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ZOTAC announce their first Steam Machine (Intel Skylake CPU, GTX 970m)

tensuke

Member
Should have pretty good performance, 980M at least would have been slightly more palatable, especially considering the price will probably be relatively high. Still, I love the idea of Steam Machines, I hope these keep on rolling out.
 

KungFucius

King Snowflake
I still prefer to build my own, but I like that these things are available for those who do not. Plus they obviously look better than a mid tower. Once you have a PC hooked up to a big screen, you will never go back.
 

Nzyme32

Member
Wow very nice. I like the machines in this form factor, particularly for those that do not intend to upgrade much. A good solution for the higher price tier folk. The machines are not for a system builder like me but this is excellent! Go small form factors
 

Caayn

Member
Interesting, wonder how Skylake will perform.
I know nothing about this kinda stuff but am certainly interested in these Steam Machines
How does it stack up against a PS4?
Should be able to beat the PS4 at every game. This steambox is stronger than a PS4. The question is how much stronger will the Skylake CPU be.
So how smart of an idea is it to build a console using laptop parts anyways?
Ask MS and Sony.
 

martino

Member
Same.


That still seems optimistic. Depends on just what CPU it is. But I guess the 970M wont be quite cutting edge anymore. I'd still guess around $1000 at best. Gotta remember these are pre-built, sold-for-profit machines.

Yep should have said € (^^) so 800$ ...i don't expect it more a friend buyed a 970m /i7 laptop at 1300€ three month ago. Remove portable specific cost like 17" screen, keyboard etc and i assume you could already bring the price between 1000-1100 at the time.
 

Nzyme32

Member
It sounds great on paper but I still don't get who this for

Anyone who want an out of the box ready solution to play PC centric games. Surprising amount of steam users are actually in this bracket after getting involved via laptops but have no interest in building or are more compelled to a living room setup. Even with the reduced library there are a sizeable amount of folks focused on PC centric games, indie and early access. As it stands, those are well supported for current and new titles
 
"I don't get who the Steam Machines are for". Core gamers posting on a gaming forum can't seem to figure out who might want a compact gaming device for the living room.
 

Sendou

Member
Bulding your own PC is definitely the worst part about PC gaming I have had to experience. I hope Steamboxes bring a fresh breeze to the pre-build market. This seems like a decent machine depending on the price of course.
 

ekim

Member
Curious. What is the use case for you

Well I don't really have the space for dedicated PC+Monitor setup and I find the idea of the SteamOS appealing. So a console that is actually a PC that I can hookup to my TV is pretty appealing to me.
 

Seanspeed

Banned
Bulding your own PC is definitely the worst part about PC gaming I have had to experience.
You mean 'the best'? :p

I suppose it takes a certain sort of person, but I totally take far more pride and love from my PC since I chose the parts and built it myself. I doubt there's more than a small handful of people(if any) that have the exact same PC as me, which satisfies my burning desire(not really) for individuality.

Yep should have said € (^^) so 800$ ...i don't expect it more a friend buyed a 970m /i7 laptop at 1300€ three month ago. Remove portable specific cost like 17" screen, keyboard etc and i assume you could already bring the price between 1000-1100 at the time.
Good point. $800-900 would be awesome.
 
Neat. This is exactly how I envisioned the perfect Steam Machine. I hope someone goes a bit more adventurous with the form factor and decides to use the top of the line laptop GPU.
 
Would have to be a Linux application.

Doesn't have to run SteamOS.

You mean 'the best'? :p

I suppose it takes a certain sort of person, but I totally take far more pride and love from my PC since I chose the parts and built it myself. I doubt there's more than a small handful of people(if any) that have the exact same PC as me, which satisfies my burning desire(not really) for individuality.

I used to be like that, researching the best components, making sure they are colour coordinated, unboxing all the new components, building, cable managing, etc.. I don't know if it's because I'm getting older but I find it less and less appealing. I'd rather have a box that is smaller than most ITX machines can be that have dedicated PCI-E GPU that I can shove into my entertainment center.
 

Nzyme32

Member
How powerful the 970M is?
I'm not too fond of mobile graphics, can't they put desktop graphics on Steam Machines?

Check out some benchmarks, it is very impressive. Not sure on a desktop comparison. There are machines that can hold full sized cards but this one is the size of a Wii. Lappy parts are all that will fit and be thermally stable
 
Expected and I think it's a tad too expensive.

Eh, it's ok for such a powerful little machine. I think they can drop the price to $899 until November and it will surely come with some games as a pack-in to sweeten the deal. By the way, this is a really interesting tidbit:

Zotac also mentioned that Valve "wanted" the new round of Steam Machines to all have HDMI input, because Steam Machine will offer the ability to control and manage your television feed as well as offer the ability to record shows.
 
D

Deleted member 125677

Unconfirmed Member
1000 american dollahs. To be expected though, pretty killer specs!
 
A smooth but "cinematic" experience I'm sure.
Yeah. They'd better not be trying to advertise Steam machines like this. It's really misleading. You will not be playing anything visually impressive at ultra settings and 4K resolution all while maintaining a smooth framerate with these specs.

I mean, those are impressive specs for the price, but starting out by lying upfront like that is something consoles would do.
 
Check out some benchmarks, it is very impressive. Not sure on a desktop comparison. There are machines that can hold full sized cards but this one is the size of a Wii. Lappy parts are all that will fit and be thermally stable

As small as the Wii?
Interesting..

No.

It uses the same Maxwell core as the 970/980 but scaled back.

It's somewhere between the 960 and 970 power wise.

Hmm, I think it's good enough.
$999 though, a bit overpriced.
 

Piers

Member
My bet: $499.99.
Graphics card alone would make this at least a bit more expensive than consoles, right? Hopefully not.

Nice and sleek design imo

Edit:
Build your own, folks.
 

Mikey Jr.

Member
These manufacturs can't subsidise the price, plus they have to make a profit on hardware.

Also, can you install origin on these machines? Can you play ea games?
 
These manufacturs can't subsidise the price, plus they have to make a profit on hardware.

Also, can you install origin on these machines? Can you play ea games?

That's up to EA. If they release Linux versions of their games, there's nothing stopping you from playing them through Big Picture mode.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
It costs $999.

Exactly what I expected, and what I feel is the opposite direction of what Steam machines were supposed to be about.

Show me the models that are supposed to compete on pricing with consoles, because I thought that was the whole idea? To be an inexpensive living room box, that's easy to use, and has more power than a console. $1k is ridiculous.
 

martino

Member
How powerful the 970M is?
I'm not too fond of mobile graphics, can't they put desktop graphics on Steam Machines?

it's 2.3 tflops if i remenber well.

On paper it's good for 1080p with >ps4 settings(except maybe texture in some cases) in most if not all multiplats games (and probably more fps with most cpu)
 
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