Steam Machine Beta Box Specs

[SonOfVoorhees]

These are the steam machines beta info found on steam - what do people think :-
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse#announcements/detail/2145128928746175450

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

 

[ohnoitsabear]

Now I want to get into the hardware beta even more. I want a free Titan, dammit!

Anyway, those specs look good, but if they're planning on having these types of specs for the consumer versions, it raises some serious concerns about price. These things, even the higher end ones, need to be fairly affordable for them to take off, which could happen with those lower end specs, but I really don't see this going anywhere if only the entry level machines are comparably priced to console.

 

[lacktheknack]

WANT

WANT

SO MUCH WANT

Most configurations would be stronger than my current rig. I question how much the upper level models will cost, though.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

WANT

WANT

SO MUCH WANT

Most configurations would be stronger than my current rig. I question how much the upper level models will cost, though.

Ive asked a few people that know more about this stuff than i do. An ive been told the cost of those parts are around $2000. The Titan alone is a $1000. Im not sure how many people will buy it for gaming, it is future proofed but still its a lot of cash. I wonder if a lot of PC gamers would just invest the $2000 into their own rig.

 

[Mothhive]

This is just for the Beta folks, who will be used to running high-end rigs most likely.

I supremely, supremely doubt they'll ship with a Titan or 16GB of RAM + 3GB Video Ram. I'm in the middle of putting together a mid-range PC, and at £600 it still gets shat on by those Steam machines. There is no way in hell the actual consumer models will look anything like that specs-wise. Not unless Valve is selling them for over a grand, like the Piston.

The thing is, there isn't just one version of the Steam Machine. Ever since Gabe first mentioned them months ago, he said there would be different versions, which he referred to as ?Good?, ?Better?, and ?Best?, and from the specs listed you can get an idea of what that would mean.

Good = i3/i5 + GTX660/760
Better = i5 + GTX 780
Best = i7 + Titan

While the Best version will cost a lot, that's not the version that will directly compete with consoles since it's performance would be far above them. The Good version is comparable to the power of a console and would be much more affordable than the Best version, and if Valve end up using it as a loss leader, the price might be quite reasonable.

 

[Jamash]

This is just for the Beta folks, who will be used to running high-end rigs most likely.

I supremely, supremely doubt they'll ship with a Titan or 16GB of RAM + 3GB Video Ram. I'm in the middle of putting together a mid-range PC, and at £600 it still gets shat on by those Steam machines. There is no way in hell the actual consumer models will look anything like that specs-wise. Not unless Valve is selling them for over a grand, like the Piston.

The thing is, there isn't just one version of the Steam Machine. Ever since Gabe first mentioned them months ago, he said there would be different versions, which he referred to as ?Good?, ?Better?, and ?Best?, and from the specs listed you can get an idea of what that would mean.

Good = i3/i5 + GTX660/760
Better = i5 + GTX 780
Best = i7 + Titan

While the Best version will cost a lot, that's not the version that will directly compete with consoles since it's performance would be far above them. The Good version is comparable to the power of a console and would be much more affordable than the Best version, and if Valve end up using it as a loss leader, the price might be quite reasonable.

How could Valve use it as a loss leader when people already use Steam without a Steambox, either because most retail games use it as DRM or because of the sales?

I can understand console manufactures selling a console at a loss because they can recoup the money on games than are only available on that console and require the console to run, but if I bought a Steambox from Valve at less than than the value of it's parts, there's no guarantee that I'm going to buy more games from Steam than I already do, which is infrequently and only when they're on sale (the full price games I have on Steam are all retail copies that use Steam as DRM, not bought from Valve).

I think it would be a big risk for Valve to give away that kind of hardware as a loss leader, since it would mostly be bought by existing Steam customers for the cheap parts and Valve would have to run a hell of a lot of 75% sales before they recouped the cost,

The only way I can imagine Valve successfully selling the Steambox as a loss leader is if they made the box itself a close system with non-removable components, made existing Steam library incompatible with the Steambox and making their own games exclusive to the Steambox, but how many copies of Half-Life 3 would each customer need to buy for Valve to turn a profit?

 

[Mothhive]

That's a very good point. lol Hadn't though of it that way.

 

[Single Shot]

This is just for the Beta folks, who will be used to running high-end rigs most likely.

I supremely, supremely doubt they'll ship with a Titan or 16GB of RAM + 3GB Video Ram. I'm in the middle of putting together a mid-range PC, and at £600 it still gets shat on by those Steam machines. There is no way in hell the actual consumer models will look anything like that specs-wise. Not unless Valve is selling them for over a grand, like the Piston.

The thing is, there isn't just one version of the Steam Machine. Ever since Gabe first mentioned them months ago, he said there would be different versions, which he referred to as ?Good?, ?Better?, and ?Best?, and from the specs listed you can get an idea of what that would mean.

Good = i3/i5 + GTX660/760
Better = i5 + GTX 780
Best = i7 + Titan

While the Best version will cost a lot, that's not the version that will directly compete with consoles since it's performance would be far above them. The Good version is comparable to the power of a console and would be much more affordable than the Best version, and if Valve end up using it as a loss leader, the price might be quite reasonable.

How could Valve use it as a loss leader when people already use Steam without a Steambox, either because most retail games use it as DRM or because of the sales?

I can understand console manufactures selling a console at a loss because they can recoup the money on games than are only available on that console and require the console to run, but if I bought a Steambox from Valve at less than than the value of it's parts, there's no guarantee that I'm going to buy more games from Steam than I already do, which is infrequently and only when they're on sale (the full price games I have on Steam are all retail copies that use Steam as DRM, not bought from Valve).

I think it would be a big risk for Valve to give away that kind of hardware as a loss leader, since it would mostly be bought by existing Steam customers for the cheap parts and Valve would have to run a hell of a lot of 75% sales before they recouped the cost,

The only way I can imagine Valve successfully selling the Steambox as a loss leader is if they made the box itself a close system with non-removable components, made existing Steam library incompatible with the Steambox and making their own games exclusive to the Steambox, but how many copies of Half-Life 3 would each customer need to buy for Valve to turn a profit?

That issue was debated here a while ago.
In the end people agreed that Valve could sell the hardware at a very low, maybe even 0%, profit with about $100 free steam credit (The credit could only be used on games that are not pre-ordered or on another offer. only 1 free credit per account per 2-years or coded into the steambox itself to activate upon the first account that it connects to since they would have to stop parts strippers from redeeming or selling on the codes) and give the illusion of money off. In reality the cost to valve would be tiny and it would ensure everybody who bought a steambox had an active and stocked Steam library to keep them happy.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I think the point of the Steambox is to set the some kind of specs standard for future PC titles. This is a good start. It may be expensive now, but PC parts are always getting cheaper. So that's not really a problem.