steambox prototype detailed at CES

[Lulzor]

http://www.polygon.com/2013/1/7/3849...-steam-box-xi3

Piston will offer up to 1 TB of interal storage and offer modular component updates, including the option to upgrade the PC's CPU and RAM.
[...]
The demo unit of Piston featured an IO board boasting one ethernet port, 1/8" audio in/out, SPDIF optical audio, four USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports (with one dedicated to keyboard input), four eSATAp ports, two Mini Display Port ports and one DisplayPort/HDMI port.

[WalkinTarget]

Ouch, that price is nearly 3x what I guesstimated on our older thread about this Valve box. While I would want it to be built to be somewhat future-proof with upgradability built into it, that high price chases away many potential buyers looking for a sub $500 gamer setup to hook to their TV.

[K PhaNTOM]

Oh my god! I don't care about anything else... this thing is called Piston. That is such a fantastic name.

[Lulzor]

Ouch, that price is nearly 3x what I guesstimated on our older thread about this Valve box. While I would want it to be built to be somewhat future-proof with upgradability built into it, that high price chases away many potential buyers looking for a sub $500 gamer setup to hook to their TV.

Xi3 also offers the entry level X5A, which is priced at $499 with a Linux operating system.

the one featured was the X7A which will cost around 1000$ So there is still an option for a 500$ entry level Personal-Console.

PC. Get it? Ha.

[WalkinTarget]

Entry level PC is entry level PC, no getting around that. With no specs to report, it's what I expected to an extent but I still don't see it selling well. 'Piston' might just be 'pissed on' by the gamer market.

[WalkinTarget]

Hardware specs courtesy of the Verge and Joystiq:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/7/384...denamed-piston

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/01/07/valve-pc-steam-box/

AMD 35 watt CPU with 4 cpu cores, 2MBx2 cache, 2.3/3.2 GHz cpu speed,
AMD Radeon™ HD 7660G 686MHz/ 497MHz speed
* 8GB of DDR3 RAM
* up to 1TB of mSATA storage
four USB 3.0/2.0 ports, four eSATAp ports, four USB 2.0 ports, a 10/100/1000 Ethernet port

* - denotes maximum hardware amount available. This will undoubtedly be where the price fluctuation from $500 to $1000 occurs.

The box does look like a cute lil thing, but it just cannot run (nor can it even fit) a higher end GPU to allow it to play high end games. TF2 all day, Skyrim at ultra settings ?? Uhh, no.

[WalkinTarget]

Closer examination shows a modular port to the right of the mic port on the back of the unit. That apparently allows an external GPU to be hooked up and would then eliminate the major bottleneck. Only problem with that is these external GPU boxes have been attempted in the past and never really caught on. They will not come cheap either.

[Dead...Again]

From what I have read, external GPUs will finally be feasible using Thunderbolt.

[Qicmee]

Valve's Steam Piston? Never mind.


http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/12/va...self-from-xi3/
Valve declared it's not working on any current projects with Piston creator Xi3. Speaking to Eurogamer, Valve's Doug Lombardi said his company "began some exploratory work with Xi3 last year, but currently has no involvement in any product of theirs."

Alongside the Piston's reveal earlier this year, the device designed specifically with Steam support in mind, Xi3 announced Valve had invested in the PC company, which may in part be what Lombardi referred to in his statement. However, Valve later made it clear Xi3's Piston is not its own much-anticipated Steam Box, of which boss Gabe Newell said Valve aims to have prototypes for customer evaluation in the next three to four months.

As for Xi3's $999 Piston, the shiny miniature box is available for pre-order now, with the device expected to ship "in time for" the holiday season this year.

[K PhaNTOM]

Yeah... a 1000 dollar miniPC with only 128GB SSD storage and no graphics will net you a loss in sales, not an increase. Who in their right mind would get this? Any average PC will trump this, since it can't handle any demanding game, anyone who gets this will probably be watching movies with it. Might as well get a console or an HTPC.

[{CLR} Cobalt]

Methinks they missed the boat on this one. If I'm gonna spend that kind of money, why not go ahead and spend a few hundred more and build a good one.