I spoke with Valve software developers Pierre-Loup Griffais and Jeff Leinbaugh about the Steam Frame launch, why the company is taking a two-pronged strategy with streaming and standalone support, and how the global memory/storage crunch affected development. You can read our review of the Steam Frame here, and the full transcript of our interview at Tom's Hardware Premium.

Nearly a year after first revealing the Steam Frame VR headset, Valve is now ready to deliver the finished product to paying customers. Reservations for the headset have opened today, three months after the launch of the Steam Machine.

Like the Steam Machine, the Steam Frame is launching amid absolute chaos in the tech industry. We're seeing higher prices across a wide range of PC hardware, especially memory and storage. Valve isn't operating in a vacuum, so those realities are reflected in the Steam Frame's pricing, which starts at $1,059.

I began by asking about the headset's genesis and the team's goals for creating a next-generation VR headset. "Work started on Steam Frame basically as soon as we shipped the Index," explained Leinbaugh. “And so we did a lot of exploration into technologies and features and use cases to try to answer that question. And the goals that we aligned on for what became the Steam Frame was to make [it] much easier to use, which to us meant a lighter, more comfortable, easier to get into and out of VR headset."

He added that with the previous Index headset, Valve was so laser-focused on making the best VR headset possible at the time that they made a lot of compromises to achieve those goals. And in many ways, those compromises were worth it to achieve their end goal. However, that strategy shifted with the Steam Frame.

"But this time around we thought we could achieve something that was a lot more comfortable, a lot more accessible. And so streaming technology was a big part of that. So the headset can be wireless so that there's not a lot of complicated setup to get to the game, whether that's playing on the headset or streamed," Leinbaugh continued. "So what we want to be possible is for somebody to put on the headset, browse their Steam library, and then just pick something that they want to play and not worry about too much else."

Standalone gaming on the Steam Frame

One of the biggest changes with the Steam Frame is that it can work with a robust wireless link to your PC, or as a standalone device using the onboard Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. I asked about the challenges in developing such a lightweight headset that can easily switch between operating modes.

"Yeah, a lot of the engineering challenges were around making sure that we had the right kind of compute and enough compute on the headset to both support a really good streaming experience, but also to be able to run games on the headset," said Leinbaugh. "So we picked the Qualcomm 8650 chip. It had a lot of capability, but in order to make use of that, we had to solve a lot of engineering challenges around thermal management and power delivery. So really treating this like making a really capable PC that just happens to run this particular mobile hardware was how a lot of the engineers approached that problem."

He added that Valve has taken a lot of the know-how from the Steam Deck and Steam Machine to give users the same SteamOS, but this time leveraging the Arm hardware along with Proton for emulation.

However, the Steam Frame has limits when playing games directly on-device, given its mobile-centric SoC. “Sure, games that are trying to push the boundaries on the AAA stuff that's very graphically intensive," explained Griffais. "Most of those recent ones won't run very well because it's a smaller compute envelope, right?"

"But there's a ton of stuff that is coming out that is a great experience on the Steam Frame. For example, I think last week the Metal Gear Solid Collection Part 2 released. And, you know, MGS4 is a game that I haven't played in, I don't know, 20 years at this point, but it's great from there."

He added that many indie games will run just fine on the Steam Frame, along with older back-catalog AAA games (which are still enjoyable) that don't require the compute of more modern titles.

"So I think the point is that you're able to engage with your whole library, right?" said Griffais. "And then have kind of a similar thing as the Deck where you're going to try and figure out if some games are maybe a little bit below the bar in terms of what you would like for performance."

Half-Life Alyx has been the poster child for VR gaming in recent years, and Valve has taken steps to ensure that Steam Frame users can have a proper native gaming experience. “And we're doing the same for Half-Life Alyx, where we're doing a lot of work to support the Frame more natively and trying to remove performance barriers that are induced by some of the translation, the emulation there that you get on normal and modified PC games.,” said Griffais.

Streaming on the Steam Frame

While standalone gaming on the Steam Frame is possible, Valve designed the headset first and foremost as a streaming device. To that end, Valve has taken steps to optimize the networking stack and improve performance. One of those steps is implementing foveated streaming to reduce strain on network resources.

“So the Steam Frame has eye-tracking cameras on the inside of the headset that know where your eyes are looking. And when you have that, there's a lot of potential use cases, but the one that we're using most consistently is foveated streaming, which really means when you're streaming, especially VR content, there's a lot of video data that you have to send," Leinbaugh explained.

"But because we know with eye-tracking cameras what part of the image you're looking at at any time, we can refocus some of those resources to make sure that the important parts of the image are treated as like first-class bits. And then the rest gets kind of the last part of the resource pool, which is the part of the image that you can't see and you won't notice the image degradation."

By not treating every bit delivered to the headset the same, Valve can reap performance and image quality gains. "So it's the best analogy really is it's almost as if the part that you're looking at is using about 10 times as much bandwidth and encoding bit rate as it actually is for the entire image, because we just squished it all into that part that follows where you're looking."

The Steam Frame communicates with your PC wirelessly using a dedicated Wi-Fi 6E USB dongle. Data transfers between the two happen over the 6 GHz channel for optimal performance. I inquired about how any disruptions/interference with that wireless link would affect gameplay.

“So there's a fallback mechanism built into that, which, if you have two links active and one of them drops out because of interference, or you walked out of range, or all the many reasons that wireless interference can happen," said Leinbaugh. "If something happens to one of those links, the other one will immediately pick up and cover the gap. And it's just very unlikely that a lot of those sources of interference will hit both links at the exact same time."

Other strategies can also step in; for example, if you have a latency spike, a previous frame can be "reprojected and replayed" to cover small gaps. For extended dropouts, there's no recovery method; the stream will fail, and you'll be booted to the default environment.

There are also other strategies that can step in; for example, if you have a latency spike, a previous frame can be "reprojected and replayed" to cover small gaps. For extended dropouts, there's no recovery method; the stream will fail, and you'll be booted to the default environment.

Pricing and availability

Pricing, of course, will be a big sticking point with the Steam Frame. Consumers got a bit of sticker shock with the Steam Machine given its hardware specs, and the Steam Frame will likely be no different. The Steam Frame starts at $1,069 for the 256GB SKU and costs $1,299 for the 1TB SKU.

"I think as far as memory prices and those kinds of conditions, we're really in it like everyone else," Griffais explained. "We've been working hard on trying to get the parts that we can get at the best price possible."

While all of us would love for memory and storage prices to fall to sane levels again, it will be a while before we see any relief. "It's an unfortunate situation all around. We wish that gaming hardware was cheaper, but we're definitely trying to be on the cheapest side that we can get despite all those conditions," Griffais explained.

But price increases aren't just limited to the likes of memory, as Griffais added, “Even just things like motherboards, copper, anything, even shipping anything worldwide right now is way more expensive than it was last year and two years ago. So every part of the sticker price is affected there."

The Steam Frame will be available starting September 14, and it will use a reservation system similar to that of the Steam Machine to cut down on scalpers.

Prior to the official launch of the Steam Frame, Tom's Hardware Premium had a chance to talk with Valve software developers Jeff Leinbaugh and Pierre-Loup Griffais. We discussed the development process behind the Steam Frame, the standalone and streaming modes, networking strategy, and pricing, which you can read in its entirely here. You can read our review of the Steam Frame here.

Like previous Valve launches, you can also read transcripts of our interviews with the company on the Steam Machine and Steam Controller.

The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity.

Brandon Hill, Tom's Hardware: What were your goals in creating the Steam Frame and providing the framework necessary to support it, compared to legacy hardware like the Index?

Jeff Leinbaugh, Software Developer, Valve: Yeah, so the work started on Steam Frame basically as soon as we shipped the Index. And so we did a lot of exploration into technologies and features and use cases to try to answer that question. And the goals that we aligned on for what became the Steam Frame was to make [it] much easier to use, which to us meant a lighter, more comfortable, easier to get into and out of VR headset.

That was a better way to interact with your whole Steam library than the goals we had for the Index. Where the Index was just: we wanted to make the best possible VR headset that we could make. And that came with a lot of compromises, which were worth it because they allowed us to have this really great VR headset and see what that was capable of.

But this time around we thought we could achieve something that was a lot more comfortable, a lot more accessible. And so streaming technology was a big part of that. So the headset can be wireless so that there's not a lot of complicated setup to get to the game, whether that's playing on the headset or streamed.

And then the other big part of that accomplishing that goal was making it possible to interact with Steam just like you would on a Steam Deck and to be able to play games that don't even support VR in a virtual display. So what we want to be possible is for somebody to put on the headset, browse their Steam library, and then just pick something that they want to play and not worry about too much else.

And that's kind of where all the user experience goals, at least, came from around this. And then there's a lot of other technical goals that support that we can get into if you're interested in any of those.

Hill: So, that leads into my next question: what were the engineering challenges in making the Steam Frame a standalone device and one that can also stream? And I know you've got the wireless dongle to help with the networking offload.

Leinbaugh: Yeah, a lot of the engineering challenges were around making sure that we had the right kind of compute, and enough compute on the headset to both support a really good streaming experience, but also to be able to run games on the headset.

So we picked the Qualcomm 8650 chip. It had a lot of capability, but in order to make use of that, we had to solve a lot of engineering challenges around thermal management and power delivery.

So really treating this like making a really capable PC that just happens to run this particular [...] mobile hardware was how a lot of the engineers approached that problem.

And then from there, we kind of tied that into a lot of the work that we did for Steam Deck and Steam Machine running Steam OS now on ARM, but it's the same Steam OS.

So at some point we got to kind of meet in the middle and leverage Proton and Steam OS and a lot of things there to start getting games running.

Standalone mode & software support

Hill: And what kind of performance levels are you targeting for games using the Steam Frame when it's in the standalone mode?

Pierre-Loup Griffais, Software Developer, Valve: I guess it's hard to pinpoint a specific segment there because there are so many games on Steam that keep coming out that are running great on there, right? Sure, games that are trying to push the boundaries on the AAA stuff that's very graphically intensive. Most of those recent ones won't run very well because it's a smaller compute envelope, right?

But there's a ton of stuff that is coming out that is a great experience on the Frame. For example, I think last week the Metal Gear Solid Collection Part 2 released. And, you know, MGS4 is a game that I haven't played in, I don't know, 20 years at this point, but it's great from there.

And even at the higher resolution, 60 FPS is locked. So it's really cool to see games that are coming out right now that are great experiences on there. I think there's a ton of indie games and things that run really well too. And if you go down the back catalog, there's a ton of stuff from a little bit ago, even AAA stuff that runs great as well.

So I think the point is that you're able to engage with your whole library, right? And then have kind of a similar thing as the deck where you're going to try and figure out if some games are maybe a little bit below the bar in terms of what you would like for performance. And then off to stream those from another PC instead, or the Steam machine.

Hill: And building on that, how's the reception been to the Steam Frame Verify program from developers for the standalone games?

Griffais: I mean, I think we have a lot of developers that are pretty eager to get their games working well. And so we've seen it approached from different ways. Some folks do tweaks to their existing PC version and then get to a very good point with that.

But just the same kind of tweaks as you would expect from Steam Deck, where some surface-level tweaks for the user experience, like changing controller bindings a little bit or changing default settings in a way that really makes the game better for everyone and not just for Steam Frame.

And we're doing the same for Half-Life Alyx, where we're doing a lot of work to support the Frame more natively and trying to remove performance barriers that are induced by some of the translation, the emulation there that you get on normal and modified PC games.

And that's yielding great results to get to the next level of performance there. And so we expect that some developers will be doing some of that work or maybe adapting some of that existing work that they've already done on an Android version of their game and then adapting that through Lepton as well. So I think everyone's kind of engaging with it at a different pace there. But overall, I think like we're talking to a bunch of VR devs that are excited to get their games to be labeled as verified or playable.

Foveated streaming and technical hurdles

Hill: Could you go into a little more detail on foveated streaming and how it enhances the gaming experience with Steam Frame?

Leinbaugh: Yeah, so the Steam Frame has eye-tracking cameras on the inside of the headset that know where your eyes are looking. And when you have that, there's a lot of potential use cases, but the one that we're using most consistently is foveated streaming, which really means when you're streaming, especially VR content, there's a lot of video data that you have to send.

And so you're therefore very sensitive to how much available bandwidth that you have available for not just transmitting it over a wireless link, or whatever kind of link, but also just encoding and decoding that data. All of that takes from a pool of finite resources and your network stack or your graphics card.

But because we know, with eye-tracking cameras, what part of the image you're looking at at any time, we can refocus some of those resources to make sure that the important parts of the image are treated as first-class bits. And then the rest gets the last part of the resource pool, which is the part of the image that you can't see, and you won't notice the image degradation.

So instead of kind of evenly focusing all of the encoding and network resources around this entire immersive, all-encompassing VR image where you're not seeing most of it, we make sure that the part that you're looking at is encoded differently in a way that's a much, much higher equivalent bit rate.

So the best analogy really is [that] it's almost as if the part that you're looking at is using about 10 times as much bandwidth and encoding bit rate as it actually is for the entire image, because we just squished it all into that part that follows where you're looking.

Hill: Switching gears slightly, how are you compensating for temporary losses in connection or signal strength when gaming wirelessly? Is there a fallback mechanism?

Leinbaugh: Yeah, there are a few different levels of what we'll do, and we've made sure to do something in response to all these things happening. So the first thing is if you're using the wireless adapter, if you also are connected to your home WiFi, for example, which a lot of people just naturally will be, then the streaming, VR streaming will take advantage of both of those connections.

And so you'll have the adapter and your WiFi both active at the same time; we call it multi-link streaming. And what that means is that those two connections are competing against each other constantly, every single packet.

So there's a fallback mechanism built into that, which, if you have two links active and one of them drops out because of interference, or you walked out of range, or all the many reasons that wireless interference can happen. If something happens to one of those links, the other one will immediately pick up and cover the gap. And it's just very unlikely that a lot of those sources of interference will hit both links at the exact same time. So that's kind of the first line of defense that we have.

If you still don't, if you still have an interruption or maybe you only have one link active, then the headset has strategies to fill in those gaps. So if you have a short interruption, just like a latency spike or something, then a previous frame will get reprojected and replayed. And that works pretty convincingly for covering small gaps like that.

A lot of people won't even notice that it's happened. If you have an extended dropout where the video is just not arriving at all for whatever reason, then at that point, the video stream is not going to recover.

If it's a very extended dropout, but the headset will fade you back into the construct environment so that you're at least not getting stuck with a really unexpected experience or something that might confuse you or disorient you.

So the worst-case scenario is you'll just kind of fall back to the default environment and have a chance to either wait for it to recover or do something. Maybe you unplugged your Wi-Fi router or something that you need to go do.

Pricing and market conditions

Hill: When the Steam Machine arrived, there was a little bit of sticker shock with the price when it launched. And the Steam Frame is also around $1,000, close to $1,300 bucks in top trim. Surely Valve is sensitive to the realities of the marketplace with RAM and storage prices. How do you appease the gamers out there that are begging for some relief in hardware pricing?

Griffais: Oh, yeah, I think as far as memory prices and those kinds of conditions, we're really in it like everyone else. Like, there's not really anything special that we can do.

We've been working hard on trying to get the parts that we can get at the best price possible. But I think everyone's affected. [...] The fact that our price was affected by that compared to what we were hoping for is definitely true. But I'd say that it's trending along the reality of the market. And there's not really any sort of the kind of distortion compared to just the price of the parts in there.

And it's an unfortunate situation all around. We wish that gaming hardware was cheaper, but we're definitely trying to be on the cheapest side that we can get despite all those conditions.

It's not just memory and all that too, right? Even just things like motherboards, copper, anything; even shipping anything worldwide right now is way more expensive than it was last year and two years ago. So every part of the sticker price is affected there.

Hill: Final question: Are you planning to implement the same reservation system that you used for the Steam Machine with Steam Frame?

Griffais: Yeah, I think that's the plan.

[Interview ends]

Valve has been ramping up its hardware releases during 2026, with the Steam Controller launching this past spring, followed by the Steam Machine earlier this summer. The 2026 hardware onslaught is now culminating in the Steam Frame, the company’s latest headset aimed at VR and non-VR gaming.

Rather than being a streaming-only platform, like the preceding Valve Index, the Steam Frame has a powerful onboard Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and up to 1TB of internal storage to play standalone games without the need for a PC. It’s an ambitious headset, which comes with an equally ambitious $1,000+ price tag.

Design and Comfort of the Valve Steam Frame

At first glance, the Steam Frame reminds me of oversized ski goggles, compared to the Daft Punk style of the preceding Valve Index headset. The overall design feels very organic, with soft curves and thin plastic to keep weight down. The thinner plastic drastically reduces weight compared to the Index (440 grams with the headstrap versus 809 grams for the Index).

Two forward-facing cameras (which provide a monochrome passthrough of your environment) sit near the bottom of the front cover, while two additional cameras sit on the side of the Steam Frame, facing sideways and slightly upward. Together, the four cameras provide headset and controller tracking. The final two cameras are internal for eye-tracking purposes. The main unit also houses a cooling fan that helps remove warm air from the Snapdragon SoC and keeps your head from sweating during extended gaming sessions.

An expansion port for future features sits at the bottom front of the Steam Frame, just ahead of where the headset rests on your nose. An interpupillary distance (IPD) adjustment knob sits at the top of the headset (ranging from 57.6 to 69.6 mm), while an IPD lock switch (to prevent accidentally hitting the dial when putting on or taking off the headset) is located inside the Steam Frame, directly above the proximity sensor. Although our review unit came with 1TB of internal storage, a microSD slot is available for further expansion behind the fabric-covered foam gasket that attaches magnetically.

On the right side of the Steam Frame, there are two buttons: Aux and Power. On the left side are volume up and volume down. The Steam Frame has four speakers, two on each side of the headset, positioned low just below the arm pivots for the adjustable strap. You can also use Bluetooth headphones/ear buds if you prefer.

Speaking of the strap, I found it to be comfortable and highly adjustable. The straps attach to a padded restraint (which houses the 21.6 Whr battery) that cradles the back of your head. The Stream Frame's lightweight design, combined with the pressure-relieving front gasket and rear cradle, helped reduce fatigue after extended sessions (particularly with Half-Life: Alyx). Speaking of the rear cradle, I appreciate that the USB-C port for charging the Steam Frame is located here instead of on the front of the headset. This leaves the dangling cord behind, out of the way (if you want to charge the device while wearing it).

Our review unit came with the Steam Frame, two wireless hand controllers, a USB-C to USB-C cable, and the headstrap. Our kit also included a USB-C power adapter ($29). We also received the Ergonomic Accessories Kit ($59), which contains a headstrap for the Steam Frame, two hand straps for the controllers, and an extended light blocker gasket that fits on the underside of the headset to further reject ambient light. I personally didn’t feel that any of the additional items in the Ergonomic Accessories Kit were necessary to enhance my experience with the Steam Frame.

Valve Steam Frame Specifications

Valve Steam Frame Controllers

The Steam Frame comes with two wireless controllers that fit nicely in my hands. While the main body of the Steam Frame has a matte grey plastic finish, the controllers are made of shiny, textured black plastic. Each controller (which supports six degrees of freedom) features a dual-stage grip button, an analog trigger, a bumper, a Steam button, and a magnetic thumbstick with capacitive finger sensing. This is the same thumbstick that you’ll find on the Steam Controller used with the Steam Machine.

The right controller also has AXBY and Menu buttons. The left controller adds a View button and a D-pad. Both controllers feature a haptic motor and capacitive finger tracking. The controllers communicate directly with the Steam Frame using a dedicated Bluetooth wireless link.

Each controller is powered by a single AA battery, which Valve says lasts roughly 40 hours (a pair of AA alkaline batteries are preinstalled).

Valve Steam Frame Hardware

Valve designed the Steam Frame as a dual-purpose VR headset. It can stream games directly from your high-powered gaming PC, or it can work as a standalone headset (think Meta Quest series), thanks to its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Arm SoC and 16GB of unified LPDDR5X RAM. Although our review unit came equipped with 1TB of UFS onboard storage (further augmented by a microSD slot), a cheaper SKU with just 256GB of internal storage is available.

In standalone mode, the Stream Frame uses FEX emulation along with Proton to run x86 Windows games on ARM64 hardware.

However, for the best performance, you’re going to want to leverage your desktop PC and wireless connectivity for streaming games from Steam. The Steam Frame includes an integrated 2x2 Wi-Fi 7 radio, plus a standalone Wi-Fi 6E dongle that plugs into a free USB 3.0 port on your desktop or laptop. The dongle provides a low-latency link between your PC and the Steam Frame. Instead of clogging your wireless router’s bandwidth or adding unwanted lag, the direct wireless connection improves performance and reduces latency.

So, in essence, the Steam Frame takes a multi-pronged approach. The 5 GHz band primarily connects to your home network for internet, firmware updates, and software updates. The 6 GHz link, however, connects only to the wireless dongle. With that link, Valve can implement technologies like foveated streaming, which is an interesting (and much-needed) way to optimize data streaming across the network.

In short, foveated streaming uses the internal eye-tracking cameras to determine what part of a scene you’re viewing at any given time. Whatever is in your direct field of view gets full-resolution, full-priority data to improve image quality. Whatever is in your periphery, or not seen at all, gets lower priority and therefore comes through at a lower resolution. This saves bandwidth and helps to preserve as much performance as possible when streaming.

Just as important as the processing and networking hardware underlying the Steam Frame is its optics system. In this case, the headset uses dual LCDs, offering 2160 x 2160 resolution per eye. Valve opted for LCDs over micro-OLEDs to meet its design, performance, and cost targets. From what I've seen after spending over two weeks with the Steam Frame, it was a wise decision. Micro-OLEDs would have no doubt pushed the starting price of the Steam Frame even higher, as we’re certain that many folks will likely already be wary of the $1,059 base price ($1,299 as tested).

The displays can run as low as 72 Hz and as high as 144 Hz, though the latter mode is experimental right now. All of the games that I played on the Steam Frame defaulted to 72 Hz. The headset uses pancake lenses designed specifically for this use case, and offers a horizontal field of view (FoV) of up ot 110 degrees (a slight improvement over the 108 degrees on the Index).

Setting up the Valve Steam Frame

Setting up the Steam Frame was honestly about as low-impact as you can get with a VR headset. I first plugged the headset into the included wall charger and let it charge for about an hour. Once that was done, I ran through the initial setup, which involved logging into the Steam app on my smartphone to identify the Steam Frame. With that step complete, the setup process commenced, culminating in me installing the latest SteamOS update on the headset from the Stable channel.

On the desktop side, I plugged the Wi-Fi 6E dongle into a free USB port on my Windows 11 desktop, and it was automatically recognized and ready to use.

Valve Steam Frame Streaming Mode

I tried several games, streaming them to the Steam Frame. The perennial favorite, Half-Life: Alyx, was my go-to game to experience the full power of VR immersion from the headset. The PC rig that I used features a Core Ultra 7 265K processor, 32GB of DDR5-5600 memory, and a GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GPU. I had no trouble maintaining consistently high frame rates without dropping frames, which would be a serious hindrance in VR gaming.

Gunman Contracts “Stand Alone” was another game I tried; it offers quick, furious gunplay and sharp graphics. The game's concept reminded me of old-school arcade shooters from the 80s and 90s, where you used physical gun models to shoot at a display. However, Gunman Contracts “Stand Alone” advances that genre with total immersion and true hand/finger manipulation of objects. My only issue with the game is that the default smooth controls to move your character in the virtual environment physically made me feel sick. My body had a hard time adjusting to the movement because my physical body wasn’t moving forward or backward to match.

I also streamed non-VR games like Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, which played fine in Theater Mode. The game played on what vaguely resembled a movie theater screen, with a calming background filling the rest of the dead space around it. However, I couldn’t use the included Steam Frame controllers with a non-VR game, so I grabbed my trusty Xbox Series X wireless controller.

Other non-VR games I tried included BeamNG and Forza Horizon 6. Both games played without issue. The experience wasn’t nearly as all-encompassing as being dropped into a full VR environment, but it was preferable to sitting in front of a smaller physical monitor on my desk.

Valve Steam Frame Standalone Mode

Since the Steam Frame offers a standalone mode without needing a wireless “tether” to a PC, I tried three games promoted to work with the handset. The first game was a repeat of one I tried in streaming mode: Half-Life: Alyx. The game runs great on-device using ARM64 emulation, though I did notice some stutters and slight performance lags compared to streaming. Valve admits that there is a performance hit with x86-to-Arm translation, but it will vary depending on the game.

Two other standalone games tested were Stellar Café and Dungeons of Eternity. The former is a cartoonish game set in a cafe, where you can use your voice to interact with the in-game robots/characters who serve you beverages. The back-and-forth conversational flow is fun and engaging. In fact, the conversations almost seemed a little too real, with human-like responses and realistic commentary.

Valve Steam Frame Battery Life

The Steam Frame's battery life varies greatly depending on whether you’re streaming from your PC or playing games natively on the headset. For example, when I played Half-Life: Alyx directly on the Steam Frame at 72 Hz, I got about an hour of runtime before it died. However, when streaming, I could easily get more than double that amount at the same refresh rate, since the Arm processor isn’t taxed nearly as heavily.

I also saw a little over an hour of runtime with Gunman Contracts “Stand Alone” when running natively. Non-3D games like Forza Horizon 6 lasted for well over two hours when streaming from a PC.

However, even with the shorter runtimes with standalone play, battery life wasn’t an issue for me. I like to take a break from VR games at least every hour or so to have a reality “reset” and to give my brain a rest.

Bottom Line

I found the Steam Frame to be a versatile, enjoyable headset during my time with it. Weighing in at less than a pound, the headset is low-impact and comfortable to wear for hours on end. The foam padding around the headset provides a good seal against your forehead, and the weight is well balanced, partly because the battery sits at the back of your head.

Performance while streaming from a PC was excellent, while standalone gaming takes a hit due to the emulation required for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Arm SoC. However, Valve is billing the Steam Frame as a streaming-first platform, so that shouldn't surprise you. Consider standalone gaming an added bonus if you want to have a quick VR gaming session when you’re away from your PC.

Valve also made some smart design choices, including wireless links between the Steam Frame and your PC via the Wi-Fi 6E dongle, monochrome passthrough to help you orient yourself when wearing the headset, and adjustable IPD to accommodate a wide range of faces.

However, what will make or break the Steam Frame is its price, which starts at $1,059. That’s a tall order in this economic climate, when gamers are already being assaulted from multiple fronts with rising memory, storage, and GPU prices. The $1,059 price gets you only 256GB of internal storage, and opting for 1TB costs $1,299. You could always get the cheaper model and add your own microSD card, but you also have to contend with the inflated costs of portable storage.

But if you’re willing to ignore the price and have your mind set on a lightweight VR gaming experience, and you have the PC hardware to fuel it, you can’t go wrong with the Steam Frame.

2026 has been a trying year for router manufacturers, as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has subjected leading companies to strict oversight and outright bans. As an olive branch of sorts, the FCC has handed out "conditional approvals" to be included on the Covered List to companies that have jumped through all the necessary hoops to satisfy the commission's concerns. Asus is the latest company to secure that approval, which was confirmed in an FCC notice issued this week.

According to the FCC, the following Asus networking products have been granted conditional approval:

• RT Series
• ROG GT Series
• OG Strix GS Series
• TUF Gaming Series
• ExpertWiFi Series
• ZenWiFi Mesh Series
• 5G MiFi Series
• Wireless repeaters
• Wireless access points

In other words, Asus' entire wireless networking portfolio is cleared for sale in the U.S., with the conditional approval granted until March 6, 2028 (18 months from the date of issuance). The FCC explains, "We find that each of the Conditional Approvals constitutes 'a specific determination' by [Department of War] that such devices do not pose risks to U.S. national security."

This latest move by the FCC is a welcome sigh of relief for Asus, a Taiwanese company with an extensive networking portfolio and some of the best Wi-Fi routers. More importantly, Asus is ready to unleash a whole new generation of Wi-Fi 8 products over the next year. Wi-Fi 8 promises significant reliability and quality-of-life improvements across a wide range of wireless devices, so having a front-row seat to the transition from Wi-Fi 7 to Wi-Fi 8 is pivotal for Asus.

We've already seen a concept ROG NeoCore Wi-Fi 8 router from Asus at CES this year, and the company announced its first consumer Wi-Fi 8 router, the ROG Rapture GT-BN98 Pro, in June. The ROG Rapture GT-BN98 Pro is promising a 2x uplift in real-world throughput compared to its current-generation Wi-Fi 7 products.

Asus joins Netgear and Amazon Eero/Leo on the conditional approval list. The largest player in the U.S. wireless router market is TP-Link, and it still hasn't gained FCC approval. The U.S. government's reluctance to approve TP-Link stems from uncertainty about its claims that it has no ties to the Chinese government or military. As a result, the company has not confirmed a release date for its newly announced Wi-Fi 8 "Ultra" routers in the U.S.

If you’re looking for the absolute best performance in a gaming laptop, then you’ll likely want to consider a desktop replacement. If you’re in the market, the HyperX Omen Max 16 makes a strong case with a 16-inch form factor and a thick chassis that accommodates some beefy hardware.

Our review unit carries a sticker price of $4,699, packs a Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor, and includes an RTX 5090 GPU. It also tips the scales at 6.56 pounds, making it a more suitable companion for your desk than for lugging around while traveling.

Despite its imposing dimensions and beefy hardware, the Omen Max 16 doesn’t quite pass muster in performance against its slimmer competitors among the best gaming laptops.

Design of the HyperX Omen Max 16

“Solid, solid as a rock,” is the phrase that comes to mind when describing the Omen Max 16. The laptop feels like it was forged from a solid piece of granite, but in actuality, it’s aluminum. It’s also thick, measuring 1.13 inches at its thickest point (at the rear).

To my eyes, the Omen Max 16 is attractively designed with no outrageous styling gimmicks. The aluminum is coated in a matte black finish, and design flourishes (like the O16 printed vertically along the deck and the HyperX logo on the lid) are subdued and don't draw significant attention. There’s also a laser-etched grille that runs nearly the width of the chassis that sits above the keyboard.

The only thing that really clues you into the gaming nature of the laptop (other than its sheer size) is the per-key RGB lighting for the keyboard, and a single LED strip on the bottom front edge of the chassis that you can configure with the Omen software.

When it comes to external ports, the Omen Max 16 has a USB-A (10 Gbps) port, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a 3.5 mm audio jack on the left. On the right side of the chassis, you'll find another USB-A port. The back panel of the laptop is home to an HDMI 2.1 port, a 2.5 GbE port, and a proprietary power port (a 460W GaN power adapter is included).

The Omen Max 16 measures 14.04 x 10.59 x 1.03 inches and weighs 6.56 pounds. For comparison's sake, the Razer Blade 16 is 13.98 x 9.86 x 0.69 inches and weighs 4.71 pounds. The MSI Raider 16 HX comes in at 14.29 x 10.62 x 1.14 inches and weighs 5.73 pounds. The Alienware 16 Area-51 weighs 7.49 pounds and measures 14.37 x 11.41 x 1.12 inches.

HyperX Omen Max 16 Specifications

Gaming and Graphics on the HyperX Omen Max 16

The Omen Max 16 is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor, 32GB of RAM, and an RTX 5090 GPU (175W TGP). Given these specs and a sizable chassis to aid cooling (300W total system power), I was expecting strong numbers from the Omen 16 Max. Instead, the laptop was relegated to the back of the pack, except for one game benchmark: Far Cry 6.

My game of choice these days is Battlefield 6, running at native resolution in Overkill detail mode, with DLSS Quality and frame generation enabled. Using these settings, I was able to average between 100 and 110 frames per second.

For the competitive set, we have the Blade 16 (Core Ultra 9 386H at 25W, RTX 5090 at 175W TGP), MSI Raider 16 Max HX (Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus at 55W, RTX 5090 at 175W TGP), and the Alienware 16 Area-51 (Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus at 55W, RTX 5080 at 175W TGP). It should be noted that the Omen Max 16 uses slower DDR5-6400, whereas systems like the Blade 16 use faster LPDDR5X-9600.

We started our benchmarking spree with Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Highest setting), and here the Omen Max 16 achieved 171 FPS at 1080p, putting it in last place behind the Razer Blade 16 (182 FPS). At 1600p, it landed in a comfortable third place (114 FPS) behind the Alienware 16 Area-51.

Cyberpunk 2077 (Ray Tracing Ultra settings) wasn't a strong showing for the Omen Max 16, either. It brought up last place at 1080p (59 FPS) and 1600p (37 FPS).

Far Cry 6 (Ultra settings) was the lone bright spot for the Omen Max 16, as it garnered 144 FPS at 1080p and 125 FPS at 1600p, easily putting it in first place. Both of these results far outpaced the rest of the field, with the next closest competitor being the MSI Raider 16 Max HX at 119 FPS and 114 FPS, respectively.

Moving to the Red Dead Redemption 2 (Medium settings) benchmark, the Omen Max 16 again wound up in last place, hitting 93 FPS at 1080p and 65 FPS at 1600p. However, in this instance, the margin between the Omen Max 16 and The Blade 16 at 1080p was just 1 FPS.

The Omen Max 16 again had trouble during the Borderlands 3 (Badass settings) benchmark, falling well off the pace set by its three competitors. The laptop hit 146 FPS at 1080p, nearly 20 FPS off the pace of the third-place Alienware 16 Area-51. At 1600p, it mustered just 113 FPS.

Metro Exodus is our go-to benchmark for laptop stress testing. Our review unit averaged 141.62 FPS at 1080p across 15 loops using the RTX benchmark preset. The CPU performance cores averaged 4.91 GHz, and the efficiency cores averaged 3.95 GHz. The RTX 5090 GPU ran at 1.81 GHz.

Productivity Performance on HyperX Omen Max 16

With its Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor, 32GB of RAM, and 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD, the Omen Max 16 fared better in the productivity tests than it did with gaming.

On Geekbench 6, the Omen Max 16 with the Core Ultra 9 290HX was able to muscle past the Blade 16 with its Core Ultra 9 386H on both the single-core (3,182) and multi-core (17,989) benchmarks. However, the Alienware 16 Area-51 and Raider 16 Max HX, which use the same Core Ultra 9 290HX processor, achieved much higher multi-core numbers (each surpassed 20,000).

The PCIe 5.0 SSD used in the Omen Max 16 performed quite well in our 25GB file transfer test, coming in second place at 2,439.22 MBps. The Alienware 16 Area-51 was a few ticks ahead at 2,738.90 MBps.

The soft performance of the Omen Max 16 continued with our Handbrake test, which involves transcoding a 4K video file to 1080p. Here the laptop performed the task in 2 minutes and 59 seconds. However, at least one other laptop with the same Core Ultra 9 290HX did the deed in less than two minutes.

Display on the HyperX Omen Max 16

The Omen Max 16 uses a 16-inch 2560 x 1600 OLED panel with a 240 Hz refresh rate. As is the case with most OLED displays that we test, this one had a glossy finish.

Instrumented testing on the OLED panel showed it excelling against the competition, covering 131.2 percent of the DCI-P3 color space and 185.2 percent of sRGB. Even better, the Omen Max 16 nudged past the Raider 16 Max HX to also take the crown for panel brightness (464.6 nits versus 455.6 nits).

OLED panels rarely disappoint, and I was more than impressed with the overall quality and brightness. The brightness was high enough that I was able to game while on my back porch during a partly cloudy day with minimal interference from reflections on the glossy panel.

I also viewed the first Avengers: Doomsday trailer using the display, and besides getting a tiny bit emotional while watching it, was delighted with the color reproduction, particularly in the short battle between Gambit and Shang-Chi, with flashes of purple playing cards and orange rings.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the HyperX Omen Max 16

The Omen Max 16 features a full-size RGB backlit keyboard (with per-key lighting) and NKRO anti-ghosting technology. RGB effects are customizable using HP's Omen app or directly from within Windows 11.

The keys felt quite springy when typing, and I found it incredibly comfortable to rest my fingers and click away. And while some keyboards audibly make their presence known as you type at a furious pace, the key actuation on the Omen Max 16 was whisper-quiet.

Turning my attention to the Keyhero.com typing test, I plugged away at 95 words per minute with 97% accuracy, which is definitely on the high side for me (I’m usually in the mid-80s realm).

Given the Omen Max 16 price tag of over $4,500, I was disappointed that HP didn’t go with a haptic touchpad. Instead, we get a top-hinged trackpad that is just OK. It gets the job done, but for this much money, I’d prefer to be able to click anywhere on the touchpad surface without hitting a dead zone. At least while gaming, you probably use a mouse or controller.

Audio on the HyperX Omen Max 16

Audio quality is another area where I think HP missed the mark. To beat a dead horse, but this is a laptop that retails for $4,699, and it only comes with stereo speakers. Would it have killed HP to add another pair of speakers in this tank of a chassis?

While the speakers had good overall volume levels, I felt the sound lacked some depth compared to similarly priced laptops with four (Raider 16 Max HX) or even six speakers (Blade 16). While I was more than happy listening to Keane’s “Fly to Me” from the album Hopes and Fears, I was disappointed in the sound while playing Battlefield 6.

When it came to gunfire, vehicle sounds, and background explosions while gaming, I wasn't impressed. I prefer throwing on a pair of the best gaming headsets, but there’s still no excuse to drop the ball at this price point.

Upgradeability of the HyperX Omen Max 16

Six screws need to be extracted to remove the bottom aluminum panel. While that was easy enough, it’s only half the battle. All of the serviceable components (save for the readily accessible battery) are underneath an extensive metal shield. That shield is held in place by roughly a dozen screws, making upgrades a bit tedious.

Once the shield is removed, you’ll find access to the M.2 slot for the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module, two SO-DIMM slots (both of which were filled on our review unit), and an additional M.2 slot for a second SSD. Yet another metal shield covers the first M.2 SSD slot, although I didn’t go through the process of removing another dozen screws to uncover it.

Battery Life on the HyperX Omen Max 16

Despite its considerable girth, the Omen Max 16 is equipped with just an 83 WHr battery. For comparison, the thinner and lighter Blade 16 manages to squeeze in a 90 WHr battery.

The Omen Max 16 lasted 5 hours and 7 minutes on our battery test, which consists of web browsing, video streaming over Wi-Fi, and OpenGL testing with the screen brightness set at 150 nits. This was over three hours shorter than the Raider 16 Max HX, while the Blade 16 lasted over twice as long on a charge (12:46).

Heat on the HyperX Omen Max 16

During the Metro Exodus stress test, we measured the Omen Max 16's keyboard at 106 degrees Fahrenheit (F) between the G and H keys, while the touchpad was 84.9 F.

The hottest part of the laptop was near the rear center of the bottom of the chassis, which measured 114 F.

While running the Metro Exodus stress test, the CPU measured 87 degrees Celsius (C). Meanwhile, the RTX 5090 was cooler at 75 C.

Webcam on the HyperX Omen Max 16

Another area where it feels like HP skimped is with the webcam. Rather than going with a higher resolution unit, the Omen Max 16 features a bog-standard 1080p unit that looks about as good as one you’d find in a $1,000 entry-level gaming laptop.

The camera didn’t do particularly well with a nearby window where light was shining through, and there were a lot of noise artifacts in less-than-ideal light conditions. In addition, the camera didn’t really pick up fine details well, which is disappointing considering the price.

Software and Warranty on the HyperX Omen Max 16

Like many HP laptops, the HyperX Omen Max 16 comes loaded with additional software bloat that you can mostly ignore or simply delete. Scrolling down the list of “H” apps in the Start Menu, HP basically set up camp with no less than eight apps/shortcuts—everything from HP Documentation to HP Privacy Settings to HP TV+. In addition, you’ll find the usual third-party add-ons like McAfee and promotional links for Dropbox, Adobe, and Booking.com.

The only really useful preinstalled app is the Omen Gaming Hub. It gives you control over power modes, lets you see CPU/GPU/RAM utilization, and provides plenty of configuration options for the onboard RGB lighting.

The Omen Max 16 comes with a one-year manufacturer warranty.

HyperX Omen Max 16 Configurations

Our Omen Max 16 came configured with an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor, 32GB of DDR5-6400 memory, a 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD, RTX 5090 GPU, and a 16-inch 1600p 240 Hz OLED display. The MSRP on our review unit was a staggering $4,699.99.

There are also several less expensive options, with the cheapest being a $2,699 SKU with a Core Ultra 7 270HX processor, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and an RTX 5080. For $3,099, you can swap the Core Ultra 7 270HX for an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 475 and double the SSD capacity to 2TB.

Bottom Line

The HyperX Omen Max 16 represents a swing and a miss. When I first saw the enormity of the chassis, I was looking forward to some impressive gaming performance given the 55W processor and 175W RTX 5090 onboard. Instead, what I was left with was a $4,699 gaming laptop that lingered in last place for most of the gaming benchmarks, and often by a large margin. Even the Razer Blade 16 with its 25W processor managed to get the upper hand in most benchmarks.

But the gaming wasn’t the only disappointment. Given the price tag, I would have expected a better-equipped machine. Where’s the haptic trackpad, and why do we only get two speakers? And on a minor annoyance angle, while I appreciate the two M.2 slots for storage and replaceable memory, why do I need to remove another dozen screws just to access those components?

In the end, the Omen Max 16 could have been so much more. Quite frankly, it would make sense to spend the extra $200 and grab a Razer Blade 16. Not only is it thinner and lighter (by two pounds), but it offers double the battery life.

Thunderbolt docks are an easy way to expand the number of available external ports for a laptop and have become quite popular in recent years. They are particularly beneficial with the best ultrabooks, which can sometimes be equipped with as few as just two Thunderbolt ports and no additional external ports for connectivity.

We’ve previously taken a look at some popular Thunderbolt 5 docks, with some costing as much as $650. This time around, we’re looking at some more affordable solutions, with all three of these units carrying a street price of less than $400. The UGREEN Revodok Maxidok has a street price of $389.99 after coupon, while the Plugable TBT-UDH2 and Keychron TB5D-1 are both available for around $350.

Plugable TBT-UDH2

The Plugable TBT-UDH2 is a relatively compact Thunderbolt 5 dock that feels absolutely solid with its weighty aluminum chassis. The BT-UDH2 is designed to stand vertically (confirmed by the rubber feet at the base of the unit). However, there’s no reason why you wouldn’t be able to lay the unit on its side if you wanted to.

As for actual ports, the TBT-UDH2 has two USB-C ports up front (one of which supports 30W PD), a single USB-A port, microSD and SD card slots, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and a single downstream Thunderbolt 5 port (30W PD).

Moving to the rear of the unit, there are two more USB-A ports, three additional USB-C ports, two HDMI 2.1 ports, a 2.5 GbE port, and a Thunderbolt 5 upstream port for your laptop. And here lies my main complaint with the TBT-UDH2: it only has one downstream Thunderbolt 5 port, and it’s on the front. I would have liked to have seen at least two, with one on the front and one on the back. At this price point, having just one downstream Thunderbolt 5 port seems like a big miss.

Keychron TB5D-1

The Keychron TB5D-1 is the other $350 Thunderbolt 5 dock assembled here today. It is similar in size to the Plugable dock, but is finished in natural aluminum. Keychron includes rubber feet on the bottom and one side of the dock, encouraging you to operate in either a vertical or horizontal orientation.

You’ll find two USB-A and one USB-C port on the front, along with microSD/SD slots and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Moving to the back, you’ll find two additional USB-A ports, two HDMI 2.1 ports, two downstream Thunderbolt 5 ports, and a Thunderbolt 5 upstream port for the host PC. For networking, there’s also a 2.5 GbE port.

UGREEN Revodok Maxidok

The UGREEN Revodok Maxidok is the most expensive Thunderbolt 5 dock here, with a street price of around $390. However, you do get some added functionality for the $40 price difference. At first glance, the Revodok Maxidok looks like a Mini PC with its square-ish form factor. The aluminum body is finished in a combination of dark grey (upper half) and copper (bottom half).

Unlike the other two docks, the Revodok Maxidok has an internal cooling fan mounted inside to help keep the electronics cool (Thunderbolt docks are notorious for their heat output). During normal operation, I couldn’t hear the fan running. I could only just barely hear it if I stuck my ear to the side of the docking station (which is, of course, not a typical usage scenario).

The front of the docking station houses microSD/SD slots, three USB-C ports (two of which support a total of 60W PD), and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. On the back, you'll find three USB-A ports, two more 3.5 mm audio ports, a DisplayPort 2.1 connector, two Thunderbolt 5 downstream ports, and one Thunderbolt 5 upstream port.

The Revodok Maxidok also has one hidden feature. If you flip the dock over, it has a cover that's held in with one screw. Remove the screw, and you'll find an M.2 slot for adding an internal SSD (up to 8TB in capacity).

Thunderbolt 5 Dock Specs Comparison

Thunderbolt 5 Dock SSD Performance Testing

We tested SSD performance of the three docks using a 1TB Micron 2500 Series PCIe 4.0 SSD (MTFDKBA1T0QGN-1BN1AABYY). The SSD is rated for sequential read speeds up to 7,100 MBps and sequential writes up to 5,800 MBps.

For baseline performance numbers, I tested the Micron 2500 using the onboard PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot on an Asus Z890 Creator WiFi motherboard. For testing with the Keychron TB5D-1 and the Plugable TBT-UDH2, I used an Orico Thunderbolt80G enclosure with the Micron 2500 – it supports up to M.2 (PCIe Gen4x4) SSDs. The enclosure was plugged into one of the Z890 Creator WiFi’s two Thunderbolt 5 ports. For the UGREEN Revodok Maxidok, I used the native M.2 PCIe 4.0 slot with the Micron 2400.

Using the Micron 2500 SSD and Asus Z890 Creator WiFi motherboard as a baseline, we saw 6,674.53 MBps reads and 5,628.61 MBps writes. Of the three docks we tested with the Micron 2500, the Revodok Maxidok was the fastest with its native M.2 PCIe 4.0 slot. It achieved 5,780.54 MBps reads, roughly 300 MBps ahead of the other two.

The Keychron TB5D-1 and the Plugable TBT-UDH2 put up nearly identical numbers using the Orico Thunderbolt80G enclosure, with around 5,400 MBps reads and 4,200 MBps writes.

All three docks had no trouble maxing out the 2.5 GbE port using iPerf3, and I didn't run into any compatibility problems running my 49-inch 240 Hz DQHD monitor using the docks via HDMI or DisplayPort connections.

While all of the docks were warm to the touch, the Revodok Maxidok was noticeably cooler thanks to its internal cooling fan.

Bottom Line

Of the three docks that we tested, the one that I felt was the most versatile and worthy of a place on my desk is the UGREEN Revodok Maxidok. It’s the only one of the docks with a native DisplayPort 2.1 connector and the only one with an internal M.2 SSD slot. In addition, it offered ever so slightly faster storage performance than using an SSD with a Thunderbolt 5 enclosure. And with a street price of $390, you’re only paying a $40 premium over the other two docks.

If you prefer having two additional HDMI 2.1 ports at your disposal, the Keychron TB5D-1 is a good option as well. All of the Keychron’s USB-A and USB-C ports are 10 Gbps, while the Plugable TBT-UDH2 gives you a mix of 10 Gbps and 5 Gbps USB ports. In addition, the Keychron dock features two downstream Thunderbolt 5 ports, while the Plugable only has one.

Additional Thunderbolt 5 Docks to Consider

Although we plan to keep this guide updated as we test additional Thunderbolt 5 docks, here are some additional units to consider:

• UGREEN Thunderbolt 5 Dock – $274.99
• Ivanky FusionDock Max 2 – $379.99
• Anker Prime Thunderbolt 5 Dock – $319.99
• Kensington SD50000T5 Thunderbolt 5 Dock – $194.99
• CalDigit E5 Thunderbolt 5 Dock – $249.99