All the Steam Machines and how to make your own for less

Demon_Skeith

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IGN has a broken down list of steam machines which you can read here:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/11/10/every-steam-machine-coming-out-this-month

What is one thing you see among the list? The machines are going to cost you an arm, a leg and maybe half of your bank account. Want a steam machine but for less? Check out lifehacker's little guide on building one for cheap:

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-build-a-powerhouse-steam-machine-for-hundreds-of-1737846476


So what will you do for your steam machine?
 
Apart from a couple lower-tier models from some companies, none of these are all too competitive with console prices. Which makes me think, what's really the market of these things? I'd rather just build myself a tower and hook it up to a tv if I want to play that way, something a vast majority of PC gamers are just as capable of doing. Not that these are terrible offerings or anything I just don't think any of them will reach any sort market penetration.
 
Apart from a couple lower-tier models from some companies, none of these are all too competitive with console prices. Which makes me think, what's really the market of these things? I'd rather just build myself a tower and hook it up to a tv if I want to play that way, something a vast majority of PC gamers are just as capable of doing. Not that these are terrible offerings or anything I just don't think any of them will reach any sort market penetration.

yeah, the price is only for the most hardcore and won't be beating the PS or Xbox series anytime soon.
 
yeah, the price is only for the most hardcore and won't be beating the PS or Xbox series anytime soon.
Yeah, but I mean if it's for the most hardcore - aren't the most hardcore already busy building their own super computers? I just don't see this being much of a market.
 
Apart from a couple lower-tier models from some companies, none of these are all too competitive with console prices. Which makes me think, what's really the market of these things? I'd rather just build myself a tower and hook it up to a tv if I want to play that way, something a vast majority of PC gamers are just as capable of doing. Not that these are terrible offerings or anything I just don't think any of them will reach any sort market penetration.

I think Steam Machines are slightly cheaper than similar Pre-built Windows Gaming PCs from companies like Alienware. Steam OS is free, so the users don't need to pay for a Windows 10 license/install disc. Steam Machines also don't come with a Disc drive like a DVD-ROM or Blu-Ray disc drive, Gaming Mechanical keyboard, and Gaming mouse, so the Steam Machine should be cheaper because it requires fewer accessories.

I think Steam Machines maybe popular for people who already have a large Steam game library, and want to play PC games on a TV with a controller rather than buying a console which they don't own many games for. Many Steam Machines also are upgradeable, and easier to repair with regular computer parts, so you can probably use one Steam Machine for over 10 years by upgrading them when newer games need more RAM, Storage space, better video card or a faster CPU.
 
Yeah, I guess all those things are true. We'll see overall how these things do saleswise, hoping some figures will be made available.
 
Yeah, I guess all those things are true. We'll see overall how these things do saleswise, hoping some figures will be made available.

I think it maybe difficult to figure out the exact sales figures for Steam Machines because a lot of companies like CyberpowerPC, iBuypowerPC, Digital Storm, and Maingear who make Steam Machines are smaller companies compared to Dell and Lenovo, so most tech blogs may not post about their sales figures, or want to keep their sales figures a secret from their competition, and the public. There are also many companies which make Steam Machines.

But, Steam can release their internet logs to see how many people play games on Steam OS which can give a good idea how many Steam Machines are out there, but the number would also include people who have Steam OS installed on their own custom built PC they built themselves, and dual-boot Windows PC with Steam OS installed on another hard drive, or partition. There are also people who try out Steam OS on a virtual machine software like VirtualBox which will also increase the number of Steam OS users.
 
Indeed it might be cheaper to make it yourself but you should also know what you are doing. If you have no knowledge about making a pc, there is a chance of you messing something up and just throwing away some money. Although the tutorial shows it step by step so I guess you can somewhat easily make it work :grin:
 
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