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Valve's Steam Machine runs just as well on Windows as it does on SteamOS, according to new tests. It's pretty competitive, with each having its preferred benchmarks and game settings, but it means Steam Machine owners will have more options for their operating system.
As VideoCardz reports, YouTube channel ETA Prime took advantage of Valve releasing Windows drivers for the Steam Machine to install Windows 11 and run some comparison benchmarks. They also upgraded the DDR-5600 MT/s memory from 16GB to 64GB, which may slightly skew the calculations, but both SteamOS and Windows were benchmarked under the same conditions.
With Windows installed, the Steam Machine saw a 3.3% increase in single-threaded performance in Geekbench 6 and a 22% increase in multi-threaded performance. In straight gaming, however, the difference was far less stark. In Cyberpunk 2077, the Steam Machine managed 74 frames per second on SteamOS, and just 68 on Windows 11 at 1080p. However, that flipped at 4K, with the Windows machine managing 20fps and SteamOS hitting 18fps.
Both operating systems delivered results within the margin of error in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with a mere 2fps difference at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K. The same was mostly true of Horizon Zero Dawn, though it did require upscaling in both cases to achieve playable FPS at 4K.
One of the major selling points of Valve's SteamOS is its more gaming-centric operating system. In many respects, it acts more like Steam's now-defunct Big Picture mode, and throws gamers right into their library in a console-like fashion. This tight competition with Windows might be a sad note for SteamOS fans, but you could easily see this as a win. Valve has released a gaming OS that, even on the same hardware, can compete directly with Windows; no license required.
Then again, performance isn't everything. A Steam Machine with SteamOS will deliver a cleaner, console-like gaming experience compared with Windows. But if you want a Steam Machine to act like a mini PC rather than a console (drawbacks aside), you can rest assured you aren't leaving gaming performance on the table.
