking out pre-built desktop PCs with discrete graphics.

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Cale Hunt brings to Windows Central more than nine years of experience writing about PC gaming, Windows laptops, accessories, and beyond. If it runs Windows or in some way complements the hardware, there’s a good chance he knows about it, has written about it, or is already busy testing it.