SO MANY STEAM MACHINES (All 13 So Far Listed Here)

Alienware

"Alienware's Steam Machine is considerably smaller than both the Xbox One and PS4. With a 8" by 8" square design and roughly 3" tall, the chassis is ultra-compact. It comes equipped with two USB 3.0 ports on the front, but on the back, it will ship with an optical audio connector,and an ethernet jack.

Most notably, like the Xbox One, the Alienware Steam Machine will have both an HDMI input and an HDMI output."

"But what about under the hood? Alienware is once again keeping its plans close to its chest, but the PC maker has confirmed that it will use an Intel-based CPU and a discrete Nvidia GPU. Given its diminutive size, a model from Nvidia's unannounced next-generation of laptop GPUs seems likely. In terms of performance, Alienware says it surpasses both the Xbox One and the PS4 in raw power, and the company is targeting native resolutions of 1080p."

CyberPowerPC:

"From there, the two models -- the $499 Steam Machine A and the $699 Steam Machine I -- differ in terms of processors and video cards. The A model sports a 3.9 GHz AMD A6-6400K and 2GB AMD Radeon R9 270, while the I model features a 3.5 GHz Intel Core i3-4330 and 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760."

"Both are said to be customizable, although just what options will be available to consumers were not announced. The $499 and $699 price tags and base prices for each model."

Alternate:

"The Alternate rig includes the same boxy design and a 1TB SSHD. Under the hood, you'll find an Intel Core i5 4570 processor, and a Gigabyte GTX 760 handling the GPU work. 16GB of RAM round out the major component features, and the whole thing will set you back $1,339 USD."

Gigabyte Pro:

"The super compact design of the Brix Pro definitely lends itself to sitting next to your HDTV, while the 1TB HDD offers plenty of room for storing Steam OS games."

"The Gigabyte Steam Machine includes an Intel Core i7-4770R processor, an Intel Iris Pro 5200 chipset for handling graphics duties, and 8GB of RAM (2 x 4GB). The Brix Pro also includes four USB 3.0 ports and an HDMI port."

Material.net:

"The Materiel.net machine is equipped with an Intel Core i5 4440 CPU and graphics will be powered by a MSI GeForce GTX 760 OC. The machine will have 8GB of RAM, and storage will be 8GB plus 1TB SSHD.

The Materiel.net Steam Machine will set punters back $1,098 USD."

Zotac:

"Zotac's tiny model was revealed to have an RRP of $599 USD.

The details of the Zotac machine's Intel processor, its NVIDIA GeForce GTX, and its RAM and storage have yet to be revealed, although the official press release on the model called its processor "enthusiast-class" and GTX "upcoming performance-class.""

Scan Computers:

"The Steam OS-ready device looks more like a portable HDD than a powerful PC, but that may prove just the right form factor is you're looking to buy a Steam Machine to blend in with your home theater setup.

Priced at $1,090 USD (approx. £665 GBP/1,219 AUD), the NC10 features what appears to be an aluminum housing around its 2.4GHz Intel Core i3 4000M. On the GPU side, the NC10 features an Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M, backed up by 8GB of RAM. The Scan Steam Machine comes standard with 500GB of storage."

Webhallen:

"The Webhallen machine's price range starts at $1,499 USD –– as far as the recently revealed Steam Machines go, this is one of the more expensive choices. The Webhallen starts with an Intel Core i7 CPU and an NVIDIA GTX 780 GPU.

The Webhallen machine also starts with a 16GB RAM, as well as 1TB of SSHD storage."

Falcon Northwest:

"Starting at $1,799 USD, announced prices for the Falcon Steam Machine can apparently run as high as $6,000 USD.

The CPU was only listed as "customizable" in tonight's release, but given the price, we're assuming you can pack some fairly powerful 4th-gen Intel Core i7 processors into the Tiki. But the most expensive factor to the Tiki may be its powerful Nvidia GeForce Titan GPU. Memory ranges from 8Gb to 16Gb, and storage options can go as high as 6TB."

Next:

"The Next Spa starts with an Intel i5 processor, alongside an NVIDIA GTX 760 GPU. Like most of the other Steam Machines, the Next Spa has 8GB of RAM; this machine has 1TB of storage, though."

iBuyPower:

"The SBX was announced today at the Consumer Electronics Show in conjunction with Valve's CES press conference. Today's reveal dealt more with iBuyPower's vision for the SBX -- including the fact that it's designed first and foremost as a gaming platform -- rather than the hardware that comprises it. It did state the system will be coming "later in 2014" for $499, runs Steam OS, comes with a Steam Controller, and is available in two colors: matte black and white.

When it was first revealed last year, iBuyPower said it would sport a multicore AMD CPU, but today's press release mentions AMD and Intel options for the processor. The video card, on the other hand, will be an AMD card; last year, it was said to be a 2GB AMD R9 270. There were no details made available regarding storage or memory."

MainGear:

"The system, which Maingear refers to as a Steambox PC, rather than as a Steam Machine, as Valve likes to call them, weighs in at 0.89 pounds and is housed inside a case measuring (W)4.5" x (H)2.34" x (D)4.23" . Maingear says it's the smallest gaming PC system it's ever assembled.

It comes equipped with a four-thread AMD A8­5575M (with individual thread speeds ranging from 2.1 to 3.1 GHz), a 2GB AMD Radeon R9 M275X, 2x SO­DIMM RAM slots (up to 16GB supported), and support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and USB 3.0. A standard hard drive isn't listed among the system's specs, but it does feature an mSATA slot for SSDs as large as 256GB and a slot for a 2.5" SATA III 6Gb/s HDD.

Unlike certain Steam Machines, the Maingear Spark doesn't have to come running with Valve's Linux-based Steam OS. While that is an option, buyers are free to choose from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. Also of note is the fact that the Spark doesn't include aSteam Controller."

Origin PC:

"Based upon the company's existing line of small form factor PCs, the Chronos Steam Machine will offer support for up to dual Nvidia SLE GeForce GTX Titan GPUs, 14TBs of storage, and a liquid CPU cooling system. The system will be built-to-order and customizable from top to bottom, ranging from chassis color to component specifications and pre-configured overclocking. Optional dual-boot upgrades will allow users to swap between Valve's Linux-based Steam OS and Windows 7 or Windows 8 on the fly."

I'll get to formatting this in the morning. Pretty sure I'm missing a few of the suddenly ubiquitous Steam Machines so I'll add them when I can.

Any CPU, GPU, specs list, price, etc. or any stat relevant I could see, I added in. As of now, none have a solid release date though most are late Q1 2014 to towards the end of this year. Most say more information will come out soon.

Any you guys are particularly interested in? I gotta say that the iBuyPower one looks particularly interesting in the bang for buck potential based on what I hear about the AMD R9 270

I don't get the point of steam machines so far,considering SteamOS can only play Linux games or stream from another PC

If the purpose of the Steam Machine is to compete with consoles, having so many variants will just work against its favour. How is an average consumer who doesn't bother reading up on all these OEM variants gonna decide on which one to buy? Like I've said before, the Steam Machine shares all the downsides of a PC - the requirement of consumers to do research

Consoles, on the other hand, are based on not needing consumers to do research. That's a fundamental design difference right there

The concepts look cool, but it still carries the basic problem of PC gaming. Having to question "can i run it".

If they were really trying to expand PC gaming, why not have a baseline spec requirement so that devs could have a target in mind and build from there.

It would speed up development on the platform and help expand PC gaming at the same time. There are tons of PC only games that deserve to be played but people simply dont have the knowledge to build a PC.

They shouldve released a "platform model" so devs could start there. Choose either or AMD or Intel and build from there. That way development is streamlined.

I dont see this taking off otherwise. Id love to buy one of these boxes to sit beside my PS4 to play all the PC games on my 60". This wont allow me to do that without spending about the same i would need to to build my own. I could probably build something stronger for cheaper.

^That's one sad reality.

OT: $700 for an i3 build and no Windows OS is not particularly impressive. That's more of a disappointment.

That cable management is probably god-tier though. I'd put a little bit of value in that.

Jeez thats a lot of companies producing steam boxes. Can't wait to how its organized inside and how they run.

I like a couple of the designs but given that the price ranges are $500-$6000. Ummm... **** that. I won't be supporting Steam Machines. I'll stick with my PS4 and be quite happy with that

Ehh I'll just build my own and run games natively.

Im so confused whats the point of all these steam devices?isint this just going to confuse consumers.

This is pretty much the end for the xbox and playstation. No pussyfooting around it. It's over.

All but two will most likely fail. Way too many steam boxes. They should have only picked three hardware manufactures as partners.

Then they could have had:

A low end steam box (that would be near the ps4/x1 specs and pricing)

A mid steam box

And a high end beast that comes packed in with the controller.

Way too many. Most will fail. These boxes will not put up that much of a fight with consoles or your standard PC. It wants to be a console, but it will lack the optimization of one.

Too many, it will confuse consumers. Also this just shows the PC market is in desperate need of attention and wants to be similar to consoles which is more consumer friendly and gets more business.

@Blabadon: i want to buy the $500 one, install windows and game happily ever after. seriously hope alienware can deliver on the price otherwise gona have to go with cyberpower. i dont think ibuypower releases in uk

what makes this more compatable with the tv then the average computer??

from what i can gather the OS is more hardware optimised and it comes with a controller??

that aint enough to convince people to buy one, when i can just hook my existing computer to the tv and buy a 360 controller for windows,

Really you could build a better STEAM MACHINE for the same price but better, to me they seem they're meant for lazy hermits.

The size and aesthetics. Which are actually issues for some people.

But yeah, I agree with you completely. I'm gonna build a new computer at some point this year, and if I want to play games on the living room TV, I'll do it.

iBuyPower and the official Valve Steam Machines are gonna be the way to go. Both attractive systems, get iBuyPower if you can't afford to get the Valve power house. I'm looking forward to it.

Price point will determine everything about these machines.

@Blabadon: What a confusing mess. It reminds me of the 3DO which was also overpriced and failed miserable after it was released by about 5 different companies. Valve should have talked to Trip Hawkins before they went with this type of manufacturing for their systems. For a PC gamer who doesn't have a PC gaming rig, this is an optional solution, but for PC gamers who already have a viable gaming rig, why would they even waste their time?

@Blabadon: What a confusing mess. It reminds me of the 3DO which was also overpriced and failed miserable after it was released by about 5 different companies. Valve should have talked to Trip Hawkins before they went with this type of manufacturing for their systems. For a PC gamer who doesn't have a PC gaming rig, this is an optional solution, but for PC gamers who already have a viable gaming rig, why would they even waste their time?

Not even competing with XB1 or PS4. Console gamers are going to jump from PS4 and XB1 to get a SteamBox, so this will have no effect on console systems or the gamers that play them. There will be a PS5 and XBox Next in 6-7 years. Watch and see.

That's completely false. PC game software generated 20 billion dollars in 2012 which is nearly a third of the entire gaming industry (including consoles, smartphones, handhelds...both hardware and software). That is more money than any single console, or even any two consoles combined. PC gaming is huge.

Is it just me or is the only reason that this thing is generating as much talk as it is is because of Valve/Steam?

going by this topic, the whole steam machine seems like an utterly pointless exercise, badged pre-builds that cost the same really and just because they have a steam logo on them we are now supposed to care?

only decetly priced ones in my book are the cyberpower ones.

@blackace: you are forgetting that this is PC regardless. The market for prebuilt PCs still exists and the Steam Box will slot right in.

WTF valve, these are basically prebuild PCs, we already have those. 13 models and some costing over £1000, thought this was sent to be competing with consoles.

Those Boxes are just going to ultra flop, really don't see the point of them.

So the Steam Machine is a manufacturer built PC that is built to run Steam?

god forbid people research before they make decisions in life. sheesh.

- Steam machines, how much do you cost ?

- How much do you have ?

I really don't see the point to these steam machines at all. They're essentially just PCs with a smaller form factor and is that really enough incentive to even bother buying one over a proper gaming PC? Seems like they might suffer with some form of identity crisis also with there being so many.

They should really rename it to "Steam PC" to confuse people less on here.

But yes I think they are aiming their hardware at a market that does not exist. People who want consoles will buy a console, and people who game on PC will build a PC. I can understand what they are trying to do, but it's just a but silly. All it will be is a DRMed console, which people on here went ape about. Sure the copy protection will suck and people will just pirate the games but...

As a proper self contained gaming operating system with recommended system spec every 3 or so years it would be great for developers to follow. PC really does need a guideline of what hardware to write for and what features to use as a recommended requirement, of course you can go over that for additional features. Windows does not help with it's DirectX fragmentation and different configurations. An OS that is easily upgradable for free with all required features will be a huge step up for games development. No more coding for operating systems that are a decade old.

If a game does not work properly you can blame the developers, and they can't blame your OS, setup, hardware configuration... the blame will stop at them which would be great. Too many anuses making PC games that are a bad port.

the thing about this whole steam machine is that pcs are becoming a niche item. most people dont want a huge bulky pc with monitor and k/m and a separate desk etc...everything is becoming more portable and streamline..these steam boxes are small,decent looking,and give MOST of the pc gamers what they want. AND might bring in new gamers as well. PCs have never been about "ease of use"..and most people dont want to tackle them. SO lets throw a pc in a small cute box..make it able to use a controller "with ease"..and sell it..Its a way to get pc gaming more mainstream again.."OR so i think"..cause no matter what hermits think,...pc gaming is taboo..always has been.

Just too many. They look cool I guess, but with so many competing for potentially only a small portion of gamers, it could get a bit weird...

I highly agree with this.

There are too many SKUs to even bother. Maybe as a PC alternative it can work. But what's to just stop people from building PC's with extremely similar specs for somewhat lower prices./

What!!!!!!!

I ass-umed the Steam Machine was going to be using a uniform case for all models. This is just going to confuse consolites looking for an alternative. With some of those price ranges exceeding $1000 I honestly don't know anymore who Valve is trying to appeal to.

Steam should have just released a $500 base model that was upgradeable. Bam!!!! Something that can compete with consoles. This approach screams insta-failure.

*facepalm*

I've been telling people from the start, this was always the outcome and its not going to confuse anyone and if it confuses you then you sir are an idiot.

Classic console gamer mentality, less options equals better.

great selection available there.

there are three consoles available. how does someone work out which one is the right one for them?

Going to be sad next year when the 13 Hardware Partners becomes maybe 2-3. I can't see all of these companies being able to compete against one another, especially with products this expensive.

I feel sad for some weird reason, i dunno if its either the fact that the machine is so fragmented or that the prototypes fail to encompass what a console should look like, i duno what it is but this is starting to feel like a failed experiment

@clyde46 @MK-Professor

*facepalm*

You both need to get off your high horses. You misconstrued my words big time. I want the Steam Machine to be a success.

I'm going into this with one assumption: the Steam Machine was made as a viable alternative to consoles.

Am I wrong? Please let me know if am, and I will quietly leave this discussion to the asshole master race.

At the price range of some of those boxes most people will just buy a gaming PC and use the Steam Machine controller for certain games (if that's possible).