Steam Console

[Citizen Cook]

I’ve been hearing rumours about a Steam Console in development at Valve. These rumours from IGN India say that the machine will have a custom SoC just like the Steam Deck made by AMD. It will run Steam OS, and is said to be designed specifically to connect to the Deckard, Valve’s next VR headset.

What do you guys think about this? Personally I’m really excited about the possibility of a Steam console that could play all of my existing Steam games and all the latest ones as well on my TV or monitor. The only negative would be a lack of upgradability but the benefits would be in cost savings. Valve have been able to sell the Steam Deck for a very low price because A. They are not greedy, and B. They can get a great deal from AMD. Something we can’t do. I mean, a decent GPU alone, equivalent to whatever is in the Steam console will be far more expensive than the entire console.

As gamers we’re being squeezed pretty hard by nGreedia. An AMD card is cheaper, but still very expensive. I game on an OLED TV with a controller. I therefore need to play at 4K resolution. I’m currently rocking a 3080 12GB. I payed £700 for it in the UK.

If I want to buy nGreedia’s latest 4K card the 4080 I need to pay about £1080
The AMD equivalent is the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and that would set me back £1000
That’s an insane price bump. PC gaming has become unsustainable for me.
I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t just want a Steam console, I NEED a Steam console!

[Χάρης]

Publicado originalmente por _I_:

link to what?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Machine_(computer)

steam linux client?
https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-install-steam-on-any-ubuntu-based-linux-distribution-so-you-can-play-a-world-of-games/

steam os is no longer for pc, its for the steam deck

you said you can still build your own steam machine

[_I_]

Publicado originalmente por Χάρης:

Publicado originalmente por _I_:

link to what?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Machine_(computer)

steam linux client?
https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-install-steam-on-any-ubuntu-based-linux-distribution-so-you-can-play-a-world-of-games/

steam os is no longer for pc, its for the steam deck

you said you can still build your own steam machine

yes, its just a pc, look at the specs, nothing special about it

[Citizen Cook]

Publicado originalmente por _I_:

Publicado originalmente por Χάρης:

you said you can still build your own steam machine

yes, its just a pc, look at the specs, nothing special about it

Do you know of a console sized case that can accommodate a 4080 and lay horizontal under the TV?
There’s the Fractal Ridge https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/ridge/ridge/white/
but YouTubers have shown that when placed horizontally things get uncomfortably toasty for the CPU.

[_I_]

does not need to be that size or shape
you can build it on one of these if you want
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/QTm323/streacom-bc1-mini-red-mini-itx-test-bench-case-st-bc1r-mini

[Citizen Cook]

Publicado originalmente por _I_:

does not need to be that size or shape
you can build it on one of these if you want
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/QTm323/streacom-bc1-mini-red-mini-itx-test-bench-case-st-bc1r-mini

Sorry, no pictures are displaying for me. Anyhoo, I’ve always had this dream of owning a horizontal console-sized PC under my TV that runs a controller UI.
We’re getting closer to that dream all the time.🙂

[retro_Ed]

ChimeraOS is 99% what SteamOS 3.xx is. But only for AMD users.
(Nvidia open source NVK Vulkan drivers are now fast evolving but not included in this distro.)

Normal Linux distro and Windows systems with Steam Big Picture do not have those unique features what SteamOS 3.xx and ChimeraOS offers. For example system wide FSR gen1 for every game. 120 Hz television users can set system run smooth 40 fps.
(no more talk if 30fps is good enough :)

Just controller optimized user experience.

Silverstone RVZ (old) model lineup PC cases are very console like cases:
RVZ Raven, original model
RVZ03, RGB case
FTZ,Fortress, Premium Aluminium cases

[Citizen Cook]

Could this be a SteamBox contender?

https://rog.asus.com/desktops/mini-pc/rog-nuc/

Shame it comes with Windows 11 instead of SteamOS.

[C1REX]

Publicado originalmente por Citizen Cook:

Could this be a SteamBox contender?

https://rog.asus.com/desktops/mini-pc/rog-nuc/

Shame it comes with Windows 11 instead of SteamOS.

Looks interesting and it's probably the future of prebuilds.
Does it have laptop hardware?

[Citizen Cook]

Publicado originalmente por C1REX:

Publicado originalmente por Citizen Cook:

Could this be a SteamBox contender?

https://rog.asus.com/desktops/mini-pc/rog-nuc/

Shame it comes with Windows 11 instead of SteamOS.

Looks interesting and it's probably the future of prebuilds.
Does it have laptop hardware?

The 4070 is a laptop gpu.
I particularly like the tooless entry though.
I could see myself myself buying one of these rather than upgrading my PC next time, provided the price is right, or course.

[_I_]

Publicado originalmente por Citizen Cook:

The 4070 is a laptop gpu.
I particularly like the tooless entry though.
I could see myself myself buying one of these rather than upgrading my PC next time, provided the price is right, or course.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/40-series/rtx-4070-family/
really?
4070 is 2 slot 650w min psu
not sure any laptops can fit that

there is a mobile version using the same gpu 'core' but its not the same power limit or performance as desktop

the nuc is basically a laptop without the display

[Citizen Cook]

Publicado originalmente por _I_:

Publicado originalmente por Citizen Cook:

The 4070 is a laptop gpu.
I particularly like the tooless entry though.
I could see myself myself buying one of these rather than upgrading my PC next time, provided the price is right, or course.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/40-series/rtx-4070-family/
really?
4070 is 2 slot 650w min psu
not sure any laptops can fit that

there is a mobile version using the same gpu 'core' but its not the same power limit or performance as desktop

the nuc is basically a laptop without the display

All Asus’ website says is:

Integrated - Intel®Arc™ Graphics
Discrete - NVIDIA® GeForce RTX 4070


And PC Gamer:
https://www.pcgamer.com/asus-unveils-its-rog-nuc-packing-up-to-a-core-9-ultra-and-rtx-4070-graphics-into-a-compact-25-liter-chassis/

https://videocardz.com/newz/asus-rog-nuc-officially-with-up-to-core-ultra-9-185h-cpu-and-rtx-4070-gpu-in-2-5-liter-chassis

[_I_]

thats the thing with mobile nvidia gpu, it has not video outputs
they write to the intel igpu frame buffer for it to display

its still just a laptop without a display

[Citizen Cook]

Publicado originalmente por _I_:

thats the thing with mobile nvidia gpu, it has not video outputs
they write to the intel igpu frame buffer for it to display

its still just a laptop without a display

Hopefully it’s considerably cheaper than a laptop with a similar output. For me, having a small console-sized PC running SteamOS that sits under my PC is the dream.

[Zef]

Depends, if they are going to repeat the mistake of leaving it to OEM's to make a crapton of different variants and hardware components it will make more sense to just build your own PC running steam OS since at that point there is nothing that differentiates it compared to regular PC's.

The reason why Steam Deck wins is because

- the form factor, and that you can play PC games on the go (+ emulation etc)
- the community behind it
- only one HW set to work with so developers targetting for deck or Proton know what to optimize for.

It doesn't really make sense to make a small form factored steam OS console/PC.. when you can already do that, you just need a small form factor case, MB, GPU and make sure the parts are compatible for Steam OS.


Nintendo switch had the right idea though, instead of fragmenting their ecosystem between handheld and console gaming they made the right move with making their handheld also capable of being used as a console while docked.

Personally i rather see them direct their effort into the development of a Steam Deck 2 with better performance and a larger battery.

[Citizen Cook]

Publicado originalmente por Zef:

Depends, if they are going to repeat the mistake of leaving it to OEM's to make a crapton of different variants and hardware components it will make more sense to just build your own PC running steam OS since at that point there is nothing that differentiates it compared to regular PC's.

The reason why Steam Deck wins is because

- the form factor, and that you can play PC games on the go (+ emulation etc)
- the community behind it
- only one HW set to work with so developers targetting for deck or Proton know what to optimize for.

It doesn't really make sense to make a small form factored steam OS console/PC.. when you can already do that, you just need a small form factor case, MB, GPU and make sure the parts are compatible for Steam OS.


Nintendo switch had the right idea though, instead of fragmenting their ecosystem between handheld and console gaming they made the right move with making their handheld also capable of being used as a console while docked.

Personally i rather see them direct their effort into the development of a Steam Deck 2 with better performance and a larger battery.

Completely agree. A SoC is essential to reduce costs, size and heat.