[corresation]

Those specs are very high-end (cue someone dismissing that compared to their triple-SLI, etc) and it is hard to imagine that is at all commercially credible: that would be a $1200+ machine. The GTX780 alone is $700, the Titan $1200. Add that the notion of a living room media/gaming box using up to 450w seems oddly backwards.

After all of the talk about leveraging the AMD successes with the game consoles -- and about smoothing ports -- surprised to see nvidia only.

[drcode]

So? The Nintendo 64 was based on the hardware of a $10,000 Silicon Graphics workstation.

Prototype hardware always costs a gzillion dollars.

[corresation]

This isn't prototype hardware, but rather is standard PC hardware. At best it is a prototype form factor?

Another post mentions this as a way of getting SteamOS out there, but really -- as this is just standard PC hardware -- there are already hundreds of millions of candidate devices.

The only real way I can see SteamOS having a chance is if it offers a console-like value proposition (because the next generation of very powerful consoles are just coming out, and even "hard core" gamers are looking at them longingly), which valve needed to make happen through tight integration, optimization, and mass production. Another go at HTPCs == almost certain commercial failure.

[vinkelhake]

From what I've seen, the "hard core" crowd isn't that impressed by the next gen console specs. They already have hardware that can run games at resolutions better than 1080p comfortably at 60fps. We're now seeing stories about launch games not running at 1080p, something which many people expected to be standard for next-gen console games.

But, back to Steam Machines. I don't think it would be a good idea for Valve to try to get Steam Machines down to console like costs. They're not in a position to sell hardware at a loss like console manufacturers have traditionally done in the beginning of a cycle. The Steam Machines should offer quality.

[benologist]

Valve are definitely in a position to sell machines at a loss and make it up on content and new customers ala Amazon and Kindle. I would expect if they were to subsidize the price it would be far below console levels to pursue the billion or whatever casual gamers that don't use Steam, not merely to try and carve out a piece of Microsoft and Sony's pie.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidewalt/2012/03/07/valve-gabe...

[vinkelhake]

Console manufacturers have been able to sell hardware at a loss knowing that any game running on the machine is going to come through them. The Steam Machines, on the other hand, are just PC's and it doesn't sound like they'll be locked down to only allow SteamOS and its games to run on it.

Look at the specs we're discussing. Even the low-end version is decidedly non-casual.

[benologist]

I think most of the content is going to go through Steam - alternatives (especially anything the manufacturers will shit out) aren't going to measure up where it matters with content. This would be similar to Android where the biggest store, Play, has more than an order of magnitude more of everything than the second biggest, Amazon.

Those specs are high end but that also means the device will be compatible with games for the rest of the decade.

[Aldo_MX]

This is not necessarily bad, most hardcore PC gamers already have a setup similar to this one.

At this point if I have to be skeptical about something is about how well the hardware will work with the OS considering the reputation nvidia has with Linux...

[keypusher]

The proprietary nvidia drivers are actually the best drivers on linux, far better than what AMD has currently. More stable, and better gaming performance. The problem is that they are proprietary, and this causes tension in the Linux community. So, there is also open source nvidia drivers (nouveau), but they don't work very well for 3D applications in my experience. Nvidia has recently made some overtures towards the linux dev community, saying they will provide more information to the open source driver team, but time will tell. To sum up, from my experience gaming on various Linux video drivers so far:

nvidia (closed source) > AMD > nvidia (open source)

[fdr_cs]

actually, despite its reputation as a bad opensource citizen, NVIDIA proprietary drives are the best for linux gaming. Their performance are on par with windows.

[jiggy2011]

At that price point though it's difficult to see the advantage compared to just buying a Windows PC of equivalent spec which will run more games out of the gate.

[ssmoot]

Because it's a Windows PC and it's not in my living room.

Maybe (probably) I'm just biased, but I spent a few years trying to get MythTV, Satellite PCs, Silverstone chassis, Mediacenter, XBMC on a modded 1st gen XBox, etc etc working smoothly.

It was a nightmare. I don't ever ever never want to have to think about overscan again as long as I live.

For me to be interested it needs to be flawlessly plug & play.

This was a few years before HDMI output was available on videocards, so maybe that has already solved the problem.

But as a ~8 year Mac user who converted from Windows XP for Ruby I will never, ever buy another Windows PC. Ever. Never. I mean, my wife still has to occasionally open network settings to get her work laptop onto the network. And because it's an Airport Extreme, that never has to be rebooted (unlike the dozen other WAPs I had previously), it's never the network. Just her laptop. That's crazy. No way I'm letting that into my living room.

Pitch me a box and out of the box experience that is guaranteed to work as long as I keep it vanilla (which is all I want) and is otherwise a PS4 I have the ability to upgrade piecemeal... Yeah. I'm totally on board with that.

And if the price of entry is pushing $600+, I'm probably OK with that too. That's what I paid for an 80GB PS3 on release day after all. I don't think I could make the mental leap past $999 though. ;-)

Price isn't my primary concern. Plug & Play access to a top-notch gaming environment is.

Honestly the PS4 may be a better fit, but the ability to swap out circuit boards on a SteamMachine is appealing. And the game library. If I could play DOOM and System Shock on my TV without spending as much time getting it working as playing I'd be pretty stoked.

[jiggy2011]

Plug and play TV integration on Windows 8 is extremely seamless. I would be surprised if a Valve OS based on Linux with it's patchy nvidia drivers would be any easier.

[corresation]

but the ability to swap out circuit boards on a SteamMachine is appealing

The plug-and-play thing has never really worked. However not having to wait the normal generational time between consoles would be an advantage -- it was always baffling that each iteration of the 360 and PS3 (there were many of each) couldn't improve it in some way beyond making it smaller or lower power. GTA IV on the 360 had draw distance issues and would stutter mid-town -- it would have been nice if some GPU improvements in the 2nd and then 3rd edition eliminated that, etc, but the nature of that platform makes it so they can't.

[corresation]

Hardcore gamers are far too small of a market, however. I really had hope that Valve would do some serious system integration that would you get you much more for less (effectively what the shortly to be released consoles do. PC wise they are a fantastic amount of power), but instead it's just apparently the same PC market, with the only novelty being the shape of the box.

[xymostech]

Isn't the point of Valve's console that they want to get SteamOS out to people to test, not because they actually want to sell it to people? It looks to me like they're shipping with a variety of system configurations (one of them even has an i3 in it, certainly not a hardcore processor) and they're seeing how each of them holds up. They're going to leave it to other companies to actually make some real consoles (they might release their own too, but they're not the only ones who can), and one of those companies certainly could perform the system integration that you'd like to lower the cost.

The point of SteamOS is that it's open, and anyone can make them (and people other than Valve can sell them). If they become insanely popular, I'm sure that someone will jump on integration to sell a cheaper console.

[liuliu]

The Titan card seems requires 600W PSU: http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-tit.... Don't know how it works with 450W PSU.