A 360 controller!
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Valve and Xi3 announce Steam-based mini-PC
- Thread starter ToyMachine228
- Start date
A 360 controller!
XtremeXpider
Member
Pay for a free OS? LoL.
No, pay for the Valve brand and support.
Many Linux distributors operate this way.
Steam box is designed to expand the 40m+ steam users, not replace them... If you think of this box in terms of a gaming laptop, its nearly perfect for expected performance of ~600gflops. Seriously it isn't like steam on your pc will stop working and since this is module, it could be upgraded for different levels of performance. I just hope they get the price down to 300. For a console gamer who might want to play pc games, it is a compelling product, especially because 100% of console gamers will not adopt ps4/xb3 at launch.
XtremeXpider
Member
And people are not dumb, Linux is free, anyone can build a PC with medium-high specs. Why to pay?
And they will pay for a low specs product, yes, of course. Console gamers who want to play PC games, want to play those games better than their consoles, not worse.
For PC manufactures and assemblers, including the Valve seal on their products might be worth the expense. That's all I'm saying.
Lots of gamers buy multiple consoles, I am not saying that steambox in this form will compete directly with those consoles, but it should end up expanding their market, heck if it expands the steam market by 50% (20m+ users) over the course of the next 5 years, to steam... That would be a huge success.
After installing windows 8 (15-20GB) and witcher 2 (15gb) and crisis (12gb) , you won't even have space for NFS.
Lol, seriously man
some benchmarks of A10 series here
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6332/amd-trinity-a10-5800k-a8-5600k-review-part-1/4
benchmarks on linux
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amd_a10_5800k&num=6
XtremeXpider
Member
Yes, but now, the "Valve seal" is a Windows PC. People who want Steam games just need to buy a current PC.
I can´t see the "need" for a new system, current system (Windows) is good for gaming.
It has an ssd and a hdd.
70$ is about what you pay for 64gb ssd. I assume that is what he meant, 70$ of 64GB SSD or get HDD of that value?
alexandros
Banned
chickdigger802
Banned
if it's just gonna be for gaming, than HDD is enough. The seconds of loading you save from SSD isn't really worth it atm.
Hmmm :/
After my own argument in another thread before about how the steam box likely isn't for 'us', I possibly should be less surprised at this form factor.
I don't really care about the steambox in and of itself if this is how it's shaping up, but do care about its potential impact on PC development and minimum spec target. How would a 500gflop gpu in a PC context as a min spec hold up for the next x years, next to what's going on in other new consoles also?
Not to mention I'm not sure how this will compare for value next to other consoles...if you more or less can't take your steam library onto it anyway.
After my own argument in another thread before about how the steam box likely isn't for 'us', I possibly should be less surprised at this form factor.
I don't really care about the steambox in and of itself if this is how it's shaping up, but do care about its potential impact on PC development and minimum spec target. How would a 500gflop gpu in a PC context as a min spec hold up for the next x years, next to what's going on in other new consoles also?
Not to mention I'm not sure how this will compare for value next to other consoles...if you more or less can't take your steam library onto it anyway.
Metal Gear?!
Member
More like Yajirobe
Yajirobe cut off Vegeta's tail. Was Yamcha strong enough to cut off Vegeta's tail?
NO. BECAUSE HE WAS FUCKING DEAD.
SneakyStephan
Banned
I just don't see the point... It's a portable x86 machine, good, but without a display and most likely with a tiny hdd.
Why not just get a netbook or other small laptop then?
It has an apu so it won't be any more modular than a laptop so that seems meaningless too.
An apu also can't drive a 1080p display in games at native res (horribly bandwidth bottlenecked, hence why you always see these APU benchmarks at 1366x768 to skew people's perception).
I'd see a lot more use in a smaller non gaming dirt cheap (150 euros or less) portable x86 cube that fits in a briefcase or small bag than in something that isn't viable as a gaming machine nor a desktop replacement nor a laptop replacement and the portability of which adds nothing over a small cheap laptop.
Unless this thing ends up costing less than 200 euros , then sure I guess I can see some use in it for some people.
Right now it seems about as appealing and neccesary as an automatic banana peeler.
lol!
Also, valve 'next-gen' games restricted by this...?
Oh well. Maybe that means their games can still come to current gen hw, which might ge a good or bad thing depending on your POV.
this looks more like an experimental hardware for entering the business than something aimed at mass market, there is no reason that there won't be yearly refreshes if it catches on, with these specs it won't last much other than for playing indie games which are basically bulk of linux titles anyway.
If valve releases a console or console spec that won't in some reasonably optimal fashionable play their own new games for a few years, they're just wasting people's time and money, frankly.
Noctua. Good man.
sechsterangriff
Member
Steambox will likely be just like Intel's Centrino. There may be a Valve branded official Steambox, but it will probably just end up being just a specific hardware configuration that publisher's on Steam should target by default.
Glass Rebel
Member
Also, valve 'next-gen' games restricted by this...?
Oh well. Maybe that means their games can still come to current gen hw, which might ge a good or bad thing depending on your POV.
Valve has been developing their games with high scalability in mind for quite a while now. Why is this a surprise?
holes, holes everywhere
immortal-joe
Member
I think it's reasonable to believe at this point that there will be multiple "Steam Boxes", and by that I mean smaller (not always this small) computers (PC or Linux) marketed specially towards having Steam on your HD TV, without building or buying the standard "powerful PC".
If this seems underwhelming, there's probably several more to choose from. My money's on Steam revealing "THE" big one at E3.
If this seems underwhelming, there's probably several more to choose from. My money's on Steam revealing "THE" big one at E3.
We haven't seen their 'next-gen' stuff so why would my expectations be calibrated like so? For all I knew they would be taking a big jump up on median spec in the future, pivoting on much more powerful console hw...But maybe not. Bear in mind, as a steam box, this wont be expected to merely offer a 'everything at low' experience. Their games will have to be pretty good on it.
Maybe this isn't meant as a PC or console competitor, maybe they're going to create a sub brand for steam, for very cheap, and relatively low spec games and apps, sort of their 'xbla'. Like the rumoured Xbox set top box or Apple TV. Maybe it's targeting the 'app' market. But if that's the case, it doesn't make sense for gabe to be talking about unifying the PC and living room (it wouldn't be a unified platform, cutting both ways at least), and this type of box would be way overkill in terms of price for that kind of market. The app-driven set top boxes are likely to be cheap, cheaper than full-fat consoles.
NemesisPrime
Banned
Install Windows on it and I might be interested.
Isn't the reason why Valve wants to create the Steambox so they don't have to deal with Windows?
you can do it yourself unless they deliberately block other OS installation.
Dreams-Visions
Member
speaking of which, does this kill Ouya in its crib?
I doubt it tbh. All depends on the pricing of course of this mini-PC but I'm primarily using the Ouya for XBMC which for a $100 with Android gaming, is not bad at all.
Totally different prices and targets I suppose
You would have to be alive for being able to get killed.
Glass Rebel
Member
Well, you don't know how powerful next-gen consoles will be
I doubt the Piston will play anything above Medium anyway, this isn't meant to be hooked up on a PC but a TV.
CrunchyFrog
Member
:lol I miss the heated DBZ debates of my youth
iamvin22
Industry Verified
doesnt project shield kill both ouya and steam box? ouya is dedicated to JUST android gaming and steambox has no access to android market but does have steam support BUT its linux based steam.
only downer i see with shield is you need a pc at home that has a kepler tech.
I just priced all these components at Newegg. $675 with the 560 and $630 with the 6870, and that's with one hard drive. "Exactly" nothing.
NemesisPrime
Banned
I see no reason to buy a Linux box when the Windows version offers me much more. Valves logic is totally flawed. Offer the customer something that does less?
alexandros
Banned
Let's speculate!
- If it is the Steambox
Dead on arrival for core gamers, at least in terms of next-gen competition. Assuming that the specs mentioned for the X7A are close to the Steambox specs, this system won't have the necessary horsepower to handle next-gen games, or even current PC games on high settings. The only way for it to compete would be if it could do a Voltron, ie connect a separate GPU module to the main module. But then what would be the price? If you are going for a box that will compete with next-gen consoles, why would you limit yourself to so low TDP? If you're not going to compete, what's the point? Highly confusing.
-If it isn't the Steambox
Then what the hell is it and why did Valve invest in this company? Is this supposed to compete against Microsoft's rumored set-top box? Do they want patents or other technical know-how? Is it just a random Valve investment because they think the project is cool? So weird.
So yeah, insert idunnolol.gif here
- If it is the Steambox
Dead on arrival for core gamers, at least in terms of next-gen competition. Assuming that the specs mentioned for the X7A are close to the Steambox specs, this system won't have the necessary horsepower to handle next-gen games, or even current PC games on high settings. The only way for it to compete would be if it could do a Voltron, ie connect a separate GPU module to the main module. But then what would be the price? If you are going for a box that will compete with next-gen consoles, why would you limit yourself to so low TDP? If you're not going to compete, what's the point? Highly confusing.
-If it isn't the Steambox
Then what the hell is it and why did Valve invest in this company? Is this supposed to compete against Microsoft's rumored set-top box? Do they want patents or other technical know-how? Is it just a random Valve investment because they think the project is cool? So weird.
So yeah, insert idunnolol.gif here
You're saying that on the assumption that the current Steam Linux library is all that will ever be supported.
We know even THQ have been working at converting their existing library to Linux. If they have, then I don't think it's a stretch to imagine other publishers and developers have been working at getting their games Linux ready ahead of Valve doing this.
Similar threads
- Locked