Steam Machine pricing announced (from $1049-$1428 USD), reservation lists open

How recently have you checked? Word I’ve gotten from elsewhere is that this is pretty competitive with what it would cost to build it yourself.

Valve has said from the beginning that the Steam Machine would not have a console price. Did they all miss it?

OH NO brother they’re RAFFLING IT!? hahahaha that’s fucked

I’m actually glad to see it. A raffle is one of the only realistic ways to deter scalpers while still leaving the console eventually accessible to people who actually want to play on it. Fuck scalpers; anything that hurts them is a win in my book.

They will sell out instantly and this blocks the scalpers.

randomization is to determine the order of receipt

… that’s high demand, sheesh

For $1k you could do quite better than the Steam Machine (though not mini-sized). Just spec’d out a build on Amazon with AM4 and you’ve got options:

• $55 - Thermaltake 700w PSU

• $90 - Corsair 4000D case (I have one of these, good airflow and easy build space). This is a place you could skimp to save a few bucks, e.g. - this case is $55

• $130 - Cheap 1 TB SSD (went with Timetec, apparently Fikwot is okay too, seems to be a SSD parts manufacturer that started selling direct)

• $85 - B550 ATX mobo

• $130 - G.Skill 16 GB DDR4 3200

• $175 - Ryzen 5 5600 XT OR Ryzen 7 5700 (5600 is faster but 6c/12t, 5700 lower core speed, but 8c/16t. I have a 5600x, no complaints)

• $279 or $290 - RX 7600 GPU, or RTX 5050 (up to preference. The 7600 is generally comparable or slightly better overall, but you will see much better with it on Linux. On Windows the 5050 might be the better choice)

Total cost: About $950 (or $915 with the cheaper case), which leaves a bit of overhead to get a cheap cooler for the CPU (optional since it comes with one), and/or additional case fan(s).

Edit - to be clear, you can probably do better than this. I just browsed prices and parts on Amazon, but you might be able to find parts cheaper on https://pcpartpicker.com/ or by purchasing used parts on eBay.

For example, the Ryzen 5 5600x can be found for around $125 on Ebay, that’s $50 savings. And slower DDR4 RAM (2600 base speed) can be found for as low as $65 on Ebay, though I’m not sure if that’s a compromise I’d make, up for debate.

You can still build a pretty great pc for a little over $1000, though there are some compromises imo. You can get under the $1000 mark if you’re willing to make some more compromises and/or do a mix of new and used parts. But either way you can get way more performance than the steam machine for the money, though maybe not in as svelte a package.

If you build a PC with DDR4 RAM it does get cheaper, and I think under $1k is very doable.

Yeah, I’m hoping we see game devs actually focus on optimization again. Early game consoles forced devs to really focus on things like memory usage, pixel map storage, texture sizes, etc… Super Mario Bros reused pixel maps for clouds in the background and bushes in the foreground, and simply changed the colors.

Hell, the second gen Pokémon games actually pioneered brand new data compression methods, to the point that the devs managed to fit the entire first gen region in as a post-game Easter egg. So they managed to compress the entire first and second regions into a small enough space to fit both regions on a similarly sized card as the first game alone. They literally fit two games into a card that was only originally expected to hold one. It originally started because one dev was focused on eking out small performance improvements, by compressing the game code and assets more efficiently. And eventually they got it so well optimized that they realized they could fit the entire Kanto region on the game card too. And so they rebuilt the entire Kanto region and added a secret superboss at the end. All for an Easter egg that most casual players would never see, because reaching Kanto required completing the Johto Pokédex.

The first Crash Bandicoot game brought major innovations to classic game model design, because the character didn’t have a “skeleton” in the traditional sense. They wanted the character to be cartoony, and be able to squish or flex as he interacted with the environment. If he gets rolled over by a boulder, they wanted him to pancake like a cartoon would. And traditional skeleton models (where the character model is built around a rigid skeleton, then simply follows along as the skeleton is posed) wouldn’t allow for the flexibility that they needed. So they pioneered new modeling techniques where they tracked each individual facet of the character’s model, to be able to fit within the PS1’s hardware limitations.

Early game devs had a very specific target. They couldn’t just send it out the door and let the hardware catch up later. Imagine moving an entire 5 bedroom household across the country. Modern game devs will look at the amount they need to move, and go “eh, we’ll just get a bigger truck.” There will be lots of wasted space, because they’re not even bothering to stack boxes or furniture in the truck. But early game devs were forced to make everything fit into a single 20’ box truck, so they focused on what was truly essential, and packed everything as efficiently as possible. And we’re quickly reaching the point that players won’t be able to afford a bigger truck, so game devs may actually start packing their games efficiently again.

There’s an ocean of hardware requirements between the upcoming PS6 and what it takes to run pixel graphics games. Many customers are still happy on PS4 level hardware, and third party titles like Madden still got PS4 versions until just last year.

This is a tough price point for any crowd. The spec of a PS5 at twice the price? Enthusiasts want better specs, and console gamers want a better price.

This is a swing & a miss. The initial order will sell out on speculation and because component prices are garbage so it will have a small run. I’m not so hopeful for future batches unless they can at least match the price of the PS5 Pro.

I think it’s more aimed at the people who will buy anything valve

It’s also a fundamentally different user experience. Sure you could load SteamOS onto a machine you built. But the point is that this targets the couch players, instead of the desktop players. And very few PC players will build a new PC just for their couch.

I love my Steam Deck, because it has caused my wife’s complaints about gaming to dry up almost completely. When I’m at my computer desk, she can’t snuggle with me. But by moving to the couch, we can snuggle while I play. Her complaints weren’t really about my gaming; they were about my physical unavailability. And the Steam Deck allows me to access the vast majority of my PC games on the couch, so we can both be happy.

Think about how much time and effort can go into selecting hardware, optimizing it, managing drivers, tweaking OS to play nice. I’m a masochist so I enjoy learning all that stuff - can’t really blame those who don’t. For them it is actually a bargain

I have the skill, I built all of my families PC’s through the early 2010’s, I’m done with that lifestyle. I don’t want to diagnose and send evidence of wether it’s the ram or the motherboard that needs to be replaced, argue with foreign customer service for weeks, and then wait months for a replacement piece (that now I know has a higher chance of failure) to be delivered.

I’ll trade a slightly higher investment for peace of mind, as long as it’s a good business (sorry apple)

I wanted the tiny box format for playing my steam library on the TV without needing to run a cable from the PC. Wasn’t sure I could build one this small so I waited to see how much this was.

Around $800 for the 2TB model was my hope when it was announced. Stupid AI data centers screwing over memory prices.

With today’s prices how much cheaper would you get building similar yourself?

I wonder how many people there are that fall in that category but who wouldn’t just buy a much cheaper console instead though.

There are things this does that would be very difficult to achieve in a custom build. It’s very compact and quiet and has very good driver support without any tinkering. It’s a machine you hook up to your living room TV and for that it works very well, including CEC support which is not standard on PC hardware. The price is of course hard to swallow and performance isn’t great but i think this thing will definitely sell all the units they can possibly make.

Apparently they were originally intending for it to be around the $750-800 range for the base model.

You do also have to factor in that it’s about a 6 inch cube, though, so it’s no surprise that the specs are underpowered.

There is a way to make it cheaper, but it involves multiple homicide so I don’t think it’s going to happen.

It will most likely sell out constantly for the next year, they will be fine.

Just my GPU cost that much 3-4 years ago, it’s overkill now but I got it for VR and sold my VR stuff after 2 years. That for an entire system could work depending on performance. I’m betting new consoles would be around the same price if they were released this year.

yeah I’m fine with my DDR 4 32 gig laptop. I bought it before I became homeless and the thing is good for what I need.

You’re probably right…

As an optimist, I really hope this hardware crunch leads to a greater focus on polish and optimization. I feel like a lot of development studios have let specs inflate to cover being unwilling to focus on building their games efficiently. It can feel crazy when you start comparing specs on games from different studios.

As a realist, I imagine we’re just going to have a lot more cloud gaming services and that may just end up being the norm. I’m still waiting for a AAA publisher to start releasing their games exclusively to cloud platforms, probably first as a pre-release or early access bonus of some sort. I have my money on Ubisoft as the first big one if they manage to keep it together as a company.

As an anarchist, I’ve been looking into selling all my electronics and investing in some farmland.

AI did a number to gaming, but truthfully, gaming technology was probably about to stand still anyway. Barely any studios can afford to make a game that’s so technologically advanced that it pushes our current hardware to its limits.

As did Covid.