Stim Machine: A More Powerful and Affordable Alternative to Valve’s Steam Machine Unveiled in France

The French retailer LDLC introduced a compact gaming PC that serves as a high-performance alternative to the new Valve Steam Machine. The company originally named the device Stim Machine but later adopted the simpler, neutral name PC Box.

This system shares many specifications with the Steam Machine, yet it replaces the semi-custom RDNA 3 graphics processor with a full-fledged Radeon RX 9060 XT. This graphics card features 8 GB of memory and uses the RDNA 4 architecture. The hardware configuration delivers higher gaming performance and supports FSR 4 technology.

Inside the chassis, the system runs on a six-core AMD Ryzen 5 8400F processor paired with 16 GB of DDR5 RAM and a 500 GB SSD. The case design also accommodates two extra SATA drives and supports future graphics card upgrades.

Higher performance requires more physical space. While the Steam Machine occupies 3.8 liters, the LDLC model reaches 11.5 liters. Owners must install SteamOS themselves, unlike the Valve device which arrives ready to use. The PC Box also lacks specific Steam Machine features such as instant sleep mode and HDMI CEC support for television control.