Valve’s decision to equip its Steam Machine with just one DDR5 module has been shown to degrade performance, particularly in CPU-heavy tasks and games. According to tests conducted by Gamers Nexus, upgrading the machine with two RAM sticks boosted performance by up to 15.3% in games and 19.4% in 7-Zip.
Due to the ongoing memory crisis, pushing prices through the roof, Valve decided to equip its Steam Machine with just a single 16GB 5,600MT/s DDR5 SODIMM module, instead of the originally planned 2x8GB kits. This reduces the Steam Machine’s manufacturing cost, and thus its sale price.
However, with just one SODIMM, the system is forced to operate in single-channel memory mode, significantly reducing memory bandwidth. When asked by Gamers Nexus about this potential performance impact, Valve said the difference between single and dual-channel is negligible in games. It turns out that’s only true for some games, as CPU-heavy titled show a substantial preference for dual-channel memory.
According to tests conducted by Gamers Nexus, a dual-channel Steam Machine is 15.3% faster in Baldur’s Gate 3 at 1080p with Low settings, compared to a single-channel system. It’s also 14.7% faster in The Outer Worlds 2 at 1080p with Low settings, and 10% quicker in Resident Evil 4 at 1080p with the ‘Prioritize Performance’ setting.
While these are CPU-targeted tests meant to show worst-case scenarios, the GPU-targeted benchmarks also showed some measurable difference, albeit less concerning. For example, the gap between dual-channel and single-channel performance in Resident Evil 4 dropped to just 3.4%, with Starfield falling to 3.6%, and Baldur’s Gate 3 remaining the most impacted with a drop to 8.7%. Thankfully, games that prioritise GPU performance saw less than a 3% deficit using the single-channel memory configuration.
If you play CPU-heavy games and plan to upgrade your Steam Machine to a dual-channel configuration, keep in mind that compatibility isn’t guaranteed with all consumer SODIMM kits. Gamers Nexus indicated that the Steam Machine exhibited instability at boot with certain DDR5 sticks, forcing the team to search for identical modules to those used by Valve.
The takeaway here is that the memory shortage has forced Valve to leave some performance on the table, so it could offer its Steam Machine at a reduced price. Thankfully, in most instances, the impact isn’t huge.
