Steam Box

[OSCORP]

IBuyPower introduces the first third party Steambox boasting twice the power of the PS4 and a price tag of $499


https://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multi...499_High_End_AMD_Based_Steam_Box_Machine.html

The console wars just got serious with clear differences among the competitors:

XBoxOne with its superior exclusive titles and entertainment features

PS4 with its full 1080p resolution and superior graphics

SteamBox with it's massive catalog of games and apparently twice the power of PS4 and also with full 1080p resolution

Quote:
Although Valve Software has said that its Steam Box-concept personal computers will be available at different price-points from different partners, no well-known PC makers have unveiled one. But it looks like the situation is changing and changing in a good way. iBuyPower, a boutique PC maker from the U.S., is working on an AMD-based Steam Box that will perfectly fit into the living room and will cost only $499.
The Steam Box from iBuyPower will be powered by a multi-core AMD processor and will be equipped with AMD Radeon R9 270 graphics card (formerly Radeon HD 7870 with 1280 stream processors), 500GB hard disk drive, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and so on, reports The Verge web-site. The machine comes in a stylish grey box with built-in power supply unit that matches design of consumer electronics.
What the iBuyPower Steam Box system will not offer is a Blu-ray optical disc drive as well as Windows operating system. The personal computer will run Steam OS and will come with Steam Controller for further convenience in the living room.
The horsepower inside the iBuyPower Steam Box is considerably higher compared to that of Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4, but its price will be around $499, according to the manufacturer. The system should provide decent performance in video-games optimized for SteamOS, therefore, be comparable to new-generation video game consoles. iBuyPower claims that existing Steam for Linux games should run quite well, at full 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second.
The iBuyPower Steam Box will be available sometimes in 2014. Officially, the firm will likely introduce the system during the Consumer Electronics Show early next year.

 

[Solidus]

I'm interested in seeing how this performs. I love Steam and I've always wanted to play my PC games in the living room, without having to route an incredibly long HDMI cable between my PC and television.

 

[darthviper107]

Valve should have at least released a very cheap box just for PC streaming.
If they really wanted, they could buy a game streaming service like OnLive to allow people to play their Steam games from anywhere, make it like an $8 monthly fee for that and I think it would do better.
By the way, that GPU is about as good as the one in the PS4

 

[RIDDICK]

When I hear "Steam Box" I think about teabag...

 

[snappahead]

Valve should have at least released a very cheap box just for PC streaming.
If they really wanted, they could buy a game streaming service like OnLive to allow people to play their Steam games from anywhere, make it like an $8 monthly fee for that and I think it would do better.
By the way, that GPU is about as good as the one in the PS4

That's actually what I was expecting this to be. Didn't know it was going to an actual console/pc.

 

[darthviper107]

It's not really a console, it's just a PC they expect you to put next to your TV, that'll be running Linux.
It's possible they'll still make a box that's just for streaming to your livingroom from your PC, but the main focus is on making a machine that plays games itself.
My bet, is that they can only get the price to what a PC would cost without Windows installed, which isn't actually a deal. Unless they can give a lower cost than building yourself or what you can get from buying from Dell or whatever, then it's not worth it.

 

[snappahead]

It's not really a console, it's just a PC they expect you to put next to your TV, that'll be running Linux.
It's possible they'll still make a box that's just for streaming to your livingroom from your PC, but the main focus is on making a machine that plays games itself.
My bet, is that they can only get the price to what a PC would cost without Windows installed, which isn't actually a deal. Unless they can give a lower cost than building yourself or what you can get from buying from Dell or whatever, then it's not worth it.

These days, consoles pretty much are PCs. The lines have been getting blurrier and blurrier. I just meant that I wasn't expecting a gaming system, but a streaming system like you were referring.

 

[RagingBull]

It's not really a console, it's just a PC they expect you to put next to your TV, that'll be running Linux.
It's possible they'll still make a box that's just for streaming to your livingroom from your PC, but the main focus is on making a machine that plays games itself.
My bet, is that they can only get the price to what a PC would cost without Windows installed, which isn't actually a deal. Unless they can give a lower cost than building yourself or what you can get from buying from Dell or whatever, then it's not worth it.

No there isn't. CVG reported on this a week or so ago.

"Key to driving down the unit price is the removal of Microsoft's Windows operating system"

"However, only games that run on Steam for Linux will work on Steam Machines, reducing a library of 3,000 games to - presently - less than 300"

https://www.computerandvideogames.com/440323/new-steam-machine-to-rival-xbox-one-price/

 

[darthviper107]

I said the opposite---The price is probably the same as what you'd normally pay for a computer with those stats but minus the cost of Windows.