Valve is not concerned about the limited VRAM on its upcoming Steam Machines, but maybe it should be. New testing from Ars Technica suggests that Windows 11 performs significantly better with 8GB of VRAM than SteamOS, particularly with certain games and settings.
Until recently, only the most high-end GPUs topped 8GB of VRAM; the RTX 3080 shipped with just 10GB in 2020. However, many games now demand more than that for even recommended settings, meaning gamers with limited VRAM end up with low settings and resolutions.
Valve claims that this shouldn’t be an issue with the Steam Machine’s APU, but testing suggests otherwise. In its benchmarks, Ars found that games like Returnal are playable on an RX 7600 with just 8GB of RAM at 1440p and max settings in Windows. But switch to SteamOS, and the performance is less than a third. The same issue is not present with the 16GB RX 7600 XT.
RX 7600 graphics card (Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton/PCMag)
Cyberpunk plays slightly worse on SteamOS with ray tracing disabled, and significantly worse when enabled. Even the older Assassin’s Creed Valhalla at 1080p max settings was around 15% weaker on SteamOS when limited to 8GB of VRAM.
It’s not a significant issue in every game, and ray tracing—a setting that few are likely to enable on weaker hardware—appears to be the primary reason for 8GB of VRAM performance degradation. However, the dip is also present in games with less demanding graphical options.
Recommended by Our Editors
In the desktop testing scenarios that Ars put together, the Windows systems performed slightly better across the board in every game they tried. That’s the inverse of what we’ve seen on a lot of Windows handhelds, where SteamOS appeared to play better with the APU. It may be that on Steam Machines (with a similar APU versus the CPU and GPU combo Ars used), we’ll see better SteamOS performance in limited VRAM scenarios.
Still, it does seem to suggest that 8GB of VRAM can be a severely limiting factor for performance in certain SteamOS settings and games. Valve will need to continue tweaking that if it wants to claim that its new gaming platform—which could cost close to $1,000 if RAM shortages continue—is worth it over game consoles and similarly specced standard desktops.
Get Our Best Stories!
Your Daily Dose of Our Top Tech News
Sign up for our What’s New Now newsletter to receive the latest news, best new products, and expert advice from the editors of PCMag.
Sign up for our What’s New Now newsletter to receive the latest news, best new products, and expert advice from the editors of PCMag.
By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy
Policy.
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
About Our Expert
Jon Martindale
Contributor
Experience
Jon Martindale is a tech journalist from the UK, with 20 years of experience covering all manner of PC components and associated gadgets. He’s written for a range of publications, including ExtremeTech, Digital Trends, Forbes, U.S. News & World Report, and Lifewire, among others. When not writing, he’s a big board gamer and reader, with a particular habit of speed-reading through long manga sagas.
Jon covers the latest PC components, as well as how-to guides on everything from how to take a screenshot to how to set up your cryptocurrency wallet. He particularly enjoys the battles between the top tech giants in CPUs and GPUs, and tries his best not to take sides.
Jon’s gaming PC is built around the iconic 7950X3D CPU, with a 7900XTX backing it up. That’s all the power he needs to play lightweight indie and casual games, as well as more demanding sim titles like Kerbal Space Program. He uses a pair of Jabra Active 8 earbuds and a SteelSeries Arctis Pro wireless headset, and types all day on a Logitech G915 mechanical keyboard.
Read Full Bio
