Valve have confirmed the Steam Machine's price will be comparable to a custom-built PC with similar performance, rather than subsidised like a console.
I think people underestimate how hard it is to build a computer this small and this functional with off the shelf parts. I have a case that just has a motherboard, power supply, and SSD in it for video streaming and web browsing on my TV, and it’s almost as big as this. It’s a relatively high spec MOBO since I wanted to stream fames from my PC initially, but still.
I don’t have confidence I could make this myself at these specs.
I’ve been told for decades that building a PC is cheap and easy and more affordable than a console. Are you saying that was a PC gamer lying on repeat?
It really was, I migrated from console to pc around the beginning of the Xbox One/ps4 generation. It was more effort to hunt down parts and build a PC, for sure, but it was very doable to match console performance for the same price. These days though thanks in part to tariffs, and crypto mining, hardware prices are worse than they used to be.
I built a PC that was more expensive and more powerful than consoles at the time, but did plenty of looking into different hardware prices.
The important thing is prices at the time.
You can feel free to do the digging if you want.
Usually you’d end up with just slightly more expensive for the Base hardware, but with no online subscription cost that would make console more expensive long-term.
I’m not really interested in some aggressive back and forth on a Lemmy thread, so this is the last response I’m going to leave with you. I shared what my experience was at the time, and I don’t especially care if you believe me. I’m not my time trying to put together and research a list of equivalent hardware with time accurate prices to the Xbox One/Ps4 generation to please a random person I haven’t met on Lemmy.
If you care that much, you can do the research.
Depends on price. Everytime I think about all the recent games my old machine and PS4 I lose all enthusiasm for upgrading. The graphics don’t even look better!
I think people underestimate how hard it is to build a computer this small and this functional with off the shelf parts. I have a case that just has a motherboard, power supply, and SSD in it for video streaming and web browsing on my TV, and it’s almost as big as this. It’s a relatively high spec MOBO since I wanted to stream fames from my PC initially, but still.
I don’t have confidence I could make this myself at these specs.
I’ve been told for decades that building a PC is cheap and easy and more affordable than a console. Are you saying that was a PC gamer lying on repeat?
I’m saying that building one small is difficult.
It certainly was the case, for a while, given you were shooting for similar specs to consoles. But times are a little different now.
Lol. This is a damned lie or some strange rejection of reality. I can’t decide.
It really was, I migrated from console to pc around the beginning of the Xbox One/ps4 generation. It was more effort to hunt down parts and build a PC, for sure, but it was very doable to match console performance for the same price. These days though thanks in part to tariffs, and crypto mining, hardware prices are worse than they used to be.
List the parts you bought and we’ll compare to the price of that console generation.
I’m morbidly curious to see where this leads.
I built a PC that was more expensive and more powerful than consoles at the time, but did plenty of looking into different hardware prices. The important thing is prices at the time. You can feel free to do the digging if you want. Usually you’d end up with just slightly more expensive for the Base hardware, but with no online subscription cost that would make console more expensive long-term.
No. You made the claim. You supply the list. Or don’t.
I’m not really interested in some aggressive back and forth on a Lemmy thread, so this is the last response I’m going to leave with you. I shared what my experience was at the time, and I don’t especially care if you believe me. I’m not my time trying to put together and research a list of equivalent hardware with time accurate prices to the Xbox One/Ps4 generation to please a random person I haven’t met on Lemmy. If you care that much, you can do the research.
I have a mini-ITX case under my telly and it’s huge compared to a console - even a PS5 with all its extraneous spoilers.
will you replace it with a steam machine?
Depends on price. Everytime I think about all the recent games my old machine and PS4 I lose all enthusiasm for upgrading. The graphics don’t even look better!