Valve Talks More About Nvidia GPUs Inside Steam Machines

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Ok valve, we know nvidia was involved in steamOS from the beginning, and I have no problem with GeForce cards being in steam machines, but what's the situation like with AMD? They said they were involved with SteamOS, and that Nvidia was just more vocal about their involvement(NV was probably more involved though). It'd be nice to know if AMD cards could meet the spec for steam machines.
 

slomo4sho

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I'll install the OS on my existing machine but will never buy a Steam Machine. Their hardware configurations are too restrictive and there is a high likelihood that the system will demand a hefty premium.
 
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Meh all I want is a price on this and the PSU doesn't seem to be suitable to run all of that unless they allow upgrading the PSU.
 


Not entirely true. Titan paired with a 3960X @4,5Ghz which obviously consumes double power than the most consume hungry steam machine CPU the i7 4770K, Chris Angelini used maximum around 430Watt for whole system. Source: Clicky Clicky
The article.
 

Larry Bob

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760 and possibly 770 I can understand, but the 660? That's absolutely terrible when compared to a price-comparable 7870 and with 7950s/270Xs dropping to around $200 they'll be curbstomped even further. The 760/770 will at least stay somewhat comparable to AMD cards.
 

nekromobo

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Where will this SteamBox stand on the forgotten console list?

Nvidia, did you pay Valve like you did with origin?

http://semiaccurate.com/2013/10/05/much-nvidia-pay-origin-pc-drop-amd/
 

nekromobo

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Where will this SteamBox stand on the forgotten console list?

Nvidia, did you pay Valve like you did with origin?

http://semiaccurate.com/2013/10/05/much-nvidia-pay-origin-pc-drop-amd/
 

juan83

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Linux is linux and this one is for PC, so you can install it everywhere. this is nothing but a PC, and you can estimate the price based on the components, CPU, GPU.. the mother and ram, as well as HDD, might introduce some variations depending on model and brand.. Linux is FREE of charge, you don't have to pay for it. The great thing is that you can try to install it, but maybe some device doesn't work, like sound card, wifi.. but if you take into consideration that a puppy linux is packed in about 150mb and comes with a kernel 3.5+, you can assume that your compatibility could be easily 100%.. even today you can download the propietary drivers of my ancient 8600 GT updated, so in terms of graphics performance, it will work as well as the humble HW acquired for the PC..
 

joneb

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I think many of you are missing the point with the Steam Machines. They are designed to get Valve and Steam into competition in the overall gaming community, and nt just to sell consoles. Its like when Pinky and the Brain try to take over the world except if marketed right these machines could be the Trojan Horse to success. They do want people with PCs to also run the OS and Steam so it can be the SYSTEM of choice for all kinds of gamers. I think the consoles will be quite inexpensive because they want to hook gamers to Steam and that is where the real money lies for them.
 

back_by_demand

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Seeing as AMD has tied up the previous and the next generation of consoles, it makes sense for nVidia to cosy up to Valve, because if they lose out with the PC gaming crowd too their only cash cow after that would be Tegra and that's an even more cutthroat market - no, get in sweet with Valve to salvage any sales
 

bustapr

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i honestly dont see how this is living up to Gabens hopes earlier this year for there to be steamboxes in the 300-500 range. these PCs are all looking so expensive.
 

walter87

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Thats still pushing it pretty close to its threshold, considering there PSUs are 80 Gold not 80 Platnium certified. Since they are designed to be modular and upgradeable, having a little extra would benefit those high-end tier in a few years, when you can never predict what power requirements may be (although more and more components are pushing for better efficiency). In my opinion, better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Considering the small 12x12x3" form factor they mentioned, are they using custom PSU's or a custom PSU like you would find in the built-in mounted PSU in Hadron Case for example (something that is not replaceable)?

 


i7 4770: 100watt
GTX Titan: 230watt
Rest System: 20watt
Total: 350watt

Now how can 350 watt be close to 450watt threshold??? And what's this has to do with the efficiency?
edit: removed "K" :p
 

slomo4sho

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Pay a premium for an unlocked CPU and then be restricted to stock speeds on CPU/GPU because you have no overhead on the PSU. Brilliant!
 

firefoxx04

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Everyone sayins the AMD gpu has better value may or may not be right but the fact remains, nvidia has superior linux drivers.

Try to game in ubuntu or debian with an AMD gpu.
 

walter87

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I'm just trying to be devils advocate here. Its more than enough for the type of system I would run, and can run a 4770 and a Titan.

But 80+ Gold means its 87- 90% efficient typically. So that equates to a 450W power supply being able to deliver effectively ~392-405W of total Power under max load. That leaves <50W headroom for potential power hungry potentially hardware in the future. Based on recent advances with Haswell and newer GPUs being more energy efficient, you would think that 50W could be enough. But you never know how future hardware will playout (overclocking, more advanced HW etc). You never want to make sacrifices on your PSU.

Since Valve has three tiers of hardware, they can offer a slightly higher wattage PSU for the enthusiasts out there.


 


VALVe has openly said a system can be upgraded or built from scratch and have SteamOS. The reason, as I see it, VALVe is going with NVidia is driver support and currently NVidia has a bit better Linux drivers than AMD does.

That said, if AMD kicks it into high gear and makes good stable drivers for Linux I don't see how having AMD would be an issue.
 

shin0bi272

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when I put all these components (4770 and titan) into the psu calculator at extreme.outervision.com I get 540w. Thats assuming a "high end motherboard", 4 sticks of ddr3, a dvd drive, 3x 120mm fans, a standard sata drive (since it didnt have the option for hybrids), and 30% capacitor aging...
 
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