SteamBox specifications revealed

[Thor.]

Yup look at the specs and wonder how on earth have they managed to cram all that into a single cube like box. Remarkable.

 

if the price point is the same as the next gen consoles, and thats a if i can see a whole new generation of pc vs console wars happen. Especially with the new steamOS and mantle it could be very will give the new next gen consoles a run for the money. I mean wow the specs.

 

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2013/10/04/valve-details-its-high-end-customizable-steam-machine-prototype

 

Could steam be losing money out of this new revolutionary console??

 

http://86bb71d19d3bcb79effc-d9e6924a0395cb1b5b9f03b7640d26eb.r91.cf1.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/valve-video-game-console-piston-steam-box.jpg

 

 

Steams Piston Prototype, I might buy one myself if the price is right :thumbsup: . A full modular pc thats OS upgradable and not to mention hardware upgradable.

 

Edited October 5, 2013 by Thor.

[Dark0ne]

The Xi3 is retailing at $999. No word on the price point of any Valve offering.

[Werne]

I can tell you one thing, I won't be getting one. As much as bringing a PC into console world is a good thing, there are a few things that make me skeptical.

 

First is the actual hardware, something that small is bound to have weaker hardware than a gaming PC, you know how big graphics cards can be, or CPU coolers, RAM modules, etc and you know how much space those things occupy. Making all that fit inside a small case means sacrificing something, and that something is the cooling capability, there's a good reason desktops have a bunch of fans.

 

I can see SteamBox being a pretty coffee warmer on idle and an oven for baking muffins under load. I wonder how much of that will the hardware be able to take.

 

 

 

Second is the OS Valve is trying to push into the market. While a Linux-based SteamOS is a decent idea, I'm afraid it may be too soon for something like that. Linux has bad hardware compatibility with the "latest and greatest" gamers tend to use, it has bad graphics driver performance (at least the AMD drivers suck, Nvidia's should be good though) and there's only a handful of big game titles for Linux.

 

Not to mention that most people have no understanding of how a Linux distribution even works. Compatibility with the latest hardware is lagging behind and new drivers/firmware often needs to be compiled manually. Driver installation procedures are also quite complicated, software also tends to require some knowledge since some programs don't come in pre-compiled binaries.

 

How would a Windows user, one that got used to just plug the hardware in and install a driver off a disc, feel when you tell him he needs to recompile the kernel and adjust a part of the code in order for Linux to recognize his hardware? Or tell him he needs to download a tarball, make sure he has all the dependencies, then compile a kernel module in order to make his hardware work? And that is if there is a kernel module for his hardware. Most people don't even know what command-line is for god's sake and those people will have to use it to achieve some things.

 

And then there's this little fact that Valve will fork SteamOS from Ubuntu, an OS which will be using a display server that isn't supported by any video driver and likely won't be supported, Intel openly refused to support it. All distros agreed that the migration path is X > Wayland, but Canonical decided to make their own Mir display server. A few changes made by Canonical to the distro-specific libraries and SteamOS gets either stuck with no graphics driver, needs to make a lot of their own distro-specific changes, or will be forced to fork from another distro.

 

Linux a viable gaming platform? Nope, Linux still has too many complications to be taken seriously by today's casual users, and too many hardware compatibility issues to be taken seriously by today's gamers.

 

 

 

But anyway, SteamBox can either turn out well with Valve ironing out all the issues with Linux and not turning that box into an oven, or it can be a total disaster and a thing to laugh at for years to come. I'll wait and see, though I won't be expecting much.

[bben46]

The info I am seeing is they are using off the shelf components for their prototype steam box, and have just released a list of the exact components for various versions. And they will be user upgradeable. :thumbsup: - as well as a promise to release the actual CAD files if you want to make your own case just like theirs. But say anyone can assemble their own with readily available parts and any PC case will do.

 

Here is a link to the steam announcement. http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse#announcements/detail/2145128928746175450

 

As for the new steam controller, As It seems to be designed to work in place of the standard controllers already in use by millions of gamers, I expect that with proper drivers many of the current controllers will be useable as well. They have already said a mouse and keyboard will work with the steam box too.

 

They are encouraging hacking the steambox, controller and even the Steam OS. Hopefully this will shake up the game hardware makers and software developers to do something really new. :dance:

[JimboUK]

How much is going to cost? if they're not cheap then it's another Alienware, pay through the nose for something you could build yourself for a fraction of the price. I also agree with Werne, that thing at the top will be a fire hazard if you try and cram those specs into it.

[Thor.]

Notice the fan in the middle, they could be using heat pipes in between the modular pc components.

Edited October 6, 2013 by Thor.

[ZeroKing]

450W PSU? O_o

[Thor.]

They Don't have the overhead of having the huge motherboards most video cards come packed with, mostly I'm betting custom chips based off of the 780's. And not to mention everything else is custom built from the ground up to fit into the modular based setup. Maybe except he cpu, but that's even pushing it.

[Werne]

Notice the fan in the middle, they could be using heat pipes in between the modular pc components.

I have a CPU cooler that is about the size of that Piston Xi3 and it keeps my CPU, which is the second most powerful that will be installed into that thing (Haswell and Ivy Bridge are not that far off), at 3^oC below manufacturer's maximum temperature under load, card gets to some 65^oC. I also have 6 fans in total, four 120mm Antec TrueQuiet + CPU fan + GPU fan inside an Antec Solo II.

 

Now imagine a Titan and i7 4770 inside something that is 30.5cm x 31.5cm x 7.4cm in size, how much space exactly is left for coolers and fans? That's why I think SteamBox will be a miniature stove, it uses high-power desktop components while Xbox/PS use mobile components that use less power and heat up less, and they still have problems cooling the bloody things.

 

 

And as ZeroKing pointed out, it only has a 450W PSU which is interesting. According to Valve, the high-end SteamBox will have the following components:

 

Graphics: Nvidia GTX Titan

CPU: Intel Core i7 4770

RAM: 16GB DDR3-1600

HDD: 1TB Hybrid SSHD

PSU: 450W 80+ Gold

 

A 450W PSU would need to power all that. Me thinks that PSU will turn into fireworks. :confused:

 

Also...

They Don't have the overhead of having the huge motherboards most video cards come packed with, mostly I'm betting custom chips based off of the 780's. And not to mention everything else is custom built from the ground up to fit into the modular based setup. Maybe except he cpu, but that's even pushing it.

SteamBox, as presented by Valve, should be built from off-the-shelf PC hardware with an ability to rip components out and replace them with same components you put in your PC. That means no custom parts - stock hardware only without modifications regarding circuit-board size.

Edited October 6, 2013 by Werne

[Dark0ne]

I think it's highly unlikely that Valve would release a box that doesn't work/over heats/explodes. They'll have been testing this stuff for years so if they say it works, it works. Probably going to have to assume some sort of liquid cooling is going on.

 

Got to also remember that Nvidia are massively on board both in the driver department and the hardware department. They've got nothing to lose as it's all AMD in the new console generation. Valve and Nvidia have been working very closely.

 

The whole point of the Valve OS is to take the best parts of Linux's OS, the openness, and patch up the massive short comings of it: the driver support and game support. The number 1 issue isn't going to be the driver support, it's going to be the fact so many games aren't Linux compatible. The Valve assumption will be that if enough people sign up for the Steam Box then developers will want to make their games compatible with the platform. And in the mean-time they're doing this streaming thing, which sounds completely crap.