Steam Machine Prototype Tear Down on Video
There's a string of videos showing the unboxing of a Steam Machine prototype to disassembling the unit.
Last week Valve released both SteamOS and the Steam Machine beta units to 300 lucky developers. Many of these are now sharing their joy online with screens and videos of unboxing, game testing and disassembling the unit. One such tester is YouTube user Corey Nelson who has posted a number of Steam Machine related videos over the past 48 hours.
In the first video, he reveals that the Steam Machine arrived in a wooden box. The device itself was secured in place on all sides by foam, and once the Steam Machine was removed, you could see the controller secured in padding underneath where the console/PC previously resided. Also included in the package was a booklet with basic instructions, the necessary cables to get him up and running, a Wi-Fi antenna, and a recovery USB key.
His following videos show the machine booting up, and playing games like Portal, Metro Last Light, and Left 4 Dead 2. He also provides an overview of the controller itself, revealing that it weighs only 7.2 ounces. The only markings on the device reside underneath, showing the model number and the Steam logo.
Later on he manages to take the machine apart, revealing a very compact design. First he removes the top, removes the panel placed on top of the graphics card, then points out the components such as the power supply, the CPU with a fan mounted on top, and so on. He doesn’t get very far into the disassembling, but at least we have a good idea where Valve and ODMs are going with the Steam Machine initiative.
Another Steam Machine tester on Reddit revealed the specs of his machine, reporting that it features a quad-core Intel i5-4570 CPU clocked up to 3.2 GHz, 16 GB of RAM, a GeForce GTX 780 GPU with 3 GB of VRAM, an ASRock Z87E-ITX motherboard, and a Silverstone ST455F power supple.
We’ve included the disassembly video below, but you can click here to see the whole library, from unboxing to using the controller in Windows.
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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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Zachasaurs i would have expected more metal and more room for airflow from this but i do understand this is supposed to be console size...Reply -
brandonjclark Toms, if you don't write up some massive benchmark article with this vs. Windows platform for like games, I'll be VERY disappointed.Reply -
ipwn3r456 Price? I bet it's goona cost atleast $600....Reply
And btw, what's a "power supple"? Was that a typo? -
Jgriff Air flow/ space isn't as important as one would think in PC gaming. Materials, vents, placements, etc contribute more to temps in my experience. I recently moved to a new case (node 304) 1/3 the size of my older case with smaller fans and I got a 10 degree drop on my CPU, and my gpu doesn't hit 80 even with the fans on the lowest setting!Reply -
Mike Friesen ipwn, if it has an i5 and a gtx 780, and 16 gb of ram, id be VERY surprised if it sold for under $1000.Reply
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2luuT
A relatively inexpensive i5/ 780 build.
Those two parts are $700, alone. -
clonazepam Anyone else cringe when he drove that screwdriver straight down past the graphics card clip, into the motherboard? :(Reply -
onedos Looks expensive, I got a gaming rig but my cousins don't I hope its cheap enough so they can afford.Reply -
Stevemeister This is basically an ITX based PC - my guess would be it will sell for around $1200 based on the equipment specs - a 780 graphics card alone costs ~$650. The good news is we should soon be able to build high end gaming PC's with both Windows and Steam OS's installed and hopefully the latter will run games better without all the extraneous baggage that accompany's Windows and slows everything down.Reply -
brandonjclark @Steve. I dunno, from what I've seen SteamOS has a strong full-featured OS underneath. It didn't strike me as being as lightweight as I thought it would be.Reply