Soldato
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Is there any benefit upgrading the Ram in this though considering the overall performance.
*** Valve Steam Machine ***
- Thread starter kakarott
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Is there any benefit upgrading the Ram in this though considering the overall performance.
It ships with a single 16GB SODIMM, so in theory adding another may increase performance in some games due to running in Dual Channel mode.
Most games will be ok with only 16GB anyway, as it's running a cut down Linux rather than the bloat of Windows, so upgrading purely to get 32GB isn't as important as having 2 sticks for Dual Channel.
It was only supply shortages (i.e. poor availability of 8GB SODIMMs) that stopped it shipping with a 2x8GB Dual Channel config.
Valve Explains Single-Channel Memory in Steam Machine - SDHQ
Valve Engineers explain why the Steam Machine is shipping with just 1 stick of SODIMM memory, limiting it to a single channel.
steamdeckhq.com
Yeah literally anything. But your then relying on the service keeping the game.
Personally wouldn't buy if fortnite or any other game that doesn't run was something I was interested in.
Soldato
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Linus' DIY Steam Machine actually goes from sleep to resume quicker than the Steam Machine and he used a cheap basic SSD in his machine.
I think once the hype dies down and people have to live with the dire performance on offer for the price people will regret their purchases. I fully expect to see quite a few Steam Machines in my local CEX in 6 months time.
I think once the hype dies down and people have to live with the dire performance on offer for the price people will regret their purchases. I fully expect to see quite a few Steam Machines in my local CEX in 6 months time.
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We already know the next Xbox is going to be a 'premium device' so it's not going to be cheap. As for PS6, Sony should be able to get better component prices than valve due to much larger orders and they will also subsidize it, so while it won't be cheap it shouldn't be nearly as high as some people are thinkingThe price of this thing is a joke but it does have me worried about how much the next Playstation and Xbox will cost
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Again oranges and apples. The only type of PC you can compare the Steam Machine to is a NUC and when you do that the Steam Machine is a lot cheaper, its still a paper weight but it just seems like there is so much lazy content creation to say you can build your own PC cheaper than a Steam Machine. Its a niche product that seems to be aimed at everyone, and if you would be happy with a much larger (all be it smaller than most) PC case then you really aren't the true audience.
ROG NUC | Gaming desktops｜Mini PC | ROG - Republic of Gamers | ASUS UK
ROG NUC Mini PCs and kits from ASUS provides uncompromised performance with Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 and 7 processors (45W w/ dynamic PL1 up to 65W) and NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4070/4060 (115W + 25W Dynamic Boost) discrete graphics. Delivering the ultimate experience in gaming, creating and AI...
rog.asus.com
That's a good comparison, but for £1500 you are still only getting 8GB Ram and 512GB storage!, but since the prices jumped up these have just vanished . And this is the problem I have always had with NUCs, when you compare to a normal PC they are insanely expensive so its hard to justify them. I had hoped Steam Machine would finally fill a very small gap behind my TV but sticking with a Series S instead
Its something I want to love, but at this price no chance and it deserves criticism but lazy "you can build your own PC for cheaper" comparisons are just pointless
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Isn’t the cheapest PlayStation plus subscription £50? So if you’ve had one since 2020 you’ll have hit £300 for the privilege of online features this November. And yet the value word is thrown about like people forget that lol.
Not that Steam thing is good value (IMO) at current price, but it seems some are just discovering the economics of scale for the first time. Watch and see the justification though when the new console prices are released
Not that Steam thing is good value (IMO) at current price, but it seems some are just discovering the economics of scale for the first time. Watch and see the justification though when the new console prices are released
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Soldato
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I have to disagree. How many people who are looking to buy a games machine absolutely must have a tiny computer and must have CEC? If you are willing to compromise just a little on size and give up CEC you can almost double your performance for the same price. The only other roadblock for people is whether or not you are prepared to build your own machine or not.
For instance here is my machine. It is almost exactly the size of two Xbox Series X consoles. It can easily be hidden away in a livingroom and looks unobtrusive. It has a MATX motherboard, Ryzen 5600, 16GB DDR4 (dual channel), 850w fully modular ATX PSU, RTX 5060ti 16GB, AIO cooling and 2TB SSD. It cost me £750 three months ago. Full disclosure, the CPU is second hand and I already had the storage. Everything else is brand new. The case is 3D printed.
Steam Deck for scale:
My computer absolutely blows the Steam Machine away performance wise and the foot print it takes up is twice as long and twice as high as the Steam machine. There can't be that many people who can afford a Steam Machine who also have so little space that size is the number one priority.
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Which is my point, its a niche audience. This is the question, if you can make something bigger and better for cheaper why did they make it so small and not just do that? They obviously are targeting a very tiny group of people and disappointing everyone
Soldato
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Yes I agree with that. It seems to me the niche for the Steam Machine is people who must have a tiny box, must have CEC and must have access to Steam and must have deep pockets. Otherwise there are cheaper better alternatives.
There's no sane reason for Valve to sell a computer with every copy of SteamOS it wants out there. It wants and needs people to use their own computers and companies to ship SteamOS as a default for them.
So it's a demo system emphasising size and noise and leaving the door open for people to notice that SteamOS itself is free.
True, even if it was 2x the size to accommodate a full size GPU it would still be significantly smaller than anything else on the market, and probably cheaper to make (or at least savings in miniaturisation would help to offset increased GPU cost)
Only if you install windows on it.
Associate
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I paid £467 for mine with a disc drive, the fact that the steam machine is almost doubled what I paid due to ram and SSD costs is insane. This machine should be DOA.
It could be scary. And I say that as someone that is very interested in buying the PS6 & PS6 Portable. Unfortunately these things are going to be expensive unless something changes. I kind of feel the next generation needs to have a 'Wii' type moment where they barely build on their existing specs and bring out something that can ride the uncertain times better. But it's too late for that now.
Hidden away in the Sony financials the other day was a telling quote about how they intend to sell less hardware as a means to ride out this crisis. I'm sure that the new reality of the 'memory cartels' will play a factor in the price the next-gen consoles release for.
100% agree and think unfortunately this sort of noise is only increasing now with product launches. We saw it with the PS5 Pro and Switch 2. People parroting their favourite content creator and spouted factually incorrect rubbish like; 'you can build a better PC for cheaper' (vs the PS5 Pro at launch), or Nintendo are greedy with their prices (when in real terms the Switch 2 was cheaper). Even to this day LTT's own PS5 Pro vs PC video remains up where despite using secondhand components, pirated OS and they still struggled to match the PS5 Pro (HDR being one of the main offenders). And that's before the PS5 Pro had big performance increases (PSSR2).
I think this noise can make it harder to see the actual valid criticisms.
PS. just to be clear this is more a criticism of the wider influencer sphere than here.
I don't think the audience is huge for this machine, but small powerful high-end gaming machines are still a massive market when you factor in consoles. And in the lounge I have different priorities for my hardware vs. my office PC with a ultra-high rate response monitor. I couldn't care one iota if Hades 2 runs at 200fps vs. 300fps, because most of the TVs in the house max out at 60hz. But CEC and joypad power-on for the Switch and PS5 are super useful. Also having an OS that both works and allows me to simply play games very quickly without having to worry about config, or getting controllers to work. Steam OS is the first time PC gaming has got close to that scenario.
Amongst my friends and family that play games, I only really know a couple that would build their own PC. And for the rest it would take something like a Steam Machine to get them to buy a PC for their lounge/big-screen gaming. In a similar way that they never wanted a handheld PC until Steam Deck came along. Mind you these prices are going to make that a tough sell.
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Caporegime
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I technically have a 1tb 990pro not doing much at home!
But I doubt they would do that though, since it creates issues on how they can get their OS into the machine for those useers.
Caporegime
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Would need to be way cheaper than that tbh. At £650 you'd make £870 seem reasonable
Right now you can buy gaming laptops with mobile 5060's in it for the price of the steam machine
I think they'd rather jump off a bridge than sell the custom hardware they only designed to promote SteamOS, minus the SteamOS installation.