Digital Storm Dual Boot Steam Machine Will Start at $1899

By Jane McEntegart
published

Digital Storm's Steam Machine isn't cheap.

Early in December, boutique PC maker Digital Storm revealed that its first Steam Machine would dual boot SteamOS and Windows. Today, the company finally officially unveiled its Bolt II Steam Machine.

The Bolt II is the first liquid cooled Steam Machine that will have the option for Nvidia's GeForce GTX Titan and up to a 700W PSU. Digital Storm hasn't mentioned much else about the specs, but we'll try to find out more when we see them at the show.

The tower measures 4.4 inches wide, 14.1 inches deep, and stands at 16.4 inches tall. In December, Digital Storm told us we could expect the machine to start at $1469, which is almost triple the $499 starting price of competitor iBuyPower's Steam Machine. Now, Digital Storm is saying the Bolt will start at $1899. Yikes. Digital Storm said today that it's not trying to compete with consoles when it comes to price.

"We [Digital Storm] are not looking to compete with console pricing," said Rajeev Kuruppu, Digital Storm's Director of Product Development. "We're taking aim at the high end of the market, targeting consumers that demand the best possible gaming experience and who are looking for a PC capable of playing any title on their new 4K display."

Still, when you consider Lenovo just announced a 4K monitor for $800, a price that starts at $1900 seems excessive. Sit tight for hands-on photos from the show!

Check out all of our CES 2014 coverage!

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Jane McEntegart
12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • CaedenV
    LOL iBuyPower a competitor with DigitalStorm... I just can't stop laughing at the comparison! That's like comparing eMachines to Apple, they both make computers... but they are playing entirely different games with entirely different customers.
    Reply
  • n3cw4rr10r
    lol ... enough said
    Reply
  • cburke82
    I may be missing something but I thought the point of the steam machine was to be affordable? Why would I buy this when I can just get a great gaming PC for the same price?
    Reply
  • oxxfatelostxxo
    cburke, that's all it is really... Its just a pc running steam OS rather than windows.
    Reply
  • jfby
    cburke82, my understanding is you can build your own machine and have Steam OS installed on it, like fatelost said. There's nothing really special about it other than it's an alternative OS. That also means games must be especially designed to run on Steam OS.

    That said I know of 2 guys personally who will be uninstalling Windows from their machines and turning them into Steam OS boxes that can dual boot with Linux. They know there will be games they can't play right now, or maybe ever, but their hatred of Microsoft and therefore Windows is greater than their love of those games.
    Reply
  • Avus
    with this price.. i can build myself a pretty good gaming PC then spend the leftover for a xbox1 + PS4...
    Reply
  • iamadev
    @cburke82 - No no, steam machines are meant to be PC priced machines that can play some of the games that a regular windows machine could play.

    The advantage is that they are (supposedly) easier to use and play on in the living room and have access to some of the games on steam.

    I'm sure in a years time we will be reading articles like with Chromebooks where they are supposedly selling by the truck load while nobody actually knows anyone that has or wants one.

    Any windows PC can do what a steam machine can do and so much more for a very comparable price. Valve do not have the ability to incentivise / subsidise sales of steam machines and their niche status will keep their prices up compared to windows machines so their limited library of games and limited use case will make it a hard sell in the future.

    Not a bad idea just not very practical in reality.
    Reply
  • BulkZerker
    "Digital Storm said today that it's not trying to compete with consoles when it comes to price."

    And DS pisses away an opportunity to sell massive numbers of units. Steam OS boxes were meant to be a companion box to a PC here and now IMHO. Anyone who runs a "steam machine" already has windows/mac. They DON'T need OMGWTFBBQGRASSTITAAAAAANNNNNNINQUADSLIFPSGAZIM levels of power as chances are they ALREADY have a capable rig elsewhere in the house. And if they don't, well that kind of pricing makes buying a PS3 XB1 and a wIIU (With about 4 games a piece) a very attractive option.
    Reply
  • Arls
    Packing as much gaming power into a small form factor is really what the steam machine is all about. The idea is to play PC quality titles from your couch, so you need something that will elegantly fit within your entertainment setup. The reason most companies steam box's are twice as costly as current consoles is because you can't DIY that much hardware into a small chassis without some custom help. For example think of the size of your average power supply try to build something vcr sized around that.
    Reply
  • Sounds like typical DS. I can't quite understand how they stay in business with products like these.
    Reply