Steam machines are extremely modular. Upgrading Confirmed

Steam machines (PCs), inside, are extremely modular. They allow at least the upgrades of GPU, RAM, power supply and hard drives.

Basically Steam machines are mini-towers PC with very good space and cable management.

I want the controller!

Yeh. But some people, mostly consolites, were quite doubtful of that.

So is this a console or a PC ?

If I had to choose between an Xbone or a Steam Box, it would be Gabe's Bone Killer every time.

Who thought you couldn't?

It's a PC, not much worse than mine actually, only real difference is the 4570.

+1

I watched the controller in use. Made me rethink the need for a KB/M. I would definitely need a keyboard if I got into MOBA's like DoTA2, but as for now my tastes in strategy remain firmly in the turn based category.

Obviously

form factor PC, better than consoles atm.

Sounds like a slippery slope, hopefully it can get the support of third party devs

the steam machine concept is strange to me.

the very people who are in the steam machine targeted demographic are exactly the guys that don't mind taking a few hours to order some parts slap them into a tower and plug them in.

why would anyone not just spend a bit more and get exactly what they want to get?

I don't get it. Why not just get a real pc?

Funny how form factor suddenly matters, but before Steam machine moving a tower PC back and forth from the Desktop to the front of the living room was acceptable lmao

Apple appeals to hipsters who want everything done for them. Windows 8 sold out and decided to copypasta mac and mac tablets creating a ungodly shit OS interface. Shitty, small form factor, don't have to think bullshit is the future my friend. Valve are just appealing to what the masses want while attempting to educate the ignorant about how superior the pc is.

First off this IS a real PC

Secondly most people don't want to build one themselves, or don't want Windows clogging it all up. These are great little machines for strictly gaming

I gotta admit this is actually funny.

How much would a Steam Machine cost?

Steam Machine: The most pointless platform ever. This goes to show Valve has too much money and too much time on their hands. Games will not be optimized for it at all. It's just a weak PC. I know consoles are too but devs optimize strictly for those platforms. The same goons who bought OC Rift will get this.

Do they have another controller available? The included controller looks awkward.

@Riverwolf007: It's possible that as a pre-built machine with nothing frivolous, it may be cheaper than going out and buying a "gaming tower PC" from an OEM, or similar in cost to a building your own machine with the same kind of footprint and performance. What you get would be a single all-encompassing warranty to cover the entire system as opposed to having to keep track of each individual part. The build quality and configuring of the insides is top-notch too. It's certainly a much more solid chassis than a typical game console.

Until Valve had announced what the systems would be equipped with, I didn't expect the Beta Steam Machines to be so beefy in performance and I was hoping to see AMD CPUs and GPUs.

Or you could just leave the PC hooked up to the TV. I've been doing the PC to TV thing for almost 5 years and it's been nothing but a pleasure.

Yeah, there's no "basically" about it. That's literally what they are. That's been the intention since day one.

why not just buy a PC in the first place...better cooling and u can still use the steam os.....

They're just PCs. If you don't like the official steam box controller, you can plug in a 360 controller, just like with any other PC. They're compatible with about 99% of the PC versions of multiplat games. And if you don't like the 360 controller, there's a very simple, free program you can use to make a PS3 controller work with any game that a 360 controller would. And if you don't like either of those controllers, there are literally dozens of other third party gamepads with various layouts/designs, that are recognized as 360 controllers by your PC.

Options, baby. Just one of the glorious advantages of PC gaming. =)

those upgrades aren't really much....

So is Steam OS getting it's own DirectX friendly API, or would investing in a Steam Box basically mean paying for a PC, but with next to no game support and forced Valve DRM on everything?

Come to think of it, why hasn't Microsoft nipped this kind of development in the bud with a cheap/free stripped-down version of Windows, just for gaming?

What about the mobo and cpu?

It's almost like he doesn't know that there are a ton of form factors available for PC, mnay of which are specifically designed for being your TV entertainment center...

It will use Open GL + extensions, in what is a much more gaming optimized OS. So it's basically a console, except that it's fully upgreadable and can be dual booted with an OS meant for doing serious work. IT's the best of both worlds.

As for why doesn't MS do the same... they HAVE. And it's exclusively on the Xbone. This way they can have ABSOLUTE control over it. Talk about DRM.

Im 99% sure im going to buy a SteamBox just to install windows and use it as my main PC. Well built and small, what ive always wanted from my PC.

It's basically going to come down to what FITS in the case, so far as upgrading goes.

It'll be interesting to see if certain Steam Machines manufactures build their OWN, form-factored upgrades so that they are guaranteed to work within their own cases, or if they'll just force people to buy new cases/Steam Machines everyone year or so.

Anything that's proprietary will kill the whole thing though. If I was Valve, I would insist on standardized hardware in those Steam Machines that people can mix, match and even modify at-will. Make it as close to the PC experience as possible and don't lock anything down to specific manufacturers.

hes just trolling

So what? You still can't play any direct x games on linux.What's the point of upgrading when you can't even run the latest games?

You can install Windows.

Nobody said there isnt.

But up until not very long ago, Hermits argument was "dude just move the PC to the HDTV"

these are so superior to consoles.

PC gaming is going to take the ps4 and xb1 to the woodshed this gen. It's not just these steam machinese either. We're going to see PC gaming become cheaper and more user friendly than ever before. Anyone who seriously cares about gaming owe it to themselves to take a closer look at how the industry is evolving.

It's exam season so to put it bluntly-

PC Gaming:ps4/xb1::ps4/xb1:wiiu

Really tempted to grab a mid-end, to use as my HTPC. The form-factors are really damn nice.

*some Hermits

Seems like a 3Do concept but with upgrades and off the shelf parts

It's a PC obviously. Game consoles can't upgrade their key components. It's a PC that wants to be a game console, but never will be.

@Riverwolf007:

"targeted demographic"

It seems the targeted demographic is the console gamers who seem to think graphics are the sole-factor that decides a successful console, how many people do you see saying the PS4 is better than the Xbox One simply because '1080p60fps' and spouting hardware performance. Hard pressed everyone admits its actually the games that make the console, but now there's a hard counter for people claiming that graphical power make one console superior to another:
'Oh, the PS4 has a Radeon 7870 rather than a 7850 in the Xbox one? How about the freaking Titan in the Steam Machine that smokes the 7870 by nearly twice the graphical power.'

I think it will be an attractive option for console gamers that want the 'Very Best' but don't know how, or cant bother with putting together a gaming PC.