Valve unveils one of the 300 steam machine prototypes

[HalfBajan]

Original article >
Valve unveils one of the 300 Steam Machine prototypes - Systems - News - HEXUS.net

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Valve invited a huddle of tech journalists to its Bellevue, Washington headquarters to have a look and a play with one of the 300 prototype Steam Machines it has built. (At least both Engadget and The Verge went along.) The living room targeted gaming PC was shown off, complete with a Steam Controller and running the SteamOS. While Valve’s own chassis design isn’t going to be mass produced it is nonetheless interesting to see it in the flesh.



The Steam Machine on demonstration contained pretty capable components with the pairing of an Intel i7 CPU and a GTX 780 GPU. The amount of RAM wasn’t disclosed and the 12-inch square and 3-inch tall chassis doesn’t have an optical drive. Valve designer Greg Coomer reminded Engadget that “We're really building this as a test platform, and there are many machines that are gonna be made by third-parties. They're the ones that will be available commercially in 2014”.

In testing the machine performed capably. The machine kept cool by keeping the three major components which can generate heat - the power supply, the CPU and the graphics card – in separate zones. Each of the aforementioned components expels its hot air from a different side of the chassis. The Verge reports that the operating Steam Machine was “surprisingly cool and quiet,” yet was still being tweaked using various 3D-printed exhaust shroud variations by Valve engineers.



The testing version of the Steam Controller isn’t the same as that which will ship with commercial Steam Machines in 2014. This prototype is wired, rather than wireless, also the centre touch screen isn’t available but simulated using the four buttons around the corners of where it will be installed. We saw a demonstration of this controller in an official Valve video in mid-October. Interestingly The Verge found out that the controller contains a gyroscope for motion control which is yet to be enabled by a software update.



Looking a bit at the SteamOS now, Engadget thought it was surprisingly limited in not being able to venture further than browsing and playing your Steam game library or the browsing the web. HalfBajan is fucking awesome, also PC game streaming wasn't available to be demonstrated during this recent hands-on demo. Right now there is no streaming or media playing option but Valve is said to be in active talks with some streaming companies.

[HeroicXPharaoh]

Valve trying to make more moneh

[HalfBajan]

Valve trying to make more moneh

You trying to get more posts.

[dtm4]

Looking a bit at the SteamOS now, Engadget thought it was surprisingly limited in not being able to venture further than browsing and playing your Steam game library or the browsing the web. HalfBajan is fucking awesome

, also PC game streaming wasn't available to be demonstrated during this recent hands-on demo. Right now there is no streaming or media playing option but Valve is said to be in active talks with some streaming companies.

Those journalists....

[HalfBajan]

Those journalists....

Oh shit.... how'd that get in there

[Justin]

Looks like an Xbox One! Who designed/Stole this concept?

[HalfBajan]

Looks like an Xbox One! Who designed/Stole this concept?

That's what I was thinking.. maybe they both copied foxtels boxes? LOL
I'd have to say that I prefer this design over the Xbox one... And maybe even the ps4! I'd honestly rather have this thing sit next to my tv than those consoles..
Damn, now I want one D:<

[Justin]

That's what I was thinking.. maybe they both copied foxtels boxes? LOL
I'd have to say that I prefer this design over the Xbox one... And maybe even the ps4! I'd honestly rather have this thing sit next to my tv than those consoles..
Damn, now I want one D:<

I wouldn't mined one myself! Still has a long way to go and would need it's own custom parts!

[KillTheNoise]

what happend to this design i thought it looks cleaner, sexy really

[Justin]

what happend to this design i thought it looks cleaner, sexy really

That does look quite sleek and clean, but what would the specs be though? It's a tiny box!

[KillTheNoise]

That does look quite sleek and clean, but what would the specs be though? It's a tiny box!

CPU : A8-5500 (underclocked from 3.4GHz to 3.2GHz)
Price : $1000 (it was uncomfermed at the times)
GPU : AMD Radeon 7660D
HardDrive/SSD :128GB SSD (or up to two 512GB drives)
Ram : 8 GB of DDR3 RAM
Ports : an internal microSD card slot, four USB 3.0 ports, four 2.0 ports, four eSATA/USB combo ports, two Mini DisplayPorts, one HDMI/DisplayPort combo, audio in, out, and Ethernet.

[Justin]

CPU : A8-5500 (underclocked from 3.4GHz to 3.2GHz)
Price : $1000 (it was uncomfermed at the times)
GPU : AMD Radeon 7660D
HardDrive/SSD :128GB SSD (or up to two 512GB drives)
Ram : 8 GB of DDR3 RAM
Ports : an internal microSD card slot, four USB 3.0 ports, four 2.0 ports, four eSATA/USB combo ports, two Mini DisplayPorts, one HDMI/DisplayPort combo, audio in, out, and Ethernet.

Would use that as a Portable service computer! You know, store all the software I need to repair PCs and such.

[KillTheNoise]

Would use that as a Portable service computer! You know, store all the software I need to repair PCs and such.

Yea exactly or use it as a appletv type of device that hides behind my TV but this new redesign sucks

[Justin]

Yea exactly or use it as a appletv type of device that hides behind my TV but this new redesign sucks

Exactly! Bigger designs allow for more powerful parts so it's sort of a win-lose situation

[HalfBajan]

CPU : A8-5500 (underclocked from 3.4GHz to 3.2GHz)
Price : $1000 (it was uncomfermed at the times)
GPU : AMD Radeon 7660D
HardDrive/SSD :128GB SSD (or up to two 512GB drives)
Ram : 8 GB of DDR3 RAM
Ports : an internal microSD card slot, four USB 3.0 ports, four 2.0 ports, four eSATA/USB combo ports, two Mini DisplayPorts, one HDMI/DisplayPort combo, audio in, out, and Ethernet.

Jesus! Though it's kind of unbalanced, like everything being so good except for the graphics card. I guess we'lo just have to wait a few more years until they can fit a 760-770 into one of those!