Valve has revealed the specs for the prototype model of its Steam Machines. According to the company, 300 units will be made based on these mixed specs, and this prototype model will be sent to beta testers. Some of those prototypes will be equipped with Nvidia’s Titan cards, while others will be packed with GTX780s, GTX760s, and GTX660s. And despite the fact that Nvidia has teamed Valve for the Steam Machines, users will be able to replace the GPUs with ones from the ‘red’ team.
The specs for Steam Machine’s prototype model are the following:
-GPU: some units with NVidia Titan, some GTX780, some GTX760, and some GTX660
-CPU: some boxes with Intel i7-4770, some i5-4570, and some i3
-RAM: 16GB DDR3-1600 (CPU), 3GB GDDR5 (GPU)
-Storage: 1TB/8GB Hybrid SSHD
-Power Supply: Internal 450w 80Plus Gold
-Dimensions: approx. 12 x 12.4 x 2.9 in high
Valve’s Greg Coomer had this to say about this prototype model:
“Valve didn’t set out to create our own prototype hardware just for the sake of going it alone – we wanted to accomplish some specific design goals that in the past others weren’t yet tackling.
One of them was to combine high-end power with a living-room-friendly form factor. Another was to help us test living-room scenarios on a box that’s as open as possible.
So for our own first prototype Steam Machine (the one we’re shipping to 300 Steam users), we’ve chosen to build something special. The prototype machine is a high-end, high-performance box, built out of off-the-shelf PC parts.
It is also fully upgradable, allowing any user to swap out the GPU, hard drive, CPU, even the motherboard if you really want to. Apart from the custom enclosure, anyone can go and build exactly the same machine by shopping for components and assembling it themselves. And we expect that at least a few people will do just that. (We’ll also share the source CAD files for our enclosure, in case people want to replicate it as well.)
And to be clear, this design is not meant to serve the needs of all of the tens of millions of Steam users. It may, however, be the kind of machine that a significant percentage of Steam users would actually want to purchase – those who want plenty of performance in a high-end living room package.”
So, high-end PC hardware will be invading everyone’s living room in 2014. It will be interesting to see how much those Steam Machines will cost, and whether Valve will be able to push PC gaming towards a new direction.
Enjoy and stay tuned for more!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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