Update: Xi3 Opens "Piston" Steam Box Pre-Orders

[VladG]

I'm actually a fan of mechanical hard drives. The're cheaper and have larger storage. Like terabytes large.

The tradeoff is that SSD's are MUCH faster and much less likely to fail. The update to SSD is probably one of the best upgrades people can make. You only really need the drive that you have windows and your games on to be an SSD, mechanical drives are fine for files. I made the switch to SSD last year and I'll never look back. Windows loads in about 15 seconds and my games load in moments, making 'level loads' almost a thing of the past. It also speeds up your overall performance.

Funny, I got an SSD, timed it in comparison to my mechanical drive.

Games are all the same, windows actually loads faster from a mechanical drive.

And I can assure you it was not a faulty drive

There is a problem somewhere. It's impossible for a mechanical drive to be faster than an SSD. Unless we're talking one of those old 15000+ RPM models, and even then the SSD should win.

 

[VladG]

I wouldn't pre-order anything of the sort without knowing full specs. And it's a 1000$+ machine. Do they really expect ANYONE to pre-order such a thing without knowing, well, anything about it, really.

Quad-Core processor gives us nothing, it could be a low-end AMD, it could be a good Intel. 8gb of RAM is the LEAST you could expect from such an expensive machine (considering how cheap RAM is) and no info on what is probably the most important component, the graphics card... yeah.

Well, people have spent more for stupider things with less knowledge going in, never underestimate a fool and his money.

I guess, but they can't honestly expect to make a profit on the handful of people who will pre-order this just because they must have the latest gadget.

Though if one of the above posts is to be believed, and it's an A10 APU with NO dedicated video card it's so horrendously overpriced they might just...

 

[Tar Palantir]

CPU: 3570K 220$
Mobo: Z77MA-G45 116$
GPU: Gigabyte HD 7950 300$
HD: WD Blue 1TB 80$
SSD: Samsung Pro 840 128GB 134$
RAM: Corsair Low Profile 8GB 1600mhz 59$
CASE: HAF 912 PLUS 70$

979$

Until they can beat this, I'll stick to custom building, thank you

 

[jebbo]

Doesn't this kind of defeat the point of the accessible, cheap Steambox? I thought the whole ethos of the Steambox was to create something affordable that could compete with a console price point. By effectively being at least twice the price of what we can probably expect a PS4 to be for the lowest entry model then they've just shot themselves in the foot.

 

[Something Amyss]

I dont really get it...it seems ot have neither of the advantages and both the disadvantages of a console/PC

The advantage is that you get a no-fuss device to play PC games on. We're not talking difficult to figure out, here.

 

[Vault101]

The advantage is that you get a no-fuss device to play PC games on. We're not talking difficult to figure out, here.

all PC games? or just the ones through steam?

does it work like a regular PC in that you can have a monitor/mouse/keyboard set up? or s it a pure console?

 

[Johnnydillinger]

Doesn't this kind of defeat the point of the accessible, cheap Steambox? I thought the whole ethos of the Steambox was to create something affordable that could compete with a console price point. By effectively being at least twice the price of what we can probably expect a PS4 to be for the lowest entry model then they've just shot themselves in the foot.

Are you sure you're not mixing it up with Ouya?

Not implying you're wrong though, I know that's the goal of Ouya but up until today I thought Piston and Steambox are the same... Is SB really supposed to be super cheap too? 'Cause I'll definitely get one then.

 

[Dryk]

does it work like a regular PC in that you can have a monitor/mouse/keyboard set up? or s it a pure console?

It's a fully functional PC

Spoiler

 

[Pinkamena]

That price is a bit steep, isn't it? I don't see how the hardware can justify it.

 

[Steven Bogos]

This isn't the "Steambox", stop being intentionally misleading.

I apologize. "Steam Box" has come to be a general term for a PC built specifically to run Steam's big picture mode like a console. I never said it was "the" Steam Box, just that it was "a" Steam Box.

 

[Something Amyss]

all PC games? or just the ones through steam?

I really can't tell if you're being serious anymore.

 

[Something Amyss]

This isn't the "Steambox", stop being intentionally misleading.

I apologize. "Steam Box" has come to be a general term for a PC built specifically to run Steam's big picture mode like a console. I never said it was "the" Steam Box, just that it was "a" Steam Box.

Unless the title has been changed from another title, I don't think there was any deception here in the first place. It looks, at first blush, like exactly what it says on the tin.

Of course, I lack a time machine.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Soo err... a grand eh? Good luck with that.

Unless that GPU has the numbers 7950 or 660ti that's an absurd amount of money, the processor better be an i5 or better for that much too. That's almost double what I paid for a PC with an i5 3570k and a 7850 in it!

Funny, I got an SSD, timed it in comparison to my mechanical drive.

Something's definitely off there.

Even the SATA II SSD in my computer is massively faster than the SATA III storage drive. Battlefield 3 loads in about a third of the time from the SSD whilst boot is roughly half except for POST.

What size/brand/model is the SSD? What format is it? How full is it? It really, really should be faster than the mechanical drive.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

According to Valve there will be 3 hardware tiers of Steamboxes,and each Steambox will make you know in which tier it is. They will be labeled,probably with a badge on the side,to make it easier to know the requirements of each game,and knowing if it will work on your machine,so you don't have to read long requirements lists and know technical stuff.
The tiers are Good,Better and Best. This machine doesn't seem to have a badge labeling its tier,and they don't even say anything about it in their site.

Except that,Gabe Newell recently said that they are still working on the form factor,and specifically try to find what kind of performance they can squeeze in the form factor,because the machine must be at the size of a console,and at the same time ultra silent and cold.
The first prototypes will be ready in June or July,so since there aren't even the prototypes ready,I really wonder how Xi3 already has the product ready...
Perhaps it isn't "Steambox" after all,but it's "Piston",as the guy says on the video Dexter111 posted.
After all,Valve said that they have many different prototypes of input devices (controllers) and they still haven't decided which will be the default one. We don't have any info yet on what Piston will come with. Will it come with generic keyboard and mouse ? Or a xbox360 controller ? Or with the Steambox's default controller ? We still don't know. Not even Valve knows yet what the default controller will be.

Note that there is absolutely not any kind of Steam or Valve logo/badge on the product,or in the product's webpage.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Yikes that's pricey. You could build a more than equivalent gaming pc for that money. I take it the Piston will be one of the high end steam boxes, I imagine Valve has some more competitively priced steam boxes ready for release as at the moment I don't think the price is going to win over any console converts or traditional pc gamers for that matter.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

Anyone else curious how many ports they managed to fit on a PC the size of a grapefruit. I don't doubt it's sufficient, but I am still interested if they just went with USB everything or what?

 

[Marowit]

At that price point I'd absolutely rather spend hundreds of dollars less and build my own rig.

I like the idea of making gaming PC's a more functional size, but don't they know they're demographic? We're for the most part broke 20 somethings

 

[RicoADF]

I'm not an expert or anything but that seems ridiculously expensive. Considering you could get a pretty decent PC for the same price, and it'd have all of the other functions of a computer as well.

It's aiming for a niche market really, when someone needs/wants a small PC (and/or arguably a nicer looking one). Kind of like a console except more useful. I would guess it would usually be put out of the way or made to look nice next to the TV rather than a large tower. Also the average user is very IT illiterate, so this would appeal to them.