Source If the price isn't ridiculous and the upgrade possibilities won't suck, this would be so awesome. Just taking your gaming rig with you on holiday and hook it up to the tv. So much win. Last thing, even though the vid title screen says it, this is by no means "The" steam box. Valve just applauded the idea.
very skeptic about this, it seems small. other source http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/...eils-steam-box-with-xi3-codenamed-piston.html
Well obviously the idea of bringing a tiny, yet capable/powerful, computer everywhere is really awesome but, maybe too much to be true. As Rex said, the computer seems (too?) small. How are we supposed to put decent hardware in this tiny space ? Another aspect is the heat. Afaik, heat is one of the worst things for a computer, it greatly decreases components life time. Funny fact: the only cooler we can see is just a tiny radiator and according to one of their boards (vid), the lifespan is around 6 to 10 years... As far as I'm concerned, I bought a high end gaming laptop 2 years ago and it's already puking its guts out and yet, I think the cooling system is better than the one shown in the vid. Tbh I don't have high expectations on this stuff, but well, wait and see..
I like others am very sceptical about these claims, to fit hardware powerful enough to fulfil the expectations would sure be an achievement.
This is what I was thinking about, too. I don't think it's possible to cool that tiny system when there is almost no space. But well, we will see if it's going to work soon. I'm kind of interested in it (lan partys will be much more enjoyable), but don't think it is going to work as intended from the developers.
The idea sure sounds awesome. And I would totally get one if it would work (and won't be too expensive). But that's the point: I really can't see how this should work. How is Apple not able to make a Macbook that doesn't burn my lap when I'm just browsing the internet, while this tiny thing does not melt down when I play video games? I mean there is a reason the average gaming PC contains like a bazillion fans.
The reason I wont get one is purely because of its limitations. We already know how fast games and their requirements change, developers constantly pushing to make them look the best, run the best and be the best. Something like this will come out, then 6 months down the line be too outdated because it can't keep up with changing times. This will then cause developers to make games cross platform, meaning in most cases they will be shit for the PC. Same as the PS3, unless a game is specifically made for it then I will buy it on the PC because it is, and always will be superior in every way.
Yeah but they still have to keep it low cause otherwise it cannot compete with computers. If you sell this tiny box around a thousand euros it seems already off competition cause you can have quite a good rig for this price range. I think the small volume of the box cannot be the only argument to buy this kind of product.
Pf I could buy a high-end badass tower pc with that money. I can imagine it to be useful for players who travel a lot or like to stay mobile with their console/pc though. For me it's time to say kthxbye. Was quite interested to get one. I bet it'll make noises like a vacuum cleaner anyway (cooler).
For me any purchase of such an amount would be out of the question at the moment, but exactly how useful this thing would be, depends completely on the benchmarks. They claim you'll be able to run ANY new release on high settings. If this would prove to be true, then you'd probably have the equivalent of a 800 - 900 gaming PC tower, the size of a grapefruit. That IS definitely interesting. Think how much easier going to lan-parties will be...
To be honest I'd definitely prefer having this kind of lan computer case rather than this tiny box. As I said in one of my previous posts, heat is one of the most important aspects when it comes to computers in general and even more with small sized ones. The case I linked offers much more space thus making the cooling much easier. In addition to that it's definitely overpriced. I picked a SSD to make a comparison with the price of the rig and drives. -1k$ rig = 128GB SSD // Crucial M4 128GB SSD = 110€ ~ 150$ -1.75k$ rig = 512GB SSD // Crucial M4 512GB SSD = 380€ ~ 500$ So the difference is about 350$. Sounds like robbery to me, just sayin'...
welp, lets wait to see how much the steam box will be, if that's still in development. (since Valve recently fired their hardware guys)