Valve says Steam Machines are better than gaming consoles

[greenmedic88]

SvennoJ said:

greenmedic88 said:

SvennoJ said:
This doesn't sound like it will outperform consoles

$450 for Intel Core i3 Dual-Core processor, an NVIDIA Geforce GTX with 2GB of GDDR5 memory, 4GB of DDR3L system RAM

That seems to be the cheapest, does that include a controller?
For a product supposedly going on sale in 4 days, where are the details?

The issue with SteamBox is that it's licensed hardware functionally (I don't think hardware manufacturers are paying anything per box to Valve to run SteamOS), but not using standardized parts, so prices and specs will vary from vendor to vendor even when comparing "comparable" price tiered models. 

I suppose one could just google "cheapest Steam Machine" and see what kind of specs that buys and for how much.

I checked the Steam store, there are no more details available atm for that $450 Alienware machine.

The next one up does list actual specs
http://www.sybergaming.com/products/steam-machine.aspx
  $499 I3-4160 4GB DDR3 GTX 750 1GB GDDR5
  $729 I5-4460 8GB DDR3 GTX 960 2GB GDDR5
$1419 I7 4GHZ 16GB DDR3 GTX 980 4GB GDDR5
(comes with mini keyboard + touch pad but no controller)

The $729 should easily outperform the ps4, depending on game optimization of course.

They will come down in price anyway, the box looks nice enough for under the tv.

The i5 model should, barring any games using game engines that aren't optimized to be run on mid/lower tiered hardware. MGS5 has pretty stiff hardware requirements, as does Arkham Knight for instance. 

Of course, you're now comparing a piece of hardware that costs over 2x what a PS4 retails for, so if it doesn't handily outperform a PS4, it doesn't take any stretch of intelligence to see which is a better value. Even then, what does a reasonable person expect to be buying performance-wise for an additional $380? Me, I'd be expecting multiple 1920x1080 displays or 2560x1440 while retaining 60fps, which probably would not be the case across all games. 

It's probably not even a cost to performance issue at that point anyway; anyone who wants to spend more on a preconfigured PC is doing so because they want to game on a PC, taking things like free online play and a currently smaller library of Steam OS compatible games, with the promise of more compatibility in the future and starting with any games already purchased in their existing Steam account into consideration. They really are different niches, so the hardware value comparisons aren't as relevant as most people make them out to be.