Valve's Steam Machine Gets iFixit Teardown

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A detailed look at the components inside Valve's Steam Machine.

We've already seen a teardown of Valve's Steam Machine thanks to YouTube user Corey Nelson, but the iFixit teardown is something of a rite of passage for new gadgets.

 

According to iFixit, the Steam Machine's parts are easy to access and easy to upgrade; the controller was also easy to take apart. This, along with a modular design and room for another hard drive, was enough to garner the computer an admirable 9 out of 10 on iFixit's repairability scale. In total, the computer's components come to about $1,300 in value. 

For the full gallery of images, as well as the step-by-step teardown instructions, head on over to iFixit!

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Jane McEntegart
Jane McEntegart
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.

25 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ssalim
    $1300 in value? Isn't the machine $500?
    Reply
  • vmem
    it's like tearing down a homebuilt PC XD

    then again, what did we expect? the folks at ifixit must've had fun with this one
    Reply
  • vmem
    12222451 said:
    $1300 in value? Isn't the machine $500?

    dude, that GTX 780 by itself is $500 in value
    Reply
  • Antimatter79
    Jeez-us! Even with business partners' discounts on the hardware, sounds like a serious hit taken on each one they plan to sell. This even outdoes the PS3 Fatboy in losses per unit sold; there already isn't much markup in PC components. I wonder how much revenue in steam games they're projecting with each unit sold. It'd have to be an awful lot just to come close to breaking even. I just don't see how this will work out.
    Reply
  • Malaraltos
    You are aware they weren't going to sell every unit for $500, right? That was just a starting price. They also mentioned they wanted to put a Titan into a few units as well, and nvidia would never allow them to sell a whole unit for half the MSRP of one item.
    Reply
  • invlem
    Just remember that the steam machine directly from valve is for beta testers only. This is not a retail version they will be selling to anyone.

    There's no way this would sell for $500. Valve already said there will be 3, a low, medium, and high spec system.

    I would assume this is their high spec system.
    Reply
  • nukemaster
    SILVERSTONE!!!

    Power supply and riser. Makes you wonder if they made the full case.
    Reply
  • gudomlig
    $1300 worth of hardware and we are stuck with a crappy onboard sound solution? Even my ancient audigy 2 spanks the Realtek ALC1150 for gaming purposes. Why no lovin for the sound? It seems like pc makes all assume that most americans are tone deaf or something.
    Reply
  • Platinum Era
    The is the eerie thing about the Steam Box. The high end, long lasting models will be in the 1000s. If I were to purchase a PS4 or Xbox One I know this console will last it's lifetime 5-7 years and I will be able to play whichever game I want and it will run adequately. But if I do get the lower-mid end Steam machine for 500$ I will need to upgrade the parts after 2-3 years to run games the way I want. For example take some PC hardware from 2006 when both the PS3 and Xbox 360 were popular, I can still play new games on the "Last gen console" (Bioshock, Crysis, Battlefield) while if I had that PC build in 06 I would have needed to upgrade it for a lot more than the overall price of a console. I don't see how they could target the console audience if the overall price to maintain a Steam Machine (Upgrades to keep it up to date) will cost a lot more than a console.
    Reply
  • killerclick
    Still don't want a separate computer/OS for gaming. Steam OS would make PC gaming weaker by diluting already dwindling dev resources to two platforms, one of which can't run most industry standard productivity software (no, I don't want to be using Gimp and Inkscape thankyouverymuch).
    Reply