World’s Smallest Steam Machine Turns a Mini PC into Pocket-Sized Gaming Magic

Valve revived the Steam Machine concept last year, promising a handy tiny box that could reside in your living room, run SteamOS, and provide real gaming capability. Guess who wasn’t waiting around? One enthusiast had previously taken a tiny micro PC, placed it in a custom 3D-printed shell, and created what could very well be the tiniest functional Steam Machine available. This palm-sized beast has enough power to run modern games fluently while still accommodating a Steam Controller.

ETA Prime, known for his clever builds, started with a Minisforum UM680, which is essentially a little box with an AMD Ryzen 7 7840U processor packed inside. It’s a beast, with 8 cores and 16 threads that can clock up to 5.1 GHz and integrated Radeon 780M graphics powered by the RDNA3 architecture. He installed 32GB of fast LPDDR5 RAM to keep things running smoothly and a 1TB SSD for storage. It runs official SteamOS, the same operating system that powers the Steam Deck, and comes with all of the plugins you would expect.

It’s smaller than a 6-inch cube and around the same size as a Steam Controller. He modified a 3D-printed copy of Valve’s original Steam Machine design to construct a three-piece front panel held in place with magnets. It’s simple to swap out parts or customize because the front can be quickly removed. Of course, all of the connectors are tucked away on the back: a full-size HDMI port, two USB 3.2 connections, and a USB Type-C port that supports USB4. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 keep everything connected without the need for additional adapters.

The performance is quite impressive for something so compact, with games running at 1080p with consistent frame rates, and lighter titles even pushing up to 1440p without trouble. Hollow Knight: Silksong manages to attain 120 frames per second at higher resolutions, Left 4 Dead 2 keeps above 90 frames on high settings, and The Witcher 3 chugging away at 1080p on the Steam Deck preset with plenty of space to breathe at 120 frames with dynamic scaling. Fallout 4 is little more difficult to play at 1440p, although game runs smoothly at 1080p. DOOM Eternal runs medium settings with ease, and Cyberpunk 2077 manages a beautiful 60 fps on the Deck preset, with an additional boost from FSR frame generation.

Heat control is also rather good, with power limited to 30 watts via the Decky Loader and Simple Decky TDP plugins. The turbo boost is turned off to prevent throttling, however the system continues to run at full power even during extended gaming sessions. Its cooling system is effective enough to keep things quiet, which is essential in such a little place.

SteamOS integration is excellent, with version 3.7.17 introducing customizable refresh rate over HDMI for compatible panels, as well as full plugin support for any overlays or power settings you may require. Using this device is similar to using a miniature Steam Deck without a screen or a controller; simply plug it into a TV or monitor, pair a controller, and you’re ready to dive deep into the whole Steam library.