STEP BY STEP - HOW TO BUILD A STEAM MACHINE!

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So, you want to build a Steam Machine? Great news: we have you covered! ​In this step-by-step guide, we will give you everything you need to get your own Steam Machine up and running in no time!

Step 1: The Build

Thanks to SteamOS 3.8, we have some flexibility here, but we’re sticking to all AMD components since those closely match the announced system specs for the official Steam Machine. Feel free to choose alternates within the Ryzen 7000 – 9000 Series for CPUs and the Radeon RX 7000 – 9000 Series GPUs.

Reference: Steam Machine
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
Fractal Design S24 V2 ARGB 240MM
ASRock B650I Lightning WiFi
T-Create Expert 6000MHz C38 32GB
Kingston Fury Renegade 2TB
ASRock RX 9070 XT Monster Hunter Wilds Version
Fractal Design Era 2
ASUS ROG Loki 850W

Step 2: creating installer media

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RUFUS FOR WINDOWS
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balenaetcher for macOS
What you’ll need: 
  • One (1) USB drive (8GB minimum) 
  • Media Creation Utilities: 
  • Download file named “steamdeck-repair-main-20251027.1000-3.8.0.img.zip” 
  • Make sure to extract this file BEFORE trying to use it with your media creation tool.
  • NOTE: At the moment, Versions 3.7.7 and 3.9 will not allow the installation process to proceed / you will not get anything on screen. 
With your drive plugged in and OS image ready, open your installer, select the disk image you want to use to create your installer media and set it to work. ​
This is going to take several minutes, so you can do whatever you want… we opted to play some Ball X Pit while we waited. ​
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rufus + ball x Pit

Step 3: installation

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BIOS secure BOOT DISABLED
BEFORE YOU TAKE ANOTHER STEP: Load into the BIOS of your Steam Machine and disable Secure Boot. SteamOS will not boot if your motherboard has Secure Boot enabled. Since this is on by default, remember to disable Secure Boot if you run a BIOS update. ​
Once Secure Boot is disabled, plug your USB installer media drive into your machine, then Save and Exit. ​
(NOTE: If your system takes you back to the BIOS, you may need to set your USB drive as the priority boot drive.) ​
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SCARY CODE IS SCARY
Now, this next part is going to look super foreign and scary if you’re not used to watching old school prompts popping up in your screen.  ​
You may even have a minute or two of black screen to go through the loader. ​
Once those lines pass, congratulations: you made it into Arch Linux.  ​
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WIPE DEVICE & INSTALL STEAMOS
Here, you’ll find an icon labelled Wipe Device & Install SteamOS​
Double click on that icon and it’ll give you a warning prompt about erasing your drive. This is fine – go ahead and do it. ​
This will take a little bit of time; your system will restart a couple times, then run through another black screen, and then you should be in SteamOS. ​
Connect to your network, let it run its updates, login in, and you’re square... almost. ​

STEP 4: IT'S NOT A TUNA... IT'S TUNING!

To really get the most out of your Steam Machine, you have a few more things to do to make sure it’s tuned right for performance: ​
Unlock Resolution 
  • Navigate to the Settings Menu (Xbox Button/PlayStation Button/Esc), then find Display 
  • Uncheck “Automatically Set Resolution” 
  • Find Resolution and Refresh Rate that best matches your display ​
Unlock Frame Rate 
  • Access Quick Access Menu (Xbox + A Buttons/ PlayStation + X Buttons/ Ctrl + Shift + Tab)​
  • Navigate to “Performance” 
  • Check “Disable Frame Limit” ​
Disable Vsync 
  • Access Quick Access Menu (Xbox + A Buttons/ PlayStation + X Buttons/Ctrl + Shift + Tab)​
  • Navigate to “Performance” 
  • Select “Enable VRR” 
  • Select “Allow Tearing” ​

STEP 5: ENJOY!

© 2026 Robeytech
© 2026 Robeytech