Nvidia Wants Gamers to Forget New Consoles, Go SFF PC
Small form factor PCs with Nvidia inside are a better choice.
So now that the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are on the market and doing well, Nvidia is seemingly pushing gamers to consider Valve’s Steam Machine initiative without actually naming the small form factor rigs. Matt Wright, consumer sales manager at Nvidia, says the company is proposing small form-factor PCs to be viable alternatives to the new consoles on the market.
"Enthusiast players want the ultimate games system and that is the PC," Wright told MCV. "The PC platform is far superior to any console when it comes to gaming, plus you get all the extra functionality that a computer brings."
While this speech really isn’t anything new, it arrives just before CES 2014 in January, which will play host to a number of Steam Machine reveals such as one prototype recently unveiled by IBUYPOWER. The OEM’s Steam Machine will sport a multi-core AMD CPU, Radeon R9 270 graphics and a console-like form factor, but there will be plenty of alternatives packed with Nvidia’s GeForce graphics.
"We want to make PC gaming as simple as possible and we think that it already becoming much more relevant and appealing to casual gamers," said Wright. "Steam now has more users than Xbox Live. There is a whole new generation who grew up playing on PC with titles like Minecraft or World of Tanks. There’s a huge community who love playing their games on PC."
As previously reported, Valve is currently testing a number of prototypes using a Nvidia Titan, GTX 780, GTX 760 or GTX 660 GPU. On the CPU front, some boxes will have Intel's Core i7-4770, some with the Core i5-4570, and some with Core i3 processors. Available RAM will be 16 GB DDR3-1600 (CPU) and 3 GB DDR5 (GPU), and storage will be provided by a hybrid SSHD with 1 TB for storage and 8 GB for cache. Power will be handled by an internal 450 watt 80 Plus Gold power supply.
As for the actual living-room friendly size, the prototype dimensions will be 12 x 12.4 x 2.9 inches. To put that into perspective, the Xbox One measures 10.86 x 13.18 x 2.96, making this prototype roughly the same size.
Small form factor PCs with GeForce inside aren’t anything new as shown on the GeForce website: a number of OEMs carry solutions including IBUYPOWER, Maingear, Origin, CyberpowerPC and more. What Nvidia is proposing here is a console-like form factor that features the same price range as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One but provide superior power. Plus throw in Steam, and gamers have a much larger library of titles than what’s currently made available on the new consoles.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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CaedenV That's an excellent idea... but at lower price pints AMD will eat up the business. Not sure this is Nvidia's best marketing idea.Reply -
bmwman91 It looks like sour grapes to me. nvidia's main rival scored two big wins with the new consoles, and there is finally a competitor to some of their higher-end products (290/X).Reply
The Steam Box is definitely a neat idea and it will be interesting to see it grow, although the SteamOS is extremely limited right now. The PS4 and XB1 do a lot more than the Steam Box can...for now. If Valve and nvidia are going to get into the console scene, they need to understand that console gamers don't want to feel like they are using a PC on their TV and how well they design the UI will surely be the determining factor in how many consumers are attracted. -
DarkSable Already have a small form factor gaming computer and a smaller form factor htpc / game-streaming pc... and no interest in consoles. Though I never have.Reply
Keep it up, Nvidia? I'd rather see Maxwell released a month sooner than more comments like these - they just seem desperate. -
toddybody Ill preface with "Im a huge PC Gamer"...Reply
But its hard to argue a value proposition of a 399.99 PS4 vs a 399.99 Gaming PC.
100.00 of a build is for Windows alone. -
deftonian What's a "gamere"?Reply
EDIT: You fixed it so now it totally makes sense.. "Gamers" :pt1cable: -
n3cw4rr10r Quote: "What Nvidia is proposing here is a console-like form factor that features the same price range as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One but provide superior power."Reply
Have you seen the prices of these models? Almost, atleast double the price of the ps4. -
Immaculate Nvidia selling their products at a similar price point for more performance? Yeah right.Reply
Nvidia sounds like they wish they didn't miss out on console opportunity.
As for the steam machines, I like the idea, I feel like their for console gamers who have been told PC is better and don't know how easy it is to build your own, but I hope they succeed. -
jimmysmitty Reply12090134 said:It looks like sour grapes to me. nvidia's main rival scored two big wins with the new consoles, and there is finally a competitor to some of their higher-end products (290/X).
The Steam Box is definitely a neat idea and it will be interesting to see it grow, although the SteamOS is extremely limited right now. The PS4 and XB1 do a lot more than the Steam Box can...for now. If Valve and nvidia are going to get into the console scene, they need to understand that console gamers don't want to feel like they are using a PC on their TV and how well they design the UI will surely be the determining factor in how many consumers are attracted.
They do a lot more if you use Valves OS and not say 8.1. If you use 8.1 and wait a bit Kinect 2.0 will be out for Windows and you can do everything you do in the XB1 and more. -
ledpellet I cannot wait to see Microsoft fall. I am tired of them bending us over on Windows operating systems. They took the little guy out of the picture by giving Dell, and the other big corporations steep discounts. They helped crush our main st. stores along with all the other big greedy corporations. I support anything that hurts their home user business. Buy the PS4, and hope that Steam OS develops into a great platform.Reply