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Steam Machine launches today

store.steampowered.com

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Re: Steam Machine launches today

#711

Post by wildzzz »

strix_varius wrote: post #501
veber-alex wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand, what is so special about this? They are selling a x86 PC. All x86 PCs sold by everyone are open and you can install whatever you want. It's commodity hardware packaged into a small box. There is nothing special here. Trying to sell it as it if Valve are more consumer friendly here is nonsense.

> All x86 PCs sold by everyone are open and you can install whatever you want. What exactly do you think an Xbox is? PS4 & PS5?

The Xbox and PS5 are x86 but they aren't PCs. They are gaming appliances purpose built to run their respective purpose built operating systems. Without hacks, they don't do anything but only run code that's allowed to run. A Steam Machine is a PC. Yes, it's intended to run games (like any other gaming PC) but you can run whatever code you want on it.

Everyone loves to say the Xbox and PS4/5 are just like an x86 PC except for the fact they are missing a huge aspect of what makes a PC a personal computer. If the vendor locks you out of doing personal computing, it's not really a PC, is it? Refering to x86 as a PC is such an outdated way of thinking. I can go buy an ARM-based laptop and do more with it than an x86 console. Even an iPhone offers a more PC like experience than an x86 console. The Hubble Space Telescope runs a 486, does that make it a PC as well?

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#712

Post by hypertexthero »

prhn wrote: post #96

I want to buy one just to raise the signal that Linux support is important. When these machines were announced I switched to Fedora as a daily driver on my high end gaming rig. It’s been awesome. I still have to go back to Windows for music production unfortunately. I may switch to Mac for that so I can completely abandon Windows. I run an optical HDMI cable from my office to my TV and get to play games and use Linux…

Ditto.

I use Macs for work and PC for games, and this little box seems a good opportunity to play The Legend of Linux on a desktop or a couch, and make it true.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#713

Post by al_borland »

robmccoll wrote: post #32

For reference, a PlayStation 5 is $600-650 for the base models (lower performance than Steam Machine) and $900 for the Pro model (likely higher performance). I know this is a PC and thus an open platform, but for most buyers in living room gaming, that's the competition. I don't think this will reach mass market success, but I'm not sure that was the goal. Who are they selling to? Note: I ask as someone with a Steamd…

I picked up a PS5 Pro before Christmas on sale for $599. It seems I made out like a bandit. I assumed prices would go out due to all this AI mess and knew I’d want one for GTA.

Watching the LTT review of the Steam machine, it also reminded me why a console holds a lot of value. A lot of their video was about fiddling with settings per game to get a good balance of performance vs visuals. Something I never have to think about with the PS5, especially the Pro.

While I like the idea of PC gaming, and even more so what Valve is doing, trying to move the industry to Linux, the reality of PC gaming has always felt like a huge pain. As much sys admin as actual gaming.

If the Vavle platform are popular enough, they could get presets with a lot of games, but that remains to be seen.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#715

Post by westpfelia »

Eji1700 wrote: post #647
bigtex wrote: post #643

For reference to the current prices of consoles: Nintendo Switch 2 $449.99 Xbox Series S (512GB/1TB) $379.99 – $449.99 Xbox Series X (1TB) $649.99 PlayStation 5 Slim (Digital) $599.99 PlayStation 5 Slim (Disc) $649.99 PlayStation 5 Pro $899.99 From reading posts on X/Twitter, I got the feeling that PC Gaming enthusiasts truly believed this was going to compete with console gaming and those players would flock to the…

The main market to me is going to be ibuypower people, so a console gamer who wants to jump to PC but doesn't want to self build. I've been screwing around on pcpartpicker on and off for today, and I don't see a clean way to get steam machine specs for less than $800 if you build it yourself, and closer to $900 if i'm being honest (and in no way will it be SFF). I think the big thing will be if steam can commit to th…

No case. No custom made motherboard that supports HDMI CEC. Lack of developers specifically developing around valve hardware like they did with the SteamDeck.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#716

Post by bigyabai »

Gigachad wrote: post #708
Lucasoato wrote: post #684

> Steam Machine, like our other hardware products, is made up of many components that we source from manufacturers around the world. The price at which we sell our hardware is a direct result of the cost of these components. We felt like we had a good understanding of how those costs might change over time when we first started sourcing them for Steam Machine back in 2023. That understanding was born from the many ye…

Valve's communication around this release has redirected all rage towards Sam Altman rather than the Steam Machine.

The "rage" is largely surrounding the price, not the Machine hardware itself. The Deck sold like hotcakes at $400.

We'll see actual outrage when the masses defer new smartphone upgrades due to price bumps.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#717

Post by fwip »

mock-possum wrote: post #130
pseudosavant wrote: post #72

I know the price for PC parts is terrible these days, but $1049 for a 6-core 16GB RAM, with a 512GB SSD, and no controller, is a terrible value. For reference, the PS5 Pro has more than twice the number GPU CUs, an 8-core CPU, a 2TB SSD, a controller, and costs $899.

Right, but it’s a PS5, not a PC - you’re paying less for the privilege of letting Sony 100% control what you use the device for, including not being able to play your own games that you’ve paid for. Try doing that on a PC. Try checking your email on your PS5, or steaming the media of your choice.

The PS5 has an internet browser, you can do all that.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#718

Post by sourcegrift »

prhn wrote: post #96

I want to buy one just to raise the signal that Linux support is important. When these machines were announced I switched to Fedora as a daily driver on my high end gaming rig. It’s been awesome. I still have to go back to Windows for music production unfortunately. I may switch to Mac for that so I can completely abandon Windows. I run an optical HDMI cable from my office to my TV and get to play games and use Linux…

Please buy pinephone instead.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#719

Post by Rohansi »

pseudosavant wrote: post #672
bryanlarsen wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The PS5 Pro has 16 GB unified memory, the Steam Machine is 16GB + 8GB. That'll be where some of the price difference comes from. But most likely comes from Sony locking in long term contracts before price insanity.

Unified memory is a lot more flexible and efficient though. You don't have to have assets loaded in RAM and also VRAM for the CPU/GPU to use them. Don't forget about how much more RAM a general purpose OS like Steam OS can consume versus a gaming specific OS too. The PS5 Pro also has an extra 2GB of DDR5 system RAM too. My old Ryzen 3700X gaming PC has 16GB of RAM and 8GB of VRAM (RTX 2070 Super) and there isn't any…

> You don't have to have assets loaded in RAM and also VRAM for the CPU/GPU to use them.

You typically don't want to do this anyway in games. You're probably doing something wrong if you're reading textures/meshes on both the CPU and GPU.

> Don't forget about how much more RAM a general purpose OS like Steam OS can consume versus a gaming specific OS too.

SteamOS is meant to be a gaming specific OS first. It has a desktop environment but none of that loads unless you switch to desktop mode. That's just taking up some disk space while you play games.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#720

Post by NothingAboutAny »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #706
Lucasoato wrote: post #684

> Steam Machine, like our other hardware products, is made up of many components that we source from manufacturers around the world. The price at which we sell our hardware is a direct result of the cost of these components. We felt like we had a good understanding of how those costs might change over time when we first started sourcing them for Steam Machine back in 2023. That understanding was born from the many ye…

I have a feeling it would have cost drastically less if we didn't have a RAM / storage crisis, which is really sad.

there's probably ~$150 in the ram and ~$100 in the SSD alone, not to mention everything else. we gotta have data-centers though because, uh.. well, we gotta have em.
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