Steam Machines - Prototype Details

[Bluethulhu]

"Hello from the Steam hardware bunker. 

 

Thanks for joining the Steam Universe community group. As we get closer to shipping the prototype Steam Machines and controllers we talked about last week, we're going to be posting info here about what we're up to, and give you some insight into the work we’ve done to get to this point. 

 

As we talked about last week, the Steam Machines available for sale next year will be made by a variety of companies. Some of those companies will be capable of meeting the demands of lots of Steam users very quickly, some will be more specialized and lower volume. The hardware specs of each of those machines will differ, in many cases substantially, from our prototype. 

 

Valve didn't set out to create our own prototype hardware just for the sake of going it alone - we wanted to accomplish some specific design goals that in the past others weren't yet tackling. One of them was to combine high-end power with a living-room-friendly form factor. Another was to help us test living-room scenarios on a box that's as open as possible. 

 

So for our own first prototype Steam Machine ( the one we're shipping to 300 Steam users ), we've chosen to build something special. The prototype machine is a high-end, high-performance box, built out of off-the-shelf PC parts. It is also fully upgradable, allowing any user to swap out the GPU, hard drive, CPU, even the motherboard if you really want to. Apart from the custom enclosure, anyone can go and build exactly the same machine by shopping for components and assembling it themselves. And we expect that at least a few people will do just that. (We'll also share the source CAD files for our enclosure, in case people want to replicate it as well.) 

 

And to be clear, this design is not meant to serve the needs of all of the tens of millions of Steam users. It may, however, be the kind of machine that a significant percentage of Steam users would actually want to purchase - those who want plenty of performance in a high-end living room package. Many others would opt for machines that have been more carefully designed to cost less, or to be tiny, or super quiet, and there will be Steam Machines that fit those descriptions. 

 

Here are the specifications for Valve's 300 prototypes. 

 

The 300 prototype units will ship with the following components: 

GPU: some units with NVidia Titan, some GTX780, some GTX760, and some GTX660 

CPU: some boxes with Intel : i7-4770, some i5-4570, and some i3 

RAM: 16GB DDR3-1600 (CPU), 3GB DDR5 (GPU) 

Storage: 1TB/8GB Hybrid SSHD 

Power Supply: Internal 450w 80Plus Gold 

Dimensions: approx. 12 x 12.4 x 2.9 in high 

 

As a hardware platform, the Steam ecosystem will change over time, so any upgrades will be at each user's discretion. In the future we'll talk about how Steam will help customers understand the differences between machines, hardware strengths and weaknesses, and upgrade decisions. 

 

We aren't quite ready to post a picture of our prototype - just because they're not finished enough. Before they ship we'll let you know what the prototype looks like. And we expect people to redesign the machine, too. Both from a technical perspective, deciding on different components, and from an industrial design perspective, changing the enclosure in interesting ways. 

 

So high-powered SteamOS living room machines are nice, and fun to play with, and will make many Steam customers happy. But there are a lot of other Steam customers who already have perfectly great gaming hardware at home in the form of a powerful PC. The prototype we're talking about here is not meant to replace that. Many of those users would like to have a way to bridge the gap into the living room without giving up their existing hardware and without spending lots of money. We think that's a great goal, and we're working on ways to use our in-home streaming technology to accomplish it - we'll talk more about that in the future. 

 

Stay tuned for some closer looks at the Steam Controller."

 

- From the Steam Machines group page, I did NOT write this.

[Wulfgar]

The specs are exactly what I was hoping for. I'm really hoping to be one of the lucky people to receive a SteamMachine soon!

[Exotath]

Those are pretty solid specs

[Mooshi]

Wow. I was expecting the specs of a 400-500 dollar laptop (or a 1k Macbook hue), but those specs are legit high end!

[Humbug]

LOL @ Valve. Trying to put geforce 780s in the living room to compete with consoles.

Don't know what to think.

[qwertywarrior]

why a titan GPU ??

waste of money

[rashdanml]

LOL @ Valve. Trying to put geforce 780s in the living room to compete with consoles.

Don't know what to think.

You're missing a few key points:

 

1) This is the prototype. Not all Steam Machines will be the same hardware.

2) There'll be multiple Steam Machines with varying hardware at different price points. Up to the hardware vendor. 

3) Valve already said the prototype is going to be high end, and it won't really dictate the hardware in other Steam Machines. 

[qwertywarrior]

LOL @ Valve. Trying to put geforce 780s in the living room to compete with consoles.

Don't know what to think.

these are prototypes for valve its not for the public 

 

valve is competing with Microsoft

Microsoft "OS" and a threat to direct X

 

consoles arnt going ANY where

[Humbug]

In the future we'll talk about how Steam will help customers understand the differences between machines, hardware strengths and weaknesses, and upgrade decisions.

This is a very important goal, and one that I respect. We need to educate the public about the capabilities of PC, and we need to demystify it. Right now for many people it's too scary too approach PC gaming, so they go for consoles. Hopefully Valve can change that.

[naca1227]

They could get away with an i3 and a 650ti 

[Humbug]

You're missing a few key points:

 

1) This is the prototype. Not all Steam Machines will be the same hardware.

2) There'll be multiple Steam Machines with varying hardware at different price points. Up to the hardware vendor. 

3) Valve already said the prototype is going to be high end, and it won't really dictate the hardware in other Steam Machines. 

Ya true, my post was more in jest.

But ya agree with all your points. The final hardware vendors will have a range of machines from budget to high end...

[Humbug]

The specs are exactly what I was hoping for. I'm really hoping to be one of the lucky people to receive a SteamMachine soon!

hopefully you'll get the i3 version

[Mooshi]

LOL @ Valve. Trying to put geforce 780s in the living room to compete with consoles.

Don't know what to think.

 

How is that forcing? As others stated, /prototype/. If anything, if the Steambox is compact enough, it'll show that console makers aren't trying hard enough to bring desktop class graphics to the console market. They could have just as easily tossed in an i3 and GTX 650 Ti Boost to best consoles anyway let alone demolish them with overkill proper PC specs.

[MasterJV]

If you can install other OS's like windows or Linux, this is gonna be a big hit.

[Dave :)]

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/62460-some-steam-box-newsget-ready/