Which steam machine should I buy?

[Renato Lopes]

So I was thinking of buying a steam machine, so I am asking here what specs should I get etc. I am planning of buying maybe a cheap one, hoping that it can play infinity with shaders (or just infinity, playing with shaders is asking too much isn't it?) and with 4 usb entraces (how the fuk they expect me to get a extender? these things have lag input!)

So, if you guys could at least provide me some information of what video card should I get (or something, I don't really know how these things work anyway), or even recommend one, I would be pleased (also I won't be able to buy a really expensive one)

http://store.steampowered.com/sale/steam_machines

 

[lenscas]

Umm fella?
Id hate to burst your bubble but it may be hard to play FTB on a Steam Machine since it uses their own operating system SteamOS (Linux based). What those are for is mainly streaming from your main PC to your steambox or running low end games mind you very few are available.

As long as you get java to work it should in theory still be possible and as steamos is if my memory serves me correctly based on Debian and there is a java for that it wouldn't surprise me that you could get it to work.

@Renato Lopes
I am not sure about what are good specs, what I do know is that cpu is more important then the gpu and especially the clock speed of a single core as minecraft is not good in using multiple threads.

 

[Azzanine]

Since when has MC been on steam? Though those things where essentially Steam games only?
Now you folks are saying that they are no more than low end PCs?

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[lenscas]

Since when has MC been on steam? Though those things where essentially Steam games only?
Now you folks are saying that they are no more than low end PCs?

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I've never done anything with them and I'm not planning on buying them anytime soon so I'm not sure but reading this makes me believe it is possible to get java working and thus minecraft.

 

[Azzanine]

You can do the same thing with a PS4 with enough hackery.
Plus that reddit thread seemed to indicate that they where modding the OS to use a compatible Java and minecraft.
I'm talking about out of the box functionality, the stuff the average joe could use.
By the looks of things it looks like it's going to be Steam titles only.
But TBH I can't really find anything that can confirm or deny that.

@Renato Lopes make sure steam OS can actually run non steam games first. They are cheap in comparison to other consoles but you don't want to sink the 400-500 $ for it to not do what you want.
Do some research.

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[Wagon153]

You can do the same thing with a PS4 with enough hackery.
Plus that reddit thread seemed to indicate that they where modding the OS to use a compatible Java and minecraft.
I'm talking about out of the box functionality, the stuff the average joe could use.
By the looks of things it looks like it's going to be Steam titles only.
But TBH I can't really find anything that can confirm or deny that.

@Renato Lopes make sure steam OS can actually run non steam games first. They are cheap in comparison to other consoles but you don't want to sink the 400-500 $ for it to not do what you want.
Do some research.

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wtf are you on about. SteamOS is a full Linux operating system and can do everything it's parent distro(Debian) can. I've experimented with it before. It's even got access to the same repos as Debian.

 

[Wagon153]

Umm fella?
Id hate to burst your bubble but it may be hard to play FTB on a Steam Machine since it uses their own operating system SteamOS (Linux based). What those are for is mainly streaming from your main PC to your steambox or running low end games mind you very few are available.

You are confusing SteamOS with the OSes on consoles. It's a full OS that just comes with Steam/Steam Big Picture preinstalled. Any packages that work on Debian work on SteamOS(Including Java, which is all you need for Minecraft.)

 

[Azzanine]

So it's just a glorified deaktop PC dressed as a consol?
What pray tell would be the point.

At least it will give folks a look at Linux based computing. One barrier for me is the lack of necessity to use another OS and the fact that Linux has a lot of unknown factors for me.
But these folks who use the Steam Machine will have it introduced to them on a standard format.

So it's not so much hackery as it is modding.

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[Renato Lopes]

Well I saw once a alienware steam machine it had stuff like origin and etc.... I doubt there are impossible things on steam machines if not by the specs themselves.

But a guy said one of the cheapest alienware machines was better than a ps4 and xbox one, so I'm definitely looking foward to them.

 

[Padfoote]

Well I saw once a alienware steam machine it had stuff like origin and etc.... I doubt there are impossible things on steam machines if not by the specs themselves.

But a guy said one of the cheapest alienware machines was better than a ps4 and xbox one, so I'm definitely looking foward to them.

Origin is a free download, just like Steam. My honest opinion on this whole thing is that a Steam Machine is a total waste of money if you know how / are willing to learn how to build your own PC. If you can do that, or want to learn how to do that, you can probably save money and get better hardware as you aren't paying for the name behind it, and you can still put Steam OS on it without any issues.

Now if you don't want to build your own PC, that's a whole different story.

 

[Renato Lopes]

Origin is a free download, just like Steam. My honest opinion on this whole thing is that a Steam Machine is a total waste of money if you know how / are willing to learn how to build your own PC. If you can do that, or want to learn how to do that, you can probably save money and get better hardware as you aren't paying for the name behind it, and you can still put Steam OS on it without any issues.

Now if you don't want to build your own PC, that's a whole different story.

I'm not really into learning to build pc's
Also, steam machines are portable and casual

 

[Padfoote]

I'm not really into learning to build pc's
Also, steam machines are portable and casual

Given a few hours and a couple hundred dollars someone could make a custom PC that's about the same size and just as portable. Hell, I've seen a pretty powerful PC get shoved into the xbone casing. It's seriously nothing special unless you don't want to make your own computer, which you've said you don't.

 

[Renato Lopes]

Do I need to do some course or something to learn how to build pcs? I mean, I got like 2 broken laptops on my house, I could make use of them or something..?

 

[Padfoote]

Do I need to do some course or something to learn how to build pcs? I mean, I got like 2 broken laptops on my house, I could make use of them or something..?

It's basically like Legos for electronics. While you may be able to pull something off with the remains of those two laptops, there's so many factors playing into if everything will work correctly that I'd be surprised if you can make it work.

If you're serious about building one, watch some videos and read some guides on how to assemble everything as well as what specs to look for in order to do what you want. When you feel somewhat comfortable with that, head over to /r/buildapc with a parts list and see what they say. They also have several guides on how to do things that may be helpful.

Edit: A somewhat helpful post someone just posted: Link

 

[Renato Lopes]

I'm not saying I will build using the laptop parts (unless I use only the laptop parts them I remove all of them and use pure parts), but I don't use reddit too... maybe I'll make a exception now.

But well... I might just watch some youtube tutorials or something thx bro