School me on the Steam Box

This article has me intrigued

At $500 it seems a very viable alternative to the PS4 and X1 with an extensive library already built in. The controller looks.........strange, but I assume it will have mouse and keyboard support.

I tried googling it but mostly all I could find was old or outdated info. I understand there are different models in different price ranges but would this baseline model be upgradeable?

I miss PC gaming, and with titles like GalCiv3 and Star Citizen coming out it's looking mighty tempting.

It's a clone friendly game console OS platform for X86 PC clones (must meet SteamOS's system requirements) .. It's a "reboot" of 3DO's game console business model but without 3DO's hardware licensing fees/"corporate taxes".

The 1st 3DO version was ARM based while the second version was PowerPC 602 based. Both versions has failed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3DO_Interactive_Multiplayer

On the GPU front, R9-270 (20 CU at 900Mhz to 950Mhz) > PS4's GPU (18 CU at 800Mhz).

From http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#c=154

R9-270 lines with 950Mhz outnumber the slower variants.

Save some cash and build your own.

First thing to know is it's called a "Steam Machine," not a "Steam Box."

The Steamcube runs SteamOS which is based off Linux, so the Steamcube will only have access to a small fraction of the PC gaming library. It's still a sizable amount more games than any of the next-gen consoles has, but it's a tiny amount in comparison to the total amount of Windows games there are.

Personally I'd just suggest building your own PC. Put one together for $600-$700, and gain access to 100% of what PC gaming has to offer instead.

Build a better box with $499 budget.

Show me in my previous post where I said that.... Seriously, read the fucking post before you make an arse of yourself.

Why not provide examples for your "build your own" statement? Seriously, iBuyPower's $499 box is very close to my pcpartspicker.com's $499 box. Do some fucking research before you make an arse of yourself.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2cjPH Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2cjPH/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 740 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($74.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: MSI FM2-A55M-E33 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($29.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Toshiba 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Newegg)

Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 270 2GB Video Card ($182.98 @ SuperBiiz)

Case: Sentey CS1-1398 PLUS ATX Mid Tower Case ($11.25 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: CoolMax 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)

Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($34.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $459.17 (Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.) (Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-30 19:56 EST-0500)

I guess you talk for the ibuypower one for $500?

For the price is actually quite good ( the only thinks that worries me is we dont know what kind of power supply it will have and i hope they wont skip to much on that front )

Add $50-60extra for a windows copy and you can dual boot on either windows or steam OS ( in case you want access to the much bigger library on windows )

Again, show me where I implied "build your own for $499"..... Besides, that PC will never last against the consoles. When building a PC, go big or go home.

I see..........

I guess this won't be able to play GalCiv3 since it requires Win 7 or 8 :(

PC gaming is looking a lot more attainable since I'll be starting my career shortly. Are there places that will build your PC for free then ship it to you?

Derp, misread your post.

@Boddicker: Building a PC isn't that hard. Once you get over the fact you are handling several hundreds of dollars worth of equipment its fine. Custom PC's now are easy to work with. Everything is modular and surprisingly robust, just take your time and make sure you ground yourself.

Only for hardware feature deficient NVIDIA Kelpers and Intel GT2/GT3 IGPs.

For Crysis 2, Radeon X1950 pro with similar GFLOPS as Xbox 360 has yielded similar results. The main problem with X1950 Pro was it's hardware features not being on par with ATI Xenos and X1950 doesn't have Xbox 360's low level ALU mode(for compute shader type workloads)/console APIs as used in BF3. Xbox 360 is capable to mix vertex and pixel shader instructions which is beyond PC's DX9c capabilities.

AMD Mantle enabled games are not dependant on PC's monthly driver updates that targets particular game titles i.e. I guess you missed that particular APU13's presentation. AMD Mantle APIs are deterministic when compared to Direct3D's APIs. AMD Mantle delivers "console like APIs" for the PC. That "console" refers to PS4 i.e. the optimisations path and rendering code for BF4 Mantle edition is closer to PS4 than DirectX11 version.

From EA DICE's POV, PS4 and AMD Mantle are similar and PS4's numerical unit sales superiority over Xbox One strengthens AMD Mantle.

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AMD, EA DICE and rest of the industry are sick of MS gimping the PC with second rate APIs. Read http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/appbuilder/archive/2013/10/14/raising-the-bar-with-direct3d.aspx

"The Xbox One graphics API is “Direct3D 11.x” and the Xbox One hardware provides a superset of Direct3D 11.2 functionality"

"We’re also working with our ISV and IHV partners on future efforts, including bringing the lightweight runtime and tooling capabilities of the Xbox One Direct3D implementation to Windows"

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Xbox One's DirectX11.X is already a supersetof PC's DirectX11.2 i.e. PC has the gimped version.

NVIDIA Kelpers are not fully DirectX 11.2 while "DirectX 11.X" superset is already running on AMD GCN. Good luck on post-DirectX11.2 releases on your NVIDIA Kepler GPU i.e. your looking at a Maxwell update.

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Btw, SteamOS doesn't run with Microsoft's Direct3D.

Whoa.........so I can download a different OS for the Steam Box?

I wouldn't waste my money on that garbage. just buy a PC and get yourself a GTX 780 Ti lodged in it, you'll be set for a few years to come. Plug in a second video card for native 4K resolution.

@conorhat:

not all of us can afford a GTX780 ti

It's a pre-built PC that runs Steam OS and comes with the Steam controller.

That's it.

There is no backlog on SteamOS. Steamboxes can stream games from a Windows PC (ala Nvidia shield) but the quality of such is unknown.

Supposedly all models of the steam boxes will be upgradeable, but to what extent depends on box dimensions and component specifications.

A steam box will support k&m natively along with the steam controller. Other controllers will also be supported, possibly even DS4 and X1.

"A Steam Machine is a PC with components that meet Valve's minimal performance requirements to run Steam OS – Valve's open source Linux-based operating system that's designed and optimised for gaming.

In essence, there's nothing separating a Steam Machine from a regular PC; you could install Windows on it if you wanted to and still access Valve's packed games library on the excellent Steam store. Valve has already released an update which optimises Steam for the big screen, and Steam OS will take this experience much further.

The only thing that makes a Steam Machine a Steam Machine, then, is the sticker of approval that Valve slaps on it – indicating that it meets their minimum requirements."

http://www.stuff.tv/steam-box/valve-steam-machine-preview/review

This morning, iBuyPower revealed a prototype of its own upcoming Steam Machine, which will go on sale for just $499 next year.

For the price of an Xbox One, the computer will offer a multicore AMD CPU and a discrete AMD Radeon R9 270 graphics card — that's a $180 GPU all by itself — and come with Valve's Steam Controller as part of the package deal.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/25/5146398/ibuypower-steam-machine-499-radeon-r9-270

The Best Steam Machine, using the high-end specs, comes to a total of $1,577.46 for an Intel Core i7-4770 3.4 GHz Quad-Core processor, 16 GB of DDR3-1600 memory, a 1 TB hard drive, and an Nvidia GTX Titan 6 GB video card.

The Good Steam Machine, using the low-end specs, comes to a total of $557.01 for an Intel Core i3-3240 3.4 GHz Dual Core Processor, 16 GB of DDR3-1600 memory, a 1 TB hard drive, and an Nvidia GTX 660 3 GB video card.

"And to be clear, this design is not meant to serve the needs of all of the tens of millions of Steam users," says the company. "Many others would opt for machines that have been more carefully designed to cost less, or to be tiny, or super quiet, and there will be Steam Machines that fit those descriptions."

"As a hardware platform, the Steam ecosystem will change over time, so any upgrades will be at each user's discretion. In the future we'll talk about how Steam will help customers understand the differences between machines, hardware strengths and weaknesses, and upgrade decisions."

http://www.usgamer.net/articles/how-much-will-a-steam-box-cost-you

http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamOS/

http://store.steampowered.com/browse/linux/

This is how I see Steam Machines.

You know those Alien Ware Models that came out recently that look like Consoles?

That's Steam Machine only at a price tag of a PS4 or Xbox One and with an OS that's pretty dumb because in order for you to play All of Steam's Extensive Library you're going to need a Windows Machine to play it.

In other words it's just a Pre-Built Gaming PC with Steam's Logo on it.

i need to clarify something about steam OS which im still confused of,

will it run all steam games? cause all steam games at present run on the windows OS

will be extremely pathetic if steam OS is unable to play the backlog of windows OS games and only valve exclusives

http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamOS/

http://store.steampowered.com/browse/linux/

No, Only some games will be available for Steam OS, If you want to play ALL of Steam's games you'll need a Windows Based Computer that can run the games.

Best use of Steam Machine is to just buy Steam Machine and Uninstall the Pathetic excuse of an OS they're trying to market and put Windows 7 or 8 on the system.

Note that PS4's OS based on FreeBSD and both next-gen "non-clone" game consoles are starting from ground zero i.e. zero legacy support.

While PC gaming is growing (based on stats), there's a learning curve for the majority of bbc.co.uk or news.com type audience.

PS; I did some training for our lawyer software provider's clients and most are "fish outside of the water" when it comes to computing. The new devices must be out-of-the-box usable like iPhone or iPad.

Ballmer Laughs at iPhonehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_Uhe stated "use cases" (i.e. Windows Phone 6 has email, music, mobile internet and 'etc') but not usability issues.

possibly the worst route to go for Gaming in general.

People love their old games.

So can I ass-ume that the SteamOS will include a complete web browser that will let me download Windows 8?

its a pc with an OS geared for living room so yes you can install a different OS, you can upgrade etc etc. In fact $500 it looks like a great price and while i will always prefer to build my own pc's to my exact specs $500 for those specs will be hard to match ( although like i said i still have my doubts about the power supply )

If you are looking at PC gaming, you are at least doing some research...

Just because you can't afford it doesn't mean you shouldn't buy it anyway.

@conorhat:

If you can't afford something you shouldn't be buying it anyways unless going broke and not being able paid for bills that would be real smart.

The majority of the targeted audience doesn't care about IT related details.

From Valve/AMD/Intel/NVIDIA's POV, there are some growth potential outside of semi-knowledgeable PC assembling audience for clone friendly interactive entertainment HiFi platform i.e. you got clone friendly DVD/Blue-ray players for non-interactive entertainment HiFi platform.

Due to it's Xbox business, MS is not serious about a clone friendly interactive entertainment HiFi platform i.e. they haven't ported out-of-the-box usability experience from Xbox One to the PC. PC has games which is a usescase example but it doesn't address usability issues. It's another "WIndows Phone 6" f**kup by MS.

Other people has other priorities outside of buying expensive video cards e.g one month worth of mortgage interest repayments.

@ronvalencia: I refuse to believe people in first world countries cannot afford a decent computer.

First world countries like the USA also has high personal debt. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_debt#United_States_household_debt_statistics

We are not living in 1950s anymore...

@ronvalencia: If you can't finance a small personal investment like a gaming PC, you obviously didn't obtain a degree from a graduate school yet. It's never too late to sign up for adult education. Good luck!

$499 for the iBuyPower Steam Machine is ****ing excellent. Even with an added Windows install tacked on to the price bringing it up closer to $600, it's still a damn good value for a console sized box that is more powerful than a PS4, and not to mention an entirely capable general PC too.

Steam Machines and SteamOS are just expanding the notion of what we expect and see as gaming PCs.

Obviously, you haven't leant from

1. 3DO's $699 USD pricing failure.

2. Good initial sales results from X1's $499 USD.

3. Good initial sales results from PS4's $399 USD

I have

1. Mini-ITX LAN party PC box has Intel Core i5-2500K + Sapphire R9-290 (Q4 Y2013) + 8 GB DDR3-1600.

2. Desktop/home server PC has Intel Core i7-2600 + HIS 7970 (Q3 Y2012) + Sapphire 7950-900Mhz(Q1 Y2012) in CrossFire mode + 16 GB PC-2133 DDR3.

3. Q2 Y2013 Samsung ATIV Book 8 has 15 inch touch screen + Intel Core i7-3536 QM + Radeon HD 8870M + 500 GB Samsung Evo SSD + 16 GB PC-1600 SODIMM-DDR3. Replaced Y2010 DELL Studio XPS 1645 16 inch laptop.

4. Q4 Y2013 DELL Venue Pro 8 (in-order) has 8 inch touch screen. This replaces my Y2011 ACER Iconia W500 tablet.

Since I work in software industry, all my PC expenses are geared towards my incoming tax. I'm not in the high debt household category (net positive with my own property).

You don't know me, so don't make assumptions about me.

Sorry, the USA's household and government are addicted to debt. Australia is not in the fiscal cliff. It's just too bad Oz doesn't have 300 million population.

Good luck with 2 million units sales within the 24 hour time period with NVIDIA's Titan and 780 Ti.