Valve finally launched the Steam Machine yesterday, and with the big announcement came reviews. And with reviews came some further insight into the new mini PC’s design. It has had a turbulent tail-end of production due to memory and storage shortages, with Valve now confirming that RAM configuration has been affected. It comes with 16GB DDR5, but not all models are the same.

In a recent interview, Valve engineers Pierre-Loup Griffais and Yazan Aldehayyat revealed that the Steam Machine ships with either a single stick of 16GB RAM, or two sticks of 8GB. Steam Machine pre-orders are ready to go (you can now sign up for the reservation program ahead of release on June 30), but there seems to be no way of knowing which memory config you’ll get.

Why the Steam Machine doesn’t always ship with dual-channel memory

“System memory is 16 gigabytes. But again, to be able to build as many as we can, we have to essentially have some with one stick 16GB, some with two sticks of 8GB. We validated the performance delta and we don’t really think it makes a big difference, or if any measurable difference at all [for gaming]”.

Yazan Aldehayyat, Hardware Engineer at Valve, via Gamers Nexus

Pierre-Loup Griffais says the difference between getting a single-stick and dual-stick configuration is “based on the supply that we can secure” – “At the end of the day, it should be comparable speeds and all that,” he adds. Many PC builders will know that a dual-channel setup can result in better performance, especially in CPU-heavy workflows, but Valve says it’s negligible for gaming.

“If you’re doing workstation stuff, we understand that dual channel has a difference there, but the wall clock time difference for real games is not – at least we thought it was worth it. It’s either that or all the Machines that have one slot we couldn’t have shipped them, so I think it’s worth the trade-off.”

Pierre-Loup Griffais, Software Engineer at Valve, via Gamers Nexus

While Griffais agrees that a single-slot configuration is “definitely impacting” performance on the workstation side of things, it’s pretty much a non-issue for gaming. It was either accept the compromise or fail to ship sufficient stock. Valve has not confirmed a ‘bare bones’ model, so you can’t officially dodge the RAM cost in that way. It is interesting to note, however, that if you end up with a single 16GB, you could easily upgrade to 32GB with the spare SODIMM slot.

About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.