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Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-25/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Mark Tyson Social Links Navigation News Editor Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
overclockedamd Cool proof of concept, but at some point you have to ask why. You’re already at a minimum of ~$1,049 for the Steam Machine, ~$700 for the 9070 XT, then you need the eGPU dock, M.2-to-OCuLink adapter, and a USB-C enclosure because you just gave up the internal NVMe slot. So now you’ve spent well into desktop-PC money, moved your boot drive to external USB storage, added a bunch of external cabling, and you’re still feeding the GPU through PCIe 4.0 x4. Neat hack? Absolutely. Sensible upgrade path? At that point just build a desktop. At least then you can upgrade your platform down the road. Reply
King_V I think Valve themselves had the answer to this in one of their own games: "Science isn't about WHY. It's about WHY NOT." – Cave Johnson Reply
logainofhades overclockedamd said: Cool proof of concept, but at some point you have to ask why. You’re already at a minimum of ~$1,049 for the Steam Machine, ~$700 for the 9070 XT, then you need the eGPU dock, M.2-to-OCuLink adapter, and a USB-C enclosure because you just gave up the internal NVMe slot. So now you’ve spent well into desktop-PC money, moved your boot drive to external USB storage, added a bunch of external cabling, and you’re still feeding the GPU through PCIe 4.0 x4. Neat hack? Absolutely. Sensible upgrade path? At that point just build a desktop. At least then you can upgrade your platform down the road. Considering I can go to Microcenter and pick up a PowerSpec prebuilt with a 7500x3d, 32gb ram, 1tb SSD, and a 9070xt, for $1700, I have to agree. Reply
LordVile overclockedamd said: Cool proof of concept, but at some point you have to ask why. You’re already at a minimum of ~$1,049 for the Steam Machine, ~$700 for the 9070 XT, then you need the eGPU dock, M.2-to-OCuLink adapter, and a USB-C enclosure because you just gave up the internal NVMe slot. So now you’ve spent well into desktop-PC money, moved your boot drive to external USB storage, added a bunch of external cabling, and you’re still feeding the GPU through PCIe 4.0 x4. Neat hack? Absolutely. Sensible upgrade path? At that point just build a desktop. At least then you can upgrade your platform down the road. I mean the steam machine is already about the same price as a more powerful desktop Reply
adybrownz Feels a bit like… Whatever lol. I get the whole why not concept.. but yeah. It's just an overpriced computer where there better options out there of people looked. Also feel like everyone's forgotten steam link exists. Been using it for years to stream steam games to the tv with no issues. Yes may need a bit of setup with cables etc. but not steam machine prices. Each to their own I guess. Reply
Rookie_MIB You know, that little M.2 port shouldn't be underestimated. I recently put together a little 1U Epyc server using an ITX board, and this was going to be for a NAS on the cheap (upgrade from an old Xeon 2U to something that draws 30w). Big downsize was a lack of SATA ports – so what do I find? M.2 -> 6 SATA adapter. Net result? Capable of having 12 SATA drives and the speed is indistinguishable from any PCI-e slot adapter. So I have 4 SATA on an occulink breakout cable, one boot off the SATA port on the board, and 4 SATA on the M.2 adapter all in a 1U short chassis. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/modder-adds-radeon-rx-9070-xt-egpu-to-steam-machine-runs-crimson-desert-at-over-100-fps-on-high-moves-boot-drive-to-usb-c-port-leverages-m-2-to-oculink-adaptor-and-egpu-dock#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.