TECH NEWS: Official dual boot is not available yet, meaning anyone who switches to Windows on the GabeCube must completely wipe SteamOS.
The Steam Machine may be one of Valve’s most interesting pieces of hardware yet, but its price has seriously divided the community. Many consider the roughly $1,000 price too high, while Valve sees it as realistic given the current shortage of DRAM and SSDs.
The machine ships with SteamOS by default, which is practically the ideal system for the device. It offers a console-like interface, fast boot times, and a gaming experience optimized for Valve’s own ecosystem.
Valve has nevertheless released official Windows drivers, allowing users to install Microsoft’s operating system as well. This follows the strategy the company previously used with Steam Deck.
The new drivers allow Windows to properly recognize and use the most important hardware components. These include the AMD Radeon graphics controller, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and the SD card reader.
Without drivers, Windows would probably be unable to handle several missing features correctly. The official package is therefore important for anyone determined to use Valve’s machine under Windows.
Valve still does not currently recommend this route. Installing Windows requires wiping the Steam hardware’s data, and dual boot with SteamOS is not available yet.
Technically, both Steam Deck and Steam Machine are capable of dual booting. The problem is that the SteamOS installer and dual-boot wizard needed for that process are not ready yet.
Valve says the feature will arrive with a future version of SteamOS once it is complete. Until then, however, users face a choice: remain on SteamOS or replace it entirely with Windows.
This is especially interesting because SteamOS has improved significantly over the past few years. Steam Deck’s success has shown that Valve’s Linux-based system can deliver a console-simple yet PC-flexible gaming experience.
Installing Windows may provide better compatibility for some games, Game Pass, and certain anticheat systems. In exchange, users lose the clean living-room experience that makes the Steam Machine interesting in the first place.
Once Valve finishes the dual-boot wizard, the situation will become much friendlier. Until then, the official Windows drivers are mostly for advanced users who know exactly what they are sacrificing by wiping SteamOS.
