Steam Machine prototype: laying out Valve’s slimline machine (pictures of the Steambox's parts insid - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Kondor;42557015]no shit i can tell that it's a storage device is used for storage but it's overkill[/QUOTE] [img]http://puu.sh/4ST65.png[/img] I have 21 games installed (granted, most of them are 10+ GB). I manage with a 500GB harddrive, but 1TB would be less bothersome if you don't want to uninstall stuff to make room.

[QUOTE=Map in a box;42558400]I wonder what the 7seg is for.[/QUOTE] Hacker/Modder's/Beta-Tester's Board? Perchance to display low level hardware error codes?

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;42559661]Until nvidia or amd start subsidizing the costs for bulk/loyalty programs of some sort . Everyone behind this knows cost will be a huge, huge deal. [editline]17th October 2013[/editline] This is also a top of the line model too[/QUOTE] Even if Valve broke even or lost a little on the consoles, the lower price would mean more sales (Especially to people interested in consoles and dont have a lot of Steam experience), and those people in turn would invest a lot more money into games on Steam over the years. In any case I'm sure Valve have enough in their cash reserves to cover any outcome.

I wonder, with SSDs getting better and better... at what point will we go back to having a swap partition on an SSD? The main disadvantage of Swap Space was the shit read/write times, but SSDs for the most part solve that.

[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;42563362]I wonder, with SSDs getting better and better... at what point will we go back to having a swap partition on an SSD? The main disadvantage of Swap Space was the shit read/write times, but SSDs for the most part solve that.[/QUOTE] Swap is used as a shitty solution to lack of RAM in most cases. Only truly legitimate use of it for the average user is for hibernation.

i keep feeding 1TB hard drives to my steam games and they keep devouring them [editline]18th October 2013[/editline] send help + money

[QUOTE=Van-man;42564161]Swap is used as a shitty solution to lack of RAM in most cases. Only truly legitimate use of it for the average user is for hibernation.[/QUOTE] I know but these days not many people pay much attention to swap because ram is getting more accessible and cheaper. At the point that SSDs start phasing out platter drives, will swap become more practical due to the insanely superior read/write time in comparison to platter drives?

A few things I'd like to get across is for people to remember that this is the prototype specifications. These are NOT the Steam Machines that will be on sale, although they might eventually become that. These are the machines that'll be sent to testers. And regarding overheating, I'd like to hear from some of you guys that rated disagree. Why would it not overheat?

[QUOTE=Map in a box;42558400]I wonder what the 7seg is for.[/QUOTE] a lot of asus motherboards now have it. instead of beeping, it shows an error code for when something goes wrong while booting up.

[QUOTE=Ericson666;42559648]Pretty sure the graphics card alone costs double that[/QUOTE] guys it's going to be subsidized by Steam sales, do you know the PS3 costed $1000 to make but was subsidized by game sales? That's how the console industry works, it's low prices are due to subsidization.

[QUOTE=The Baconator;42565724]guys it's going to be subsidized by Steam sales, do you know the PS3 costed $1000 to make but was subsidized by game sales? That's how the console industry works, it's low prices are due to subsidization.[/QUOTE] They're still taking a crazy risk, though. They're still starting off a higher parts price, and the games they sell aren't platform exclusive.

[QUOTE=ewitwins;42559445]The absolutely insane thing about this is the fact that all of the specs will be as close to completely dedicated as you can get for a pc, considering how little power performance Linux uses. It still blows my mind that Linux doesn't need a hard drive to run, that it can simply run in your RAM, as long as you don't run any programs.[/QUOTE] Eh if you just took the NT kernel, threw in a basic win32api, a directX api on top of that you could probably run it off of ram as well and bring the whole thing down to a very small size.

[QUOTE=latin_geek;42566714]They're still taking a crazy risk, though. They're still starting off a higher parts price, and the games they sell aren't platform exclusive.[/QUOTE] you'd be surprised at the scope of possibilities that valve has with its reputation and loyalty. i'm considering just buying one of these instead of getting a new PC, if the price is right, and i'm sure i'm not alone.

[QUOTE=wraithcat;42567395]Eh if you just took the NT kernel, threw in a basic win32api, a directX api on top of that you could probably run it off of ram as well and bring the whole thing down to a very small size.[/QUOTE] Not necessarily. The Xbox did that though

[QUOTE=latin_geek;42566714]They're still taking a crazy risk, though. They're still starting off a higher parts price, and the games they sell aren't platform exclusive.[/QUOTE] I find it funny that people assume this is going to be the main steambox they plan on selling This is just the prototype system that is as stupid high end as possible to erase hardware from the equation entirely and to make sure it lasts. They also probably can afford to just do this at this high end level, so why not? The actual "enthusiast" steam boxes will likely be at a bit lower level than this, and the "standard" level of steam boxes will probably be much lower end and smaller as well, but still good enough to max most current games out. That said I still don't doubt that Valve will subsidize these with the expectation that you run steam on it. It could be very easy for people though to use Steambox as a way to get a stupid cheap gaming PC and then just running windows on them, so it'd be a risk if they subsidized because of that alone (open platforms aren't very friendly to subsidized costs).

I'd like to know what size the case is so I can swap that hybrid thing for a real SSD and Hard Drive.

[QUOTE=RoboChimp;42572092]I'd like to know what size the case is so I can swap that hybrid thing for a real SSD and Hard Drive.[/QUOTE] why

[QUOTE=NixNax123;42572461]why[/QUOTE]So it boots up faster and has 4TB of space. If it's going to have a 780 you would assume it would be used a fair bit.

Does it still cost over 1000$

[QUOTE=RoboChimp;42572092]I'd like to know what size the case is so I can swap that hybrid thing for a real SSD and Hard Drive.[/QUOTE] Most likely only has space for one 2.5" drive.

[QUOTE=Kondor;42557015]no shit i can tell that it's a storage device is used for storage but it's overkill[/QUOTE] [U][B]6[/B][/U] TB is overkill.

[QUOTE=Bitl;42574444][U][B]6[/B][/U] TB is overkill.[/QUOTE] That's a challenge.

[QUOTE=Crazy;42573506]Does it still cost over 1000$[/QUOTE] That's Xi3's you are thinking off. But Valves steam machine is going to be expensive too.

[QUOTE=Bitl;42574444][U][B]6[/B][/U] TB is overkill.[/QUOTE] I'm obligated to disagree, it would at least let me have every game I own installed even if I didn't play them.

Would be sweet if they could recommend certain boxes based on a game-related search in the site, could be so convenient, knowing valve they'll probably do it

Here's a question. Would it be possible to purchase one of these machines that has a titan and swap out my evga gtx 660 with it? Therefore upgrading my desktop gpu and still having a decent card within my steambox?

[QUOTE=CottonTM;42576717]Here's a question. Would it be possible to purchase one of these machines that has a titan and swap out my evga gtx 660 with it? Therefore upgrading my desktop gpu and still having a decent card within my steambox?[/QUOTE] Doubt they'll release the Titan version so cheap that what you propose is worth it.

[QUOTE=Antimuffin;42574889]That's Xi3's you are thinking off. But Valves steam machine is going to be expensive too.[/QUOTE] The thing that matters is that is it more affordable to buy a steambox than build your own computer? We'll see how this goes. I personally don't have much interest in this.

[QUOTE=Van-man;42574870]That's a challenge.[/QUOTE] more like, that's a lot of porn

[QUOTE=latin_geek;42566714]They're still taking a crazy risk, though. They're still starting off a higher parts price, and the games they sell aren't platform exclusive.[/QUOTE] but Steam sales are platform exclusive