In a recent post to the Steam community, hardware designer Greg Coomer or better known by his SteamID Gregori, lead hardware designer for the Steam Machine, revealed that Steam has begun shipping out early prototypes of the Steam Machine. The 300 lucky people will have access to what boils down to being a mini-pc, based upon the specifications listed on the Steam community website. The specifications are as follows:
The 300 prototype units will ship with the following components:
GPU: some units with NVidia Titan, some GTX780, some GTX 760, 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 stated during the original unveiling of the Steam Machine that it will be upgradeable and affordable. That sentiment is echoed in Gregori’s post to the Steam community. However, what has not been talked about is the pricing of this gaming PC, and whether there’ll be multiple sku’s. I imagine there will be, considering this device is more PC then console. And just like any other electronic device offered in today’s society, people like options.
I’m confident the price of the Steam Machine will be around the $300-$450 range. The most expensive part, and often the one people make mistakes with, when choosing the right one, are the GPU’s. The GTX780 by itself is priced at $649, which defeats the purpose of trying to make it affordable. I imagine it’s being used to win over the PC enthusiasts.
All things considered, I believe the two parts that will be chosen for a ‘baseline’ Steam Machine configuration will be the GTX 760 and Intel’s i3. The GTX 760 is a very powerful graphics card and can easily play a majority of today’s games at medium-high-high settings without any hiccups. The i3 is a good dual core processor capable of handling most gaming needs, however I could see them exchanging it for the i5 based upon user feedback from the first round of hardware testing.
Source: SteamCommunity.com
