iBuyPower Steam Machines

[kAOS]

Hello

I read this news to day:
http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/25/5146398/ibuypower-steam-machine-499-radeon-r9-270

I must say i love it and i feal really excited over this and the development of steam os, controller and machines. I feal that Valve is going in the right direction with this and, mainly because i am at a crossroad chooseing between PS4, Xbone and PC, this makes me pretty sure i vwill go with valve.
This steam machine is priced as a xbox one but has more horsepower and is upgradeable.

What do you guys and girls think of all this?
Steam machine total success or will it fail?

Well speaking for myself i can only say: Yes Valve, you got me:-)

[SHON]

I don't think about what hardware I should go with until I find out what software (games) that hardware has. Right now I'm satisfied with PC, mainly because most of the games I'm interested in comes to PC (sometimes takes awhile). In this point and time there's no reason for me to buy another console. I'm really satisfied with PC gaming mainly because of Steam and the versatility of PC gaming. I kinda like the idea of the Steam machines, it just comes down to whether I need one or not. I kinda think the idea behind these Steam machines are for people who want a decently priced way of getting into PC gaming, not someone who has decent PC already.

My monies on the Oculus Rift and maybe the Steam controller for game changing devices.

[76561198001357399]

Wait is iBuyPower some sort of copy of CyberPower? I keep hearing it tossed around.

[senseidongen]

That is a pretty sweet looking thing, and a decent amount of power to boot! I love the idea of a console sized PC and unfortunately they're damn near impossible to home build with standard PC parts :(

Before anyone counters by suggesting a build in something like a fractal design core 1000 or similarly small PC case, that is still MASSIVE compared to a console - 175mm deep compared to 80mm deep for the Xbone and that number is critically important if you've got to fit it in your TV cabinet

[kAOS]

I am in the the ropes of buying something new to play on (with) so i think this types of steam machines are great.
I agree with you fully senseidongen:-)
I love playing my games in the livingroom infront of my bigscreen tv and i dont want som uggly big black metalbox, i want somthing little and consollike that are a pc:-)
Best thing is that you dont need steam OS, you can go with windows..
iBuyPower is som american company that also is present in Germany. Dont know anything about it.

[senseidongen]

I know right? The closest you can get (without paying through the nose for a fully custom PC) is the Alienware X51 but that is predictably expensive, plus I like building damn it! I built my own console sized PC (it's still bigger than an xbone mind) as space is genuinely an issue for me right now and it works, though there are a couple of dodgy things about it; namely cooling and the need to rely on a crappy PSU included with the case, as the case is too shallow for a proper ATX PSU.

My build uses an A10-6800K APU on a micro-ATX board (which just about fits) so it's not desperately powerful, but enough for me. The stock cooler in such a small case (<100mm (4") deep) wasn't cutting it so I bought a Corsair H60... and then realised, "how the hell am I going to mount it?!" ... I managed it, but suffice to say it involves the use of cable ties :P plus I can't put the side of the case back on until I drill more holes in it to actually allow air to flow through the radiator!

As I said, not easy :P

[[UFO] rad87gn]

Publicado originalmente por Tris125's Laptop:

Wait is iBuyPower some sort of copy of CyberPower? I keep hearing it tossed around.

Yes, they are similar.

[Rove]

If that iBuyPower Steambox is accurate then it looks lots better than PS4 or XB1 for a similar price.

I personally will always remain a fan of the self built PC as long as it provides better value and options. The small size is neat but it is not very important to me. A nice big mid to full size desktop PC tower is what it's about to me.

Maybe a Steambox would be something great to take traveling or on vacation though.

I am really glad someone is trying to bring PC competition to the console market. Enough of closed platforms and the resulting monopolistic games sales. I just hope other companies bring this type of competition also.

I do not want to see Valve become the only name in gaming any more than I want it to be Sony or Microsoft. Monopoly = bad as we can see from current consoles already.

Steam OS is something I am very positive about. If it does take off then other companies or groups will be able to take the same source code, improve it and make other Linux gaming OS possible also. I like Steam and will probably at least try out Steam OS just for fun. If any other gaming companies bring their distribution networks to Steam OS or other types of Linux this would be cool also. Open Source means they should be easily able to keep them compatible.

[mason]

Publicado originalmente por Tris125's Laptop:

Wait is iBuyPower some sort of copy of CyberPower? I keep hearing it tossed around.

Both are different companies.
I have an iBuyPOWER (Had no idea how to build then).
My friend has a Cyberpower.

His hard drive failed.
His $1100 build only had a 7850.
His HDD was a 5400rpm 1TB drive.

Mine came with a 120GB SSD (Intel 330), and a 2TB 7200RPM drive.
My build for 200$ more had a 7970.
Mine had excellent cable management, air flow, and my water cooler keeps my CPU (OC'd to 4.7) at around 23C.

[GeirOve]

Can this only run Linux based games, right? Does it mean we miss out on some big titles with it?

[mason]

Publicado originalmente por GeirOve:

Can this only run Linux based games, right? Does it mean we miss out on some big titles with it?

Hopefully the great Gaben will figure out how to get Windows games on a Linux machine.

[GeirOve]

Publicado originalmente por "Wow", "Such", "Very"-Doge:

Publicado originalmente por GeirOve:

Can this only run Linux based games, right? Does it mean we miss out on some big titles with it?

Hopefully the great Gaben will figure out how to get Windows games on a Linux machine.

That would be fantastic, if so, its a def buy for me :D

[Rove]

You CAN always buy and install a copy of Windows for around $100.

[mason]

Publicado originalmente por Rove:

You CAN always buy and install a copy of Windows for around $100.

But what if I dont want to get Scroggled by Microsoft?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Publicado originalmente por "Wow", "Such", "Very"-Doge:

Publicado originalmente por Rove:

You CAN always buy and install a copy of Windows for around $100.

But what if I dont want to get Scroggled by Microsoft?

Then u will miss out on games that are not offered under Linux.
However, at some point in 2014, Steam will release their own "Steam OS" so keep that in mind as well.

[senseidongen]

Publicado originalmente por vadim:

Publicado originalmente por DukeOfSilver:

Steam machine total success or will it fail?

Steam machine with AMD videocards, no doubts, will fail.
Radeon themselves are as good as Nvidia cards. But only in Windows environment. Their Linux drivers sucks. Noone in right mind will buy AMD to run Linux.

Interesting, though in a Q&A session with Tom's Hardware I think it was, AMD said specifically that there would be AMD powered Steam machines in 2014 so this obviously isn't just an OEM using their stuff - AMD are in on it. Hopefully this means they will improve their Linux driver support and if Steam OS supports Mantle (seemingly no word on that yet) then that'll give them an extra incentive to do it.

We shall have to wait and see!