Recommended Monitor for Steam Machine

[BustingBlur]

Hi all,

Valve are due to release their upcoming Steam Machine in Q1 2026, I plan to buy one for my son who will be turning 10, this will be his first PC and likely service him throughout his entire teenage years, a monitor is a big part of that experience and so I turn to this forum to help me find the best!

He currently has an Xbox Series S with a MX279H (for which we use Trace Free 60, feel free to suggest the best setting!) which ticks most of my boxes except for the refresh rate and VRR/LFC support.

The Steam Machine is no powerhouse and with the limited 8GB of VRAM, I think the sensible choice is to pair it up with a 1080p monitor.

I am looking for the best motion clarity (in all that entails) whilst ensuring maximum comfort and reduced eye fatigue. This means assuming sensitivity to any and all negatives of technologies that look to improve motion clarity through techniques such as strobing.

Preferred:

• 27" (PPI is lower for 1080p but the size feels perfect)

• 120Hz (or can be 240Hz, as consoles/phones typically support up to 120hz, but I am open to faster, it's just that I don't think the system will be able to drive any higher in most cases given the translation layer and its CPU)

• Built-in Speakers (desk space is limited and using headphones all the time is tiresome, the monitor will also be used for casual productivity/entertainment)

Absolutes:

• IPS (maybe not an absolute - but strongly preferred)

• 1080p (to limit and ensure good performance out of the Steam Machine in future games)

• FreeSync Premium (for LFC and VRR for future games)

60Hz to 120Hz is of course going to be a meaningful upgrade by itself, but ideally I want a very good 'overdrive' performing IPS monitor along with that. Maybe I'm completely off the mark by even thinking I need an IPS, I'm open to TN panels I suppose - OLED has issues with daily-use (non gaming) from what I understand and VA suffers in motion clarity more than any other. I'm open to be educated so feel free to suggest completely different to my above requirements, just take into consideration that some of it is picked specifically to ensure no accidental 4K output which reduces framerate significantly and such, I'm trying to strike a balance of plug and play with the hardware its going to be paired up with. Looking forward to your recommendations (I'm UK based btw).

[Dalek]

• 27" (PPI is lower for 1080p but the size feels perfect)

I've seen 27" at 1080p and it is not easy on the eyes.

If you're going with 1080p, stick to 24". If you want a larger monitor then I would recommend a 27" 1440p.

But given the specs announced for the steam machine, I'd say 1080p is your best bet long term. That being said, you don't mention which games he'll be playing. If your son only plays indie titles and less resource intensive games, then maybe the 1440p monitor will be a better option. If he'll play more detailed/graphical intensive games then go for 1080p.

A monitor with speakers will limit your options to much cheaper / office based monitors since gaming focused monitors tend to not have them. Most cheap monitors nowadays will go up to 75-120hz. I can't say whether the motion clarity will be amazing or not, but it should be ok, especially for the price.

Option 1: 1080p 24": https://www.currys.co.uk/products/phili ... 80649.html
Option 2: 1440p 27": https://www.currys.co.uk/products/acer- ... 85570.html

[BustingBlur]

Appreciate the links!

These look to be only Adaptive Sync monitors meaning they won't have Low Frame Compensation, which could help with the 27" 1440p situation.

GIGABYTE M27Q3 any good?

[purplemelon1]

Hi all,

Valve are due to release their upcoming Steam Machine in Q1 2026, I plan to buy one for my son who will be turning 10, this will be his first PC and likely service him throughout his entire teenage years, a monitor is a big part of that experience and so I turn to this forum to help me find the best!

He currently has an Xbox Series S with a MX279H (for which we use Trace Free 60, feel free to suggest the best setting!) which ticks most of my boxes except for the refresh rate and VRR/LFC support.

The Steam Machine is no powerhouse and with the limited 8GB of VRAM, I think the sensible choice is to pair it up with a 1080p monitor.

I am looking for the best motion clarity (in all that entails) whilst ensuring maximum comfort and reduced eye fatigue. This means assuming sensitivity to any and all negatives of technologies that look to improve motion clarity through techniques such as strobing.

Preferred:

• 27" (PPI is lower for 1080p but the size feels perfect)

• 120Hz (or can be 240Hz, as consoles/phones typically support up to 120hz, but I am open to faster, it's just that I don't think the system will be able to drive any higher in most cases given the translation layer and its CPU)

• Built-in Speakers (desk space is limited and using headphones all the time is tiresome, the monitor will also be used for casual productivity/entertainment)

Absolutes:

• IPS (maybe not an absolute - but strongly preferred)

• 1080p (to limit and ensure good performance out of the Steam Machine in future games)

• FreeSync Premium (for LFC and VRR for future games)

60Hz to 120Hz is of course going to be a meaningful upgrade by itself, but ideally I want a very good 'overdrive' performing IPS monitor along with that. Maybe I'm completely off the mark by even thinking I need an IPS, I'm open to TN panels I suppose - OLED has issues with daily-use (non gaming) from what I understand and VA suffers in motion clarity more than any other. I'm open to be educated so feel free to suggest completely different to my above requirements, just take into consideration that some of it is picked specifically to ensure no accidental 4K output which reduces framerate significantly and such, I'm trying to strike a balance of plug and play with the hardware its going to be paired up with. Looking forward to your recommendations (I'm UK based btw).

For the sake of future searchers. The steam machine is the equivalent of a rtx 3060 laptop without it's features. It's like a radeon rx 6600 (non xt). If you plan on using a rx 6600 with all modern features missing in the year 2030... The display you use is probably not something you care about. The standard experience/ average will probably be hooking this thing up to $60 usd monitors or their barebones TV.

P.s. some practical advice for you personally. I really think you should wait for the ps6 to launch. That will set the value/price standard for the next decade . The closest hardware that will launch after it will be rtx 6xxx refresh in 2027. Or worst case rtx 7xxx and rdna 6 a year after. Surely by then an rtx 4060 will be $150-200 usd. Or 100 quid.

Computers are no longer for gaming. You'll have to expect to pay up. Worst case the steam machine is included in that costing around £650 off the bat. There's no reason to buy that at that price. You can install linux on any computer.

Second i know you may think strobing will just be overall worse for eye health. But it's possible that having blur is just outright worse. Like constantly trying to read a blurry whiteboard a distance away. Strobed content to above 1000hz might actually be better for eye care.
What children really need to learn to the 20 20 20 rule. Every 20 minutes look 20 feet away for 20 seconds. You can tell kids to go outside but their eyes will only get worse if they just stare at the ground or their phones in the sun not actually relaxing them. Making going outside useless or even harmfull. Second, general eye exercises to relax your eyes. Just youtube that.

[Dalek]

P.s. some practical advice for you personally. I really think you should wait for the ps6 to launch. That will set the value/price standard for the next decade . The closest hardware that will launch after it will be rtx 6xxx refresh in 2027. Or worst case rtx 7xxx and rdna 6 a year after. Surely by then an rtx 4060 will be $150-200 usd. Or 100 quid.

Horrible advice. So his son should wait years for a console that hasn't even been announced yet? lol.

Computers are no longer for gaming. You'll have to expect to pay up. Worst case the steam machine is included in that costing around £650 off the bat. There's no reason to buy that at that price. You can install linux on any computer.

Computers are no longer for gaming? what do you mean by that?

Waiting for a 4060 to be $150-200? the steam machine won't be super powerful, no. What you're paying for is the SFF and a machine that does the job, which is more than enough for a child. Unless OP is extremely poor, it would be pointless waiting years for a 4060 to be dirt cheap.

We don't even know which games will be played.

Second i know you may think strobing will just be overall worse for eye health. But it's possible that having blur is just outright worse. Like constantly trying to read a blurry whiteboard a distance away. Strobed content to above 1000hz might actually be better for eye care.

MPRT is not the equivalent of trying to read a blurry whiteboard in the distance.

[purplemelon1]

P.s. some practical advice for you personally. I really think you should wait for the ps6 to launch. That will set the value/price standard for the next decade . The closest hardware that will launch after it will be rtx 6xxx refresh in 2027. Or worst case rtx 7xxx and rdna 6 a year after. Surely by then an rtx 4060 will be $150-200 usd. Or 100 quid.

Horrible advice. So his son should wait years for a console that hasn't even been announced yet? lol.

Computers are no longer for gaming. You'll have to expect to pay up. Worst case the steam machine is included in that costing around £650 off the bat. There's no reason to buy that at that price. You can install linux on any computer.

Computers are no longer for gaming? what do you mean by that?

Waiting for a 4060 to be $150-200? the steam machine won't be super powerful, no. What you're paying for is the SFF and a machine that does the job, which is more than enough for a child. Unless OP is extremely poor, it would be pointless waiting years for a 4060 to be dirt cheap.

We don't even know which games will be played.

Second i know you may think strobing will just be overall worse for eye health. But it's possible that having blur is just outright worse. Like constantly trying to read a blurry whiteboard a distance away. Strobed content to above 1000hz might actually be better for eye care.

MPRT is not the equivalent of trying to read a blurry whiteboard in the distance.

You think valve made the steam machine to be a sff prebuilt company? Okay man. Everything you said is wrong. They are doing it to distribute linux and be a windows competitor.

I'm not going to argue 20 different points. I'll restate that the kid would be better off with an rtx 3060 laptop in the year 2030. If you don't understand what that means. Whatever. Plus it would already have it's own screen. You can already buy the same hardware. It's called a rx 7600 laptop.
Anything beyond it's screen would just be general advice where the machine itself doesn't matter.

[purplemelon1]

For anyone still wondering. You don't need to take my word for it. Just listen to gabe himself on their vision https://youtu.be/yeCuasjxsWk I think some of the stuff he says is wrong. Like monetization. The proliferation of Linux or SteamOS is a great thing for everryone long term. It could allow more adoption for the blurblusters open source initiative. Its' implications go beyond just accessible drivers access and other dev tools.
But the haaardware on the other hand they are using in their first iteration is a piece of """". It's xbox series s (2020) like 6 years after. However it's linux, so anyone can install it wherever. Anyone in the future reading this should install SteamOS on to their rtx 7060 / radeon 11x60 setup.

Regarding the mrpt confusion above. Again don't take my word. Here's a quote posting.php?mode=quote&p=120649
"it feels like I cannot focus my eyes onto the target, everything seems blurry and I can't consistently read/predict their movement"
Learning to relax your eye muscles is much more important long term for eye care than short term flicker strain. Depending on the individual.

[purplemelon1]

I forgot to make clear I do not think buying an old laptop or even a 5060 laptop today is a good idea. I made those points specifically because I think they are bad choices for gaming even right now nevermind 6 years from now. Yet it is still better off.
A n rtx 5070 laptop is the same chip as a 5060ti. Yet because of its memory bottleneck. It is entirely possible to only have around 1/3rd it's fps even at 1080p. Right now. Not 5 years from now.


Like i said before. The steam machine is not an upgrade over an xbox series s

[purplemelon1]

P.s. some practical advice for you personally. I really think you should wait for the ps6 to launch. That will set the value/price standard for the next decade . The closest hardware that will launch after it will be rtx 6xxx refresh in 2027. Or worst case rtx 7xxx and rdna 6 a year after. Surely by then an rtx 4060 will be $150-200 usd. Or 100 quid.

Horrible advice. So his son should wait years for a console that hasn't even been announced yet? lol.

Computers are no longer for gaming. You'll have to expect to pay up. Worst case the steam machine is included in that costing around £650 off the bat. There's no reason to buy that at that price. You can install linux on any computer.

Computers are no longer for gaming? what do you mean by that?

Waiting for a 4060 to be $150-200? the steam machine won't be super powerful, no. What you're paying for is the SFF and a machine that does the job, which is more than enough for a child. Unless OP is extremely poor, it would be pointless waiting years for a 4060 to be dirt cheap.

We don't even know which games will be played.

Second i know you may think strobing will just be overall worse for eye health. But it's possible that having blur is just outright worse. Like constantly trying to read a blurry whiteboard a distance away. Strobed content to above 1000hz might actually be better for eye care.

MPRT is not the equivalent of trying to read a blurry whiteboard in the distance.

https://overclock3d.net/news/gpu-displa ... arly-2026/
I hop3 you haven't blocked me so you can read this.

The truth is the US is heading towards hyper inflation. The only people who will be able to buy pcs (and this has already begun to some extent) are those who are productive with said tools. In the short term (2028) we will see a rebound again but I never expect the market (the customers) to be the same again.
(To expand on the hyp-inlf, people on reddit blame ai companies for buying up everything. But what are the investors funding with? Loans. The investors have the mentality of just lower interest rates (print money) if it all goes wrong. It's the same mentality as middle aged people saying get more mortages to make money)

The good news is china is productive as hell. I look forward to seeing what they can make 15 to 20 years from now. That is highly why monitors have been dropping in price. If you watch the gabe speeches (video plus video recommendations) . You may also be glad SteamOS is a thing. It's going to be seperated from software being exclusively rent services.

I do have to wonder if maybe mobile chips would have been better even if... Well thats what the steam frame is for.

[Chief Blur Buster]

Too much offtopic talk --

Please keep posts on topic to be helpful to the original poster...

We welcome all devices including consoles and Steam Machines.

The GPU in the Steam Machine ain't bad compared to a lot of what people are still using today including Playstation 4's and older Xbox, plus older PCs with GTX 1000 series too. Let's not do too much GPU snobbery here, shall we.

There's many ways to reduce motion blur. The same monitors can do PWM-free mode and motion blur reduction via a toggle. And some people do get more eyestrain from motion blur than from strobing.

Truth to be told, we need to welcome SteamOS without the "PC angst" because even if priced more than a 2024 machine, is still cheap compared to trying to build a brand new computer today with the RAM/SSD prices going way up. We need to keep the game market alive, and their content creators.

But, let's set our differences aside and help a future Steam Machine user, without discouraging the person away from Steam Machine. Regardless of it not being an upgrade over consoles, it still keeps game developers programming for PCs.

Put that console-vs-PC debate in a different thread, please. M'kay?