- Valve releases Windows 11 drivers for the Steam Machine
- This means you can install Windows 11 on the console-like PC
- You probably shouldn’t, though
Valve has released official Windows drivers which should mean anyone who wants to install Windows 11 on its Steam Machine compact PC will be able to do so.
However, I and many other PC gamers have been left wondering why you’d want to do that — and it’s not just because of a general dislike of Microsoft’s operating system.
Of course, Windows 11 does have its issues, with a worrying increase in bugs and performance-damaging problems. It’s also bloated, and filled with AI features that few people, especially gamers, seem to want.
So, installing it on a device designed to run a more lightweight Linux operating system is a baffling choice. Much has been made of Valve’s decisions (some of them taken because of the global memory shortage and high component prices) to fit the Steam Machine with rather underpowered hardware. There’s no dedicated GPU, just an integrated one that uses older AMD technology and 16GB of DDR5 single-channel RAM.
Those are pretty poor specs for a gaming PC, and while some of this is outside of Valve’s control, at least SteamOS, the Linux-based operating system that the Steam Machine runs on by default, is a lot more lightweight than Windows 11, and is streamlined to prioritize launching and playing games. This means it can offer better performance
Windows 11, on the other hand, is a much bigger, and some would say rather bloated, operating system that runs on a variety of different hardware, with people using it for different things, not just playing games. This means performance is often worse even if the same low-powered components are used.
So, putting Windows 11 on a Steam Machine means you’ll likely get poorer performance, and Windows 11’s interface isn’t designed to be used on a TV with a controller, unlike SteamOS’ Big Picture Mode interface. You can use Steam Big Picture Mode in Windows 11, of course, and Microsoft has been working on a similar console-like interface with its Xbox mode, but it’s not perfect.
Why would you do this?
So, why would anyone in their right mind installing Windows 11 on a Steam Machine, especially as it seems Valve hasn’t implemented dual-booting (so you can pick between Windows 11 and SteamOS when you turn the machine on, hopefully that comes later)?
Well, while SteamOS is designed for a console-like simplicity, for a lot of mainstream users, Windows 11 will be more user-friendly (if you’ve ever had to troubleshoot an issue with Linux, you’ll know it’s not for the faint of heart). If you’re planning to use the Steam Machine as a standard PC (which Valve says you can do), then installing Windows 11 kind of makes sense. Kind of.
SteamOS is also essentially Linux with the Steam store as the interface, and that makes playing and buying games through Steam very easy. But for playing games from other stores, such as Epic Games Store, GOG and even Xbox, it’s a bit more of a faff. You can install Linux or open source versions of those launchers and add them as non-Steam games, but it’s again fiddly and more complicated than with Windows 11.
Finally, if you play a lot of online multiplayer games, such as Fortnite, that use anti-cheat software, you might have no option but to play those games in Windows 11, as many anti-cheat tools don’t support Linux, and therefore can’t be played by default on the Steam Machine.
Why you shouldn’t do this
However, I still feel on the whole you just should do this, and not just because of Microsoft’s OS being unsuitable; Valve should take some blame as well.
As WCCFTech reports, because there’s currently no way to dual boot these operating systems, installing Windows 11 on the Steam Machine will overwrite SteamOS, so if you find Windows isn’t working well, it’s more of a pain to switch back to SteamOS.
As some commentators on WCCFTech’s article also point out, Valve doesn’t have a great reputation when it comes to supporting Windows drivers with its Steam devices, with the Steam Deck being a prime example. Valve’s handheld also runs SteamOS and you can install Windows 11 on it, but Valve has been pretty poor at updating its drivers, with one claiming people are still having to rely on graphics and sound drivers that are two years old.
Needless to say, playing with outdated drivers is not going to be enjoyable. In better news, Valve has also made having to use Windows 11 less necessary for a lot of games by continually updating its Proton compatibility layer, which allows you to run Windows 11 games in Linux, rather than having to wait for a Linux port of the game (which rarely comes due to the discrepancies in user numbers for the two platforms).
As Neowin reports, Valve has updated Proton to support even more games than ever. It’s a brilliant tool that means there’s less need to use Windows 11 with the Steam Machine or Steam Deck.
So, while I do applaud Valve for giving users the option, as it helps show how open the Steam Machine, and gaming PCs in general, can be, I think Valve has also made this option pretty pointless, for both good and bad reasons.
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matthew.hanson@futurenet.com (Matt Hanson)
