My Steam Machine Is a 50ft HDMI Cable

# My Steam Machine is a 50ft HDMI Cable Source: [https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/my-steam-machine-is-a-50ft-hdmi-cable/](https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/my-steam-machine-is-a-50ft-hdmi-cable/) You can now[pre\-order Valve's Steam Machine](https://store.steampowered.com/news/group/45479024/view/685257114654870245?ref=blog.matthewbrunelle.com)\! Fortuitous timing as I drafted this as a follow up to my post from December where I wrote[about using Linux for PC gaming](https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/my-second-year-of-the-linux-desktop-for-gaming/)\. At that time Steam ran well on my desktop and I chipped away at lighter games on the Deck\. I ended that post by saying: > I don't think I'll buy a[Steam Machine](https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steammachine?ref=blog.matthewbrunelle.com), but I'm very happy it will exist\. I've been testing out dual booting Bazzite on my desktop and I'd love to replace that with SteamOS proper\. If I can pick up a controller and play a game on Steam with my TV as easily as the PS5, then I won't need to boot that up as much\. I underestimated that last sentence\. --- ## The Desktop to TV experiment Initially I ran a 20ft HDMI cable across the floor to my TV so I could play games from my NixOS install\. The setup was fiddly though\. Each time I wanted to play a game I had to hook the cable up, change sound outputs/display, etc\. I installed my Steam games on their own NVME drive separate from my NixOS install\. So I added a third NVME drive[\[1\]](https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/my-steam-machine-is-a-50ft-hdmi-cable/#fn1)and put[Bazzite](https://bazzite.gg/?ref=blog.matthewbrunelle.com)on that\. In Big Picture mode Bazzite figures out the correct display to use and remembers to use the HDMI out for sound\. That meant I could reboot and play games without any setup\. Yet I stopped using that setup and went back to docking my Steam Deck\. As silly as it sounds, two additional changes have made the new setup stick for me: - The release of the Steam Controller 2 - A 50ft fiber optic HDMI cable --- ## The Controller I want a controller that has: - Good compatibility with Linux and Steam - Symmetric joysticks - A touchpad for when I need to do something mouse\-like - Back buttons I used to use a DualSense Edge with steam and it checked all those boxes\. However, I prefer the controls on the Steam Deck even more\.[\[2\]](https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/my-steam-machine-is-a-50ft-hdmi-cable/#fn2): - Split symmetric touchpads - First class support with Steam and Steam Input - More comfortable for my hands thanks to the larger vertical height When the Steam Controller 2 dropped I managed to snag one by spamming the checkout button in the Steam Store for*18 continuous minutes*before they went out of stock\. I also no longer need to use a USB extender with a UB500 bluetooth adapter\. The range on the DualSense leaves a lot to be desired\. Even with perfect line of sight, my*arm*will often interfere with its reception\. The Steam Controller 2 puck works great and has not set anything on fire yet\. --- I doubted long HDMI cables would work well, so I never bought one\. Turns out we've had active fiber optics cables for a good while now\! I snagged a 50ft cable that supports HDMI 2\.1 for about ~$75 and have had no issues\. I now run the cable along the molding and keep it in place\. I do not need HDMI 2\.1 at the moment since my aging TCL Roku TV maxes out at 60hz\. Regardless, I plan to get an LG C5 as they go on sale since[Fox bought Roku](https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/fox-buy-roku-22-billion-deal-2026-06-15/?ref=blog.matthewbrunelle.com)[\[3\]](https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/my-steam-machine-is-a-50ft-hdmi-cable/#fn3)and that will require 2\.1\. Unfortunately, HDMI 2\.1 does not work with AMD graphics on Linux due to shenanigans from the HDMI Forum\. As far as I can tell: - In 2024 AMD tried to release official patches, but[the forum rejected them](https://www.phoronix.com/news/HDMI-2.1-OSS-Rejected?ref=blog.matthewbrunelle.com)saying it would expose IP\. - A couple months ago independent users[shared patches](https://www.phoronix.com/news/AMDGPU-HDMI-2.1-FRL?ref=blog.matthewbrunelle.com)that added support though reverse engineering efforts\. - In the last month AMD started[releasing their official patches](https://www.phoronix.com/news/HDMI-FRL-2.1-Submitted-DRM?ref=blog.matthewbrunelle.com)\. The HDMI forum made no official announcement on why they allowed this\. Sounds like[Valve played a role in persuading the forum](https://www.techpowerup.com/348723/amd-readies-full-open-source-hdmi-2-1-support-for-linux?ref=blog.matthewbrunelle.com)\! I also like to hope that the threat of a reverse engineered implementation that they could not control convinced them to change their tune\.[\[4\]](https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/my-steam-machine-is-a-50ft-hdmi-cable/#fn4) --- ## Why not streaming? Finally, why not use Steam's in\-home streaming[\[5\]](https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/my-steam-machine-is-a-50ft-hdmi-cable/#fn5)to connect to my desktop from my Steam Deck? Try as I might I couldn't get a good stable setup\. No amount of triaging worked for me in the end to get a simple and reliable setup\. I expect streaming would work better with Bazzite than NixOS, but at that point, why not just run the cable? For me, a 50ft HDMI cable was the lowest friction option\. I grew up playing games on desktops with a keyboard and mouse\. I never expected to want a console\-like experience\. However, as life gets busier I've come to appreciate the ability to pick up and put down a game as needed\. The Steam Deck handled that well and new setup gets even closer\. Plus, I still get to keep control over my system unlike a console\. I have one last problem to settle: Right now I can sleep Bazzite and resume without issue\. If I want to boot into NixOS, I need to quit my game and restart\. It looks like you can[enable swap and hibernate to disk](https://docs.bazzite.gg/Advanced/swapfile/?ref=blog.matthewbrunelle.com)with Bazzite\. That would allow me to save my state and reboot into NixOS\. I can't share the game SSD anymore in that scenario though\. Even mounting read only while hibernated could cause file system corruptions\. If I like using Bazzite long term, I might start booting into desktop mode for games I would play at my desk\. Then I can detach the third SSD from my NixOS install\. --- The Steam Machine costs about as much as a comparable self\-built PC\. So if you want a gaming computer at that spec tier, it's a great option\. Especially if you primarily use Steam or prefer Linux\. I almost ordered a Steam Machine just to support Valve and all the work they do to support gaming on Linux, but I have a feeling the Machine will sell just fine without me\. Instead, a 50ft HDMI cable will do\. --- 1. I had an old NVME SSD that Windows was installed on many years ago\. With the[End of 10](https://endof10.org/?ref=blog.matthewbrunelle.com)there is no use keeping it and I had an extra M\.2 slot\.[↩︎](https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/my-steam-machine-is-a-50ft-hdmi-cable/#fnref1) 2. I have a Steam Controller 1, but it collects dust in a drawer now[↩︎](https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/my-steam-machine-is-a-50ft-hdmi-cable/#fnref2) 3. Even though I always keep the TCL TV offline\.[↩︎](https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/my-steam-machine-is-a-50ft-hdmi-cable/#fnref3) 4. A great example of why we need the right to inspect hardware to interoperate with it\.[↩︎](https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/my-steam-machine-is-a-50ft-hdmi-cable/#fnref4) 5. or Sunshine[↩︎](https://blog.matthewbrunelle.com/my-steam-machine-is-a-50ft-hdmi-cable/#fnref5)