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Steam Machine Discussion

BSDnostalgia said:
Too bad they couldn't make it ARM-based.
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I have to say, that sort of move would make no sense, just look at how the Macs play games through crossover. A windows game gets pumped through rosetta 2, to translate/emulate the x86 code, then through Wine. You're dealing with two layers of abstraction on an application (game) that is very much performance sensitive.

Games on the steam deck/steam machine/linux has a major knock where games with anti-cheat are not compatible, throwing in the ARM to X86 translation would be a very bad move imo
 
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If you live near a MicorCenter you could build a 7600x3d/RX9060xt both with 16gb ram, a 1tb nvme, 750W power supply and a case for about $1100-$1150.

And that will be significantly better than the steam machine and a bit more future proof even at 1440p.
 
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ReadyPosterOne said:
In what world are you getting a wider game selection on a console over the immense catalogue available on Steam?
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In the world that most of them run only on Windows or only run well on Windows. This is a linux box, you are stuck to using WINE etc to get most windows games to even work and online games are a complete no go because of anticheat.

Just because its on steam, doesnt mean it will run on here.
 
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Very cool and niche machine, but not the budget friendly cube Valve hoped to put out. Had this come out at $500-$700 it could have done very well.
 
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Hajj.david said:
In the world that most of them run only on Windows or only run well on Windows. This is a linux box, you are stuck to using WINE etc to get most windows games to even work and online games are a complete no go because of anticheat.

Just because its on steam, doesnt mean it will run on here.
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You very much can run Windows on the Steam Machine. I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to dual boot.
 
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leman said:
Outdated hardware, low specs, extraorbinant pricing. I don't see how this is interesting.
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The alternative is to just not release any hardware until 2028 or later? Even if it is just a proof of concept that sells in low numbers until they can "license" it to someone else, you got to put it out into the world. SteamOS 3.8 is the exciting part, as now there will be a ton of people making more powerful versions of this box. I can imagine Lenovo continuing thier partnership with Valve and putting out something really cool in a year or two.
 
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Hajj.david said:
In the world that most of them run only on Windows or only run well on Windows. This is a linux box, you are stuck to using WINE etc to get most windows games to even work and online games are a complete no go because of anticheat.

Just because its on steam, doesnt mean it will run on here.
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I’ve seen reports that as much as 90% of the Steam catalogue will run without issue on SteamOS these days, but I’m open to being corrected if you have hard numbers.

But also, it’s a computer, it will also run Windows if that’s what you need. That’s the beauty of this style of console, it’s not just a single-purpose device, you can do normal computer things with it too.
 
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surfzen21 said:
If you live near a MicorCenter you could build a 7600x3d/RX9060xt both with 16gb ram, a 1tb nvme, 750W power supply and a case for about $1100-$1150.

And that will be significantly better than the steam machine and a bit more future proof even at 1440p.
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And likely bigger, hotter, louder, and uglier. I thought we had finally moved past the idea that the spec sheet told the full story of what it’s like to use a device.
 
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maflynn said:
Not really, there's so many options to choose from. I myself have a min-tower, that I built. I purposely chose components for a silent machine and I largely achieved it.
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You can build a small, silent, cool machine, but not at Steam Machine prices. But by all means, prove me wrong, show me the build that comes even close to this form factor at a better price.

maflynn said:
You must be avoiding nearly every hardware review site, youtube channel and hardware enthusiast site then.
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Nope, I just thought an Apple discussion board would know better. I lived through the intel MacBook Pro days where every detractor would say MacBooks were a rip off and then point to a 5kg slab of LEDS and fans with almost no battery life and say it was a better value. I didn’t fall for it then and I’m not falling for it now.
 
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ReadyPosterOne said:
And likely bigger, hotter, louder, and uglier. I thought we had finally moved past the idea that the spec sheet told the full story of what it’s like to use a device.
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LMAO

Yes better specs will produce more heat but that doesnt mean hotter and uglier is a matter of taste.

I guess you can spend $30-$40 on that cool front cover GN is making 😭

Louder definitely not. My 7800x3d/9070xt is super quiet because it has proper cooling and air flow on it.

You want lower specs that barely can handle 1080p and will be basically obsolete in a few years and definitely cannot handle AAA games, then go for it but dont gas light the rest of us.
 
surfzen21 said:
LMAO

Yes better specs will produce more heat but that doesnt mean hotter and uglier is a matter of taste.

I guess you can spend $30-$40 on that cool front cover GN is making 😭

Louder definitely not. My 7800x3d/9070xt is super quiet because it has proper cooling and air flow on it.

You want lower specs that barely can handle 1080p and will be basically obsolete in a few years and definitely cannot handle AAA games, then go for it but dont gas light the rest of us.
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I haven’t seen any reviews mention it struggling with 1080p, but if you know of any reputable ones I’d be happy to be corrected. Please share.

I’d also been keen to see what you’d recommend for a cool, quiet, ultra small form factor built that beats this machine on performance and budget and at least comes close on looks. It’s been a little while since I built a PC but I know that all those things used to command a premium and I can’t imagine it’s changed all that much. It’s easy to say you can built a better, cheaper, not garbage-looking machine but with today’s prices I hope you’ll forgive me if I don’t just take your word for it. The guy at Gamers Nexus could only beat it by $70, which isn’t all that compelling given all the extra leg work you have to do.
 
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HouseLannister said:
The alternative is to just not release any hardware until 2028 or later? Even if it is just a proof of concept that sells in low numbers until they can "license" it to someone else, you got to put it out into the world. SteamOS 3.8 is the exciting part, as now there will be a ton of people making more powerful versions of this box. I can imagine Lenovo continuing thier partnership with Valve and putting out something really cool in a year or two.
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Oh, I’m certain that it made business sense to Valve to release it. What I mean is that this is not hardware gamers generally find interesting.
 
maflynn said:
Valve has released the Steam Machine pricing
View attachment 2640358


I'm not terribly surprised at the price being over 1,000 dollars given the current economic situation where find ourselves with regards to ram and nand pricing.
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I think if I was in the market for a dedicated gaming machine, at this price, I would just buy a ps 5

The caveat being that I don’t have the spare time to justify a dedicated gaming machine. And even if I did, I’m always going to have a computer of some kind or another to cover what a ps won’t

And by no means am I saying this is over priced for its power (or lack therof) that’s just where we are now

I’ve transitioned from hackintoshing a beefy self built gaming pc to an m4 studio and it happens to meet my gaming “needs” just fine, even though gaming is not my primary computer use

I play cities skylines 2 with no issues. Better in fact than my last hackintosh (14900k, 6800xt). plus virtually silent and cool, it fits on my desk and doesn’t need a zillion watt psu

I also recently had some time to play through a few games that had been on my list and hadn't gotten too. (loved stray btw). they all ran smooth as butter, highest settings, 4k

If you have enough compute crossover is pretty good at this point. metal fx is excellent. And crossover 27 is coming that is arm native and not using Rosetta

So in my case a ps 5 would cover the high end (and anti-cheat really) stuff that my Mac can’t do

This box wouldn’t really do anything for me as far as I can tell
 
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!!! said:
I wonder how it compares to the base model and price-matched Mac minis.
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For gaming, I’d guess probably much better

You probably need to get to m4 pro, if not max, to start having comparable gpu power

(and I mean it when i say guess. I didn’t dig in to the gpu specs and look up the comparables.)
 
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The Mac Studio now costs over $2400 minimum, so about $1000 is a bargain in comparison. Besides, the Steam Machine runs SteamOS based on Arch Linux, which is fully free and open source. And unlike the Studio, none of the hardware is locked down, so you're free to use any OS, even elementary OS which is a free Linux distro that looks and feels like macOS, also without the liquid glass and no AI. Steam Machine is unrestricted and will never be obsolete, and the hardware is made for open source software, so you never have to buy it more than once.
 
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East India Company said:
Who got on the queue for one of the models?
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My desktop is a 3700x amd processor, and my gpu is a 7800XT. I don't know if my processor is better then what's in the steam deck, but I believe my GPU is. I have more ram, and storage. Long story short, I see no reason for me to buy this.

I was contemplating the purchase of the recently re-released 5800X3D processor, but largely decided against that as I'm largely happy with my setup anyways.
 
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I originally wanted one if it would work well with the Vision Pro but after seeing the disappointing reviews and the price, I’ll probably wait for the next generation
 
maflynn said:
My desktop is a 3700x amd processor, and my gpu is a 7800XT. I don't know if my processor is better then what's in the steam deck, but I believe my GPU is. I have more ram, and storage. Long story short, I see no reason for me to buy this.

I was contemplating the purchase of the recently re-released 5800X3D processor, but largely decided against that as I'm largely happy with my setup anyways.
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Both your CPU and GPU are substantially more capable than what's in the Steam Machine.
 
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