Smach Z is back?

[Fgtfv567]

Do you guys remember the handheld PC with swappable D-pads that could run either Linux or Windows? Remember how they ran into difficulty and eventually cancelled their kickstarter?

 

Well now they're back. No news outlet has reported on this, I saw an ad on facebook, and the kickstarter's back online.

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/smachteam/smach-z-the-handheld-gaming-pc?ref=d8xd3s&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Facebook_campaign1_SmachZ

 

They've exceeded their $276,701 goal and have raised $353,029. Donating at least 306 USD (translated from euros) will get you a Smach Z and charger and estimated delivery is April 2017.

[2FA]

Quote

embedded low-powered SoC with its blazing fast performance 

I'm pretty sure those two things do not go together.

[Bleedingyamato]

Dafuq?    The exaggeration is strong with them.  There is zero chance that thing can play games like Metro: Last Light.  ?

 

They are overstating what that thing should be capable of I'm pretty sure and asking to be sued repeatedly.  

[2FA]

Just now, Bleedingyamato said:

Dafuq?    The exaggeration is strong with them.  There is zero chance that thing can play games like Metro: Last Light.  ?

 

They are overstating what that thing should be capable of I'm pretty sure and asking to be sued repeatedly.  

I think if you combine it with something to stream games from your main PC, it would work well. That would just make it a competitor to the Shield though. The SoC used is 4 low power Excavator cores along with a R7 250 equivalent. Thermals are likely restricted as well so chances are this thing will throttle easily unless they have a decent cooling system.

[Bleedingyamato]

45 minutes ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

I think if you combine it with something to stream games from your main PC, it would work well. That would just make it a competitor to the Shield though. The SoC used is 4 low power Excavator cores along with a R7 250 equivalent. Thermals are likely restricted as well so chances are this thing will throttle easily unless they have a decent cooling system.

Good point.  A handheld like this that could stream from a PC and runs Windows not droid or steamOS could be rather useful.  ?

 

What does SoC mean anyway?    Also what's an Excavator core?

 

It's a handheld so I'm guessing cooling for it is kind of blah.  It's not like they could fit a giant heatsink or a fan in it.  ?

 

 

[Dabombinable]

4 excavator cores....ok, its a dual module SOC similar to my laptop's A8 4555M (albeit with refinements+more integrated stuff). Can't wait to see how bad this thing will TDP throttle (because that's what always strikes APU first)

[Nowak]

1 hour ago, Bleedingyamato said:

Dafuq?    The exaggeration is strong with them.  There is zero chance that thing can play games like Metro: Last Light.  ?

 

They are overstating what that thing should be capable of I'm pretty sure and asking to be sued repeatedly.  

Oh, it'll run Metro: Last Light.

 

At an incredible 800x600.

[Bleedingyamato]

1 minute ago, Daring said:

Oh, it'll run Metro: Last Light.

 

At an incredible 800x600.

That's mildly terrifying.  ?

 

?

[Nowak]

1 minute ago, Bleedingyamato said:

That's mildly terrifying.  ?

 

?

tbh I'm not really expecting much out of this either. It's woefully underpowered for who they're targeting it at.

[2FA]

42 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

What does SoC mean anyway?    Also what's an Excavator core?

SoC - System on Chip

 

Pretty much the CPU, GPU, and Chipset along with a few other things are all on the same die.

 

Excavator is a slightly better version of the architecture used in AMD's FX line up of CPUs. It's pretty meh.

[Bleedingyamato]

45 minutes ago, Daring said:

tbh I'm not really expecting much out of this either. It's woefully underpowered for who they're targeting it at.

Sounds correct.  ?

 

29 minutes ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

SoC - System on Chip

 

Pretty much the CPU, GPU, and Chipset along with a few other things are all on the same die.

 

Excavator is a slightly better version of the architecture used in AMD's FX line up of CPUs. It's pretty meh.

I see.  

 

Interesting concept ruined by iffy hardware it seems. 

[Magnetorheological]

2 hours ago, Daring said:

Oh, it'll run Metro: Last Light.

 

At an incredible 800x600.

Oh yeah, it'll run...but nobody ever said that it'll run WELL.

[matrix07012]

I kinda like it.

[AnnoyedShelf]

8 hours ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

I'm pretty sure those two things do not go together.

While I agree with you, if you look, the GPU does have 512 GCN cores at 800MHz which equates to 0.81TFLOPs.  Pretty impressive for a mobile device.

[Ashaira]

You know the first few circle jerk comments were funny but could you fools actually look at their benchmarks before you start screaming bs and spreading misinformation?

[goodtofufriday]

8 minutes ago, Ashaira said:

You know the first few circle jerk comments were funny but could you fools actually look at their benchmarks before you start screaming bs and spreading misinformation?

okay

 

Quote

CPU: AMD Merlin Falcon RX-421BD (12-15w) SoC at 2.1 GHz 

Cores: 4/4 

iGPU: Radeon R7 at 800 MHz 

RAM: 4GB (SMACH Z) || 8GB (SMACH Z PRO) DDR4 2133 MHz 

HD: 64GB (SMACH Z) || 128GB (SMACH Z PRO) 

Screen: 6” FULL HD (1920x1080). Capacitive touch-screen.

Battery: 5 hours of gaming. 

MicroSD Card Slot. 

USB 3.0 type C. 

HDMI video output connection. 

Wi-Fi connectivity 5.0 Ghz. 4G LTE mobile network connectivity (PRO model only) 

Bluetooth connectivity. 

Front-camera 1.3-megapixels (PRO model only)

Does that look like it'll play "Almost any steam game"? RUN it maybe.  Playable is a different question.

Anything GPU bound is gonna have a hard time.

[Ashaira]

12 minutes ago, goodtofufriday said:

okay

 

Does that look like it'll play "Almost any steam game"? RUN it maybe.  Playable is a different question.

Anything GPU bound is gonna have a hard time.

they have metro at 720p high settings 30 fps. for a portable on that game that's pretty good.

[goodtofufriday]

3 minutes ago, Ashaira said:

they have metro at 720p high settings 30 fps. for a portable on that game that's pretty good.

 

This is Metro: Last Night Minimum requirements

Quote

CPU:	2.6 GHz Quad Core e.g. Intel Core i5

CPU Speed:

Info

RAM:

4 GB

OS:	Windows 7 or 8

Video Card:

NVIDIA GTX 580/660 Ti (or AMD equivalent e.g. 7870) or higher

You can have a really low end machine play this game.

 

What people are going to want to play, which is AAA games within the last 2 or 3 years, it simply wont be powerful enough. And maybe you'll say well its not supposed to? That doesnt matter. They are marketing this thing to play Almost ANY game on steam. That just simply isnt true. And the general populace that would buy this thing also would not typically know off hand that this wont be able to play those games.

[raphidy]

It's like a vita and steam controller made love together and created this. Also, around 30FPS.

[ChickenCake248]

I would like this to play games like Valkyria Chronicles, Hyperdimension Neptunia, and Hotline Miami. I would also really like to emulate GameCube and Wii games like Paper Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart, and Super Mario Galaxy. I feel like Dolphin emulator would be really fun to play on the go.

[2FA]

2 hours ago, AnnoyedShelf said:

While I agree with you, if you look, the GPU does have 512 GCN cores at 800MHz which equates to 0.81TFLOPs.  Pretty impressive for a mobile device.

I'm not that big into mobile gaming. If I was, I would just get a laptop and a controller.

 

2 hours ago, Ashaira said:

You know the first few circle jerk comments were funny but could you fools actually look at their benchmarks before you start screaming bs and spreading misinformation?

They said AAA games which only be playable at low settings, low resolution, and likely low FPS. That is not a decent experience for me.

[leafar]

dont wait last 3 days for the end,the campaign is getting a boost almost $424.000 and 1041 backers,peoples are believing, get your Smach Z

[Zodiark1593]

On Wednesday, November 02, 2016 at 6:55 AM, goodtofufriday said:

 

This is Metro: Last Night Minimum requirements

You can have a really low end machine play this game.

 

What people are going to want to play, which is AAA games within the last 2 or 3 years, it simply wont be powerful enough. And maybe you'll say well its not supposed to? That doesnt matter. They are marketing this thing to play Almost ANY game on steam. That just simply isnt true. And the general populace that would buy this thing also would not typically know off hand that this wont be able to play those games.

Keep in mind, aside from highly publicized AAA titles, there are actually fairly few truly demanding games out there. The claim may not be far from the truth.