Reputation from Eric - Linus Tech Tips

Eric reacted to Cynagen in What’s Inside Valve’s Prototype STEAM Console? February 26, 2023

You know me? Or know of me? LOL

Eric got a reaction from Cynagen in What’s Inside Valve’s Prototype STEAM Console? February 26, 2023

I was in a chat group people on Steam to discuss the machines amongst ourselves, I believe we had over 120+ people confirmed with the same config: Intel Core i5 4570, 16GB of RAM, 1TB Seagate SSHD and Zotac reference GTX 780. I too remember hearing that were were supposed to be higher and lower end models, but I hadn't seen or heard about any of those from other testers. As far the CPU thermals go, they were completely fine, I don't recall specific numbers but it was well within what I would consider comfortable range for CPUs of that generation, the GPU is what struggled the most. with the plastic shroud cover on top, it would very easily idle at 60-65c with a fan speed usually in the 30-40% range and any gaming load promising it would hit 80c with a very particularly noisy fan, given that it was a blower style.

Eric reacted to Cynagen in What’s Inside Valve’s Prototype STEAM Console? February 26, 2023

Hey, #58 here, there was a bit wrong mentioned in the video. I still have the majority of my hardware, including my blown up GPU (I mined on it and blew the power delivery). I had a Kotaku article on my page trying to link up with all the other beta testers: kotaku.com steam-machine-beta-user-trying-to-find-all-300-of-his-l-1483650714

I want to see the countersunk hole on the top to ID this one myself and see if we can help connect you with it's original owner for a more detailed history on the system and how it ended up where it did. Eric above is #210 #94 for example. Truth be told, I used the Steam Machine as my daily driver for a couple months after my AMD Bulldozer died (8120 OC'd to 8350, on a cheap gaming board that blew up, noticing a pattern? LOL)

The 300 page I built has since been taken down, but I'd be willing to answer questions, and bring/send a -still working- model (sans the blown GTX780) to you to check out with beta controller if you wanted! Honestly, I want to take it and all my other discontinued/prototype Steam gear through Valve HQ to hopefully get it all signed by staff who helped develop it. Maybe someday.

Currently at work right now as I post this, so here's to hoping InfoSec wasn't watching and getting upset at me posting on forums, I'll check back in later tonight and provide some photos (when I can upload stuff without getting InfoSec's immediate attention).

@PixelButts, that is indeed a prototype! It is not ID'd for the Beta (which had the vent holes countersunk, that's a rare find outside Valve!)

Add't edit: Stopped the video and zoomed in for a look, the system LTT has now is either #228 or #238 looks like. Just checked my data, and 228 owner never checked in with me looks like... however 238 did.

https://web.archive.org/web/20160322031810/http://cynagen.com/steam-machines/

@Eric, I misidentified your machine! You ARE #94... I misremembered how the holes were drilled, had to archive my own page! WHOOPS!

Eric got a reaction from swimtome in What’s Inside Valve’s Prototype STEAM Console? February 26, 2023

Hey! Finally a video I actually have some hands on experience with, for once.

I was one of the 300 testers, I still have my box and the case for the Steam Machine, but I had to part it out because the SFX PSU died and I was using the Steam Machine as my primary PC, SFX PSUs were not cheap, so I ended up doing a case transfer with it. That led me to the issue you guys talked about in the video, the rear plate for the GPU. My 780 was listed as a Zotac model, so I actually got into contact with a couple of people over there, who were more than willing to send me the bracket for the 780 so I could use it in a normal case.

There were some units made like this that were actually sent to game devs for testing/dev purposes, but the "300" units sent to the mostly randomly selected people and were sent in heavy wooden crates (photo 1),each have a small engraving on the lid of one of the specific vent holes, as there were 300 of them, the mark indicated which number machine you had, I believe mine was unit 094. (photo 2) I couldn't see the mark too well in your video, but you appear to have gotten one of the 300 beta units sent to a person.

A couple of other things mentioned in the video: We were encouraged to open up the Steam Machine, even if you received one of these, doing any sort of reporting or actual testing was not required at all. I was involved with a Jira forum they gave us access to, to report any issues, but otherwise Valve was extremely hands off. I remember being told something to the effect of.. "the Steam Machine remains property of Valve, but it is yours to do with as you wish". This included some people who installed Windows on it immediately. Also, there was some thought given to a little upgrading, because the mount for the drives (photo 4) had an additional SATA power and Data cable routed to it, I expanded my Steam Machine with a 256GB SSD, but my model and many other testers came with a 1TB Seagate SSHD 2.5" drive. The whole top cover can be removed with only a single philips, they definitely didn't try to deter anyone from opening it up.

As far the layout of the GPU goes, it originally came with a plastic top cover piece (photo 3), but the vast majority of testers I know actually removed it for far better thermals, but it would technically press fit against the GPU power cables and keep them in place that way.

(I also still have the original SteamOS recovery stick that came with mine, if you want me to dump it or send it to LTT staff, let me know!)

Here's a full imgur album I made when I received mine: https://imgur.com/gallery/5bnyi

Eric reacted to PixelButts in What’s Inside Valve’s Prototype STEAM Console? February 26, 2023

I wasn't part of that group but I was part of the people trying to get their hands on one. All machines were the same, though there was an idea that we'd get 3 ranges of spec machines in it (i3, i5, i7). Though as can be seen, only 1 config ever got made formally for testers.

For what it's worth, like with Stadia, I also saved a number of things for this machine in case I ever got one and I almost did too but lost it to an ebay bot. I've gone ahead and thrown some of the old installers I've saved from a while back onto archive.org in case anyone wants em. I know there's some I don't have, but I think the effort counts. I also cant guarantee it will fix the issues LMG had with theirs, since that sounds like hardware failure to me, but if they feel like giving it another swing or 5:

https://archive.org/details/steamos-archive

Edit: I'd like a backup of that recovery USB if you're up for it.

Some images of the white body prototypes, including the listing I almost got. You'll notice, the drilled hole is missing, which signified its 1 of 300 IDs. There were for sure more than 300 of these, but for the beta program, it was 300, which makes that ebay listing I lost all the more interesting as it looks to be a prototype top mixed with the beta's bottom.

Eric got a reaction from TrueNerdTastic in What’s Inside Valve’s Prototype STEAM Console? February 26, 2023

Hey! Finally a video I actually have some hands on experience with, for once.

I was one of the 300 testers, I still have my box and the case for the Steam Machine, but I had to part it out because the SFX PSU died and I was using the Steam Machine as my primary PC, SFX PSUs were not cheap, so I ended up doing a case transfer with it. That led me to the issue you guys talked about in the video, the rear plate for the GPU. My 780 was listed as a Zotac model, so I actually got into contact with a couple of people over there, who were more than willing to send me the bracket for the 780 so I could use it in a normal case.

There were some units made like this that were actually sent to game devs for testing/dev purposes, but the "300" units sent to the mostly randomly selected people and were sent in heavy wooden crates (photo 1),each have a small engraving on the lid of one of the specific vent holes, as there were 300 of them, the mark indicated which number machine you had, I believe mine was unit 094. (photo 2) I couldn't see the mark too well in your video, but you appear to have gotten one of the 300 beta units sent to a person.

A couple of other things mentioned in the video: We were encouraged to open up the Steam Machine, even if you received one of these, doing any sort of reporting or actual testing was not required at all. I was involved with a Jira forum they gave us access to, to report any issues, but otherwise Valve was extremely hands off. I remember being told something to the effect of.. "the Steam Machine remains property of Valve, but it is yours to do with as you wish". This included some people who installed Windows on it immediately. Also, there was some thought given to a little upgrading, because the mount for the drives (photo 4) had an additional SATA power and Data cable routed to it, I expanded my Steam Machine with a 256GB SSD, but my model and many other testers came with a 1TB Seagate SSHD 2.5" drive. The whole top cover can be removed with only a single philips, they definitely didn't try to deter anyone from opening it up.

As far the layout of the GPU goes, it originally came with a plastic top cover piece (photo 3), but the vast majority of testers I know actually removed it for far better thermals, but it would technically press fit against the GPU power cables and keep them in place that way.

(I also still have the original SteamOS recovery stick that came with mine, if you want me to dump it or send it to LTT staff, let me know!)

Here's a full imgur album I made when I received mine: https://imgur.com/gallery/5bnyi

Eric got a reaction from papajo in What’s Inside Valve’s Prototype STEAM Console? February 25, 2023

Hey! Finally a video I actually have some hands on experience with, for once.

I was one of the 300 testers, I still have my box and the case for the Steam Machine, but I had to part it out because the SFX PSU died and I was using the Steam Machine as my primary PC, SFX PSUs were not cheap, so I ended up doing a case transfer with it. That led me to the issue you guys talked about in the video, the rear plate for the GPU. My 780 was listed as a Zotac model, so I actually got into contact with a couple of people over there, who were more than willing to send me the bracket for the 780 so I could use it in a normal case.

There were some units made like this that were actually sent to game devs for testing/dev purposes, but the "300" units sent to the mostly randomly selected people and were sent in heavy wooden crates (photo 1),each have a small engraving on the lid of one of the specific vent holes, as there were 300 of them, the mark indicated which number machine you had, I believe mine was unit 094. (photo 2) I couldn't see the mark too well in your video, but you appear to have gotten one of the 300 beta units sent to a person.

A couple of other things mentioned in the video: We were encouraged to open up the Steam Machine, even if you received one of these, doing any sort of reporting or actual testing was not required at all. I was involved with a Jira forum they gave us access to, to report any issues, but otherwise Valve was extremely hands off. I remember being told something to the effect of.. "the Steam Machine remains property of Valve, but it is yours to do with as you wish". This included some people who installed Windows on it immediately. Also, there was some thought given to a little upgrading, because the mount for the drives (photo 4) had an additional SATA power and Data cable routed to it, I expanded my Steam Machine with a 256GB SSD, but my model and many other testers came with a 1TB Seagate SSHD 2.5" drive. The whole top cover can be removed with only a single philips, they definitely didn't try to deter anyone from opening it up.

As far the layout of the GPU goes, it originally came with a plastic top cover piece (photo 3), but the vast majority of testers I know actually removed it for far better thermals, but it would technically press fit against the GPU power cables and keep them in place that way.

(I also still have the original SteamOS recovery stick that came with mine, if you want me to dump it or send it to LTT staff, let me know!)

Here's a full imgur album I made when I received mine: https://imgur.com/gallery/5bnyi

Eric got a reaction from Middcore in What’s Inside Valve’s Prototype STEAM Console? February 25, 2023

Hey! Finally a video I actually have some hands on experience with, for once.

I was one of the 300 testers, I still have my box and the case for the Steam Machine, but I had to part it out because the SFX PSU died and I was using the Steam Machine as my primary PC, SFX PSUs were not cheap, so I ended up doing a case transfer with it. That led me to the issue you guys talked about in the video, the rear plate for the GPU. My 780 was listed as a Zotac model, so I actually got into contact with a couple of people over there, who were more than willing to send me the bracket for the 780 so I could use it in a normal case.

There were some units made like this that were actually sent to game devs for testing/dev purposes, but the "300" units sent to the mostly randomly selected people and were sent in heavy wooden crates (photo 1),each have a small engraving on the lid of one of the specific vent holes, as there were 300 of them, the mark indicated which number machine you had, I believe mine was unit 094. (photo 2) I couldn't see the mark too well in your video, but you appear to have gotten one of the 300 beta units sent to a person.

A couple of other things mentioned in the video: We were encouraged to open up the Steam Machine, even if you received one of these, doing any sort of reporting or actual testing was not required at all. I was involved with a Jira forum they gave us access to, to report any issues, but otherwise Valve was extremely hands off. I remember being told something to the effect of.. "the Steam Machine remains property of Valve, but it is yours to do with as you wish". This included some people who installed Windows on it immediately. Also, there was some thought given to a little upgrading, because the mount for the drives (photo 4) had an additional SATA power and Data cable routed to it, I expanded my Steam Machine with a 256GB SSD, but my model and many other testers came with a 1TB Seagate SSHD 2.5" drive. The whole top cover can be removed with only a single philips, they definitely didn't try to deter anyone from opening it up.

As far the layout of the GPU goes, it originally came with a plastic top cover piece (photo 3), but the vast majority of testers I know actually removed it for far better thermals, but it would technically press fit against the GPU power cables and keep them in place that way.

(I also still have the original SteamOS recovery stick that came with mine, if you want me to dump it or send it to LTT staff, let me know!)

Here's a full imgur album I made when I received mine: https://imgur.com/gallery/5bnyi

Eric got a reaction from SaperPL in What’s Inside Valve’s Prototype STEAM Console? February 25, 2023

I was in a chat group people on Steam to discuss the machines amongst ourselves, I believe we had over 120+ people confirmed with the same config: Intel Core i5 4570, 16GB of RAM, 1TB Seagate SSHD and Zotac reference GTX 780. I too remember hearing that were were supposed to be higher and lower end models, but I hadn't seen or heard about any of those from other testers. As far the CPU thermals go, they were completely fine, I don't recall specific numbers but it was well within what I would consider comfortable range for CPUs of that generation, the GPU is what struggled the most. with the plastic shroud cover on top, it would very easily idle at 60-65c with a fan speed usually in the 30-40% range and any gaming load promising it would hit 80c with a very particularly noisy fan, given that it was a blower style.

Eric got a reaction from Needfuldoer in What’s Inside Valve’s Prototype STEAM Console? February 25, 2023

Hey! Finally a video I actually have some hands on experience with, for once.

I was one of the 300 testers, I still have my box and the case for the Steam Machine, but I had to part it out because the SFX PSU died and I was using the Steam Machine as my primary PC, SFX PSUs were not cheap, so I ended up doing a case transfer with it. That led me to the issue you guys talked about in the video, the rear plate for the GPU. My 780 was listed as a Zotac model, so I actually got into contact with a couple of people over there, who were more than willing to send me the bracket for the 780 so I could use it in a normal case.

There were some units made like this that were actually sent to game devs for testing/dev purposes, but the "300" units sent to the mostly randomly selected people and were sent in heavy wooden crates (photo 1),each have a small engraving on the lid of one of the specific vent holes, as there were 300 of them, the mark indicated which number machine you had, I believe mine was unit 094. (photo 2) I couldn't see the mark too well in your video, but you appear to have gotten one of the 300 beta units sent to a person.

A couple of other things mentioned in the video: We were encouraged to open up the Steam Machine, even if you received one of these, doing any sort of reporting or actual testing was not required at all. I was involved with a Jira forum they gave us access to, to report any issues, but otherwise Valve was extremely hands off. I remember being told something to the effect of.. "the Steam Machine remains property of Valve, but it is yours to do with as you wish". This included some people who installed Windows on it immediately. Also, there was some thought given to a little upgrading, because the mount for the drives (photo 4) had an additional SATA power and Data cable routed to it, I expanded my Steam Machine with a 256GB SSD, but my model and many other testers came with a 1TB Seagate SSHD 2.5" drive. The whole top cover can be removed with only a single philips, they definitely didn't try to deter anyone from opening it up.

As far the layout of the GPU goes, it originally came with a plastic top cover piece (photo 3), but the vast majority of testers I know actually removed it for far better thermals, but it would technically press fit against the GPU power cables and keep them in place that way.

(I also still have the original SteamOS recovery stick that came with mine, if you want me to dump it or send it to LTT staff, let me know!)

Here's a full imgur album I made when I received mine: https://imgur.com/gallery/5bnyi

Eric got a reaction from lootfree in What’s Inside Valve’s Prototype STEAM Console? February 25, 2023

Hey! Finally a video I actually have some hands on experience with, for once.

I was one of the 300 testers, I still have my box and the case for the Steam Machine, but I had to part it out because the SFX PSU died and I was using the Steam Machine as my primary PC, SFX PSUs were not cheap, so I ended up doing a case transfer with it. That led me to the issue you guys talked about in the video, the rear plate for the GPU. My 780 was listed as a Zotac model, so I actually got into contact with a couple of people over there, who were more than willing to send me the bracket for the 780 so I could use it in a normal case.

There were some units made like this that were actually sent to game devs for testing/dev purposes, but the "300" units sent to the mostly randomly selected people and were sent in heavy wooden crates (photo 1),each have a small engraving on the lid of one of the specific vent holes, as there were 300 of them, the mark indicated which number machine you had, I believe mine was unit 094. (photo 2) I couldn't see the mark too well in your video, but you appear to have gotten one of the 300 beta units sent to a person.

A couple of other things mentioned in the video: We were encouraged to open up the Steam Machine, even if you received one of these, doing any sort of reporting or actual testing was not required at all. I was involved with a Jira forum they gave us access to, to report any issues, but otherwise Valve was extremely hands off. I remember being told something to the effect of.. "the Steam Machine remains property of Valve, but it is yours to do with as you wish". This included some people who installed Windows on it immediately. Also, there was some thought given to a little upgrading, because the mount for the drives (photo 4) had an additional SATA power and Data cable routed to it, I expanded my Steam Machine with a 256GB SSD, but my model and many other testers came with a 1TB Seagate SSHD 2.5" drive. The whole top cover can be removed with only a single philips, they definitely didn't try to deter anyone from opening it up.

As far the layout of the GPU goes, it originally came with a plastic top cover piece (photo 3), but the vast majority of testers I know actually removed it for far better thermals, but it would technically press fit against the GPU power cables and keep them in place that way.

(I also still have the original SteamOS recovery stick that came with mine, if you want me to dump it or send it to LTT staff, let me know!)

Here's a full imgur album I made when I received mine: https://imgur.com/gallery/5bnyi

Eric got a reaction from SaperPL in What’s Inside Valve’s Prototype STEAM Console? February 25, 2023

Hey! Finally a video I actually have some hands on experience with, for once.

I was one of the 300 testers, I still have my box and the case for the Steam Machine, but I had to part it out because the SFX PSU died and I was using the Steam Machine as my primary PC, SFX PSUs were not cheap, so I ended up doing a case transfer with it. That led me to the issue you guys talked about in the video, the rear plate for the GPU. My 780 was listed as a Zotac model, so I actually got into contact with a couple of people over there, who were more than willing to send me the bracket for the 780 so I could use it in a normal case.

There were some units made like this that were actually sent to game devs for testing/dev purposes, but the "300" units sent to the mostly randomly selected people and were sent in heavy wooden crates (photo 1),each have a small engraving on the lid of one of the specific vent holes, as there were 300 of them, the mark indicated which number machine you had, I believe mine was unit 094. (photo 2) I couldn't see the mark too well in your video, but you appear to have gotten one of the 300 beta units sent to a person.

A couple of other things mentioned in the video: We were encouraged to open up the Steam Machine, even if you received one of these, doing any sort of reporting or actual testing was not required at all. I was involved with a Jira forum they gave us access to, to report any issues, but otherwise Valve was extremely hands off. I remember being told something to the effect of.. "the Steam Machine remains property of Valve, but it is yours to do with as you wish". This included some people who installed Windows on it immediately. Also, there was some thought given to a little upgrading, because the mount for the drives (photo 4) had an additional SATA power and Data cable routed to it, I expanded my Steam Machine with a 256GB SSD, but my model and many other testers came with a 1TB Seagate SSHD 2.5" drive. The whole top cover can be removed with only a single philips, they definitely didn't try to deter anyone from opening it up.

As far the layout of the GPU goes, it originally came with a plastic top cover piece (photo 3), but the vast majority of testers I know actually removed it for far better thermals, but it would technically press fit against the GPU power cables and keep them in place that way.

(I also still have the original SteamOS recovery stick that came with mine, if you want me to dump it or send it to LTT staff, let me know!)

Here's a full imgur album I made when I received mine: https://imgur.com/gallery/5bnyi

Eric reacted to Lurick in Possible Legal Issue February 28, 2022

Car maker that is not in the T-shirt business or merch business would have no claim to this to begin with. Not in their country or in Canada based on my albeit limited understanding of French and Canadian trademark law.
They also look NOTHING alike at all, I'm sorry but you have to be blind upside down spun around dizzy and or drunk to think they are remotely close. Two shapes does not trademark infringement make nor does it give a company a basis (sorry apple) to claim they own that shape or anything vaguely similar at a squinted distance. If this was all silver and tons of yellow mixed in then MAYBE they might have a claim.