+Frank B. Subscriber² Posted October 4, 2013 Subscriber² Share Posted October 4, 2013 Valve releases hardware specs for Steam Machine prototype The 300 Steam Machine prototypes that Valve will be sending to Steam users later this year will be high-end computers built from off-the-shelf PC parts, the company announced today. Here's the list of hardware specifications for the prototype: GPU: some units with Nvidia Titan, some GTX780, some GTX760 and some GTX660 CPU: some boxes with Intel i7-4770, some i5-4570 and some i3 RAM: 16 GB DDR3-1600 (CPU), 3 GB DDR5 (GPU) Storage: 1TB/8GB Hybrid SSHD Power supply: Internal 450 W 80 Plus Gold Dimensions: approx. 12 inches x 12.4 inches x 2.9 inches high "We wanted to accomplish some specific design goals that in the past others weren't yet tackling. One of them was to combine high-end power with a living-room-friendly form factor. Another was to help us test living-room scenarios on a box that's as open as possible," said Valve's Greg Cooomer in a post on the Steam forums. Coomer also pointed out that the various Steam Machines that third-party manufacturers will release in 2014 may differ, "in many cases substantially," from the components and form factor of the prototype. "To be clear, this design is not meant to serve the needs of all of the tens of millions of Steam users," Coomer continued. "It may, however, be the kind of machine that a significant percentage of Steam users would actually want to purchase ? those who want plenty of performance in a high-end living room package." Valve isn't ready to share images of the prototype's case, since the design hasn't been completed yet. But according to Coomer, the company will soon provide some "closer looks" at the Steam Controller. Source: Polygon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firey Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 If it comes with a Titan the price is going to be well over 1000$ I figured the Steam Machine would be around PS4/XB1 pricing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astra.Xtreme Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 A 450W PSU? Are they insane? Max Norris, +E.Worm Jimmy, Raa and 2 others 5 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsupersonic Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 A 450W PSU? Are they insane? But it's Gold rated :laugh: That's the first thing I was shocked at, 450w PSU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max22 Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 A 450W PSU? Are they insane? My 500 watt PSU works fine with my i5 2500k @ 4Ghz and a GTX 770! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Method Man Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 A 450W PSU? Are they insane? I'm pretty sure they know what they're doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astra.Xtreme Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 I'm pretty sure they know what they're doing. Well they aren't following the recommended PSU for any of them except for the 660. Underpowering a PC is very very bad and they won't be even close with the Titan and 780 systems. remixedcat 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max22 Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 Well they aren't following the recommended PSU for any of them except for the 660. Underpowering a PC is very very bad and they won't be even close with the Titan and 780 systems. Yeah but my GTX 770 works fine on a 500 watt PSU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astra.Xtreme Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 My 500 watt PSU works fine with my i5 2500k @ 4Ghz and a GTX 770! The recommended for that card is a 550W, so since you're heavily taxing the PSU, you're severely reducing it's life. It'll work, but it definitely won't last very long, especially if you game a lot. You'll start to hear a buzzing sound, which are the capacitors and transistors getting hammered. These Steam Boxes are dedicated gaming machines, so the absolute most amateur thing they can do is under-size the PSU. Those things will have laughable reliability. remixedcat 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹ Posted October 4, 2013 Subscriber¹ Share Posted October 4, 2013 these are prototypes not meant for a long life. i am sure the final machines will have appropriate PSU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleNeutrino Veteran Posted October 4, 2013 Veteran Share Posted October 4, 2013 now we just have to hope that someone on Neowin gets one of the 300 demo units :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astra.Xtreme Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 these are prototypes not meant for a long life. i am sure the final machines will have appropriate PSU There's a good possibility that a 450W PSU would immediately burn up with the Titan maxed out. There has to be a mistake with that detail. There's no way they would load these up with expensive components and then cheap out on one of the most vital components. The 660 one probably has the recommended 450W, and the other ones probably also have the recommended spec'd. As a gaming company, there's no way they'd do something as stupid as spec with a highly under-powered PSU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xendrome Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 So it's going to be a PC, in a custom case (premium price likely because of that), with standard PC components (gaming level) running a non-standard OS dumbed down version of a full OS (nix) and the price is probably going to be just as expensive as a standard gaming PC, at least from the looks of the specs. So why buy it? There's no compelling reason. Unless this thing comes in at the price of a Xbox One or PS4, I can't see anyone spending at or above $600 for it, considering the other options at below that price level, and anyone wanting to build a gaming PC will do just that. Max Norris, vcfan, Lord Method Man and 1 other 4 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noir Angel Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 running a non-standard OS dumbed down version of a full OS (nix) Given that nobody's seen SteamOS yet I am interested to know what evidence you're basing that assumption on. MindTrickz 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king_of_hearts Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 Perhaps Valve will have the rule of economies working on its behalf? If they can source the parts in great enough quantity, we could really see a great price for the specs they are proposing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Norris Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 Given that nobody's seen SteamOS yet I am interested to know what evidence you're basing that assumption on.Not really a hard stretch. We already know it's running Linux and we know it's designed for the living room.. just taking a random distro and pre-installing the desktop version of Steam doesn't sound terribly suitable for that sort of setup, never mind they're billing it as it's own OS. What are they expecting users to do, navigate the Kickoff menu or something to start Steam? Besides, since the thing is just a PC anyway, you can slap whatever OS on it you want after the fact, Linux, Windows, whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max22 Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 The recommended for that card is a 550W, so since you're heavily taxing the PSU, you're severely reducing it's life. It'll work, but it definitely won't last very long, especially if you game a lot. You'll start to hear a buzzing sound, which are the capacitors and transistors getting hammered. These Steam Boxes are dedicated gaming machines, so the absolute most amateur thing they can do is under-size the PSU. Those things will have laughable reliability. My PSU is like a 550 W PSU ! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dead.cell Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 If it comes with a Titan the price is going to be well over 1000$ I figured the Steam Machine would be around PS4/XB1 pricing. You do realize they can release more than one model, yes? Options - PC gaming is full of them. :) theyarecomingforyou 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phouchg Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 There's a good possibility that a 450W PSU would immediately burn up with the Titan maxed out. There has to be a mistake with that detail. There's no way they would load these up with expensive components and then cheap out on one of the most vital components. The 660 one probably has the recommended 450W, and the other ones probably also have the recommended spec'd. As a gaming company, there's no way they'd do something as stupid as spec with a highly under-powered PSU. Nope. Let's start with that a quality unit won't "burn". Overcurrent protection will be triggered and the system won't power up or will power down and, if timer circuit is used, it will refuse to power back on. A good unit will dedicate most of its power to +12V. An i7-4770 + Titan + austere mATX board + disk drive will top out at 400W on +12V at maximum load, which itself is rarely the case. A good unit also handles temporary overload without triggering OCP. Therefore it's fully possible to run this setup on high quality 450W unit. I do believe that it is severely underpowered for efficiency and longevity reasons, which is why 450W will likely be for entry-level configurations. Stupid, however, is putting a kilowatt in there, not the other way around. PSU is a critical component, but watt-craze must be limited. May I suggest a watt-meter in this regard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astra.Xtreme Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 I do believe that it is severely underpowered for efficiency and longevity reasons, which is why 450W will likely be for entry-level configurations. Yup, that's exactly my concern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xendrome Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 Given that nobody's seen SteamOS yet I am interested to know what evidence you're basing that assumption on. It's going to be like Android is on an Amazon Kindle, meant for gaming with consumption and media also added. It won't be a full fledged OS, just go mess with their Big Picture feature in Steam now, that will give you a general idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xendrome Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 Besides, since the thing is just a PC anyway, you can slap whatever OS on it you want after the fact, Linux, Windows, whatever. Probably not that easy, they will have it boot loader locked or even some type of hardware check which will need to be engineered with a work around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Norris Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 Probably not that easy, they will have it boot loader locked or even some type of hardware check which will need to be engineered with a work around.I would sure hope not, I keep hearing complaints about "walled gardens" and such, that would be a pretty spiffy wall right there.. one more reason I wouldn't touch the thing otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackhearted Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 Hmm... Only nvidia cards eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Frank B. Subscriber² Posted October 4, 2013 Author Subscriber² Share Posted October 4, 2013 Hmm... Only nvidia cards eh? Others are dropping AMD cards from their gaming PCs as well: http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/04/origin-pc-drops-amd-graphics-options/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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