First thing is the power envelope and cooling requirements. The stock cooler is just so customized for server rack there aren’t really any good no-compromise quiet and cool solutions.
Second is just a lot of software tweaking. While the community has done a lot of really impressive things… they’re also vibe coding a lot of this stuff. It changes often and it’s hard to tell what the code is doing.
Finally is the sleep mode: there is none. You either leave it on all the time (I’ve dealt with Bazzite crashing in this case), or you boot and shutdown every time. Also no power control via controller or HDMI-CEC. (Without serious hacking)
Don’t get me wrong, it’s been a fun side project while I languish on the infinite waitlist. If you have a 3D printer, it’s a good opportunity to utilize that. But the end result, even if you go full AIO cooling + soldering ESP32 power control boards, you won’t have that plug-and-play, set and forget SteamOS experience.
right now the SM has an issue with sleep that randomly nerfs the performance very hard, so you’re best off just restarting every time. it’s also hard capped at 60fps as long as you’re in “game mode”.
like as a package it DOES just work, i can’t deny that. it makes a great living room pc. but i’d be a lot more confident actually knowing and controlling specifically what my hardware is doing, even if that means it’s sloppy for now :/
First thing is the power envelope and cooling requirements. The stock cooler is just so customized for server rack there aren’t really any good no-compromise quiet and cool solutions.
Second is just a lot of software tweaking. While the community has done a lot of really impressive things… they’re also vibe coding a lot of this stuff. It changes often and it’s hard to tell what the code is doing.
Finally is the sleep mode: there is none. You either leave it on all the time (I’ve dealt with Bazzite crashing in this case), or you boot and shutdown every time. Also no power control via controller or HDMI-CEC. (Without serious hacking)
Don’t get me wrong, it’s been a fun side project while I languish on the infinite waitlist. If you have a 3D printer, it’s a good opportunity to utilize that. But the end result, even if you go full AIO cooling + soldering ESP32 power control boards, you won’t have that plug-and-play, set and forget SteamOS experience.
honestly you’re talking me into it.
right now the SM has an issue with sleep that randomly nerfs the performance very hard, so you’re best off just restarting every time. it’s also hard capped at 60fps as long as you’re in “game mode”.
like as a package it DOES just work, i can’t deny that. it makes a great living room pc. but i’d be a lot more confident actually knowing and controlling specifically what my hardware is doing, even if that means it’s sloppy for now :/
Also, no video encoder/decoder which was what killed it for me.
I’ve read that, but haven’t come across any issues with gaming … is that strictly an issue if you want to also use it for media?
Yes, only a real issue if you want to watch or encode videos.
Definitely a valid use for a living room PC!