PC Gaming Tinkerer Throws Down The Gauntlet With $950 DIY Steam Machine

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Will Valve be able to make a Steam Machine for less than $1,000 like someone on YouTube did? Is Diablo 4 really coming to Switch 2 anytime soon? And why is Krafton no longer publishing Subnautica 2 on PC? It’s your Morning Checkpoint for April 14, 2026, where we strive to exhibit the soul of poetry in everything we do, or at least briefly distract you from the nihilism of climate change denial.

I’m currently obsessed with this Marathon-themed keyboard. We are all patiently waiting for the group buy. In the meantime, today is the 19th anniversary of “Here Comes the Pizza.” Educate yourself and relive the glory.

A DIY Steam Machine you don’t have to wait for

YouTuber Zac Builds recently set out to beat Valve’s new PC console hybrid device to market. As spotted by PC Gamer, the goal was to build “something that’s cheaper, faster, and overall better than what Valve has to offer.” Did Zac Builds succeed?

The DIY rig he ended up with certainly looks the part. It’s a few inches beefier than Valve’s promised hardware footprint but it does come with sleek wood paneling on the sides. It’s powered by a Ryzen 5 5600X, Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB, and 16GB of DDR4 memory. There’s also a 2TB SSD and the whole thing, including the custom 3D-printed case, came out to $950.

That sounds pretty good for a PC that can run Cyberpunk 2077 and Spider-Man 2 at up to 60fps in 4K with FSR upscaling enabled. Zac Builds took advantage of some cheap one-off deals for his Steam Machine, though Valve will be able to compensate with cost savings from manufacturing its devices in bulks. Maybe figuring out those logistics is part of why Valve still hasn’t made its pricing and shipping dates official yet.

RAMageddon comes for phones and laptops

The AI-fueled shortage is leading Samsung to hike the price of its Galaxy smartphones and tablets by up to $100. It’s not alone. Microsoft is also feeling the pressure. The 15-inch Surface Laptop recently jumped from its $1,300 starting price in 2024 to $1,600.

The change comes after Unknown Worlds’ cofounders won a legal battle against Krafton that forced the Korean publisher to relinquish control of the top-wishlisted survival sim’s Early Access launch plans. Neither Krafton nor the studio responded to a request for comment.

Overwatch is now 60fps on Switch 2

Blizzard’s hero shooter got a next-gen update for Nintendo’s new console alongside its latest season. “Better visuals, higher fidelity audio, and up to 60 FPS in both docked and handheld mode make this a much stronger way to experience the game on your Nintendo Switch 2,” the company wrote. “It’s a cleaner, crisper, portable version of Overwatch that still lets you play with your friends wherever you are.”

Animal Crossing players have received a commemorative statue

VGC reports the new item was sent out to all New Horizons players in the game’s latest update to celebrate the franchise’s original debut back in 2001 on Nintendo 64 when it was a Japan exclusive called Dōbutsu no Mori. The game wouldn’t be localized into English until it was later ported to GameCube.

Bloober Team has a lot going on

The Silent Hill 2 remake studio is currently working on seven different projects in development and has hired new executive leadership to help, GamesIndustry.biz reports. “We don’t want fewer than two productions, because relying on a single title creates too much risk in today’s market,” CEO Piotr Babieno said. “But we also don’t want more, because quality, focus, and creative oversight would inevitably suffer. For us, two core productions are the right balance between ambition and responsibility.”