Steam Machine :(

Hardware & Tech Questions
1

I’m sad.

We saw it coming but at that performance the price is just too high I guess. 1050 bucks without a controller.

It is still cool and still has some value, but I guess you can build a PC with similar performance in a mini case for ~200 bucks less, or a faster one for the same price.

2

Just the state of the AI hardware world we live in unfortunately. A few thoughts:

  • I don’t think you could actually build a machine that quiet, small or integrated with your TV for that cost today. A quick PC partpicker shows it’s a wash pretty much for a beige loud desktop box, so the value isn’t actually bad, it’s just the market for PC components suck. Valve is having to fight nostalgia for PC parts prices that we all have, because it feels like it should cost less. (The Canadian price is $1,509 and here’s the same spec if you built a desktop box yourself - https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/RrgRK7)
  • I like the lottery system they did to reserve one, as you need to have made a steam purchase before April 27th and will only ship one to a single address - it seems fair at least and very anti-scalper. I like that you have a couple of days to enter ‘the lottery’ rather than mash F5 on a crashed steam site.
  • Most people here at this site aren’t really ‘It just has to work and play average games’ demographic, in that I spent more on a single graphics card this year than the top spec Steam Machine price.
  • Compared to the PS5 hardware wise it’s ok, but pretty much the opposite of how open that sort of system is. You’re at least not going to be paying $100 just to play online per year etc. You can hack it around and fiddle at least.

But yeah, it’s cute but it’s a victim to the RAM wars. Still good they soldiered on I think.

I’d guess the Steam Frame is pretty soon, and will be 30% more than people want it to be as well. Pretty much all the same arguments will apply.

3

Yeah it sucks.

My 12 year old (!) gaming laptop has started failing in the last few weeks (the fans I think, it is getting hot, and I think those cannot be easily replaced), and I noticed that for below 1000€ it is hard to find one that is equally good. I really made a great purchase back then I guess, but it sucks that stuff has become that expensive.

4

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5

It’s a really cute cube. There hasn’t been a cute cube for a looong time. (Power Mac G4 Cube back in 2000)

Plus it’s plug and play and turns on your TV and stuff. Like start your game in 10 seconds. Those are really nice things to have with games from Steam. We’re all gamezillionares when looking at our libraries, right?

But as a owner of a beefier PC, I have to give it a pass for now. Plus my wife usually hugs the telly all evening. Maybe later.

6

Ok, so let’s counter my own arguments here.

@fearlessfrog is probably right, I cannot build it cheaper. I can build something cheaper, or something as expensive but faster, I am pretty sure. I am not sure about the margin, probably not 200€, more like 100€.

And yes, it would take tinkering, which costs money (because time is money), and it would be larger, probably run less silent, and it would use more power. It would also be less optimized for SteamOS.

In my case the additional power is probably not very expensive because electricity is rather cheap for me (solar panels on my roof), but the point still stands.

What really could make this worth the cost is the TV integration (HDMI CDC) making it work like a console. And if you don’t need to play in 4k (which will work in some cases but won’t in many) and don’t play the newest games it sounds pretty good.

I think it is a pretty good secondary or tertiary box. I do have a beefy gaming PC that it won’t beat, and its six year old predecessor which the Steam Machine won’t beat either. But that laptop that always sits on the desk? Maybe. If my wife wants to play on the TV that is.

Damn, I am selling the Steam Machine to myself, don’t I?

7

Then again you could buy a 360 degree drone with immersive goggles for the same money.

Guess where Amazon directed my eyeballs to today… :man_facepalming:

8

As much as I love the effort, I’d probably save the expense for either the steam frame (if it’d blow the quest 3 out of the water in some spectacular way) or some FFB kit.

9

I admit I haven’t watched it myself yet, but to keep the discussion alive a bit:

10

Now after watching it, it boils down to what we figured out here:

Build it yourself for the same price:

  • More performance (like 50% more)
  • Faster boot
  • Cannot wake up by controller
  • Doesn’t integrate as well with your TV/audio and so on (missing HDMI CEC)
  • three times the power draw or so
  • Louder (LTT didn’t test that)
  • Larger (by a lot. 100%)
  • You have to build it yourself and if it doesn’t work that’s on you.
11

Not a fan of LTT but I am guessing we’ll see a lot of these videos coming around. And I like the idea, but I feel like they’re missing the point.

Steam machine isn’t a “gaming PC”. It’s a device you can sit next to or under the TV in the lounge and not be thrown out by your housemate/spouse due to the noise or ugliness of the thing you just brought to the shared space, that plays PC games well enough that they don’t look disgusting on a normal TV (a lot of which are still full HD…)

If this had been $600-800, I think they might be on to a winner. It’s just sad they launched now, not 12 months ago!

But it is interesting to see all the homebrew alternatives people will come up with. If someone can get close to the form factor, design and quietness for a reasonable price I might be encouraged to do this myself…

12

Yeah, I am still considering getting one.

But right now it more looks like I’ll buy a new laptop. Damn timing.

13

They closed the lottery and totaled up the requests and it looks like about half of people so far (from polls etc) are in the ‘We don’t have enough machines, you’ll have to wait’ new queue.

So basically it sold out, with the 2TB being a lot harder to get, which fits with the whole RAMapocalypse.

From reddit:

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14

I am happy to see that it apparently sells well enough.