- Valve has said it is “implementing improvements to [SteamOS] making it more compatible with desktop hardware”
- The company also made it clear that it is working closely with Nvidia to improve GPU compatibility.
- The goal is to make SteamOS more widely deployed on DIY PCs away from the Steam Machine, and this is tempting some gamers to ditch Windows 11.
Valve has highlighted how it is improving SteamOS to allow players to create their own version of the Steam Machine if they wish, which is already sparking some excited conversations on Reddit about abandoning Windows 11.
The Verge reports that Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais (an engineer who frequently gives interviews) made it clear that the company is busy “implementing improvements to [SteamOS] making it more compatible with desktop hardware” and also “collaborate very closely with Nvidia” to ensure better compatibility with Team Green GPUs.
Before you get too excited, though, the caveat Griffais attached is that Nvidia support won’t be coming anytime soon, meaning not this year, but that it’s “certainly something we’re working on in the background.”
Valve just released SteamOS 3.8, which paved the way for the new Steam Machine, and comes with some key changes to ensure a better experience with Intel CPUs as well as Nvidia GPUs (or even all discrete graphics cards, which will benefit from “much improved video memory management”).
The introduction of KDE Plasma version 6.4.3 with support for Wayland is also important, as it greatly improves desktop gaming and provides better support for external displays and VRR on SteamOS, among other benefits.
In short, with SteamOS 3.8, Griffais notes that “you can build your own Steam Machine using any PC part you want.”
All of which is paving the way for more PC gamers who are fed up with Windows 11 and Microsoft to switch to SteamOS as an alternative operating system (especially those not running an AMD-powered system).
Even though it’s still relatively early in this effort (as noted regarding the work with Nvidia GPUs), some gamers are already happily declaring that they’re ready to ditch Microsoft’s platform for SteamOS.
One Redditor tells us: “I decided to go all out and wipe my 2TB main drive and install this [SteamOS]. I installed it and tried a couple of games, working great so far. “I’m going to force myself to stick with it instead of going back to Windows.”
Here’s another gamer saying: “The moment SteamOS gains Nvidia support, there will be a huge mass exodus of users in the non-Windows gaming space.”
In a similar vein, another Reddit thread informs us: “I discovered that some of my Steam games that were running fine on Windows 10 were actually running much worse on Windows 11. I decided to go back to Linux Mint and give Steam another try after having tried it a few years ago and to my surprise, all of those games ran great now. So I stuck with Mint and all the games I have in my Steam library run fine without any issues. Value has really been doing a great job of bringing games to the table. to Linux”.
And in that same thread, a Redditor observes: “The moment this [SteamOS] stabilizes with the driver[s]I’m jumping [of] Windows.” (Not literally).
Analysis: smoking windows
It seems like this is prompting more than a few players to reconsider their position with Windows 11, but we clearly shouldn’t get carried away just yet. SteamOS has a long way to go as a rival to Windows 11, as it remains a niche proposition, but Valve is clearly pushing hard to make it a much more attractive alternative.
The good thing is that even if you don’t intend to go near the Steam Machine, and think it’s too expensive, as many do (thanks to the memory crisis), the launch of the device could still benefit you, as SteamOS continues to advance. As Valve notes, you can simply build your own Steam Machine-style PC, or to avoid the price increases of the RAM crisis, simply reuse an existing rig you have (perhaps with an optional upgrade or two obtained in a sale).
With notable progress being made here, and some progress in terms of making anti-cheat games also run in certain cases, although there is still a lot of work to be done here, we can be hopeful that SteamOS adoption can accelerate considerably.
However, Windows 11 continues to dominate the PC gaming world for a long, long time, although the fact that SteamOS gains ground could worry Microsoft in the long term and lead to greater efforts to improve Windows 11 for gamers, which would again be a victory, albeit an indirect one.
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