14 DAY TRIAL // Valve has finally revealed the hardware details of the 300 Steam Machines that will be handed out to the community.
When the Steam Machines announcement was made a week ago, Valve neglected to reveal the exact hardware that was going to be used and it seems that it’s not a single Machine at all.
Valve’s plan is to test a bunch of configurations and see what’s working at the optimal capacity. Moreover, any users will be able to replicate the same configuration in order to build an identic machine themselves.
Hardware specifications for the 300 prototype units:
- GPU: some units with NVidia Titan, some GTX780, some GTX760, and some GTX660 - CPU: some boxes with Intel : i7-4770, some i5-4570, and some i3 - RAM: 16GB DDR3-1600 (CPU), 3GB DDR5 (GPU) - Storage: 1TB/8GB Hybrid SSHD - Power Supply: Internal 450w 80Plus Gold - Dimensions: approx. 12 x 12.4 x 2.9 in high
Judging by the configurations possible from these particular hardware components, Valve aims towards a hi-end PC, which is easily accessible even today.
“The prototype machine is a high-end, high-performance box, built out of off-the-shelf PC parts. It is also fully upgradable, allowing any user to swap out the GPU, hard drive, CPU, even the motherboard if you really want to,” reads the official announcement.
What even more interesting is that Valve will also release the CAD file. This means that anyone with the knowledge and the technical possibilities can replicate even the case of a Steam Machine.
Valve will not present the prototype just yet and they haven’t revealed any precise date for that particular announcement.
The Steam Machines have been announced by Valve as their first attempt to build a PC/console that features a Linux-based SteamOS, which is capable of running both Linux, Windows, and Mac Games, and which should replace the consoles in the living room.