'Going to make myself stick with Steam OS instead of slithering back to Windows': gamers get ready to abandon Windows 11, as Valve focuses on boosting Steam OS on the desktop | Tech Radar
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'Going to make myself stick with Steam OS instead of slithering back to Windows': gamers get ready to abandon Windows 11, as Valve focuses on boosting Steam OS on the desktop
Is the latest version of Steam OS a turning point for Windows 11 defectors?
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Valve has said it's "rolling out improvements to [Steam OS] so it's more compatible with desktop hardware"
The company also made it clear that it's collaborating closely with Nvidia for better GPU compatibility
The aim is to make Steam OS more widely deployed on DIY PCs away from the Steam Machine, and this is tempting some gamers to ditch Windows 11
Valve has underlined how it's improving Steam OS to allow gamers to make their own version of the Steam Machine should they wish, which is already prompting some excited chatter on Reddit about abandoning Windows 11.
The Verge reports that Valve's Pierre-Loup Griffais (an engineer who often gives interviews) made it clear that the company is busy "rolling out improvements to [Steam OS] so it's more compatible with desktop hardware" and also "collaborating with Nvidia very closely" on ensuring better compatibility with Team Green's GPUs.
Before you get too excited, though, the caveat that Griffais attached is that Nvidia support isn't coming anytime soon – meaning not this year – but that it's "certainly something that we're working on in the background".
Valve just released Steam OS 3.8 which prepared the ground for the new Steam Machine, arriving with some key changes to ensure a better experience with Intel CPUs, as well as Nvidia GPUs (or indeed all discrete graphics cards, which will benefit from "greatly improved video memory management").
The introduction of KDE Plasma version 6.4.3 with Wayland support is important, too, very much upping the desktop game and bringing in better support for external displays and VRR in Steam OS, among other boons.
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In short, with Steam OS 3.8, Griffais notes that "you can put together your own Steam Machine using whatever PC parts you want."
All of which is paving the way for more PC gamers who are fed up with Windows 11 and Microsoft to make the switch over to Steam OS as an alternative operating system (especially those who aren't running an AMD-powered system).
Despite it being still relatively early days in this effort (as noted regarding the work with Nvidia GPUs), some gamers are already happily declaring that they're ready to ditch Microsoft's platform for Steam OS.
One Redditor tells us: "Decided to go all in and wipe my main 2TB drive and install this [Steam OS]. Just got it installed and tried a couple games, working very well so far. Going to make myself stick with it instead of slithering back to Windows."
Here's another gamer who says: "The minute Steam OS gets Nvidia support, there is going to be a large mass exodus of users in the gaming space off of Windows."
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In a similar vein, a further Reddit thread informs us: "I found that some of my Steam games which played fine on Windows 10, actually played far worse on Windows 11. I decided to switch back to Linux Mint and give Steam another go on that after having tried it a few years ago, and to my surprise, those games all worked great now. So I've stuck with Mint and every game I have in my Steam library runs well without issue. Value has really been doing a great job of bringing gaming to Linux."
And in that same thread, a Redditor observes: " The instant this [Steam OS] becomes stable with driver[s], I'm jumping out [of] Windows." (Not literally).
It appears this is prompting more than a few gamers to reconsider their position with Windows 11, but we clearly shouldn't get carried away yet. Steam OS has a long road ahead of it as a rival to Windows 11, as it remains very much a niche proposition, but clearly Valve is pushing hard to make it a much more compelling alternative.
The good thing is that even if you don't intend to go near the Steam Machine – and you believe it's well overpriced, as many do (thanks to the memory crisis) – the launch of the device could still benefit you, as Steam OS continues to take strides forward. As Valve observes, you can just build your own Steam Machine-style PC, or to avoid the RAM crisis price hikes, simply repurpose an existing rig you have (perhaps with a choice upgrade or two grabbed in a sale).
With notable strides being taken here – and some progress being made in terms of getting anti-cheat games to run, too, in certain cases, although there's still plenty of work to be done here – we can be hopeful that Steam OS adoption could be accelerated considerably.
However, Windows 11 remains dominant by a long, long way in the PC gaming world, although Steam OS gaining traction could worry Microsoft for the longer-term, and prompt further efforts to make Windows 11 better for gamers – which again would be a win, albeit an indirect one.
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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for Tech Radar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).
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