PCS Steam Machines?

[Everon]

Hi guys,

I'm not sure if anyone has posted a thread regarding if PCS will be making a Steam Machine or not so I thought well why not ask. Does anyone know if PCS has any future plans to make one?

I was reading through the IGN posts and came across this list of the current steam machines that will be on offer and are on show at the CES show: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/01/07/ces-a-roundup-of-valves-first-steam-machines

I did notice that Cyberpower and Alienware have made machines which prompted me to make this thread regarding on PCS's future plans and steam boxes. My personal point of view is that they seem overpriced for what they are but I guess they may find a niche market for customers who want a simple gaming PC which is just for gaming and nothing else.

Anyone have any insights on PCS plans for a steam box or just general thoughts regarding Steam machines it would be interesting to know your thoughts.

Jay.

 

[keynes]

If a steam machine was in progress I would have expected it to have been announced already so I don't think they will.

 

[Grimezy]

They may well stock them (or give the option to ship custom rigs with SteamOS) but I doubt they will physically create their own. Obviously only a PCS staff member would be able to confirm this.

 

[DeadEyeDuk]

In my limited understanding, I thought that the Steam Box was a bit like a console in that Valve make em and that's it. I didn't know there would be "X version" or "Y version".

I might put money on the AW version being more expensive than all the others, proving once and for all you really do pay £100 for the lil alien badge (AW bashing is a requirement. Pretty sure if you read the forum Terms of Use really carefully, it is in there)

 

[Grimezy]

In my limited understanding, I thought that the Steam Box was a bit like a console in that Valve make em and that's it. I didn't know there would be "X version" or "Y version".

I might put money on the AW version being more expensive than all the others, proving once and for all you really do pay £100 for the lil alien badge (AW bashing is a requirement. Pretty sure if you read the forum Terms of Use really carefully, it is in there)

I initially thought this but then it seemed to develop that Steamboxes were really just Valve-certified rigs saying that yes, they are compatible with SteamOS and yes, we're going to charge you a little bit more because of that reassurance.

I suppose it's useful having a mix though, closer to the console world but with the option to customise what level of spec you want without being too daunting. You may only like casual indie games so can get away with spending £400 (when compared to a console that sounds like a rip off actually) or you may want to go all out and spend £1500 but realistically I think if you were spending that much you'd go through the bother of getting a proper system.

 

[Wozza63]

Actually I thought they were good value, R9 270, 500GB HDD, A6-6400k, 8GB RAM for $500 (£300), thats good value in my opinion

 

[Deklore]

My understanding was that they were just normal pcs with Steam OS and a controller. If thats the case then i dont see why PCS wont be able to sell a "steam machine". Just have a mini pc - and bundle it with controller and Steam OS.

 

[Wozza63]

My understanding was that they were just normal pcs with Steam OS and a controller. If thats the case then i dont see why PCS wont be able to sell a "steam machine". Just have a mini pc - and bundle it with controller and Steam OS.

I think they have to be approved by Valve before hand, and most of the steam machines are console size, which is smaller than most mini PC cases

 

[Grimezy]

Actually I thought they were good value, R9 270, 500GB HDD, A6-6400k, 8GB RAM for $500 (£300), thats good value in my opinion

Hmm I'm trying to work out how effective that spec is actually going to be for gaming though... I assume SteamOS is intended to be stripped back like a console in the sense that it's only focussing on games and not other background tasks normally associated with Windows. And I guess it would be nice having a small PC at my disposal... But I'm just wondering whether for practically the same price as a console the steambox's hardware has anything to contribute. I guess if I scaled all the graphic settings down and the resolution then that £300 spec may be able to play quite a bit... But it's probably not going to contend with the likes of Forza and BF4 on the Xbone for example.

I guess one main advantage that I'd missed is you have access to very cheap games compared to consoles so that cost is quickly re-cooperated. I have over 100 games on Steam and then a few on origin, etc so I've probably easily spent £500 in a year of ownership. The equivalent number of games on the consoles would have probably set me back £5000 (albeit a lot of my Steam games are cheap indie ones).

 

[Wozza63]

Hmm I'm trying to work out how effective that spec is actually going to be for gaming though... I assume SteamOS is intended to be stripped back like a console in the sense that it's only focussing on games and not other background tasks normally associated with Windows. And I guess it would be nice having a small PC at my disposal... But I'm just wondering whether for practically the same price as a console the steambox's hardware has anything to contribute. I guess if I scaled all the graphic settings down and the resolution then that £300 spec may be able to play quite a bit... But it's probably not going to contend with the likes of Forza and BF4 on the Xbone for example.

I guess one main advantage that I'd missed is you have access to very cheap games compared to consoles so that cost is quickly re-cooperated. I have over 100 games on Steam and then a few on origin, etc so I've probably easily spent £500 in a year of ownership. The equivalent number of games on the consoles would have probably set me back £5000 (albeit a lot of my Steam games are cheap indie ones).

Steam boxes are designed to compete more against consoles, and that spec is more powerful than both new consoles and cheaper. SteamOS runs off Linux, which is much more efficient than Windows, so performance should be improved on identical specs. I imagine AMD and Nvidia will be releasing complete drivers for Linux now, so that should improve performance even more, but even before this, Valve had tests showing L4D2 beta on linux getting more fps than on Windows.

Also take note that with the new consoles architectures both being the same as what we use in our desktops, optimization will be much easier for the PC and it won't require as much work as before as the games will not be ported to PC so poorly.

I think Valve have gone the wrong way with this idea and have released too many different models, I think they should have been say 5 or 6 certified machines released on a yearly basis, the main benefit of this being developers could then concentrate optimizing for these systems more, downside being that custom systems won't be as optimized

 

[Deklore]

for some reason, this reminds me of what the 3DO tried to do (have multiple manufacturers for the one platform). Given Valve are in a much stronger starting position than the 3DO was..

 

[tom_gr7]

I'd have a steam machine if I had the cash floating around.

But the question is.. now you be logged onto your steam machine AND steam on your gaming rig?