Xi3 Piston "Steam box" Gets a Showcase Trailer

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Xi3 Piston "Steam box" Gets a Showcase Trailer

Post by Dan @ 11:30am 12/03/13 | 18 Comments

PC hardware manufacturer Xi3 opened pre-orders for their "Piston console", supposedly the first in an assortment of computers that the community has affectionately dubbed a "Steam box", as machines being tailored to run Valve's popular distribution platform.

The Piston features a 3.2GHz Quad Core CPU, 8GB RAM, and a 128GB SSD for a base price point of US$899.99 (a 10% discount for pre-order customers, on what will be a US$1000 price point at launch later this year).

The high price point and lack of any real groundbreaking software features (Xi3 pre-orders include Windows 7, with no hints of Valve's expected custom Linux OS in sight) have shed a lot of excitement from the device, but the purported 30-40W power consumption, and upgradable modular structure in a compact form-factor will likely still appeal to some.

For most of us however, this is probably not the Steam Box that you've been waiting for. Watch the showcase video below for a closer look.

steam box valve xi3 piston trailer

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fpot
Posted 11:32am 12/3/13

Who manufactures the CPU? What about the GPU? I'm confused.

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trog
Posted 11:36am 12/3/13

Not sure why this isn't the first frame of the video:

This thing is tiny. Without the can as a reference point I assumed it was a big beast of a thing.

I think calling it a "console" is a bad idea (especially given their marketing stuff in there says "so much more than a console" (argh, recursive head exploding marketing!). But it looks sort of neat.

Price point is probably a bit high to use it as a toy thing but it is a good precursor of what might be to come from an "actual" Steambox.

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ctd
Posted 11:37am 12/3/13

$1000? good one dickheads..

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Dan
Posted 11:40am 12/3/13

The CPU is supposedly an AMD R464 processor. But I couldn't find any conclusive reports on the GPU. The X7A device the same guys make, and that Piston is supposedly based on is a "Radeon 7000 series".

In my purely personal view, it really looks like a bit of a rushed first step at cashing in on the whole steambox hype, and it surely says something that Valve have kept away from any kind of outward endorsement of this particular model. I see it more as a crazyily boutique media PC.

Also, this video interview has a quick flash of what I presume is their custom windows navigation interface, and it really looks pretty basic and not worth anyone's time http://youtu.be/XZxXEidtxHk Admittedly, it really does demonstrate the tiny size of the thing.

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Eorl
Posted 11:47am 12/3/13

I could see people purchasing it if they want an all-in-one system that gives them high-performance gaming and a robust media box. Still, $1000 for a 128GB SSD will very quickly run out of space.

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fpot
Posted 11:51am 12/3/13

But for the low low price of only $750 extra you can get a 512GB SSD.

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Reverend Evil�
Posted 12:35pm 12/3/13

You could prolly just hook up an external drive to add more space.

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deadlyf
Posted 12:46pm 12/3/13

Yeah 128GB is way too small, my Steam folder is 80GB with only 5 games installed. You add Windows 7 and save files to that and you've filled up a drive which takes a fairly significant performance hit when near full. That's one thing that worries me about the next gen consoles, considering both MS and Sony use memory to differentiate fairly big jumps in price points anything less than 200GB will severely limit the usefulness of Digital Distribution.

While the size is impressive, for the price you can get a similarly spec'd laptop.

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trillion
Posted 12:49pm 12/3/13

maybe it's a gtx 675m if it's 384 cores. it's the one the alienware gaming laptop uses

they sell for around $300 - $400 on ebay as an mxm 3.0b card for laptops

in one of the related videos you can see the ethernet and power that xi3 have placed on the pcb, whether it's still an mxm 3.0b slot or their own modular slot who knows

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trog
Posted 01:50pm 12/3/13

I'm completely not worried by 128GB for a gaming box. I am probably atypical compared to some; I only play 1-2 games at a time any more. Considering it only takes a handful of hours to re-download stuff off Steam I'm generally happy to deal with the swapping in and swapping out of data.

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TiT
Posted 02:33pm 12/3/13

pretty awesome, would be totally hooked if it came with Blu-Ray player then it will be my all in one HTPC gaming console :)

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trillion
Posted 03:04pm 12/3/13

well ok at a guess from what [email protected] just sent me it's most likely an AMD Trinity A10

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shade
Posted 04:06pm 12/3/13

if I had $1000 dollars to spend it would be on a next gen console, I have no use for a portable pc that only plays game but doesn't have a dvd drive, I still prefer buying hard copies of my games.

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TiT
Posted 04:21pm 12/3/13

if I had $1000 dollars to spend it would be on a next gen console, I have no use for a portable pc that only plays game but doesn't have a dvd drive, I still prefer buying hard copies of my games.

I'm opposite of you, i hate hard copies of games, i normally throw the cd out. I prefer having my keys all stored on one spot, well in my case steam, origin and blizzard

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copuis
Posted 05:13pm 12/3/13

preople drop $1000 on a console, and have (in the past) had no issues buying the consoles that might not have backward compatabiltiy

or drop a thou on a new different console (ie a Xbox when they have always had playstations) that rendered a catalouge of games useless, or a pain in the arse

imo I see this as a great way to get people onto a gaming system that gives you games for life, without hassle, you'll have those games able to play on future steam boxes, or laptops, or your big PC

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Mordecai
Posted 09:53am 13/3/13

Valve is distancing itself from Xi3

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-11-valve-backed-xi3-piston-console-starts-at-USD1000

Valve's Doug Lombardi told Eurogamer that Valve had some dealings with Xi3 Corporation, the company behind the Piston, but not any more.

"Valve began some exploratory work with Xi3 last year, but currently has no involvement in any product of theirs," he said.

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