SteamBox specifications revealed

[Thor.]

I think the media has mislead the public into thinking the parts are right off the shelf, when in fact the parts will be manufactured and built for the device that's being presented, I highly doubt something that small is using parts from the shelf, there is no video card that small that can fit in a tiny cube like the piston that i know of. Especially the specs they are presenting.

[Werne]

I think the media has mislead the public into thinking the parts are right off the shelf, when in fact the parts will be manufactured and built for the device that's being presented, I highly doubt something that small is using parts from the shelf, there is no video card that small that can fit in a tiny cube like the piston that i know of. Especially the specs they are presenting.

Quoting Valve's announcement:

 

The prototype machine is a high-end, high-performance box, built out of off-the-shelf PC parts. It is also fully upgradable, allowing any user to swap out the GPU, hard drive, CPU, even the motherboard if you really want to. Apart from the custom enclosure, anyone can go and build exactly the same machine by shopping for components and assembling it themselves. And we expect that at least a few people will do just that. (We'll also share the source CAD files for our enclosure, in case people want to replicate it as well.)

If the prototype is built from off-the-shelf parts, do you really think they'll just go around changing everything prior to releasing the thing? No, you test the hardware you're going to use, you don't go around testing card A, B and C if you're going to put card D inside.

 

By the way, Piston is not SteamBox, Piston is twice if not three times smaller than the size of SteamBox, here's another quote from Valve's announcement:

 

Dimensions: approx. 12 x 12.4 x 2.9 in high

Assuming those are in inches, the size in cm should be cca 30.5cm x 31.5cm x 7.4cm. Piston is not that big.

 

 

 

@Dark0ne But liquid-cooling would make SteamBox's price skyrocket, cheapest CPU liquid-cooling system worth anything is 100$, having one for multiple components would only raise the price. And I'm still very skeptical about the 450W PSU, I have much less power-hungry components on a 650W PSU.

 

It's always best to have some breathing room when regarding PSUs, having a PC that draws 350W working on a 650W PSU makes for a cool and quiet power supply that allows for further hardware upgrades. Cooler PSU could make a big difference in a small box.

 

Also, regarding the OS, Linux is already gaining driver support rapidly, regardless of the SteamOS. The problem arises with the fact that Valve is forgetting one thing - Linux isn't Windows. Yes, there is a lack of games for it, but Linux gets more and more games every day so it'll eventually get to a point where Linux and Windows are on equal terms regarding games. But that won't solve the fact that right now, more than half of the desktop/console users got no idea what Linux is, much less how to use it. I see at least five "Linux ate my RAM" and "Linux can't detect my other drives" and "How do I install anything" threads per-day on distro forums, that's how much people know about Linux.

 

Nvidia are massively on board both in the driver department and the hardware department.

And yet their cards go bonkers when inserted into a Linux box. :tongue:

 

Truth be told, Nvidia are arseholes. They deliberately neglected the FLOSS Noveau driver, they released no hardware specs to the Noveau developers, they never helped the open-source driver in any way. Now that Linux might be a competitive gaming platform, they shared little to no specs (for old cards), barely enough to make the cards work at all before you install their proprietary driver.

 

AMD cards have a pretty good FLOSS driver (Radeon), AMD regularly releases specs to driver developers, they even have some of their own programmers working on that driver and have a very stable proprietary driver (fglrx). Soon after the 7xxx series came out, radeon driver was supporting those cards.

 

Yet Valve, who has been pushing the freedom, open-source nature and stability of Linux, gets Nvidia cards which have a rather unstable proprietary Linux drivers, and are made by the most closed graphics-manufacturing company so far that doesn't care at all about the freedom and being open. So much for stability, freedom and openness from Valve. :laugh:

Edited October 6, 2013 by Werne

[JimboUK]

I think the media has mislead the public into thinking the parts are right off the shelf, when in fact the parts will be manufactured and built for the device that's being presented, I highly doubt something that small is using parts from the shelf, there is no video card that small that can fit in a tiny cube like the piston that i know of. Especially the specs they are presenting.

 

Or it could be that the thing in original post isn't what it's going to be, the article you linked to does say they've not shown the box yet. I honestly can't see how all that stuff is going to fit in there, custom parts and liquid cooling will make it very expensive which begs the question why buy one of those rather than a proper PC?

[bben46]

Based on stuff I have seen, there is no one box so they can't show 'THE' box. They say there will be multiple manufacturers. The steam box looks to me more like it is supposed to be intended as an industry standard rather than a specific build.

The thing we have seen called the Steam Piston - is a prototype made by one of the people who will may be making steam 'boxes'. and is NOT endorsed by Valve (yet)

 

As a roll your own computer builder we have long called a computer case a box. As for motherboards, the Piston looks like it would be a good fit for a micro ATX form factor motherboard. Standard Dimensions are between 171.45mm square and 244mm square ( 6.75 inches square up to 9.6 inches square. ) Pics of a Piston disassembled - https://www.google.com/search?q=valve+piston&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=zSo&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=XU9RUovLG4aE9QTq7oGYCA&ved=0CDQQsAQ&biw=1240&bih=721&dpr=1.3

 

The biggest power hog would be the video card and if they are using a low end series - yes, 450 Watts could work. If they are using the latest Titan video card - no. (BTW a High end Titan can cost OVER US$1000 by itself) I would like to see a bigger PS for my own build And I imagine I will build my own steam box if Linux games ever reach a critical mass making it actually useful. I seriously doubt I will use the piston form factor though.

 

Looking at the specs that Valve has shown, the 'steam box' will be a fairly generic mid to high end gaming desktop - fairly similar to the build I am starting on currently - Just running a custom version of a Linux Distribution.

[blove]

That Piston enclosure is WAY too small for a mATX and probably even ITX. It looks like a proprietary motherboard with two daughterboards to me. Desktop or mobile CPU with integrated graphics.

[Thor.]

Steambox is still a unknown, Piston is not in association with steam.

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/167942-xi3s-piston-console-is-an-overpriced-1000-living-room-pc-without-a-gamepad-not-a-steam-machine

[JimboUK]

Based on stuff I have seen, there is no one box so they can't show 'THE' box. They say there will be multiple manufacturers. The steam box looks to me more like it is supposed to be intended as an industry standard rather than a specific build.

The thing we have seen called the Steam Piston - is a prototype made by one of the people who will may be making steam 'boxes'. and is NOT endorsed by Valve (yet)

 

As a roll your own computer builder we have long called a computer case a box. As for motherboards, the Piston looks like it would be a good fit for a micro ATX form factor motherboard. Standard Dimensions are between 171.45mm square and 244mm square ( 6.75 inches square up to 9.6 inches square. ) Pics of a Piston disassembled - https://www.google.com/search?q=valve+piston&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=zSo&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=XU9RUovLG4aE9QTq7oGYCA&ved=0CDQQsAQ&biw=1240&bih=721&dpr=1.3

 

The biggest power hog would be the video card and if they are using a low end series - yes, 450 Watts could work. If they are using the latest Titan video card - no. (BTW a High end Titan can cost OVER US$1000 by itself) I would like to see a bigger PS for my own build And I imagine I will build my own steam box if Linux games ever reach a critical mass making it actually useful. I seriously doubt I will use the piston form factor though.

 

Looking at the specs that Valve has shown, the 'steam box' will be a fairly generic mid to high end gaming desktop - fairly similar to the build I am starting on currently - Just running a custom version of a Linux Distribution.

 

It's sounding like the PCs answer to the 3DO.

 

 

Steambox is still a unknown, Piston is not in association with steam.

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/167942-xi3s-piston-console-is-an-overpriced-1000-living-room-pc-without-a-gamepad-not-a-steam-machine

 

Now that makes sense, seriously, the parts suggested were never going to fit in there.

[Lisnpuppy]

Again....as I said about the controller...I am excited bout this. Someone trying new things and new competition for the "couch gaming position." The box will be made and allowed to be made by different manufactures and so will come in a variety of specs and prices. You can upgrade it yourself (don't recall doing that with a traditional console) and that alone makes it interesting. Linux I don't know much about but something other than window's or mac's tech would be welcome on the market.

 

I have no clue if this will work or if it will require more tweaking. I would love to see it work. Competition in this area can only improve the end result of all of this area of gaming. Honestly I believe there will be "boxes" that are much better than the current competition and around a similar price. So....I am kinda looking forward to seeing what happens. It won't replace my PC but it would be a nice option for the living room and the kids.

[Vagrant0]

Looks like an oven to me.

[JimboUK]

The more I read about this the more confused I'm getting, who is this aimed at? console gamers aren't going to want to spend a fortune and get involved with swapping bits in and out, those that would will already have a gaming PC. Console gamers on the whole aren't interested in hardware, they want to put the disk in and play, start talking to them about GPUs and their eyes glaze over.

 

There's no reason whatsoever for PC gamers to buy one, we already have a box we can upgrade that works just fine on a TV. Those who want a second gaming PC for the living room have nothing stopping them from building/buying one now.