Steam Machines

So Valve had made big waves by announcing that they would be hitting the living rooms of gamers with a new console with a radically new designed controller system known as haptic feedback which replaces the tradition buttons with touch pad and as pointed out a haptic feedback system.

now when steam originally announced this system I was pretty much sceptical about this and how it really wouldn’t make that much of an impact on traditional gaming.

My original article when Valve announced their intentions of launching the steam box, taking into account back then Valve had been endorsing Piston which was suppose to be one of the machines to run steam OS

http://www.gamingrev.com/?p=1286

After going through the Press Release by Valve and the 13 partners they have picked out for their machine I am thinking to myself, “WHAT ARE YOU THINKING VALVE”

to give you a clear idea of what I mean here is a list of Machines which were on show and the specs for the machines which will be supporting Valves new OS for gaming.



Alienware

N/A

N/A Alternate

Price: $1,339

Storage: 1TB SSHD

CPU:Intel Core i5 4570 processor

GPU: Gigabyte GTX 760 handling the GPU work

RAM: 16GB of RAM

Price: $1,339

Price: $1,339 Storage: 1TB SSHD CPU:Intel Core i5 4570 processor GPU: Gigabyte GTX 760 handling the GPU work RAM: 16GB of RAM Price: $1,339 CyberPowerPC

Price: $499+

Storage: 500GB hard drive

CPU: 3.9GHz AMD A6-6400K processor and

GPU: AMD Radeon R9 270 discrete graphics,

RAM: 8GB of RAM and a in a

Price: $499+ Storage: 500GB hard drive CPU: 3.9GHz AMD A6-6400K processor and GPU: AMD Radeon R9 270 discrete graphics, RAM: 8GB of RAM and a in a Digital Storm

Price: $1,339

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570

GPU: Gigabyte GTX 760

RAM: 16GB

Storage: 1TB SSHD

Price: $1,339 CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 GPU: Gigabyte GTX 760 RAM: 16GB Storage: 1TB SSHD Falcon NW

Price: $1,799 – $6,000

CPU: Customizable

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan

RAM: 8 – 16GB

Storage: Up to 6TB

Price: $1,799 – $6,000 CPU: Customizable GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan RAM: 8 – 16GB Storage: Up to 6TB GigaByte

Price: TBD

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770R

GPU: Intel Iris Pro 5200

RAM: 2 x 4GB

Storage: 1TB SATA 6Gb/s

Price: TBD CPU: Intel Core i7-4770R GPU: Intel Iris Pro 5200 RAM: 2 x 4GB Storage: 1TB SATA 6Gb/s iBuyPower

Price: $499 +

CPU: Quad Core AMD or Intel

GPU: Radeon GCN Graphics

RAM: 8GB

Storage: 500GB +

Price: $499 + CPU: Quad Core AMD or Intel GPU: Radeon GCN Graphics RAM: 8GB Storage: 500GB + Maingear

N/A

N/A Materiel.net

Price: $1,098

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440

GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 760 OC

RAM: 8GB

Storage: 8GB + 1TB SSHD

Price: $1,098 CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 760 OC RAM: 8GB Storage: 8GB + 1TB SSHD Next Spa

Price: TBD

CPU: Intel Core i5

GPU: Nvidia GTX 760

RAM: 8GB

Storage: 1TB

Price: TBD CPU: Intel Core i5 GPU: Nvidia GTX 760 RAM: 8GB Storage: 1TB Origin PC

Price: TBD (configurable)

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K (3.9 – 4.6GHz)

GPU: 2 x 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan’s

RAM: Configurable

Storage: Configurable

Price: TBD (configurable) CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K (3.9 – 4.6GHz) GPU: 2 x 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan’s RAM: Configurable Storage: Configurable Scan

Price: $1,090

CPU: Intel Core i3-4000M

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M

RAM: 8GB

Storage: 500GB

Price: $1,090 CPU: Intel Core i3-4000M GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M RAM: 8GB Storage: 500GB Webhallen

N/A

N/A Zotac

N/A



After looking at the specs and the prices the steam machines are currently marketing themselves at, I am thinking SERIOUSLY?

Last year when Valve announced they wanted to bring steam to the living room it was their idea to launch a system for casual gamers whom can play steam games in their living room with little experience in PC gaming or building Gaming Rigs.

Now we look at the specs and we go from Very poor Specs

this day and age who in their right mind would use integrated graphics in a PC Console designed for PC gaming goes beyond belief.

The steam machine was suppose to be upgradable so having integrated graphics would make it more costly to upgrade as more than one part would have to purchased.

Now we go into the big boys Club with the high end machines price tagged at $6000, yes you have read that right, steam Boxes will be selling from some Valve partners at a cool $6000.

Looking at these Specs which Valve have released on their Press site its shocking to think that anyone in their right mind would spend this much money on a console which would be limited to running steam OS (Linux Based) which Valve had said should not be used to replace the PC.

How they expect the steam machine to compete against consoles at those Specs and prices goes beyond belief as the high end systems would be built by PC gamers at a fraction of the Price and still get the same experience or even better knowing they have saved couple hundred dollars or Pounds which ever country you are in.

At the end of day my sceptical mind still sees Valves attempt to join the club of living room gaming as a far off dream as their current products may sell to those with little knowledge of computers and system specifications but not really to majority of gamers.

Will these systems be a Success on the market?

In my humble opinion No, the reason for this are the following

* The Specs on Most these machines are very poor as PC games go

* The Prices set are too much for what the companies are offering in terms of hardware and performance

* The target audience is wrong as casual gamers will not spend that much money on a console (PC console) for the living room

* Too many partners making the steam box

