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

[Kathinka]

a thousand bucks?
wow, this is pretty obviously evil for valve (when they usually specialize in the stealthy-evil stuff).

for HALF that you can get a pc that will outlive and outperform the upcoming console generation easily..this seems like a shitty deal.

 

[The White Hunter]

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

Thats pretty much what I've said about this thing from it's inception, it lacks the benefits of a gaming PC whilst lacking the bang for buck offered by a home console, I said it would when the rumours started flying around. I also said that if it's powerful enough to be a mid-high end PC it's gonna come at a premium and PC gamers won't care because they'll be able to outperform it for less and console gamers won't care because it's (I actually predicted around £800/$800) $1000.

Rather sure I can build a rig with an 3770K and a pair of 660 ti's in SLI for cheaper...

Oh well, I'll stick with a couple of consoles and my custom desktop :3 Looks cool if nothing else I guess.

 

[ClockworkUniverse]

wow, this is pretty obviously evil for valve (when they usually specialize in the stealthy-evil stuff).

This isn't made by Valve. It's made by Xi3. Valve's actual Steambox won't be out for some time.

 

[The White Hunter]

My tower has better specs than that and it cost around $700 to build. I really don't know who this is for. Is it for those PC gamers where graphics are important, but who are too lazy to build their own PC.

Your local PC store can probably undercut the thing anyway if you're lazy...

 

[Absolutionis]

It may be pricey, but it's also the SIZE OF A GODDAMN GRAPEFRUIT.

This is probably the most portable gaming machine outside of handhelds and smartphones. Probably a lot more powerful too. If the specs are as good (or better) than a high-end gaming laptop, I can see this being well worth the money for people that travel a lot.

IT's also shaped like a grapefruit, which is odd for portability. You also have to lug around a monitor and keyboard AT LEAST.

You're better off getting a gaming laptop. It actually comes with a screen, it's flat and easy to carry in a bag, comes with mouse/keyboard/speakers, and can often be found for cheaper.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

The said specs are too lacking.
"4core processor at 3.2ghz" can be so many things. And the differences in performance depending on the processor architecture can be considerable.

Athlon2<APU<FXbulldozer<Core2=Phenom2<FXpilediver<CoreI5<CoreI7.

And the RAM is unified - shared 8gb but ddr3. The latest graphics cards use is GDDR5,while by the end of 2013 ddr4 memory will become available.

The "7xxx series" graphics card is also way too general information. There are models of the 7000 series ranging in quite a large spectrum of performance and prices.

7450 can't even get Skyrim or Mass Effect 3 to 30fps on 1280x720p with everything been on lowest detail,while 7990 can play Crysis 3 at 60fps on 2560x1440p on ultra settings.


Buyers who have any knowledge of PC specs and do a market research before they buy,will hardly consider buying a machine without knowing exactly what it is capable of. I only see people with lots of money who don't do any research on products before they buy and just got to a shop and saw this looking like a piece of fashion to consider buying it.

They should make the specs more detailed and concrete,so people know what they are being told to buy.

 

[mateushac]

I don't understand what everyone had been expecting. This is a pretty impressive rig for its size (granted we don't know its GPU yet). Alienware's M14x [http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-m14x-r2/pd.aspx] sells for $999 and the poor thing comes with a pitiful 6GB of RAM, a GT650M (not amazing by any stretch of imagination) and a mechanical hard drive. If I were to choose between the two, I'd probably go with the piston.

 

[Frezzato]

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

Even the people involved literally couldn't say it after being pressured on it for a while:

Damn, whoever put that video together is really confused and they're not helping to clarify anything.

First, they show footage of the Xi3 Piston, THEN they show an entirely different unit, the X5A Modular Computer, which looks exactly like the Piston except it's their low-end PC [http://xi3.com/buy_now.php] (the blue one).

The X5A (model X5A-5342US) is blue by default and has Display Port/DVI video out.
The Piston is black and has a bizarre Display Port/HDMI combo with two extra mini Display Ports.

[hr]

Even the website that user Dryk got his photo from incorrectly shows the cheaper, low-end Xi3 desktop model [http://www.geek.com/articles/games/valves-own-steam-box-prototype-to-start-shipping-by-july-2013036/] under the headline "Valve's own Steam Box prototype to start shipping by July". It's all very confusing.

 

[Laughing Man]

There is a problem somewhere. It's impossible for a mechanical drive to be faster than an SSD.

http://s878.beta.photobucket.com/user/laughingman09/media/Image2-1_zps8b5c1f75.jpg.html

I beg to differ, blue line is a pair of mechanical Samsung F3s in Raid 0, red line is a single Vertex 3.0. The Samsungs are clearly faster. Okay I've had to Raid the drives but it is in fact possible for mechanical drives to be faster than an SSD.

As for the Piston, if this in fact the fore runner to Steams own 'console' then it looks like that MS exec was right when he said that Valve proved to be no threat in the console market.

 

[mattaui]

I'm always glad to see devices like this, because it means in a year to 18 months, we'll have much cheaper options available. I have no interest in it at that price point, but if a company wants to manufacture luxury gaming devices and they have customers lined up to buy them, I think that's great. The amount of connections on the back is just crazy, too. That's a seriously dense piece of hardware.

I imagine the actual, official 'Steambox' will be no more than half this price, at most, and marketed to people who don't want to be bothered with the admittedly easy task of just hooking a laptop or MPC up to your TV to achieve the same effect.

 

[crepesack]

Way too expensive. You pretty much HAVE to get the 512G one since the other sizes are way too small. 2 grand for a computer that isn't basically a small super computer? I'll pass.

 

[mateushac]

There is a problem somewhere. It's impossible for a mechanical drive to be faster than an SSD.

http://s878.beta.photobucket.com/user/laughingman09/media/Image2-1_zps8b5c1f75.jpg.html

I beg to differ, blue line is a pair of mechanical Samsung F3s in Raid 0, red line is a single Vertex 3.0. The Samsungs are clearly faster. Okay I've had to Raid the drives but it is in fact possible for mechanical drives to be faster than an SSD.

IDK, but isn't 250something MB/s in sequential read a bit subpar for SSD?

 

[Laughing Man]

IDK, but isn't 250something MB/s in sequential read a bit subpar for SSD?

It's a two year old Sata 2 model and it seems to have gotten a bit slower than it was over the years. When it was brand new it was just about able to outpace the Mechanical HDs but it's gotten a bit slower with age. My Mobo only has Sata 2 ports so no point in going for a faster drive I am holding out to see what the Asus Raidr brings to the party.

http://rog.asus.com/199862013/news/gallery-raidr-express-ssd/

 

[thiosk]

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.

Ooo, I agree on performance, but I've had two pc drives manufactured by Samsung go phhhhhht! Suddenly and without warning.

I was never going to look back but I had to revive the old drive they replaced.
Depressing

 

[ClockworkUniverse]

if a company wants to manufacture luxury gaming devices and they have customers lined up to buy them

At that price point, I'm not sure that last bit will hold true.

I don't understand what everyone had been expecting. This is a pretty impressive rig for its size (granted we don't know its GPU yet). Alienware's M14x [http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-m14x-r2/pd.aspx] sells for $999 and the poor thing comes with a pitiful 6GB of RAM, a GT650M (not amazing by any stretch of imagination) and a mechanical hard drive. If I were to choose between the two, I'd probably go with the piston.

The M14x is a laptop. It's useable on its own. The Piston, on its own, is a paperweight. Its function is to be hooked up to a TV, a task for which size is almost always going to be irrelevant. Sure, it's more portable than a PS3 or whatever, but how big is the market of people who are hooking up their console of choice to a different TV every few days? And remember, if you don't also carry around a mouse and keyboard, it's still a paperweight.

 

[Austin Manning]

Can someone tell me what the point of this was? Can't most modern computers be hooked up to a TV (assuming the TV has hi-def support) for use as a monitor? Why would someone need to buy a separate (and incredibly expensive) rig if they wanted to play Steam games on their TV? Also the tagline of "bridging the gap between PCs and Consoles" is kind of silly given that the original Xbox did exactly that in 2001. Heck, modern consoles are essentially gaming PCs with limited operating systems and no modularity.

 

[InterrogationBear]

The said specs are too lacking.
"4core processor at 3.2ghz" can be so many things.

Their website ( http://xi3.com/buy_now-piston.php ) clearly states "3.2Ghz Quad Core (R464)". The R464 is identical to the AMD A10-4600M.

Source: http://www.cpu-world.com/news_2012/2012052302_AMD_announced_embedded_R-Series_processors.html

It's not even a real Quad-core, but a 2-module "Trinity"-APU.

 

[ClockworkUniverse]

Can someone tell me what the point of this was? Can't most modern computers be hooked up to a TV (assuming the TV has hi-def support) for use as a monitor? Why would someone need to buy a separate (and incredibly expensive) rig if they wanted to play Steam games on their TV? Also the tagline of "bridging the gap between PCs and Consoles" is kind of silly given that the original Xbox did exactly that in 2001. Heck, modern consoles are essentially gaming PCs with limited operating systems and no modularity.

Unless the Xbox has some hidden ability to run PC games that nobody told me about, then no, it really didn't. I mean, sure, it's similar to a low-end PC hardware-wise, but that means nothing to the user.

The point of a competently-developed PC/console hybrid (i.e. definitely not the Piston) would be to combine the openness and power of a PC with the simplicity and price point of a console.

 

[Austin Manning]

Unless the Xbox has some hidden ability to run PC games that nobody told me about, then no, it really didn't. I mean, sure, it's similar to a low-end PC hardware-wise, but that means nothing to the user.

When the original Xbox first came out, that's what Microsoft was pitching it as, a then-modern gaming PC that could be plugged into your television. It's one of the reasons why so many PC/Mac titles (Halo, Morrowind) ended up on the Xbox.

The point of a competently-developed PC/console hybrid (i.e. definitely not the Piston) would be to combine the openness and power of a PC with the simplicity and price point of a console.

It still strikes me as pointless though, as someone could buy a cheap PC, mod it and plug it into the TV. Or they could just buy a super gaming rig and plug that into their TV. The only way I could see a console/PC hybrid being made simpler (without stripping out modularity and becoming a console) is to redesign the internal components so that they can be easily swapped out for newer version (similar to a gaming cartridge).

 

[mateushac]

The M14x is a laptop. It's useable on its own. The Piston, on its own, is a paperweight. Its function is to be hooked up to a TV, a task for which size is almost always going to be irrelevant. Sure, it's more portable than a PS3 or whatever, but how big is the market of people who are hooking up their console of choice to a different TV every few days? And remember, if you don't also carry around a mouse and keyboard, it's still a paperweight.

Well, the idea of gaming on a laptop doesn't appeal very much to me (I hate the position of the keyboard relative to the screen)so I can definitely see what a portable desktop has to offer. Being able to bring my gaming along when visiting my family would be heaven!

Also, a keyboard and a mouse will easily fit a backpack or a suitcase, so it doesn't look like that much of a problem to me.