Steam Machines - Prototype Details

[DarkKnightDude]

I'd imagine it'll be cheaper just to build my own SteamBox and install SteamOS on it.

 

[Lonyo]

I'd imagine it'll be cheaper just to build my own SteamBox and install SteamOS on it.

Depends. The size of the prototype boxes is something you could do yourself with standard off the shelf parts, if you could make the case.
It's the case which is the main issue, but also personal preference.
They seem to be going very small with what they are making as the beta prototypes, which is similar to Alienware and Falcon Northwest systems which already exist, but it's tough to get cases which are the right form factor for that sort of size, because they rely on riser-based PCIe slots, which requires a specifically constructed case.

Apart from a few enthusiasts, there aren't such cases in the wild AFAIK, only custom made ones, or ones from people like AW and FNW.
If you don't mind a larger case though, then making your own would indeed probably be cheaper.

 

[tviceman]

You seem to have completely missed that a SteamMachine is just a PC (random parts) with SteamOS.

But there wont be any Mantle support in SteamOS. It rotates around OpenGL.

You seem to have missed where Valve will be selling prebuilt systems of their own.

 

[Blitzvogel]

Wow, talk about high end. I figured there would be an AMD APU baseline system, something like an i3 + 7770 for mid and perhaps i5/i7 + 7970 for high end.

 

[caswow]

There will be a variation of builds as well as amds cpus or gpus.

As we talked about last week, the Steam Machines available for sale next year will be made by a variety of companies. Some of those companies will be capable of meeting the demands of lots of Steam users very quickly, some will be more specialized and lower volume. The hardware specs of each of those machines will differ, in many cases substantially, from our prototype.

As a hardware platform, the Steam ecosystem will change over time

 

[Arkaign]

so your ridiculous claim is that your pc itself has never pulled more than 290 watts at the wall with 4770 and 680 sli? thats a load of crap as even my dinky pc hits near that in some demanding games.

EDIT: yeah you are really full of it because I just checked Crysis 3 and even just sitting still with no action I was just over 300 watts at the wall. your system would have to pull at least 125-150 watts more than mine under heavy load.

I dunno about that, but :

(1)- Not all power usage setups analyze in the same exact way.

and

(2)- Stock, the 4770K is incredibly low power. OC'd is another story entirely. Weirdly, at stock my 2700K @ 5Ghz uses a heap of power. One of my 3770K attempts stalled at 4.6Ghz, but it was using more power according to my kill-a-watt doing the same bench runs than the 5Ghz 2700 did. Sense? It makes none. A stock 4770K uses something like 1/3rd of my 5Ghz 2700K though. And with the Haswells not really OC'ing all that well, some people just run them stock. Very few things right now run into significant CPU bottlenecks with a stock 4770.

and

(3)- Different games pull dramatically different power usage. For some reason I can run Deus Ex : HR, all settings maxed, and it uses about 12% less power than running BF3 MP. Why? I don't know.

 

[toyota]

I dunno about that, but :

(1)- Not all power usage setups analyze in the same exact way.

and

(2)- Stock, the 4770K is incredibly low power. OC'd is another story entirely. Weirdly, at stock my 2700K @ 5Ghz uses a heap of power. One of my 3770K attempts stalled at 4.6Ghz, but it was using more power according to my kill-a-watt doing the same bench runs than the 5Ghz 2700 did. Sense? It makes none. A stock 4770K uses something like 1/3rd of my 5Ghz 2700K though. And with the Haswells not really OC'ing all that well, some people just run them stock. Very few things right now run into significant CPU bottlenecks with a stock 4770.

and

(3)- Different games pull dramatically different power usage. For some reason I can run Deus Ex : HR, all settings maxed, and it uses about 12% less power than running BF3 MP. Why? I don't know.

I accounted for his cpu using less power. still there is ZERO chance he has stayed under 290 watts at the wall in demanding games with his 680 sli pc.

of course your cpu at 5 uses lots of power. probably over double mine at 4.4 depending on your voltage. power using does not go up linearly but surely you know that.

 

[Imouto]

This is just a baseline for testing purposes. I don't know where did you get that Nvidia and Intel only. It's a damn beta, you're reading way too much into it and t's not like they're going to develop drivers and stuff. It's better to deal with a low number of SKUs and even better if all of them are the same brand.

And dunno why you're saying Nvidia Driver for Linux is better since both AMD and NV [redacted].

They're even going to post the blueprints for the enclosure if you want to make one yourself. As I see it the Steam Machines will be just a certification for retailers and hardware agnostic.

Infraction issued for inappropriate language.
-- stahlhart

 

[Sohaltang]

I dunno about that, but :

(1)- Not all power usage setups analyze in the same exact way.

and

(2)- Stock, the 4770K is incredibly low power. OC'd is another story entirely. Weirdly, at stock my 2700K @ 5Ghz uses a heap of power. One of my 3770K attempts stalled at 4.6Ghz, but it was using more power according to my kill-a-watt doing the same bench runs than the 5Ghz 2700 did. Sense? It makes none. A stock 4770K uses something like 1/3rd of my 5Ghz 2700K though. And with the Haswells not really OC'ing all that well, some people just run them stock. Very few things right now run into significant CPU bottlenecks with a stock 4770.

and

(3)- Different games pull dramatically different power usage. For some reason I can run Deus Ex : HR, all settings maxed, and it uses about 12% less power than running BF3 MP. Why? I don't know.

1. bought a K series and did not over clock it??
2. The 4770K is 84 watts TDP
3. I assume you have a HD and RAM so add another 25 watts
4. Your losing 10+% through the PSU
5.Fans? cooling?

Figure bare minimum pulling 150+ watts without the GPU's. If your getting 680's to run at 60 watts each Nvidia and Intel will break down your door to figure out your secret. At that wattage you can just pull power from the PCI-E slot and passively cool. oops, There is another 2 fans I overlooked..

 

[VulgarDisplay]

I'm guessing Valve is using gtx780's and Titan's because the first retail steam machines they make and sell will have 20nm Maxwell GPU's that provide that level of performance at a lower cost. This is just a beta and I think they are smart enough to know $1000 machines will not fly off the shelf.

Anyways, just as I alluded to in the other thread when I was arguing with Vulgar about Mantle's future significance, Valve is going with Nvidia. Why? Because Nvidia can provide a higher level of support and has a more mature software / driver team.

If mantle pans out I don't have to bother dual booting into SteamOS. :biggrin:

 

[Arkaign]

1. bought a K series and did not over clock it??
2. The 4770K is 84 watts TDP
3. I assume you have a HD and RAM so add another 25 watts
4. Your losing 10+% through the PSU
5.Fans? cooling?

Figure bare minimum pulling 150+ watts without the GPU's. If your getting 680's to run at 60 watts each Nvidia and Intel will break down your door to figure out your secret. At that wattage you can just pull power from the PCI-E slot and passively cool. oops, There is another 2 fans I overlooked..

1 : this is not me with the 4770 🙂
2 : TDP doesn't always get hit, at load with something super intense sure, but even BF4 seems to top out at lower usage with 8T processors.
3 : Fans, HDDs, and RAM typically use very little power
4 : I think many regret buying the 4770K vs. 4770 due to lost features and low OC ceiling, I see more 'stock clock' K-series Haswells than Ivys or Sandys.

And finally :

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/core_i7_4770k_review,11.html

When we place load on the CPU and we see the power draw rise, the system now consumes roughly 135 Watts. This is with merely an SSD, memory and a GeForce GTX 580 installed. Your average PC will draw a little more power if you add optical drives, HDDs, soundcards etc.

GTX 580 is more power hungry than 680.
Yes, this was probably not a GPU-loaded scenario.
That WAS using a DH-14 (yes, fans take very low power)

Look, I'm not saying for sure one way or the other, I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I have seen MANY reports of power usage like the one described. Can you bust through that level of power with Furmark, IBT, the right game? Sure you can. The fact remains that many games don't even make that great of a use of your system though, and so power usage doesn't necessarily go bananas. Synthetics are invariably the most you can get a system to consume. I run BF3 at 1920x1200 with all ultra, and my GPU fan never ramps up to an audible level, and I'm two feet away from my case. Run Furmark for a few minutes though, and it sounds like a helicopter.

EDIT : Power consumption notes :

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5699/nvidia-geforce-gtx-680-review/19

(that setup uses a 3960X, which is VASTLY more power hungry than a 4770 stock)

 

[Arkaign]

Additional info :

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/geforce-gtx-680-sli-review,4.html

Measured power consumption one card
1.System in IDLE = 144W
2.System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 307W
3.Difference (GPU load) = 163W
4.Add average IDLE wattage ~10W
5.Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~ 173 Watts

Measured power consumption two cards in SLI
1.System in IDLE = 155W
2.System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 473W
3.Difference (GPU load) = 318W
4.Add average IDLE wattage ~20W
5.Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~ 338 Watts

That's with an i7 965 Extreme @ 3.75Ghz!

 

[Keysplayr]

And AFAIK, nobody has to buy the SteamBox. Any PC with minimum system requirements (which are probably NOT going to require a Titan) are met. Just install SteamOS.
Not much different than just downloading and using Steam on a regular windows PC AFAICT.

 

[ShintaiDK]

My system in signature is well under 300W at peak. And I am sure you can replace a GTX680 with a GTX780 and an SSD for a HD for 150W extra 😛

 

[ams23]

I was right about the Nvidia GPUs

Yeah you really were, lol. NVIDIA even has a new blog post about it, with a short Q&A with a Valve employee.