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- Valve is planning on releasing a VR, the Steam Frame, with the ability to let you play games even when not connected to an external device.
- The Steam Frame should run most things a low to mid-end PC can, but will still need to connect to a PC to run bigger titles.
- The Steam Frame can have up to 1TB internal storage and lets you use a microSD card to increase it.
Valve revealed the future of Steam hardware that users can expect to see in 2026, and a mostly overlooked item of the reveal was Valve’s innovative VR, the Steam Frame. The device has a ton of cool features to make your experience better, with one of them being its ability to function as its own PC.
Despite Valve’s claims, can you really expect a VR to have the same capabilities as a high-end PC? Not exactly, but that isn’t to say that they’re lying. The Steam Frame does work fine without being attached to another device, but you should know just what you can expect it to run.
Valve’s VR Headset For Gaming
The Steam Frame is Valve’s VR headset, much like the Meta Quest 3S and Apple Vision Pro. Unlike the others mentioned, though, the Steam Frame’s main purpose is to be used for gaming.
For its specs, the Steam Frame has a 4 nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, 16GB Unified LPDDR5X RAM, and a rechargeable 21.6 Wh Li-ion battery. For display, you get a 2160 x 2160 LCD per eye with a 72-144Hz refresh rate. You can look up the rest of the specifications, the I/O ports, and the physical metrics on the Steam Frame’s reveal page.
What Can The Steam Frame Run
If you’re using the Steam Frame in its primary function, which is when connected with a PC and streaming the gameplay to it, it can run pretty much anything that runs on your PC without issue.
The only thing that may interfere then is your internet connection resulting in either lag or a drop in resolution, but so long as you’ve got proper connection, even highly demanding games like Monster Hunter Wilds can be streamed without issue.
If, instead, you want to use the Steam Frame’s built-in processor to run games, you’re significantly more restricted in what you can play. Since the Steam Frame uses a 4 nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, it’s difficult to fully evaluate how good it is.
What I can say is that it’s much weaker than the Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus, which are what’s normally used for more demanding work, such as in Windows Laptops. This means that, at best, the Steam Frame should be able to run games that any mid-budget PC can.
This still means that you’re able to play most indie games just fine; it’s only a problem with AAA titles. This isn’t too big of an issue, though, as even if you could play higher-resolution games fine on its processors, the storage constraints would still be an issue.
Unfortunately, until the Frame releases for commercial use, there’s no way to say for certain.
How Much Storage Does The Steam Frame Have?
The Steam Frame comes in two options: you can either get the 256 GB variant or, if you want to use it by itself more often, you can opt to get 1TB. These are more than enough for normal use, which would usually be storing movies or smaller VR games in it.
So even if you want to use it to store more games, the 1TB variant would still be enough for most people. The Frame also gives you an option to use a micro SD card to extend your storage, so it’s safe to say you won’t find yourself running into storage issues too often.
How I’ll Be Using It
Even if the Frame functions fine without a PC connection, I’ll probably still be using it connected to my PC simply because the graphics would be better that way.
Apart from gaming, the huge storage also means that you can download plenty of content on it if you’re travelling or won’t have an internet connection for a while, which is another use I’ll make full use of. I don’t think it’d be that much different from any other high-end VR headset on the market, so whether I recommend it depends on how Valve prices it.
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Heya, I’m Asad (Irre) Kashif! I’ve been writing about anything and everything since as far back as I can remember. Professionally, I started writing five years ago, working both as a ghostwriter and writing under my own name. As a published author and a council member in Orpheus, my journey in the world of writing has been fulfilling and dynamic.
I still cherish the essays I wrote about my favorite PS2 games, and I’m thrilled to have transformed my passion for game journalism into a career. I’m a theory crafter for Genshin Impact (and now Wuthering Waves) and have a deep love for roguelites and roguelikes. While I prefer indie games for their distinct aesthetic and vibes, I do enjoy triple-A games occasionally. I’ve also been playing League since season 6, and I main Akali! I have a keen interest in discovering and playing more obscure games, as well as researching forgotten titles. Additionally, I am a front-end programmer who dabbles a bit in gamedev occasionally.
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