Kunal Khullar is a contributing writer at Tom\u2019s Hardware.\u00a0 He is a long time technology journalist and reviewer specializing in PC components and peripherals, and welcomes any and every question around building a PC. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-24/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Kunal Khullar Social Links Navigation News Contributor Kunal Khullar is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. He is a long time technology journalist and reviewer specializing in PC components and peripherals, and welcomes any and every question around building a PC.
usertests HDMI CEC ought to be standard everywhere. It's on Raspberry Pi but not your battlestation #sad Reply
John Kiser You can basicslly build this exact system for about 150 less than this thing costs. It does show the steam machine really isn't that overpriced either. The fact of the matter is if you price out equivalent systems it wouldn't make much profit per unit even taking bulk ordering into account. It is a bad time to do these cuz of costs right now Reply
ezst036 I mean, it makes sense that a gaming PC should come with a gaming OS instead of a business OS that isn't a gaming OS but it has gaming extras bolted onto it. Yeah it really does help tremendously that the business OS has been the default for basically ever, however at the end of the day its a business OS, not a gaming OS. Actually, Microsoft has stated publicly that they want it to be an agentic OS at that. Again. Not a gaming OS and gaming is not the primary future direction either. SteamOS's future is not agentic. SteamOS's future is gaming. Reply
TerryLaze ezst036 said: I mean, it makes sense that a gaming PC should come with a gaming OS instead of a business OS that isn't a gaming OS but it has gaming extras bolted onto it. Yeah it really does help tremendously that the business OS has been the default for basically ever, however at the end of the day its a business OS, not a gaming OS. Actually, Microsoft has stated publicly that they want it to be an agentic OS at that. Again. Not a gaming OS. And how exactly is arch OS a gaming OS?????????? It's a generic linux with gaming stuff bolted onto it, the only difference is that it has fewer things to interfere. Xbox has been using a stripped down version of normal windows for decades now, that is more gaming legitness than arch has. Reply
ezst036 TerryLaze said: And how exactly is arch OS a gaming OS?????????? If you want to overwrite SteamOS and install Arch on your computer I guess that's your choice, but you should not expect Arch to be a gaming OS like SteamOS is. Reply
JamesJones44 TerryLaze said: And how exactly is arch OS a gaming OS?????????? It's a generic linux with gaming stuff bolted onto it, the only difference is that it has fewer things to interfere. Xbox has been using a stripped down version of normal windows for decades now, that is more gaming legitness than arch has. Neither are really "gaming" OSs. They're both just repurposed "business" or "consumer" OSs with gaming API add-ons. That was the whole point of DirectX (beyond the fact that MS hoped it would kill OpenGL and other non-proprietary add ons). Reply
ezst036 In comparing the upcoming Steamroller to the upcoming Phantom V4 (the closest spec it seems MetaPC offers), the price difference is quite large. $1,299 vs $1,849. The biggest variance appears to be an Nvidia GPU compared to an AMD one for the Steamroller but I really do not think that a RTX 5060 is 500 dollars different – is it??? I suppose there could be other things affecting the price which are unseen. Motherboard type, mATX case cost, and other things. But otherwise, by not having Windows this Steamroller appears to be saving people money right out of the gate. This is a good thing in these days of RAMpocalypse and which also SteamOS is going to have more of that 16GB of memory at the ready for the user than Windows will. https://www.metapcs.com/products/phantom-v4 People keep saying gaming is dead, its a luxury nobody can afford anymore due to RAMpocalypse, well, no, SteamOS is keeping the dream alive. Thanks Valve! Reply
TerryLaze ezst036 said: If you want to overwrite SteamOS and install Arch on your computer I guess that's your choice, but you should not expect Arch to be a gaming OS like SteamOS is. SteamOS is based on arch, it's arch with gaming stuff bolted on… Reply
ezst036 TerryLaze said: SteamOS is based on arch, it's arch with gaming stuff bolted on… While its Arch based, there is a lot of rebuilding that Valve does. An example of how deep Valve goes is the recent patch sets that Valve developed regarding VRAM. https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/valve-vram-hack-may-improve-gaming-on-4gb-gpus-testing-showed-mixed-results-in-select-titles-with-fps-almost-tripling-in-certain-games Another example is they have ACO – their own shader compiler. They are constantly creating driver patches to increase performance and reliability, and they do other things also. These are not bolt ons. They're fundamental shifts in the OS foundations itself. SteamOS is practically its own OS even though the base still does derive from Arch.(of note, much of what Valve does gets back ported back into mainstream distros and initiatives) You're trying to repurpose my comment about "bolt on", but no. They are not the same. Not even close. 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/desktops/gaming-pcs/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/gaming-pcs/steamroller-becomes-first-prebuilt-gaming-pc-to-ship-with-steamos-ryzen-9600x-radeon-rx-7600-16gb-ddr5-ram-system-available-for-preorder-at-usd1-299#main
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