iFixit's Steam machine prototype teardown

[Nicktrance]

iFixit have posted their teardown of the Steambox
 

 
As expected it makes use of completely off the shelf components (other than the case and a few plastic shrouds which I really hope make it to the market because it's beautiful).
 
Specs of this particular Steam machine are:
 
Core i5-4570
Asrock Z87E-ITX motherboard
Zotac Geforce GTX 780 (reference)
SilverStone RC2 PCI Express x16 riser card
16GB 1600MHz Crucial Ballistix Sport VLP RAM
1TB Seagate 2.5" 5400 RPM SSHD (ST1000LM014)
Zalman CNPS2X CPU cooler
Silverstone 450W 80+ Gold SFX fully Modular PSU

 

Sounds like quality parts with good bang for the buck choices. Other than some minor cable managment problems, it seems liek upgrading should be about as easy as a regular PC, possibly better than most ITX cases, the only modded part that I can see is the GPU IO plate , not sure how valve will handle that or why they did it when they could have just designed it with a regular IO plate thing in mind.
For the full teardown head on over to iFixit's website in the source links.
 

 
Source: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Steam+Machine+Teardown/20473

[Sidiox]

Yeah so just a small power pc, Nice Geforce card though. GTX 780 FTW, but I expected a Ti honestly

[beebskadoo]

That thing is so Space efficient!

Best part is those are all standard parts!

[Nicktrance]

Yeah so just a small power pc, Nice Geforce card though. GTX 780 FTW, but I expected a Ti honestly

 

When they built these the Ti wasn't available and there are several versions (3 I believe) of the Steam machine, one with a Titan/i7-4770 combo for the really lucky participants.

[brownninja97]

ZALMAN COOLER, i remember a while back when i posted the article on which low profile cooler was the best, the zalman one, in case you dont know im a die hard fanboy of zalman, i dont really know why.

[MrSuperb]

I want that case for an htpc

[atrash]

I love how they put a shroud at the back of the psu to direct hot air outside the case. All those modular compartments are really awesome.

[Nicktrance]

I love how they put a shroud at the back of the psu to direct hot air outside the case. All those modular compartments are really awesome.

Yeah and everything seems to be designed to work with any other part you may want to upgrade to in the future. The only possible exception is that GPU IO plate I mentioned, it should be easy to replace as long as the GPU has the same IO ports, but what if it doesn't?

[TimGOAT]

won't be able to overclock that steam machine :'(

[Nicktrance]

won't be able to overclock that steam machine :'(

Well TBH we're not exactly the "target audience" . although nothing stopping you from over clocking the GPU, which is the only part where overclocking really matters while gaming..

[atrash]

Nicktrance, on 20 Dec 2013 - 05:58 AM, said:

Yeah and everything seems to be designed to work with any other part you may want to upgrade to in the future. The only possible exception is that GPU IO plate I mentioned, it should be easy to replace as long as the GPU has the same IO ports, but what if it doesn't?

 

Well every graphics card obviously will come with its own backplate, and that case only have one large cutout which should basically fits all normal height two slots graphics card.

 

TimGOAT, on 20 Dec 2013 - 06:47 AM, said:

won't be able to overclock that steam machine :'(

 

There is a reason why overclocking is not possible, to keep everything as compact as possible and still within acceptable working temp. You can always build your own pc with better components, install the SteamOS and oc it like crazy.

[TimGOAT]

Well TBH we're not exactly the "target audience" . although nothing stopping you from over clocking the GPU, which is the only part where overclocking really matters while gaming..

 

Well every graphics card obviously will come with its own backplate, and that case only have one large cutout which should basically fits all normal height two slots graphics card.

 

 

There is a reason why overclocking is not possible, to keep everything as compact as possible and still within acceptable working temp. You can always build your own pc with better components, install the SteamOS and oc it like crazy.

was more ment as joke

[atrash]

TimGOAT, on 20 Dec 2013 - 07:42 AM, said:

was more ment as joke

 

Haha ok..

[HiTechObsessed]

Do we know how much these are gonna cost? That card alone is more expensive than a PS4, and this thing is supposed to replace them....

[beebskadoo]

Do we know how much these are gonna cost? That card alone is more expensive than a PS4, and this thing is supposed to replace them....

Basically Valve isn't going to be selling their prototype to the public, the beta test machines serve as a proof of concept and a hype generator basically. Valve will however be offering the CAD files to the original design for free to users who want to build their own Valve Prototype.

Other manufacturers like iBuypower, DigitalStorm, Asus etc will have their own versions that will be sold to the consumer. The openness of the platform offers up a lot of diversity in form factor and performance as to better suit the consumers needs, much like traditional PC's.

[Mooshi]

I wonder how hot these things get with next to no airflow and tiny heatsinks.

[beebskadoo]

I wonder how hot these things get with next to no airflow and tiny heatsinks.

It's not like having it in a proper pc case, though the temps are going to be well within the limits. It's probably not much hotter than a PS4/Xbone.

[Mooshi]

It's not like having it in a proper pc case, though the temps are going to be well within the limits. It's probably not much hotter than a PS4/Xbone.

 

 

Still. Consoles don't have desktop class components and for other uber small form factors from OEMs, the parts are usually mobile.

 

I think the case itself is probably being used as a massive heatsink.=p

[Nicktrance]

Well every graphics card obviously will come with its own backplate, and that case only have one large cutout which should basically fits all normal height two slots graphics card.

Yeah the problem is I'm not sure if the part you put the screws in will fit, although it might just be able to go through the hole, but then there would be no way of securing it from the back and it will just have to rest on the little bit of metal on the back and the riser.

[Kamil]

I wonder how hot these things get with next to no airflow and tiny heatsinks.

 

The teardown looks like it has a full reference cooler on the GPU and a nice low-profile cooler on the CPU. Each of them also seems to have separate vents for intake and exhaust. I wouldn't really expect it to be super cool and it's not going to be a stellar overclocker, but I don't see why it would be much hotter than other systems with similar components.

[Sidiox]

When they built these the Ti wasn't available and there are several versions (3 I believe) of the Steam machine, one with a Titan/i7-4770 combo for the really lucky participants.

Ow yeah, forgot that.

[adiobe]

ZALMAN COOLER, i remember a while back when i posted the article on which low profile cooler was the best, the zalman one, in case you dont know im a die hard fanboy of zalman, i dont really know why.

It's because they were awesome sauce back in the days!

[Nicktrance]

The teardown looks like it has a full reference cooler on the GPU and a nice low-profile cooler on the CPU. Each of them also seems to have separate vents for intake and exhaust. I wouldn't really expect it to be super cool and it's not going to be a stellar overclocker, but I don't see why it would be much hotter than other systems with similar components.

Exactly, it should run ok and reasonably quiet but overclocking will be extremely limited on the GPU, impossible.

That said we all should keep in mind that unless you're one of the lucky few who already have one of these, you never will unless you download the CAD file Valve should be sharing in the future, at which point you can modify it to have a few more ventilation holes if you want (e.g. below the GPU).

[Nallown]

it pretty much uses stock hardware, I was expecting some modded hardware so like a GPU with no shielding and just a fan or custom ram shielding instead of using stock crucial ram

[chillxnate]

I want that case for an htpc

 

I do hope they sell these seperately. Having a hard time finding and HTPC case I actually like.