iBuyPower Shows Steam Machine Prototype at E3 2014 [Video]

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

The light strip isn’t just for looks

Back in November 2014 Valve announced iBuyPower as one of its partners that would be developing and selling a Steam Machine. At E3 2014, iBuyPower has shown its Steam Machine, the SBX, to Maximum PC editor Jimmy Thang.

iBuyPower director of product and marketing talked to Jimmy about the SBX prototype revealing that it is powered by a quad-core AMD CPU, AMD Radeon 250x (he mistakenly said 750x in the video), and 4GB of RAM. The reason for 4GB is due to SteamOS, which comes preinstalled, not having a lot of software running in the background as Windows 8. This means that all games available on Steam are expected to run in 1080p at 60 FPS.
The SBX sports a matte-black finish and has a light strip running along its entire length. However, the pulsating light isn’t just decorative. Using SmartLight technology, it can indicate if there is an email message or if a friend is waiting to play with you. A mobile app for iOS and Android devices, coming at a later date, will allow consumers to manage the light strip or even remote control the SBX to download games while they are out of the house.
Other features include two USB 2.0 ports on the side, two USB 3.0 ports in the back, HDMI/DVI output, Gigabit Ethernet, and 7.1 analog. As for the size, it is larger than Sony’s PlayStation 4 but smaller than Microsoft’s Xbox One.
The SBX will retail for $499 and is expected to be released in Q1 2015, the date that Valve recently announced would be the new release date for the Steam Machine.
Follow Sean on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook


More...