CyberPower Syber Steam Machine Has Been Reviewed

For some reason people didn't quite listen to Gabe Newell when he stated what SteamOS was all about.
Did he claim better driver support? More Games? That DirectX 12 would suck over OpenGL 4?

No! What he claimed he will do is to end walled gardens. A machine and OS you own, meaning you won't get sued if you hack it to build a freaking robot with it. Hotz, anyone?

Unfortunately, that isn't a sales strategy or Gnu/Linux would rule the desktop.
And yes, I put the "Gnu" part in there to underline the point.

Windows as a gaming console OS is crap.

Windows is not for me but I hate to see completely unqualified and unsubstantiated statements like: Windows as a gaming OS is crap, when any impartial person would tell you Windows is streets ahead in this regard.

I think 'console' is the operative word in what adolson is saying. Windows is better for PC gaming, with better driver support and more games developed for the OS. But as a console OS for hassle-free comfy couch gaming in the living room, it's less than ideal. A lot of that is due to MS's limitations on how much third-parties are allowed to modify the system (afaik the xb1 runs a Windows kernel, but since it's made by MS, they can modify the OS to suit their needs). That is where Linux has the advantage, Valve can do whatever they want, and all updates running through one central application that Valve controls makes it a lot easier to have a console-like experience.

Now this makes sense to me. There's a selling point here somewhere. I'm not sure, for example, if an Alpha boots straight into Big Picture. I'm not sure if you ever need to do any configuring in Windows--I don't configure things in Windows very often, but recently when I was wiping Windows 10 off my new laptop I had to boot into it and go into weird advanced option things just to get it to let me into the friggin' BIOS--sorry, "UEFI"--so I could turn off moronic Secure Boot. It was a pain and a half, I had to do some googling and watching instruction videos just to figure out where it hid the bloody option. If I had to work with that on an ongoing basis I'd go nuts.
And there is going to be a tendency for Windows to slow down over time, accumulate spyware, need virus protection fiddling (which will also slow it down) . . . these things can be used as browsers too, after all, so they'll be heir to everything on the internet that blights and slows down a Windows box. Then when they get to a certain point they'll need to clean it out or get the power user they know to do it for them. I understand there are measures you can take to keep this kind of thing to a minimum, but couch gamers strike me as including a lot of the kind of people who don't understand those measures. It'll be a pain. Then there will doubtless be weird Windows update shenanigans.

Unfortunately, this is not a simple or obvious sell. These are troubles that pop up gradually, down the road, not right when you buy. It's not instant (lack of) gratification.

Now this makes sense to me. There's a selling point here somewhere. I'm not sure, for example, if an Alpha boots straight into Big Picture. I'm not sure if you ever need to do any configuring in Windows

I don't know how much configuring you have to do on the Alpha, but engadget had this comparison in their review last month:

The Alienware Steam Machine is everything that Windows-based PC "game consoles" aren't. It's easy to set up, easy to use, extremely reliable and practically idiot-proof. Let me invoke the Alienware Alpha one more time to illustrate this: When I booted up Dell's original media-center gaming PC for the first time, it presented me with a "grab your mouse and keyboard" Windows 8 setup screen. It was awful. The new machine? It showed me a simple outline of Valve's Steam Controller, asked me to press a single button and then effortlessly led me through signing EULAs, adjusting TV settings, setting up the internet and logging into Steam. It was easy.

Unfortunately, that isn't a sales strategy or Gnu/Linux would rule the desktop.
And yes, I put the "Gnu" part in there to underline the point.

Maybe they need a gnu plan

Now this makes sense to me. There's a selling point here somewhere. I'm not sure, for example, if an Alpha boots straight into Big Picture. I'm not sure if you ever need to do any configuring in Windows

I don't know how much configuring you have to do on the Alpha, but engadget had this comparison in their review last month:

The Alienware Steam Machine is everything that Windows-based PC "game consoles" aren't. It's easy to set up, easy to use, extremely reliable and practically idiot-proof. Let me invoke the Alienware Alpha one more time to illustrate this: When I booted up Dell's original media-center gaming PC for the first time, it presented me with a "grab your mouse and keyboard" Windows 8 setup screen. It was awful. The new machine? It showed me a simple outline of Valve's Steam Controller, asked me to press a single button and then effortlessly led me through signing EULAs, adjusting TV settings, setting up the internet and logging into Steam. It was easy.

Exactly my point. Thankfully you were able to read, unlike the first response to my post. :P

Also, beyond just needing a keyboard and mouse, Windows does annoying things like forced updates, including forced reboots, even while you are in the middle of doing something. Yeah, you can delay it, but at some point, you just can't, and even if you're in the middle of a game, or in the middle of a Skype call, or in the middle of a 3D render - too bad! It's reboot time! Because Microsoft knows what's best for you.

I think it's the auto-updates that really is going to kill Windows for many people, not just gamers. I've had Windows 10 already do that to me. "Updates are set to install, please schedule a time" and if you happen to then be working/playing/whatever at 2am and forgot that you'd scheduled it, too bad.

Not to mention my boot loader defaults to Debian, so when Windows does that, I wake up with Linux loaded.

When I look at the "Featured Items" in the Steam client I see the Steam Controller, the Steam Link but there's no trace of anything about the Steam Machines (I don't know if it's just my case) . It just feels like Valve knows too that the Steam Machines are not ready for "prime time" but they released it for us, Linux enthousiasts, to be an "open beta tester group".

I'm really curious to see what kind of weight Valve will put behind the official launch of Vulkan. I might be wrong but I think the contrast with the november 10th launch will be striking. With the first game releases that will use Vulkan, I think it will be the starting point where the whole SteamOS ecosystem experience will begin to be relevant for the majority of players. At least that's what Valve is hoping for. After all they said it themselves:

"Unless you are aggressive enough to be shipping a DX12 game this year, I would argue that there is really not much reason to ever create a DX12 back end for your game" -Dan Ginsburg

http://hexus.net/tech/news/software/86726-valve-recommends-developers-choose-vulkan-directx-12/


Last edited by Mohandevir on 23 Nov 2015 at 2:30 am UTC

When I look at the "Featured Items" in the Steam client I see the Steam Controller, the Steam Link but there's no trace of anything about the Steam Machines (I don't know if it's just my case) . It just feels like Valve knows too that the Steam Machines are not ready for "prime time" but they released it for us, Linux enthousiasts, to be an "open beta tester group".

...

No and for you again: the Steam Machine is not build from Valve and you can't buy the Steam Machines directly in the Steamshop.
They are in the Steam Store only advertised.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/353530/ <-- No "Buy" or "In Shopping Cart" Button.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/353390/ <-- No "Buy" or "In Shopping Cart" Button, only a "Visit Website" Button.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/353420/ <-- No "Buy" or "In Shopping Cart" Button.

You can buy the Steam Machine only over the Manufacturer Shops (Alienware, Syber and Zotc).
The Zotac SM you can buy in other Shops, too. But not in Steam Shop.
Thats the reason why only the Steam Link and the Steam Controller are in the "Featured Items (Topseller)" Tab in Steam Store and not the Steam Machines.


Last edited by LinuxGamesTV on 23 Nov 2015 at 3:24 am UTC

[Honestly, I don't understand what VALVe is trying to do with all this..

This.

$100 off and an additional $100 mail-in rebate for all Syber Steam Machines today! I'm severely tempted at $299 to get the base model.

(only valid in US and Canada, by the way)

Honestly, I don't even know if Valve is still serious about SteamOS. It seems as if they are just doing an experiment. If you go to Steam's Hardware page you'll see most of the games advertised there don't support SteamOS. So, if Valve is not bothering to advertise SteamOS properly on Steam, who will? Also, Valve is not even bothering to respond to all the bad media about SteamOS's performance. It feels as if it was just a temporary project: make it, release it, then forget about it and get back to regular business. When Sony or Microsoft release a new console, they go to game studios and make sure new releases target their platform. Valve didn't even bother to do that. We don't need old AAA games ported to SteamOS, we need to make sure new AAA games will target SteamOS; that's what matters to most people, old AAA games matters to only very few gamers.

When I look at the "Featured Items" in the Steam client I see the Steam Controller, the Steam Link but there's no trace of anything about the Steam Machines (I don't know if it's just my case) . It just feels like Valve knows too that the Steam Machines are not ready for "prime time" but they released it for us, Linux enthousiasts, to be an "open beta tester group".

...

No and for you again: the Steam Machine is not build from Valve and you can't buy the Steam Machines directly in the Steamshop.
They are in the Steam Store only advertised.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/353530/ &lt;-- No "Buy" or "In Shopping Cart" Button.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/353390/ &lt;-- No "Buy" or "In Shopping Cart" Button, only a "Visit Website" Button.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/353420/ &lt;-- No "Buy" or "In Shopping Cart" Button.

You can buy the Steam Machine only over the Manufacturer Shops (Alienware, Syber and Zotc).
The Zotac SM you can buy in other Shops, too. But not in Steam Shop.
Thats the reason why only the Steam Link and the Steam Controller are in the "Featured Items (Topseller)" Tab in Steam Store and not the Steam Machines.

This I already know. Are you from Valve?

Because I understand but it doesn't make sense to me. A link to the Steam Machines page could have been included in the featured items (because there's a page that regroups the 3 models at the same adress). Else, it sends the message that they don't care about them and SteamOS.

Las year, they announced the 10 Steam Machines builders with big fanfare and links everywhere in the Steam client but now that it is really time, a sale for SteamOS games and an ad that lasted for 3 days... For my part, It's really weird and much less convincing.


Last edited by Mohandevir on 24 Nov 2015 at 12:13 am UTC

Probably Valve is still not happy with SteamOS performance due to current generation of drivers, so they would just as soon have mostly Linux gamers buying Steam boxes until Vulkan gets a stable release and gets game engine support. At that point in the future, they can come up with some excuse to do a big marketing push for SteamOS and Steam boxes, and try to get some market share among the console-using masses.

That said, there was a 1-day sale for Syber Steam boxes featured on Steam today, and they managed to sell out both the low-end and mid-range models in less than a day
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/landingpages/syber/
I'm curious what kind of quantities that was... probably wasn't a huge stock, mostly aimed at early adopters.