General Gaming Article

---

• Everything You Need to Know About Valve's Steam Machines
• Grand Theft Auto V for PC Pops Up for Pre-Order on Amazon in Germany
• Column: I'm Going Green with My PC
• Column: Smartphones Get the Camera Love
• Intel's Newest NUC Kit Includes a 2.5-inch Drive Bay
• Careful What You Say Around Chrome, Someone Might be Eavesdropping
• Valve Updates SteamOS Beta to Support Dual-Booting
• Newegg Daily Deals: Corsair Hydro Series H90, Asus RT-AC56U Wireless Router, and More!

Everything You Need to Know About Valve's Steam Machines Posted: 23 Jan 2014 05:05 PM PST A complete in-depth Q&A on Steam Machine pricing, specs, release dates, and more! Final versions of Valve's highly anticipated Steam OS (officially written "SteamOS") and Steam Machines that run it aren't even out but the misinformation and the company's legendary opaqueness have created perhaps one of the most misunderstood tech projects in recent memory. There's simply been so much misinformation that even we can't keep up with what's actually fact and what's fiction at this point. So to help you keep up on current events, we've tried to cull all of the relevant SteamOS and Steam Machine information into one single in-depth FAQ. Alienware's Steam Machine is one of 13 different Steam Machines Question: Why is Valve making Steam OS? Answer: You can actually hear Valve's CEO, Gabe Newell, layout the reasons here but it boils down to an increasingly closed and controlled world. Whether tablet, console, phone or—even the desktop, the open world of the PC is being stepped on by closed systems. "Now, a couple of years ago, we started to get pretty worried that maybe that openness was going to be challenged—that there was success in proprietary platforms in the living room and in mobile, and that that was going to cause our entire industry to step away from the opportunity of openness," Newell says. "We started to think, "What can we do? There are lots of people who can take on this challenge, but what are some of the pieces that Valve could try to help with?" Although this is conjecture, we'd also guess that the threat of Microsoft going full iOS and mandating app installations through only the Windows store was also a big motivator. And don't think we're paranoid either. Why, for example, did Microsoft only release the Windows 8.1 update through its Windows store rather than a standard Windows update? By making Steam OS and helping vendors make Steam Machines, We think Valve ensures that it has an escape hatch should Microsoft actually go full-closed and only allow applications to be installed through the Windows Store. By using its own Linux operating system, Valve ensures it has control of the OS and that Steam has a place to exist outside of Microsoft, Apple and other large companies. Q: I thought Xi3's Piston was the SteamBox. A: No. Absolutely not. You can forgive yourself for thinking that as a combination of bad reporting and rumor and innuendo on the Internet had us believing the Xi3 was Valve's "SteamBox." And why not? The Internet said Valve had sunk money into Xi3 so it could make The Piston "The Steam Box." Contrary to initial belief, Xi3's Piston PC is not an official Steam Machine. It is true that the Xi3 Piston was indeed being shown in Valve's invite-only booth on the floor of CES 2013. But it's also a fact that other machines were there too. Valve had indeed talked to Xi3 about building a "Steam Box" sometime in 2012 but after the hype blew up and Xi3 didn't exactly dissuade the press from believing it, the relationship seems to have cooled off. Valve spokesman Doug Lombardi confirmed to Eurogamer that "Valve began some exploratory work with Xi3 last year, but currently has no involvement in any product of theirs." How on the outs is Xi3? When Valve unveiled 13 hardware vendors—large and small—at its 2014 CES press conference, no Xi3 Piston was present. It's all good, says Xi3 spokesman David Politis who told PC Gamer: "We believe, and I think the market's very clear about this, that the biggest concentration today is in the Windows marketplace," Politis dished to PCG. "So we've gone separate directions today—that doesn't mean we're not supporting Valve." The Piston will, in fact, run where the games are—on Windows for now and also run Origin too. Q: Is it called Steam Box or Steam Machine? A: It is officially Steam Machine and, in fact, Valve told us at last year's CES that the whole Steam Box nomenclature wasn't even theirs but some creation of the media which in a New York Post-manner decided to name it Steam Box. It could have been worse. The mainstream tech media could have called it the Little Bellevue Lolita or Windows Slasher. So dude, please use the proper nomenclature. Q: What is a Steam Machine? A: It's basically a PC running a Linux-OS (based on the Debian distro) to let you run Steam games on your television or a monitor with an HDMI input. Q: What are the specs of a Steam Machine? A: There are none. Valve is trying to essentially replicate the openness of the PC but running SteamOS instead of Windows. Of the 13 Steam Machines shown at CES, they're varied in sizes from large to small. Powerful and not so powerful. Mobile and desktop parts. Discrete and higher-end integrated. Single GPU and multi-GPU. Intel and AMD. ATI and Nvidia. Basically there are no hard official specs but since the platform is meant for gaming, the GPU will be important in any Steam Machine, but Valve isn't setting, recommending or mandating any specs. Q: What hardware vendors are making Steam Machines and what specs do they use? A: At the moment, there are 13 official hardware partners which include: Alienware, Alternate, CyberPowerPC, Digital Storm (Bolt II), Falcon Northwest (Tiki), Gigabyte (Brix Pro), iBuyPower, Material.Net, Next Spa, Origins PC (Chronos), Scan (NC10), Webhallen, Zotac, and Maingear. In terms of pricing, we're seeing systems that range from $500 (CyberPower, iBuyPower) to PCs that cost upwards of $6,000 (Falcon Northwest Tiki). For Steam Machine specs, see image below: Click the image above for a larger view of the Steam Machine specs and pricing Q: Is Valve making its own Steam Machines that it will sell? A: That is unclear at this point. It's a fact that Valve has made 300 prototype Steam Machines that it gave to 300 very lucky Steam users. The prototypes Valve sent came in a variety of different configurations that included everything from an Nvidia GTX 660 to a GeForce Titan. Will Valve sell the hardware eventually? Valve's CEO Gabe Newell said that's undecided at this point. "We're going to continue to make that decision as we go along. We've been happy with results during the hardware development. We have plans to build more machines as our customers demand. We also expect people to be really happy with the range of offerings coming from these hardware manufacturers," Newell said (thanks to youtube user Dietrich Ginocchio for transcribing our video of the press conference and Q&A.) Our take is that Valve has the money and capability to contract out with vendors to build machines if it wanted to sell them but ultimately won't. Remember: Valve is trying to replicate the PC's openness. If it's trying to do that, why would it get into competition with its hardware partners? We saw how happy Microsoft made its hardware partners with Surface RT and Surface Pro so we believe Valve won't get into the hardware game unless it's forced to. Click the next page to read more about the Steam Machine controller, to find out when SteamOS will release, and more. Q: What would force Valve to sell the Steam Machine? A: This is conjecture, but we believe if PC OEMs decide that consumer demand for Steam Machines isn't there, the profit margins aren't enough or "intervention" by Microsoft forces them to abandon support for SteamOS, Valve would have an out by making and selling its own boxes. We think the company is pretty serious about that too because the prototype/beta machines it used to demonstrate SteamOS to the press all had full on FCC certifications (include pic). We're told while it's not too difficult to get FCC certs for hardware, why would Valve bother to get them certified if it didn't think it might have to sell them one day? Notice the FCC sticker on the back of Valve's official, internal Steam Machine. Q: What do you mean by "intervention?" A: Again, pure conjecture on our part but Microsoft didn't exactly get the full force of the Federal government to jump on its head by handing out fuzzy sweaters and hugs to everyone. Microsoft is unlikely to take yet another assault on its home turn without reacting. That reaction could be simple as talking to key players or even Valve and pledging to keep the PC the open paradise as it is right now. By the time SteamOS starts rolling out, the next version of Windows (possibly Windows 9) would address all the hate that Windows 8 recieved. While it may sound crazy, we did see that with Windows Vista to Windows 7. It's also quite possible Microsoft doesn't even care about SteamOS as it has other fires to put out with assaults from Apple and Google. A bunch of nerds trying to play PC games in the living room just may not bug the OS giant. Q: I want that Steam Machine chassis (pictured). I heard Silverstone built it. Silverstone denies creating the chassis for Valve's official prototype Steam Machines. A: Apparently not. Silverstone has denied to us that it is the company that built the beta/prototype Steam Machine chassis although its PSU does appear in it. We say apparently because for all we know, Silverstone is making them but is bound by Valve not to admit it. At this point, we'll take Silverstone at its word.   Here's an excellent tear down of one of Valve's prototype Steam Machine from iFixit. Q: When will Steam OS be available? A: A beta of it is actually available now for free here. We've put together a how-to-install SteamOS guide here. It's not for the everybody to do and it's still very early but if you think of it as Valve's Big Picture mode running on Linux, you'd have a good idea of what it's capable of right now. As to when final software will be available? That's not really known exactly but sometime this year is the latest information known. Click here for our guide on how to install SteamOS. Q: How beta is it? A: Pretty beta. Initially, there was only support for Nvidia GPUs. AMD cards have since been added but a lot of things don't work. Audio, for example, is only through HDMI and not all USB devices work. Right now, it's practically a science experiment. Q: When will Steam Machines be available? When is the official release date? A: There's two things holding back sales of Steam Machines. The first is the fact that the OS still needs to be finished and the second is the Valve Controller. Assuming the OS is done this year, the Valve Controller will also have to come in and on budget for Steam Machines to happen. Interestingly, we asked multiple hardware partners of Valve when they expect to be able to sell Steam Machines and most of them gave us the we-have-no-idea shoulder shrug.  This is such a fast changing topic that we originally wrote here that Alienware was pretty sure it would have a box in the second quarter of 2014 last week. We saved the Word doc and woke up to find out that Dell/Alienware is now telling the press September is the target date for the Alienware Steam Machine.   Q: Can I sell Steam Machine? A: Apparently not. One of the things Valve wants to do is prevent joe blow from getting into Steam Machine business without some kind of minimal blessing. The company says it may be able to do that by controlling sales of the Valve controllers to only companies that it deems worthy of not screwing it all up. Q: Will Valve controllers be sold at retail? A: Valves says that yes, controllers will be sold but in a bit of new information at its press conference, Valve also said third party makers will also be able to sell Valve Controllers.  This raises a big question for us. If the controllers are sold retail and by third-parties, there's not much Valve can do to prevent people from selling "Steam Machines" by just buying the controllers. It's a bit like the motion picture studios trying to stop Netflix from renting DVDs and Blu-rays from day one because Netflix can buy the discs retail. There's still a lot of questions about this. Q: How much will the Valve controllers cost? A: That's unknown. We quizzed hardware partners and no one really knew. We heard guesses from as low as $30 to as high as $90. We do know cost is likely to be an issue with the controller. In fact, again, we went to sleep last night believing that there would be a touch-screen version of the controller (with rumors of one without the touch screen as an option.) Very recently, however, as developers started spilling details from its Valve's Steam Dev Days, it turns out Valve is pulling the plug on the touch screen in favor of one with console-like A/B/X/Y buttons. Check out our in-depth hands-on of Valve's Steam Controller here. Q: How will the controller work with games? A: We've used early prototypes of the controller and were surprised to learn that it works fairly well for first person shooters. You can read our in-depth hands-on experience with the controller here. In short, it's certainly better than any console controller for shooters.  We could, for example, actually circle strafe with the Valve Controller. It didn't work so great for RTS games for us but it's still early hardware. We do know that Valve plans to "crowd source" the mapping and setup of the profiles for certain games. Wireless is also a bit of an issue as the latency in a wireless controller isn't something Valve is quite happy with yet. In fact, the company had to tweak the existing Bluetooth stacks just to get it more acceptable as the wireless simply adds too much latency. Right now, the controllers are only wired but Valve knows it needs a wireless version for this machine to fly.  Q: What's the deal with PC streaming through Steam Machines? A: Valve knows that with its Linux library being really small, it'll need a way to let people play its Windows Steam games from the living room so it will let people stream games from their desktop machine that's hard wired to the router to the living room. It's not something we've experienced first hand ourselves nor are any hardware vendors commenting on the feature. One thing we do know is that it will be a challenge. Streaming Netflix is one thing but streaming a first person shooter without massive latency and lag hurting the game play is not an easy equation to solve. In fact, Nvidia's Shield ran into issues streaming games because most of the routers on the market couldn't handle the task very well. With interactive game streaming, latency is more of an issue rather than streaming video to distant parts of your house. Valve recently announced that it had added streaming support to its SteamOS beta. Reports are that it's still wonky, so try it at your own risk.  Q: Can I run more than one OS on my Steam Machine? A: Yes. Valve has even recently updated the beta version of SteamOS to include dual-booting support although it is reportedly still very wonky. Valve expects and hopes that hardware partners will go with just SteamOS, but it's not preventing companies from dual booting configurations. Several of the partners we spoke to expect to dual-boot the OS as the game library for SteamOS is still pretty small at 250 (with many of them being uninteresting titles). The Windows version has more than 3,000 as of October. This is probably the most pragmatic approach to getting Steam Machines to work in the living room with Windows Steam games at the moment. There's no network or latency issues and the power is right under the television. Initially, we'd expect this to be the most popular configuration for those who have massive Steam libraries. Interestingly, hardware partners we've spoken to said they don't believe their licenses with Microsoft prevent dual-booting the machines. Q: Why would I even want a Steam Machine or SteamOS PC in my living room - I'm a PC gamer. A: That, frankly, can't be answered by us at this juncture. We'll have to wait until the OS and hardware are released before we can even attempt to answer that one for you.

Grand Theft Auto V for PC Pops Up for Pre-Order on Amazon in Germany Posted: 23 Jan 2014 12:59 PM PST Pre-order pages suggest a GTA V release to PC is imminent Rockstar Games has stubbornly kept any possible plans to release Grand Theft Auto V to the PC platform close to its vest, but if history tells us anything, a Windows port is coming. Need more proof? Just direct your browser to some overseas online retailer pages where GTA V for PC is being flaunted for pre-order. These aren't just sketchy vendors, either -- Amazon.de is currently accepting pre-orders for the unannounced port. According to several reports, Amazon.fr was also taking pre-orders for GTA V for PC, though it's no longer listed. You can still find the title on Amazon.de, however, which is asking 59.99 euros (around $82 in U.S. currency). If you look around hard enough, you can find GTA V for PC at other places as well, such as GameHolds.com, which lists the release date as being March 31, 2014. These listings are the latest indication that the title is destined for Windows. Last week, our sister site PC Gamer reported on the existence of a 150-page bug log detailing issues arising from hundreds of GTA V builds tested up through August 2013. A reference to a "PC version" dates back to June 2012, and there are over 170 references to PC development bugs in all, as well as notes on DirectX 11 support and a smog weather setting. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Column: I'm Going Green with My PC Posted: 23 Jan 2014 12:27 PM PST Why the PC is the greenest option out there I recently became concerned with my technology carbon footprint. Fortunately,I've realized that I already use the most ecologically sound computing device available: the desktop tower PC. It's already been acknowledged by the industry that the upgrade cycle for the PC is very long and getting longer. My mother-in-law, for example, replaced her Dell tower desktop after nearly nine years of service. Nine years. In that time, I added a second hard drive and a bit of RAM but it was essentially unchanged from its original Pentium 4 state. We could have upgraded its internals but she instead decided to replace it with a brushed-aluminum all-in-one. Now, I like all-in-ones but they are at a key disadvantage when it comes to carbon footprint. You can't upgrade them and usually when they go bust, the entire thing goes into landfill. The same can be said of the new generation of ultrathin notebooks. Often, the SSDs and RAM in these highly portable devices are soldered to the motherboard and the whole thing is then glued shut, so the only thing you can do when a part goes bad is landfi ll the entire unit. But I suppose they are still a far greener proposition than the tablet and smartphone movement. Tablets have even worse serviceability than an ultrathin laptop, and they fall off the performance curve before you can unbox them. First-generation tablets from just two years ago are all but useless. If you don't replace your smartphone every 12 months, you're a loser or worse—not cool, the commercials say. It's easy too, with your carrier "subsidizing" a new phone for you every year. Even if you don't upgrade, the phone can't take the latest OS, which means it's riddled with security holes and won't even install the latest apps. Let's not forget the carbon footprint from sleeping in front of a store for five days to get the new thing. And don't fool yourself into thinking that putting your old smartphone into the eWaste bin at Best Buy is helping— it's estimated that only 12.5 percent of eWaste is actually reclaimed. Now, my desktop PC, I'm certain, will run the latest OS and it gets regular security updates. Even if I didn't upgrade my tower PC, I'm certain I could run it for the next nine years without issue. When I do get the itch for a new component— say, a future AMD or Intel 13- watt processor that's twice the speed of today's fastest CPU—I can replace that one specific component (with motherboard, of course) and reuse the rest of the parts for years on end. Sure, analysts and the mainstream tech media might say that long upgrade cycle is bad, but that's because they want people to buy a new product every 12 months and throw away the old one. But I don't care; I'm trying to save the world with my desktop tower PC.

Column: Smartphones Get the Camera Love Posted: 23 Jan 2014 12:20 PM PST How compact cameras are getting the shaft When new camera technology appears first in smartphones instead of in cameras, it's yet another sign that mobile computing is driving innovation. Development dollars tend to favor the most popular or most profitable products, and right now smartphones and tablets are getting beaucoups love. The latest example is a new image sensor from Aptina Imaging, a Micron spinoff in Silicon Valley. Aptina has introduced its first CMOS sensor using the company's Clarity+ technology, which takes a different approach to digital imaging. Clarity+ sensors will most likely appear first in smartphones before trickling down to cameras and other devices. Why smartphones first? Because phonecams have become the most popular cameras among amateurs and are even making inroads among professionals. IDC market analysts estimate that compact-digicam sales will tumble to 80 million units this year, from 132 million in 2010. It's so discouraging that Olympus killed its entire compact-camera product line. But my dayjob employer (The Linley Group) forecasts that 987 million smartphones will be sold this year. Which product would you target for a new technology? Clarity+ changes the way an image sensor reproduces color. Digital sensors actually "see" in monochrome. Tiny red, green, and blue filters overlay the sensor sites that correspond to pixels, and these filters create the RGB primary colors from which billions of hues are derived. Since the 1970s, almost all sensors have used a color-filter pattern known as a Bayer matrix. Clarity+ uses a different pattern that doubles the sensor's effective sensitivity. Bayer alternatives aren't new, and they often have drawbacks. Aptina claims to have overcome those fl aws and is showing sample photos to support its claims. But the significant news is that the new technology will appear in smartphones within a year or so, and only later may come to cameras. The stars have realigned.

Intel's Newest NUC Kit Includes a 2.5-inch Drive Bay Posted: 23 Jan 2014 11:24 AM PST Newest NUC boasts support for a single 2.5-inch drive Intel has its eye on the mini PC market with the introduction of its Next Unit of Computing (NUC) systems, though a limitation of early run versions is that they all used mSATA solid state drives. That in itself isn't a deal killer (though mSATA may not be long for this world), but what did cause problems is having the Wi-Fi card plopped right on top of the mSATA SSD. There were several reports of Wi-Fi issues with first run models (which is something we observed ourselves), possibly as a result of overheating, but with the newest NUC kit, Intel added a 2.5-inch drive bay. The new NUC (D54250WYKH) is a tad bigger than earlier models, though it's still compact at just 4.59 inches by 4.41 inches by 1.95 inches (the actual PCB still measures 4 inches by 4 inches). It's also fairly well equipped with an Intel Core i5 4250U dual-core processor (1.3GHz base, 2.6GHz Turbo; 3MB smart cache) and two DDR3L slots supporting up to 16GB of 1600MHz memory. It also features Intel HD 5000 graphics, HDMI (1.4a) output, a mini DisplayPort supporting 4K displays, mini HDMI, onboard audio, four USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, GbE LAN port, integrated Wi-Fi, a full-height slot for a mSATA drive with Intel Rapid Start technology, and a few other odds and ends. Could you see yourself owning one of these, or are you only interested in larger size PCs? Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Careful What You Say Around Chrome, Someone Might be Eavesdropping Posted: 23 Jan 2014 09:25 AM PST Voice recognition gone wrong Regular citizens are getting a taste of what it's like to be a celebrity, in that the concept of privacy gets whittled away at every turn. Is the government spying on you? That probably depends on what you're doing in your spare time. Are you being watched? Better cover that webcam just to play it safe. Might someone on the opposite side of the world be listening to your conversation? It's possible, especially if you use Google's Chrome browser to surf the web. According to Gizmodo, there's a security flaw in Chrome that could allow a nosy hacker to access your computer's microphone and keep it hot. For this to work, a malicious website has to get you to enable voice control, which it might attempt for any number of seemingly legitimate purposes, such as dictating text to a web app. From there, the site fires off a pop-under window under the veil of a regular ad (or something else that may seem benign) to keep your microphone turned on. As long as the pop-under remains open, everything you say could be picked up by your PC's mic and transmitted over the web. Gizmodo says there are a number of exploits at work here, and though you may feel safe knowing that Chrome's tabs now indicate when your microphone is running, a smaller banner window can listen without revealing itself. As far as Google is concerned, this capability is a feature of Chrome, not a security hole. "The security of our users is a top priority, and this feature was designed with security and privacy in mind. We've re-investigated and this is not eligible for a reward, since a user must first enable speech recognition for each site that requests it," Google explains. "The feature is in compliance with the current W3C specification, and we continue to work on improvements." Should you be worried? Probably not, though you should be careful. Given that this requires the user to initiate Chrome's voice recognition feature and be fooled by a pop-under, this isn't cause for panic. However, it's yet another way your privacy is at risk. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Valve Updates SteamOS Beta to Support Dual-Booting Posted: 23 Jan 2014 08:52 AM PST Use the "Expert Install" option We have some good news if you've been wanting to experiment with Valve's SteamOS but have been reluctant to install it on a dedicated machine. Valve engineer John Vert has made available to download a new SteamOS beta build that supports dual-booting. The updated SteamOS ISO can be used to install Valve's Linux-based OS on non-UEFI systems, though keep in mind there could be issues with the build. "PLEASE note there has been very little testing on this, especially any kind of dual-boot setup," Vert warns. "So don't install it on any machine you are not prepared to lose." You can download the ISO here. To take advantage of the dual-booting feature, you need to select the "Expert Install" option, which allows for custom partitioning. Results have been mixed so far. One user on Steam's forums commented that he was able to install the updated build in VirtualBox and that it "works perfectly," while another user said his system simply boots to a black screen when selecting the SteamOS option from his dual-boot environment. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Newegg Daily Deals: Corsair Hydro Series H90, Asus RT-AC56U Wireless Router, and More! Posted: 23 Jan 2014 06:25 AM PST Top Deal: All-in-one cooling solutions have brought liquid cooling into the mainstream, both by reducing the cost of entry and making it altogether safer. It's also far less complicated to install a self-contained liquid cooler versus rolling your own. If you've always wanted to deviate from air and give one of these solutions a spin, then have a look at today's top deal for a Corsair Hydro Series H90 Liquid CPU Cooler for $75 with free shipping (normally $90 -- use coupon code: [EMCPWHW82]). This high performance cooler is armed with a 140mm radiator, easy-bend tubing that Corsair guarantees won't leak, and a simple mounting bracket. Other Deals: AOC E2260SWDN Black 21.5-inch 5ms LED Monitor for $100 with free shipping (normally $110 - use coupon code: [EMCPWHW56]) Acer G6 G276HLGbd Black 27-inch 6ms LED Monitor for $190 with free shipping (normally $200 - use coupon code: [EMCPWHW57]) Linksys EA3500-NP Gigabit Dual-Band Wireless N750 Router for $78 with free shipping (normally $93 - use coupon code: [EMCPWHW222]) Asus RT-AC56U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1200 Gigabit Router for $100 with free shipping (normally $120 - use coupon code: [EMCPWHW223])

You are subscribed to email updates from Maximum PC - All Articles To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610