i dont think the GPU in the alienware alpha is going to cut it. he mentions its basiclaly like an 860M. an 860M is not a powerful GPU compared to current consoles even.
i love the look of the alienware. hell im actually quite tempted. id love a dinky steam machine for under my telly. but its GPU needs to be at least 3X as powerful as an 860M and have at least 4GB of Vram on the system before i would consider it.
i mean the I7 option is completly pointless...such a CPU would be complete overkill for that GPU.
if heat is an issue then they can make it bigger. they can pop it up to even PS3 fat size and it would be fine.
but the GPU has to be significantly better if the system is to last any decent time and the 860M is not going to cut it. hell my 780M is already on the edge now and thats nearly twice as powerful.
this goes to all the manufacturers out there.....get the GPU right. at least 4GB of vram and a GPU that is better than a 780m (a 970M level of performance should be the target minimum) and a quad core CPU should be the minimum for a steam machine. 8GB of ram should also be the minimum. thermal throtelling is also completely unacceptable (looking at you gigabyte). the hardware has to be able to work flat out for extended periods of time with no heat issues. i dont care how dinky it is...if my hardware is getting cooked and throtelling then its a non runner.
sometimes i do wonder if PC manufdacturers like to shoot themselves in the foot with this stuff.
at the moment though i have yet to find the steam box that gets it all right so im probably just going to build my own.
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