Benchmark outcomes from a tool known as Valve Fremont have simply appeared on-line, suggesting {that a} new Steam OS recreation console is within the works. This is not the primary time we have heard in regards to the Fremont Valve (Gordon Fremont?) console mission, however it’s the primary time we have seen a file of the {hardware} that could possibly be within the machine, and the customized AMD chip on this leak is considerably extra highly effective than the one within the Steam Deck.
Valve first tried to supply its personal Steam machines round a decade in the past, however with restricted recreation assist, they didn’t take off. Nevertheless, now that Valve has nailed recreation assist and a easy OS with the Steam Deck, which nonetheless tops our greatest handheld shopping for information, it seems to be as if the agency has checked out making a extra highly effective machine that might plug into your TV.
The Valve Fremont machine is listed in two outcomes listings within the Geekbench outcomes browser, which each present an AMD customized CPU with the mannequin quantity 1772, in addition to a few of its specs. In keeping with the specs record, the CPU has six cores and 12 threads, together with 16MB of L3 cache, a 3.2GHz base clock, and a 4.8GHz increase clock. The itemizing additionally states that the CPU is an AMD Hawk Level 2 mannequin, similar to AMD’s Ryzen 200-series cellular chips, suggesting that its CPU cores might be based mostly on the Zen 4 structure.
The truth is, by way of primary specs, it seems to be very similar to an AMD Ryzen 5 220, which has the identical variety of cores however a barely larger clock velocity of 4.9GHz. That is not a excessive spec for a brand new gaming CPU, however it’s massively extra highly effective than the quad-core Zen 2 CPU within the Steam Deck. The multi-core rating of seven,451 is considerably larger than the ~4,200 scores clocked up by the Deck, and the single-core rating of two,412 is over twice as quick as the same old ~1,150 scores for the Steam Deck chip too.
The Ryzen 5 220 additionally has a primary built-in AMD Radeon 740M GPU constructed into it, which has 4 RDNA 3 compute items, giving it 512 stream processors. That is the same spec to the Van Gogh GPU within the Steam Deck, however with the good thing about being based mostly on a more moderen GPU structure.
Nevertheless, there are additionally rumors that Valve is not utilizing an built-in GPU for this machine, and is as a substitute utilizing a discrete, full-spec AMD Radeon RX 7600 GPU with 2,048 stream processors. That rumor comes from SadlyItsBradley in a submit on X (previously Twitter), who first leaked particulars of Valve Fremont in December 2024.
SadlyItsBradley additionally states that Valve Fremont is a TV-focused field with a customized Valve case and motherboard, and that the GPU has its personal devoted reminiscence, relatively than sharing system reminiscence, not like the built-in GPU within the Steam Deck chip. This leaker has additionally beforehand offered rumors in regards to the Steam Controller 2, which he says might launch concurrently Valve Fremont.
Nevertheless, the Radeon RX 7600 is an outdated GPU now, and it wasn’t a high-spec chip when it got here out. There’s an odd function of the specs record on Geekbench too, which is that the system solely has 8GB of dual-channel 5,586MT/s DDR5 SDRAM, when even the Steam Deck has 16GB of RAM.
As such, I believe it is doubtless that that is an early prototype machine, relatively than a glimpse of a near-finished machine. I might be stunned if Valve launched a brand new console with an outdated GPU and 8GB of RAM in it. A system with 16GB of reminiscence and a Radeon RX 9060 XT, nevertheless, could possibly be a really totally different story.
We’ll simply have to attend and see whether or not this leak and the rumors surrounding it find yourself with Valve releasing a brand new console machine. Within the meantime, if you happen to’re on the lookout for a system to play the most recent video games at excessive settings, try our guides to purchasing the very best gaming PC, in addition to the very best gaming laptop computer, the place we information you thru our favourite decisions proper now.
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