Steam Machine Pricing Revealed - From $459 to $4,999

[Vigormortis]

I laugh every time someone's primary point of contention for these things is "But who is it for?!??!???!" [footnote]I always read their comments as if it's said with nasally voice.[/footnote]

They're for anyone who wants a PC. How is this hard to understand?

Maybe someone wants to upgrade. Maybe someone wants a secondary or tertiary machine for their spouse or kids. Maybe someone needs to replace their broken or dated rig. Maybe someone wants to get into PC/Steam gaming but hasn't a clue where to start. Whatever the case, they can get a Steam Machine somewhere within their price range.

"Oh, but they could probably build their own for less money!", you'll say. Well no shit. Of course they can. But get this: As hard as this might be to swallow for some of you, the average person (even the average gamer) doesn't know how to build their own computer. Most don't even know the difference between a CPU and a GPU. So having access to prebuilts is a boon for these sorts of users.

And even for some who do know how to build their own, the ease of getting a prebuilt, and having the support that (usually) comes with them, is a more hassle-free option than building one themselves.

And now you'll probably say, "So then how are these any different than any other prebuilt?!?!" Well, they all come preinstalled with SteamOS, are optimized for SteamOS and the Steam platform, and include a Steam controller. Something other prebuilts won't have. Beyond that, it may vary from build to build.

The point of these things isn't to replace your PCs. They're not like the current crop of consoles wherein Valve plans to hold game releases hostage by saying, "You want to play this game? You have to get a Steam Machine!" No, they're just a line of prebuilt PCs with specialized configurations for optimal use of SteamOS and the Steam platform that include Steam-related hardware. That's it. You don't need them to play your games. They're not some requirement for the 'Steam experience'. If you don't want one or see the need for one, that's fine, I'm probably in agreement, but let's not pretend that there isn't at least some part of the market that will want them.

snip

Cripes, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one to notice this trend. It's like a bout of willful ignorance has gripped some people.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

I just can't imagine that many people will buy this.
What's it do that what we already have can't?
If console players cared about specs, which honestly equates to slightly prettier graphics, over whatever their current consoles offer them, they would be on PC. If you play on PC why would you want this? As far as I'm aware it doesn't have any exclusives, its controller looks horrible, and does nothing unique.

And aside from their sales, I hate Valve with a passion. Everything they make just annoys me, from Steam to their games. Yet they somehow get so much love.

 

[zumbledum]

I don't think Valve quite understands how consoles work. I can't see people plonking down for a system that is more expensive than what Sony/MS/Nintendo are offering at the bare minimum. If you're going to spend this much ya might as well get a console which can also get you a few games or peripherals for the price difference. At best this'll be niche, at worst Valve is in for a rude awakening.

I think a lot of people might be surprised, these could do really well.

They can be a lot cheaper than consoles. My £2k gaming rig is cheaper than a console. for some reason people don't count the cost of games in the equation right now which is stupid, why do we just list the price of getting the box home? im talking about steam machines being unique the only "console solution" where the games are not carrying a 10-20$ licencing fee each , plan on buying 10-20 games over the life of the console? might find you spend less spending 400 more on the original box.

they are always backwards compatible.

highest percentage of games released available. with sony and MS realizing they just need to compete against each other most titles now are coming out as console exclusives and turning up available for the pc.

access to the worlds most played games. League of legends , world of warcraft etc things that consoles have never had before. access to a huge amount of top quality free games, nosgoth , warframe, war thunder, dota 2,path of exile. there are some massive free games around now.

then theres the bomb , the ace in the hole that im expecting valve to drop "steam+"
ol Gabe takes the stage , "oh and were introducing steam+ , our subscription service any game a month old or older on steam is available to play unlimited time and downloads for just $15 a month"

now i dont know if that last will happen , i just know the same as all the rest of us, and that is steam machines dont really add up , but im aware valve are pretty smart guys not prone to acts of sheer stupidity, which leads me to suspect we dont know the full plan yet, but i can easily see ways for valve to blow this thing wide open and that steam+ is just one example.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Some of those specs are staggeringly good for the price. I couldn't get an i7 processor and a GTX 980 for 700(or even 900) dollars. If I can dismantle them and pop them in a new motherboard these things just might be parts farms for me.

Now I just need a motherboard with the right socket and a power supply full of steroids... Maybe water cooling too.

 

[Vigormortis]

Now I just need a motherboard with the right socket and a power supply full of steroids... Maybe water cooling too.

If you're getting a Titan and a top-tier i7, then that water cooling is an absolute must. And as for power....

Consider a small nuclear reactor. It might fill your need.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Now I just need a motherboard with the right socket and a power supply full of steroids... Maybe water cooling too.

If you're getting a Titan and a top-tier i7, then that water cooling is an absolute must. And as for power....

Consider a small nuclear reactor. It might fill your need.

Oh, I wish. I'll take a decent i7 and the GTX 980 thank you very much. I'm just not sure a 650W power supply will handle that very well, although by all reports the new 9-- series is extremely efficient for the performance.

 

[loa]

Do any of these Steam Machines tickle your fancy? Personally, I'm content with just plugging my gaming PC into my TV via a really long HDMI cable, and using an Xbox 360 controller, but I can see how some console gamers looking to convert to the "PC gaming master race" may see the appeal of these all-in-one media center solutions.

Well I can't for the life of me see how this appeals to consoleros coming straight out of a very cut and dry world where everyone can see that a ps2 is more powerful than a ps1.
Even I as a PC user don't know how powerful exactly an "AMD Athlon? X4 840" is and if it beats a "Core i7 4790Ks" and there are 15 (!) options so far.
1 option, that's what would appeal to console gamers cause what's going on right now is no different from prefab pcs.

With console gamers out of the picture, I wonder what the audience for those things is cause people who already have a PC can and do, as you say, just use their PC and if those things are priced above prefab pcs with the same parts, they're pretty much dead on arrival unless valve can somehow pull an apple and make people throw their brains against the wall.
All I see is another ouya waiting to happen.

 

[Atelier]

Console Peasant here, only recently have I started to do much gaming on my PC. Now, I already have me a bitchin PC (Specs seem high enough to Run the Recommended Settings for Witcher 3, at least according to Can Run it), and let me just say there is no way in hell I'd buy a steambox at the cheapest prices it has listed. 450? Right now I could get the PS4 with Last of Us and Destiny for 50$ less then just the Steam Machine. Same price once the deal ends.

You can find a decent enough gaming PC at that price range pre-built, even better at that price if you take the time to build your own.

I really just don't see the point if you have to drop that much money on the thing.

 

[Dead Metal]

When has a console system shared over multiple manufacturers with loads of different specs ever been a success? All previous attempts have failed, and ruined companies.
On top of that, just because "the specs are better" doesn't mean it will actually run the games comparable to a console (talking about the low end model here, the specs of my laptop are better than an XBox 360, but Alan Wake still looks like shit on it when compared to the XBox 360 version. And about the games, this runs on Steam OS, not all of the games available on Steam are actually compatible with that, sure Valve's will likely work, but wow, those are soooo old anyway and have been ported to pretty much everything now, including smartphones.

Who are the market for these exactly? PC gamers I presume prefer to build their machines themselves for less, after all that's one of the main arguments they bring up for PC gaming, console players already have their consoles and won't really see the point in these, general consumers will be utterly confused by these and then just go with the brand of console they're most familiar with. Most people don't even understand the difference between their current old phone, and the latest model, how do you expect these people to understand why one of these consoles is more expensive than the other although they have the same name?

And yes these are consoles, they're designed to look like a console, they plug into your TV like a console, they are prebuilt like a console, they work using a controller like a console, and just like a console they're dedicated to playing games and have a special custom OS.

And seriously, why would I spend this kind of money? More games? Oh yes, because I totally want to play all the crap that litters Steam, oh yeah, there are a couple good ones there, but I can get those on my console, or I even have them already.

 

[VanQ]

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but that "cheapest model" right there should benchmark more powerful than current gen consoles, if I'm not mistaken.

Who in their right mind would drop 5k on this this? If you're going to drop that kind of dough you might as well build a machine yourself.

Lazy people? But honestly, most likely for people that don't know any better when it comes to building PCs. You'd be surprised how many people don't realize that there are options besides pre-built. I'm not talking your typical gamer here, more like your grandma looking to buy her grandkids one of them new-fangled PlayBoxes and X-Stations!

 

[Malfy]

Spec-wise, how does it compare to the Nvidia Shield? Blow it out of the water I'm assuming?

I'm that lazy gamer that enjoys the convenience of consoles, and I don't have an eye for frames per second or 1080p or any of that. I'm also not willing to drop another $400+ on another piece of gaming hardware so soon after the PS4. I'm attracted to Steam's library and the deals, but I'd rather screw around with my current PC.

 

[Carrington666]

So, about the specs of that DRIFT...

Price: Starting at $849

CPU: Up to Intel® Core? 4790K
GPU: Up to NVIDIA® Geforce® GTX 980 and AMD R9 290X
Storage: Up to 2x 1TB SSD and 1x 6TB 3.5? HDD
RAM: Up to 16GB of DDR 3 Memory
Other: Epic 120 Liquid Cooling

It lists the lowest price a DRIFT system can be, then it lists the absolute top end equipment it may have or be upgraded to have.

So does that mean $849 gets you nothing in that list?

Does it mean that if you buy that system that there is only a chance that you get those items with the company placing in cheaper parts at their whim?

Seriously though, I hate the marketing practice of showing a price with a feature listing that does not apply to the listed price. At least make it clear what exactly the base price gets you before advertising the upgrades.

Yep, $849 gets you nothing from that list. I just spent some time on their website and customized a machine with those specks.
When given the choice between two or more options, I choose the cheaper variant. No OS, no other Software, no controller.
Prize as customized: $4,554.00 for the GTX 980, $4,495 for the R9 290X
A better motherboard, Blu-Ray Burner, a controller and an improved CPU (still the i7 4790k, but with 4 Ghz, instead of 3,6), will add another $399.

You can get the prize down to $829, but then you'll get an Intel Pentium Anniversary Edition 3.20 Ghz, 8GB RAM, R7-260X, a single 500GB HDD and the retail cooler. And you would still need to buy a controller.

Honestly, I really don't see the point in this. If Valve had some kind of rating system, so that you could see at a glance, how good this specific Steam Machine was, then I could see the appeal.
But as it is, you still have the entrance hurdle that you need to know how good the different machines are and how they perform in relation to their price and each other. This means, you have to research the specs and then you could just buy a normal prebuild PC, which is generally cheaper.

 

[DeaDRabbiT]

Am I the only one who thinks that logo looks like the Brotherhood of Nod?

Nope, totally with you there. PEACE THROUGH POWER!

OT: I like, I like...now to see what the prices are in £, because they look reasonably priced and I know they won't be when they fucking convert to pounds from monopoly money. An Nvidia GTX 980 is $685 in the UK, compared to the $399 in the states. and is almost the cost of the entire Maingear Drift. I'm expecting the prices to skyrocket in the UK.

Also, $50 for a controller? Sheesh.

Y'know, I'm pretty sure the US has the cheapest games, consoles/components and periphrials. Try $70 for a controller.

Monopoly money? Blame your Eurozone issues buddy. No currency is backed by anything tangible anymore. The USD however is reinforced by a reinvigorated US economy. You also need to consider your country's import taxes as you attempt to figure out why shit costs what it does over there.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

When I do start the saving process to upgrade my current gaming rig, I'm leaning towards a high end Steam OS...