Steam Machine or Console?

[AquaAlmond Productions]

I'm curious about what you think in the debate of steam machine vs console. I'm personally for steam machines because of the generally better graphics of PC versions of games on consoles and the much larger variety of games on steam. So, what do you think?

[Nuke]

i like the idea of steam machines. one thing ive been noticing is a lot of gaming rigs use gargantuan cases, and with modern technology that is completely unnecessary. both intel and nvidia have come down a lot in power requirements for their cpus/gpus. ssds blow old skool mechanical drives out of the water in terms of power demand. you get rid of the 3.5 and 5.25 bays and the space savings from that alone is significant. there have been some changes to power supply form factor as well, its coming down in size. the only thing that still needs to happen is that motherboards need to get away from the backplane configuration, prependicular mounting of add in cards waste space, especially when the only card in there is a gpu. steam machines solve all these problems and they do it with off the shelf components. its actually quite impressive.

im still waiting for single board gaming machines. you can come up with further space savings by getting rid of connectors and modular bits. stick your ram right on the main board, your ssd too, gpu can either sit on the same board or be packaged on die with the cpu. intel and nvidia could form a partnership and stick a high performance nvidia gpu on die with an intel cpu, which would be a huge improvement in latency between the two, and further reduce board space requirements. you loose a lot of upgradability doing this, but in my experience that it mostly goes unused. you might slap on a new hard drive or usb device, ram is cheap enough most of the time to just max it out at build time. this can cut the price down significantly and make 2-4 year system replacement really cheap.

for what they have done for machine miniaturization steam machines are great. but that ignores the fact that im not a huge fan of steam, and that is mostly not steam's fault. so long as we cant get unlimited internet in the area things like steam and even netflicks are off my menu.

Edited February 21, 2016 by Nuke

[Guest]

Get a PC. Maybe with 64-bit Linux installed in it for optimal KSP performance.

[Nuke]

a steam machine is a pc. most of them are based around a mini-itx mobo, an off the shelf processor and video card (on a riser card so it can be mounted in parallel to the mobo).

heres a teardown of the 2013 beta model. im trying to find a teardown of a newer one. but i expect to see the same kind of configuration.

found a newer teardown of the alienware steam machine. looks like they have gone the single board route already.

Edited February 21, 2016 by Nuke

[Elthy]

Steammachines are overpriced, while consoles dont even enter the equation for a real gamer. Simply build a PC yourself, its cheaper, smaller, more quiet... Also you can select the hardware you want, overclock, choose your OS, upgrade... The advantages are so big, any other decision is foolish!

[pxi]

27 minutes ago, Elthy said:

Steammachines are overpriced, while consoles dont even enter the equation for a real gamer. Simply build a PC yourself, its cheaper, smaller, more quiet... Also you can select the hardware you want, overclock, choose your OS, upgrade... The advantages are so big, any other decision is foolish!

This would be my advice too.  You might not be aware, but SteamOS is available for anyone to use.

http://store.steampowered.com/steamos/buildyourown

[Cobra-D]

I prefer consoles.....that's it really, no real explanation. I mean for me their a little bit cheaper then getting a pc good enough and the they have a huge library of games so i mean why now.

 

"But Cobra you can build a good pc for cheap!" Pfft like I have time for that.

In the end it just comes down to your preference, if you like pc that's cool, if you like consoles that's cool. If you like one more then the other but still enjoy both then that's called being a parent but totes cool too

[Randox]

I think the real potential of Steam Machines is, or was, in standardization of computer hardware. Basically, for people who want PC power, but a more console like experience, if there were only 2 or 3 models of Steam Machine, released say, every two years, then it would be possible for developers to create graphical presets that cater specifically to that hardware. With 20 some odd designs, or whatever they are up to now, I don't think the idea works, except to cater to people who are willing to buy very expensive consoles if it means not building their own (which to be fair, is a market segment, though I don't know how big it is).

It's a cool idea, but I think they failed to execute it in a way that gives people much of a reason to buy a steam machine instead of a normal PC.

[Dispatcher]

On February 20, 2016 at 5:56 PM, AquaAlmond Productions said:

I'm curious about what you think in the debate of steam machine vs console. I'm personally for steam machines because of the generally better graphics of PC versions of games on consoles and the much larger variety of games on steam. So, what do you think?

I would have checked a "Neither" button.  I'm not into console gaming and the steam machine is just another way to spend more money.

I use Steam and I like playing games on my computer of choice.  I also prefer keyboard and mouse controls to console controls.

Edit:  Randox is right about standardization, which is great for developers but in contrast to my preference of platform.  What I do see is that my platform of choice is supported by developers who make the games I like to play.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Dispatcher

[Nuke]

i have a feeling you can plug whatever controls you want into your steam machine. it being a linux box, it can run keyboards and mice right from the getgo. there was even a linux trackir driver thats been out for awhile, and thats the last piece of hardware support i needed.

i think the big issue is the lack of uptake of linux for gaming. there are a few indie titles that run fine, but almost no big budget games. games are still the main reason i run widows. wine just doesn't cut it for a lot of games and other software. i try every couple years, but i think im up to running 1/5th of the things i want.

[Dispatcher]

I've used Crossover, a Wine package, but I agree that its hit or miss with that for games.

My preference is largely for the principle; I have a computer and I can play games with it, so I just don't want to buy another device just for games.

I remember that after Bungie was bought by Microsoft and finished cranking out Halo, that a lot of people bought the first Xbox just to play that game.  I was not one of them.  I waited two years for the Mac port.  Years later, the same people bought a new playstation or upgraded to the latest Xbox in order to play Destiny.  I was so underwhelmed by play throughs of the game, that I'm not even tempted to buy one of those consoles.

So, while I have no need for gaming machines, they will appeal to those who want them.  The cool thing is that we can choose what we want.

[Pixel of Life]

Neither. If I wanted a living room gaming system I'd just build a basic small form factor setup, hide it in a corner somewhere and use Steam In-Home Streaming or Moonlight to stream content to it from my gaming rig.

[RizzoTheRat]

I'm not really a console fan.  We have a Wii that never gets used, and a PS3 that gets used as a DVD player and for the Mrs to play each of the new Lego games as they come out.  I've never really found any console games that grip me in the way PC games do as I prefer strategy games which tend to be rare on consoles.  I can really see the point of a Steam machine as a small PC that's optimised for games, but Randox makes a  good point about standardisation, and you can buy other mini PC's for a similar price.  However if it leads to more games running on Linux it should also lead to better support for various hardware on Linux, and make building your own games machine cheaper too as no need to buy Windows.