1k usd to see Linux win is well worth it!
this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2026
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Steam Hardware
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I wish I could justify getting one. It's not really the price that's a problem for me, but the fact that I've barely even used the Index I bought around three years ago.
Yeah, hardware is expensive right now, but something to consider is this price tag would seem a lot more reasonable if other tech wasn't subsidized by the spyware it comes with.
Price seems very good imo
Did you watch the GamersNexus video?
And the price is half of what I feared.
Tbh I'm not surprised at the cost. I'm more surprised that it isn't even more expensive given the state of things.
Will I get one? Idk. Maybe. It's a decent chunk of change, but I've still not dived into VR. I had been waiting for this one because I'm sure it plays nicely with Linux, without having to do some hacky shit, and I like it better than the Index.
I'd say as an Index owner, hold off. The frame is expensive and there still isn't a big library of must have VR games. The frame makes a bit more sense if you dont have a steam deck I guess but not much more at this price point. If youre just buying it for the VR experience then it may be a disappointment at the moment and at that price.
Sadly I thibk PC VR will continue to grow slowly as the Frame is too expensive to really expand the market. The AI tech bubble really sucks.
I think many of us are just priced out of the future of technology. I still haven't tried VR.
I bought an OG Vive about 5 years ago on Craigslist for $300 and honestly, it's still usable and a very representative experience of what VR can do, in my opinion. Looks like it can be had for under $200 these days.
My read of the reviews is that the frame is essentially a wireless vive with inside out tracking and an added computer.
Well, I mean, it's twice the resolution (2160 vs 1080), half again more on the refresh rates (144 vs 90 Hz), weighs 150g less (409 vs 555 g) and it doesn't have fresnel lenses - if the whole "completely wireless, lighthouse-free, works standalone or with your computer and can stream" wasn't enough of an upgrade lol. It is for me, I put myself on the list for a 256.
Aside from the tether, which is just a pain in the ass, I won't miss the screen door effect and the god rays.
Ya, I'm going to convince my work to get one and I'll have my fun through there, but spending so much on VR is too much. I'm just not that into it. I probably would have gotten it if it was less though.
I got a black Friday sale PSVR years ago for like $200, that's about the price point I'd need to upgrade.
Not happening anytime soon.
How much are used Indexes going for these days?
Honestly a fair bit cheaper than I was expecting with all the components shortages, I was anticipating it to be about $500 more than that.
And it runs Linux! 😜
Yeah, you can bring up the plasma desktop in the headset and use it like the steamos desktop.
yeah but apparently from a leak the other day can only stream from Windows for now.
That's wrong. You can't stream from the SteamOS game mode specifically, but streaming from a Linux desktop works.
It doesn't work with steam machine?
Hopefully that won't stay true for long.
The price though, I was expecting it to be expensive, but not 4 figures expensive. Sadly I have to pass on this.
Yeah I think when Valve first came up with it, they also weren't expecting a four-figure price
The prices are exactly in line with what I expected, but I'm keenly aware of how availability and pricing of computer parts are currently affected by the LLM bubble.
That is actually a bit cheaper than what I was fearing. I think they are subsidizing the price a bit by making the accessories incredibly expensive.
They said they are not subsidizing any of the new hardware.
I believe that was specifically the Steam Machine, due to the risk of being mass ordered as cheap workstations.
While there's some commercial uses for VR, there's not much. Selling near cost is actually feasible since the vast majority will be used for gaming. That being said, they likely won't account for as many sales on Steam as the Deck did, given the smaller market
Another paper launch I assume? I still don't have a Steam Controller.
I have two of them.
Lucky!
I signed up and got a confirmation email, then I was mysteriously removed with no notification. Then I signed up again and I think I got removed again because the reservation doesn't appear on the Store page again. Or that's not an indicator of anything idk. I should probably email support.
Crazy.
I got one by itself and one with a steam machine.
Before I just didn't like your name, but now I hate you.
j/k but definitely a little jealous.
I got the controller, but no steam machine ;_; Volvo pls
Gonna get it for living room beatsaber and alyx. Ive no existing vr kits so will be my first, have always wanted something to play beatsaber on but didn’t want to add a console or support meta or get something that I thought would be janky.
I sold both my quest 3 units already.
So, I don't have the money really, but still considering this. I guess the real decision is if I need 256gb or 1tb
It has a SD card slot so it's hard for me to justify the extra expense.
I wonder what the performance is like over SD however. It might be substantially slower
But, it's a good point which I never considered.
Also, looks like you can already extend the cameras to color too with a separate addon, so AR is a very real possibility
I'd change that to: who even needs a full 256GB library of vr games let alone 1tb? If willing to delete and download games as needed 256GB really is plenty. And if tethering it to a PC then the storage becomes irrelevant.
I'm not tethering.
My rog Ally x storage is full though, and I occasionally need to delete
I wonder what the performance is like over SD however. It might be substantially slower
Likely minimal difference apart from loading times. Framerate shouldn't be significantly affected
I'd bet you can change the install location in Steam so you can move the games you're currently playing to the faster internal storage and use the SD for keeping games around you don't want to download again.
I don't think I'll be using the internal storage much though as I have a good gaming PC to stream from.
I only have a NUC 14 Pro Plus at this point. My gaming system is my Rog Ally X at the moment
I'm unsure whether I want it or not. I already have an Index which works great except for the cameras (they stopped working after an update again). I'm scared of being too impatient like I was with the steam deck. I want to know whether an OLED version or PCVR only version will come out just one year after it's release. Hell, be it two years, I'll wait for it
Its very unlikely a PCVR only version will come out; they won't want tp cannabalise sales for the frame and the big thing for them is this is an all-in-one which is the holy grail.
I doubt a refresh version will come out unless its cheaper components. Its likely the AI bubble will keep prices high for a while and the steam frame won't get the sales expected for some years. Hopefully though valve will be ready in a few years for frame 2 and prices may have normalised from this current madness.
I'd expect steam deck 2 in the next 2-3 years if prices come down, and frame won't be going anywhere for 5 years I think. Instead hopefully if component prices come down, frame prices will come down in the next 2 years.
Isn't this the same price as when Vive came out?
And I think that had a more sophisticated placement system than this one.
I know prices are high currently, but the general idea is that the new should be better and cheaper.
The plan was likely cheaper but component prices are mad currently. It makes sense to launch but the price means it won't hit sales targets. Hopefully if the AI bubble bursts, component prices will drop and the Frame price will drop. But looks doubtful in the next year at least.
When the AI bubble burst there will be dirt cheap RAM for everybody.
It's quite entertaining to follow the shitshow that is AI and datacenters. Especially OpenAI and Oracle. 🤡 😂
but the general idea is that the new should be better and cheaper.
Tbh, that doesn't really hold true anymore in the current tech market due to AI. RAM and Storage is several times more expensive than they were a year ago
Also, this has several years of sensor and hardware improvements over the Vive, so it doesn't need the separate sensors all over the room
If you already have an Index or Vive, or are willing to buy ones used you're better off doing that. But if you want a new headset this is likely the best you'll get without buying something that will sell all your data (aka Meta)
Can someone give me some reasons for why this would be good? I'm actually really interested in it but just not entirely sure of what sorts of things I could do with it.
I think it depends where you’re coming from. For me:
- I owned an oculus 1 dev kit, and had some experience with VR a long time ago and enjoyed it, but there weren’t many games.
- Meta bought oculus and requires a meta account to even use their devices, so that’s a no for me.
- Valve index looked interesting, but I wasn’t aware of it at launch, and by the time I was, there were whispers of a successor, so I wanted to wait.
So I have no VR headset and I want to get into again. From my research, this is the best all around non-meta headset on the market (especially if you’re getting the color pass through accessory). Plus I love Valve’s whole model of making things free, open source, and interpretable. So supporting them financially is fine by me as well.