Faiblesse Des Sens Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Gaudy LED, its just a white glossy box besides that with the Steam logo. It's just a rectangle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Yeah saw word of that a while ago (though without case). Now they just need to hope and pray that the OS they intend to run will support that parts they've chosen to put into it. Which also surely makes a BF4 benchmark moot since unless you grab yourself a copy of Windows to install, negating the "Steam machine" stuff, it'll never run it at all nevermind at 85fps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 $500 + no accessories and a free OS will be closer to next-gen than current gen. Just a quick google of benchmarks shows it running games better than the console versions and even handling a heavyweight like Metro Last Light at 45fps. BF4 benchmark I saw had it running at 85fps. 1080p and high settings is the standard for PC game tests but many tests go even higher. Part of that is of course what processor they pair with it but this thing will not be a slouch for performance. Â Most console games run at 720p (sometimes lower) and what is generally equivalent to medium settings. So yeah, this smokes that quite easily. Â Â do any of those sorts of games actually play on Steam OS though? Are there any AAA that will run on the machine rather than stream from a windows PC? Have any publishers/developers said they will support it so you may see an elder scroll/BF/dragon age/witcher or anything of that ilk on it? Â That's the problem with a steam box as far as I can see... I keep getting (semi-) excited that I could get a hassle free PC gaming experience under my TV, and then I realise that I either have an unnecessary indie gaming box or a very expensive streaming machine that needs an expensive PC sat behind it. Â I may just be missing something but it doesn't seem to be an easy/cheap way to get in to PC gaming but more an expensive accessory for people who are already in to it and I can imagine a lot of people buying one firing it up and being extremely disappointed when they can't play half the games they bought it to play. Â ... Â since I took so long to write this it seems Dean's answered one of my questions, which just reinforces my point. I guess a few years down the line if the OS does well enough to get the support from major games I will look at it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 @Gerbil:  Here's a list of Linux games http://store.steampowered.com/browse/linux/ They should all in theory run on SteamOS, and it does include Metro Last Light. So far however there hasn't been much in the way of major publisher support and you're certainly not going to see EA games on there anytime soon. Might see Bethesda on there though since they're quite chummy with Valve. Main thing is the porting cost and effort. For Indies their games are generally much smaller, simpler and built using frameworks that support multi-OS export so not so hard to do. But big studios tend to use in-house engines and it's expensive enough support Windows alongside consoles, never mind dividing that up.  It's very much a wait and see really. Valve could have a few aces up their sleeves and it is CES this week which is where they first showed their prototype last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturnine Tenshi Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Looks great to me. Why do you think it's ugly? The LED, and the color of the box. I can't help but think "cheap plastic". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Yeah, it's hideous. Â The color of the LED is the worst part about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCP Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 I still think it's better than a big clunky PC tower, especially for under a TV, but yeah that LED might be better as blue. And all electronics should always be black, of course.  In answer to Gerbil, if you either A) already have a copy of Windows or B) find a copy of Windows through various means, it's supposedly easy to dual-boot Windows onto it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 The shape is certainly better for sticking under a TV, but everything else about the design is awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCP Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 I found an uglier one! This one: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 I actually like that one better. I mean yes, it's ridiculous, but at least it has a little more personality. Also, I cannot stress enough how off-putting that mint green light on the first one is to me. Â *Edit* - To be clear, I don't /like/ either one. Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 "Should we make our Steam Machine pretty?" "Are you kidding, have you seen the stuff console gamers put under their TV?" Â Anyway this is the only suitable case for a Steam Machine: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Faiblesse Des Sens Posted January 6, 2014 Popular Post Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 I found an uglier one! This one: Â Â This must be what the other one evolves into. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorgiShinobi Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 The first one looks like someone took the case of an obscure 90's console and the green is because they only glued a glow stick to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staySICK Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Okay here's another look at that ibuypower one.  http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/06/ibuypower-sbx/   that thing above/next to the hard drive?  That's apparently a raspberry Pi.   also: lol 4 GB ram. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCP Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Alienware Steam Machine looks nicer, IMHO. I mean, no green LED bar, which is a start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturnine Tenshi Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Does look better. I think the Alienware logo is a bit out of place, though. They should have cut off the adjacent corner for that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Yeah the alienware is a nice case (compared to the others) Â Also any word on why the ibuypower one has a Pi in it? A Pi would theoretically make a decent Steam Machine client, but it won't run Steam OS. So unless Valve make some kind of API/SDK/whatnot it won't get too much use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Okay here's another look at that ibuypower one.  http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/06/ibuypower-sbx/   that thing above/next to the hard drive?  That's apparently a raspberry Pi.   also: lol 4 GB ram.  Yeah that 4 GB thing really stuck out to me too.  I hope you can change that.  If you can't it would kind of defeat the purpose of a steam machine in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Well unless they superglued the RAM sticks in (and even then) you can likely change them out. But even then I don't know of many indie games that use more than 4GBs of RAM and I sure as hope Steam streaming doesn't use that much either. Â Edit: Also now that the full list of launch Steam Machines is out I can only assume Valve abso-fucking-lutely suck at working with hardware manufacturers, or that they're all purposefully taking Valve for a ride. Only two are below the $500 mark and most are $1000 and beyond (Tiki goes up to $6000). Several of them also rock Intel or AMD GPUs despite the OS not currently supporting those. So yeah, this is either a case of Valve being really sucky at communicating the concept of Steam Machines to hardware manufacturers, or hardware manufacturers being chuffed at legitimately being able to slap the dollar sign that is the Steam Piston logo on their computers and not giving a damn on anything else. Â edit2: I haven't a fucking clue what the hell Steam Machines and Steam OS are meant to do, to be, etc. As time passes and more things come out I become even more and more confused. Where's "Good Better and Best"? Wheres any of the game support? Where's the console like experience? They're just computers like any other but in garish cases with a piston printed on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staySICK Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 (edited) Also any word on why the ibuypower one has a Pi in it? A Pi would theoretically make a decent Steam Machine client, but it won't run Steam OS. So unless Valve make some kind of API/SDK/whatnot it won't get too much use. Â I believe the Pi controls the light bar, the article mentions an android/ios app controls the led, allowing it to change colors or be turned off. Not sure how you'd access that part though. Â Edit: what's this about streaming? I thought steam machines were intended to run games natively, just in a small prebuilt form factor to fit in your entertainment console easily. How does the steamOS (heh, SOS) receive the stream from your main PC? --edit edit: ah okay I just looked at the steamOS page again, I missed that in home streaming section. Edited January 7, 2014 by staySICK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Ultimately the idea is to get bigger games running natively on SteamOS though, not just rely on streaming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorgiShinobi Posted January 8, 2014 Report Share Posted January 8, 2014 (edited) http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/01/gallery-the-13-steam-machines-and-all-of-their-glorious-variety/ Â So we can have a compiled list of the 13 official Steam Machines. CES photographs, promo shots, and a spec sheet. Not every item is listed for some of the Steam Machines, but it gives you an idea of where and to whom the manufacturer was aiming toward. Â Some of the specs give me the impression of a near comparable PC as the one I built, but a few are offering a 1TB SSHD, and honestly that's pretty nice. Just I wonder if they skimped on other components to bring the price down. Edited January 8, 2014 by Atomsk88 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted January 8, 2014 Report Share Posted January 8, 2014 Huh, Kotaku already had that like... almost a full day prior. Â http://kotaku.com/from-alienware-to-zotac-all-the-steam-machines-with-sp-1495960379 Â How the hell did they beat the tech site to post this? Mind you Ars layout is super nice but it's still the same info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted January 14, 2014 Report Share Posted January 14, 2014 I just argued with my friend over this and now I am wondering what you guys think so here it is: will the steam controller become a popular alternative to the 360 controller for pc games? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted January 14, 2014 Report Share Posted January 14, 2014 Since I'm getting a PS4, I just might use the DS4 when the time comes. If I am not happy with the DS4 then I might consider a steam controller. While the 360 controller is nice but it be neat to move on to a wireless controller for the PC. Even then, it'll come down to price and if I am able to test run a steam controller before I buy it. I'm not sure where I could do that though. With that all said, I only got the 360 controller for my PC since all the other alternatives were shit. Now there are two other good (?) alternatives and they're wireless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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