I will buy. When is it out?
Steam Frame
341–350 of 717 posts
Re: Steam Frame
#342Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is the draw of the Steam machine though? They say the price is comparable to similarly specced PC. So why not just buy/build any mini PC? There's plenty of options for that
A good while back I abandoned PC gaming because I was sick of driver issues, compatibility, and always having to update hardware to play the next game. Instead, I embraced consoles and haven't considered PC gaming since then. This, however, has me reconsidering that. I want it to "just work". When I want to play games, I don't want to deal with all of that other crap. I'm old, ain't nobody got time for that.
I mean I just don't see the difference between this and getting any PC and slapping SteamOS on it.
Re: Steam Frame
#343This being a whole system that will allow you to put whatever software you want onto it makes me think that it might actually succeed at being what the Vision Pro wanted to be.
This isn’t likely to be a compelling spatial computer. The pass-through video is monochrome and the screens have about 40% of the pixels compared to the Vision Pro. The Samsung Galaxy XR is much closer to being a Vision Pro competitor. The Steam Frame is very focused on playing games locally and streamed from a PC.
Monochrome is rough, but I think pixel count is a few orders of magnitude less important than being able to actually use the damn thing. The Vision Pro has been out for over a year and I haven't seen a single notable application that takes advantage of the hardware, and it seems that that's largely in part due to it being nigh impossible to develop and run software on it.
Re: Steam Frame
#344Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's no precise criteria but the usual measure is ppd (pixels per degree) and it needs to be high enough such that detailed content (such as text) displayed at a reasonable size is clearly legible without eye strain. > "Could you not just move your face closer to the virtual screen to see finer details?" Sure, but then you have the problem of, say, using an IMAX screen as your computer monitor. The level of head m…
Even the vision pro at 35ppd simply isn't close to the PPD you can get from a good desktop monitor (we can calculate PPD for desktop monitors too, using size and viewing distance). Apple's "retina" HiDPI monitors typically have PPD well beyond 35 at ordinary viewing distances, even a 1080p 24 inch monitor on your desk can exceed this. For me personally, 35ppd feels about the minimum I would accept for emulating a mon…
I think there is a missing number here: angular resolution of human eyeballs is believed to be ~60 ppd(some believes it's more like 90).
Re: Steam Frame
#345The death of VR has been greatly exaggerated. The only thing that died is the hype, and the hype will not be missed. It's just nice to have so much less bullshit.
They have been trying to make VR thing since the 90s. It has never reached mass appeal and never will.
I can't wear one of those headset (I get severe motion sickness).
Re: Steam Frame
#346Foveated streaming! That's a great idea. Foveated rendering is complicated to implement with current rendering APIs in a way that actually improves performance, but foveated streaming seems like a much easier win that applies to all content automatically. And the dedicated 6 GHz dongle should do a much better job at streaming than typical wifi routers. > Just like any SteamOS device, install your own apps, open a bro…
> Mouth tracking? What a vile thought in the context of the steam… catalogue.
I'm guessing it's main use case will be VR chat syncing mouths to avatars.
Re: Steam Frame
#347Kind of weird using AA batteries, I'd imagine something else would be better suited for this?
I think it's a lot better. Rechargeable batteries built into a device degrade over time. The vast majority of people will discard a device as a result of battery degradation.
Re: Steam Frame
#348Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh hell yes. There was a leak of specs (via a benchmarking database) of an upcoming machine from Valve and I had my fingers crossed that it was a mini PC and not some VR thingy, saw this thread, and was sad for a moment before I spotted this post. 6x as powerful as the Steam deck (that I use plugged in anyway 98% of the time—I’d have bought a Steam Deck 2, but I’m glad I get the option to put money toward more perfor…
What is the draw of the Steam machine though? They say the price is comparable to similarly specced PC. So why not just buy/build any mini PC? There's plenty of options for that
As someone who has been building my PCs for decades, I have to admit seeing some appeal here:
It's apparently small, quiet, capable, and easy.
I'll keep building my own, but most people don't, and the value of saved time and reduced hassle should not be underestimated.
If comparing this device to other pre-built systems, consider that this one is likely to be a first class target for game developers, while others are not.
Re: Steam Frame
#349Earlier quoted context omitted.
(rewriting this comment because the spec sheet has seemingly been updated) Looks like it can do 4k 120hz, but since it's limited to HDMI 2.0 it will have to rely on 4:2:0 chroma subsampling to get there. Unfortunately the lack of HDMI 2.1 might be down to politics, the RDNA3 GPU they're using should support it in hardware, but the HDMI Forum has blocked AMD from releasing an open source HDMI 2.1 implementation. https…
It seems it supports DP 1.4 as well, so perhaps you could get an adapter if your display only supports HDMI 2.1
I'm not sure that would work. From what I can tell, the adapters are basically dumb straight through cables, they aren't converting anything. And it's the actual GPU that's outputting a HDMI signal over the Displayport connector, which the adapter than rewires in to a HDMI shaped connector.
Re: Steam Frame
#350Steam Frame is running SteamOS on ARM, and is capable of playing games standalone, which implies ARM support in Steam. Through granted, it could be in a limited form.
They'll need that either way if they want to get back onto macOS, even if it's separate binaries and not a translation layer. At this point I think Steam basically doesn't work on Mac? Since the x64 Macs are legacy and the new ones are aarch64
It technically works since ARM macs can still run x86 binaries. But it's so slow and buggy, and the selection of playable games so slim that there is almost no point.