Valve to Fix Steam Machine's Early Red Temperature Warning with a New BIOS Update

Just days after Valve cleared up the confusion surrounding the Steam Machine’s infamous “Red Line of Death,” another issue related to the console’s front LED system has surfaced. Well, we are talking about Steam Machine’s Red warning light due to throttling. Fortunately, Valve says it’s also working on a separate fix for the solid red temperature warning that has been catching some users off guard.

Steam Machine’s temperature warning is changing, a new BIOS update will bump red LED warning thresholds

The details come from a Steam Support response shared by a Steam Machine owner on Reddit (via VideoCardz). According to Valve, the current BIOS can illuminate the console’s solid red-light bar even when the system is still operating within normal temperature limits.

One user reported seeing the warning appear while gaming despite the CPU sitting at 81°C and the GPU at 75°C. Although the GPU junction temperature reached 91°C, Valve reportedly confirmed those readings were still within the console’s expected operating range and that the warning was simply being triggered earlier than intended.

To address this, Valve is preparing a BIOS update that raises the red warning threshold from 95°C to 100°C for the CPU and from 90°C to 100°C for the GPU. The company stressed that the update does not increase the hardware’s operating limits. Instead, it changes when the red warning light appears.

Valve also explained that the Steam Machine already begins thermal throttling once either processor reaches 100°C and will automatically shut down if temperatures continue climbing beyond safe limits. In other words, the upcoming BIOS update will make the red light align with the point where thermal protection actually starts instead of appearing beforehand.

Valve has not announced a release date for the BIOS update. Steam Support only said the fix is currently being prepared and will roll out in a future update.