How to Set Up Steam Link and Stream PC Games to Any Screen

Steam Link turns almost any screen in your home — a TV, phone, tablet, or even a Raspberry Pi — into a window for your Steam library. The setup process is straightforward, but how well it works depends heavily on factors that vary from one household to the next.

What Steam Link Actually Does

Steam Link doesn't move your games. It streams them. Your PC runs the game as normal, captures the video output, compresses it, and sends it over your local network to whatever device is running the Steam Link app. Input from your controller or keyboard travels back in the opposite direction. The result feels like playing locally — if your network and hardware cooperate.

This is different from cloud gaming services that run games on remote servers. With Steam Link, you need a capable host PC, and everything happens within your own network (or over the internet, if you enable remote streaming).

What You Need Before You Start

On the host side (your gaming PC):

• Steam installed and up to date
• A game library already set up in Steam
• A wired Ethernet connection is strongly recommended, though 5GHz Wi-Fi can work
• A reasonably modern GPU that supports hardware encoding (most do)

On the client side (where you want to play):

• The Steam Link app — available on Android, iOS, tvOS, Samsung Smart TVs, Raspberry Pi, and more
• A stable connection to the same local network as your PC
• A compatible controller, or a keyboard and mouse

The original Steam Link hardware device was discontinued, but the software app carries the same functionality across a wide range of devices.

Step-by-Step: Setting Up Steam Link 🎮

1. Install the Steam Link App

Download the Steam Link app on your chosen device from the relevant app store or platform repository. On Samsung Smart TVs, it may already be available in the built-in store. On Raspberry Pi, installation involves a few terminal commands, so comfort with Linux basics helps.

2. Connect Both Devices to Your Network

Your PC and your streaming device need to be on the same local network. For the best experience, connect your PC via Ethernet cable. The streaming device can use Wi-Fi, but a 5GHz connection is preferable over 2.4GHz due to lower interference and higher throughput.

3. Launch Steam on Your PC

Steam needs to be running on your host PC for the Link app to find it. Make sure you're logged in. You don't need to have a game open yet — just the Steam client.

4. Open Steam Link and Pair with Your PC

When you launch the Steam Link app, it will scan your local network for available computers running Steam. Select your PC from the list. You'll be shown a PIN code on the client device — enter that PIN in the Steam dialog that appears on your PC to complete the pairing. This links the two devices securely.

5. Run the Network Test

Steam Link includes a built-in network performance test. Run it. It measures latency, bandwidth, and packet loss between your devices and gives you a recommended streaming quality setting. Pay attention to the results — they tell you a lot about what's realistic for your setup.

6. Adjust Streaming Settings

In the Steam Link app settings, you can configure:

Start with the automatic or recommended settings, then adjust from there based on your experience.

7. Connect a Controller

Steam Link works best with a controller. Bluetooth controllers pair directly to your client device. Wired controllers can connect via USB if your device supports it. Steam Input handles most major controller types, including Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Pro controllers.

If you prefer keyboard and mouse, the Steam Link app supports those too — some devices will let you connect them via USB or Bluetooth.

8. Start Playing

From the Steam Link interface, you can browse your Steam library and launch games remotely. The Steam interface will appear on your streaming device, and you control everything from there.

Factors That Shape Your Experience

Network quality is the single biggest variable. High latency — even 20–30ms above your baseline — is noticeable in fast-paced games. Packet loss causes stuttering and artifacting. A clean wired connection from PC to router eliminates most of these issues.

Your PC's hardware determines whether the host can encode video quickly enough to keep up with gameplay. Newer Nvidia, AMD, and Intel GPUs all support hardware-accelerated encoding, which offloads the work from your CPU and reduces overhead.

The client device's capabilities matter for decoding. A high-end Android TV box handles HEVC decoding smoothly; an older budget tablet might struggle, introducing lag or visual artifacts even if your network is perfect.

The type of game you're playing also affects how much streaming imperfection you'll notice. Turn-based strategy games and slower RPGs are forgiving of a few extra milliseconds of input lag. Competitive shooters and rhythm games are not.

Remote streaming — playing outside your home network over the internet — introduces additional latency and depends entirely on your upload bandwidth at home and download bandwidth at your destination. It's usable for casual play but rarely ideal for reaction-dependent games.

Where the Variables Leave You

Steam Link setup is genuinely simple — most people are up and running in under ten minutes. But whether the experience feels seamless or frustrating depends on the specific combination of your network infrastructure, the hardware on both ends, and the types of games you want to play. Two people can follow the exact same steps and end up with meaningfully different results based on what's running in the background of their home network, how far their router is from their TV, or what codec their streaming device supports. 🖥️

Those are the details only your own setup can answer.