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Alienware Steam Machine


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The Steam store says that it is SteamOS compatible, along with the system requirements.

For the second point, not completely sure but imagine that kits/facepacks would work the same way, you would just have to do it through the Linux desktop - seems doable from a quick Google search.

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If you already have a PC that can run FM and you just want to play it on a TV, I'd recommend you get the Steam Controller and Steam Link instead of paying for a Steam Machine.

I just use chromecast to do this.. much nicer playing those big games on my 50 inch tv with surround sound :)

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Also this week, it's come out that a lot of games perform worse on SteamOS than on an equivalent Windows machine. Oh Valve...

"Oh Valve".

Of course, how dare they not release an OS that is perfect from the very start. How dare they still have improvements to make to an OS that is still only in use by a tiny, tiny, tiny number of people.

After all, we all know that they should be perfect immediately. I mean, you don't see companies like Microsoft developing operating systems for over 30 years and still having teething issues with new versions do you... oh, wait.

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"Oh Valve".

Of course, how dare they not release an OS that is perfect from the very start. How dare they still have improvements to make to an OS that is still only in use by a tiny, tiny, tiny number of people.

After all, we all know that they should be perfect immediately. I mean, you don't see companies like Microsoft developing operating systems for over 30 years and still having teething issues with new versions do you... oh, wait.

:lol:

Still, at least you're not upset about it. Lighten up...

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Thanks for responses (or some of them).

I did say that I was looking at getting one but after looking into it a bit more and seeing the sensible replies on here, I agree its not the system for me.

I prefer having a desktop pc opposed to a laptop but have been looking at getting something smaller and I wondered if the Steam Machine might of been for me. Alienware Alpha looks nice.

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Thanks for responses (or some of them).

I did say that I was looking at getting one but after looking into it a bit more and seeing the sensible replies on here, I agree its not the system for me.

I prefer having a desktop pc opposed to a laptop but have been looking at getting something smaller and I wondered if the Steam Machine might of been for me. Alienware Alpha looks nice.

It looks nice, but again mate, your paying >£600.

You could do better for the money, maybe not where size and aesthetics are concerned, but performance wise yes.

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yeah i wouldnt go anywhere near a steam machine unless it came free and I could hide it from my friends when they came round.

Its a pc but with extra costs due to a alienware and steam logo and then also having to run the steam operating system which will never likely be of interest to game developers, leaving games buggy as hell.

you can build/buy pc's in all shapes and sizes, the other day I seen a pc that was a moving train as well!

Wait for black friday and then look around for a mini itx build as they are the smaller sized pc's.

If the pc is mostly for FM then you wont even need to spend much at all.

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Isn't there other companies making Steam machines? I'm sure when I looked, quite a few were building them, from the more "budget" ones, right up to the "give me all your money, and I'll give you this" Alienware ones. If they shore up the system, it'll probably do well, but they've a way to go before they're selling like consoles. They'll need to start performing like equivalent windows machines for a start, to persuade someone to make the switch away and lose the other benefits of having a Windows machine.

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The Alienware one, I believe is the least expensive. That said, I would not buy any of them at this point. A proper PC could be had for around the same price (even pre-built if you do not want to fiddle with building your own). Just add either a Steam Link if wanted or better yet a cable from the PC to TV for like 10$ if you want to play on your TV.

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The thing with Steam machines is that they are designed for Gamers, who play graphic intensive games, that don't need a fantastic processor. So the processor is sacrificed for other material.

Are they top spec machines? Nope. Are they overpriced? Yes. Are they aimed at gamers? Yes.

FM is a different type of game than the typical FPS or whatever else is out there.

FM is a processor intensive application that requires a fast processor.

Thing is the Steam machines, the one marked €699 (third one) is probably the best one for FM - I don't know for sure, it doesn't the turbo boost (overclocking) but it allows hyperthreading which is good and has a 3.2ghz processor.

It doesn't specify the model of graphics card though.

Keep in mind Steam machines are for gamers who play graphic intensive games.

FM needs a lot of processor power, a bit of graphics support, and probably a minimum of 8gb RAM on a 64 bit OS (if you have a 32bit OS you can only support 4gb RAM anyway).

For FM I'd be inclined to work towards a PC/Laptop that is best for FM.

If you play other games then a Steam Machine may suit your needs - but for FM - I don't think they're that suited for that purpose.

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FM needs a lot of processor power, a bit of graphics support, and probably a minimum of 8gb RAM on a 64 bit OS (if you have a 32bit OS you can only support 4gb RAM anyway).

I would just like to point out that whilst 8 GB RAM is industry standard these days it's definitely not a 'minimum' requirement for FM. Unless you do very heavy multitasking 4 GB will be plenty. I have 4 GB RAM in my PC plus an SSD and there has been zero slowdown due to lack of memory during its three years of service.

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Yeh - people tend to read what they want to read.

I didn't say 8gb was a minimum for FM. I said it was a minimum for a 64 Bit OS.

That being said - it can run on 4gb - it's just the OS uses 2gb (64 bit OS) leaving only 2gb for other tasks. If you have 4gb RAM and running a 64 bit OS that would leave 2gb RAM to run all your other tasks, FM, browsing the internet, listening to music, etc. etc. etc. - which isn't enough.

6gb would be fine... but I personally don't feel it's enough.

8gb is a minimum recommendation from me personally.

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Again, I'm running Win10 64 bit on a machine with 4GB RAM and it's more than enough. Currently I have FM running a save of about 30 leagues, Spotify open, Chrome with 5 tabs, one of them running full screen flash video on my TV (extended display) and there is 800 MB of extra physical memory not in use. Everything reacts instantly. It's not about the amount of RAM, it's about how efficiently it's used and how fast the swapping is.

edit. Just checked, sixty-three leagues from twenty-seven nations in my FM save.

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You have an SSD - which means that you're probably using that as a temp storage for your RAM, (or Virtual RAM), which is why you don't notice a slow down.

Yeh - some setups allow 4gb to be efficient.

If you don't believe me then that's fine, there's plenty online that backsup what both of us say.

I believe you - and that's great for you. But not everyone has that setup.

And RAM is so cheap nowadays that why not go for 8 or 16gb?

4 is just too low for me on a 64 bit system.

To recommend 4gb RAM on a 64 bit system to people who do not know what they're doing when buying a computer is careless and sloppy.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2179252/minimum-ram-requirement-64bit.html

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Further to that - if your computer is using your ssd for page files you will find your SSD has a shorter lifecylce, as there's a finite amount of times an SSD can be written to, although by how much is unclear.

I know jack about your setup or what hardware you have - but I'm just talking out loud.

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Of course, more RAM is better than less RAM, although 8 GB is enough for absolutely anything an average computer user will ever throw at it. At the same time though, a computer with 4 GB ram + SSD + a great processor will be better than one with 8 GB ram + a spin drive + an average processor every time.

Further to that - if your computer is using your ssd for page files you will find your SSD has a shorter lifecylce, as there's a finite amount of times an SSD can be written to, although by how much is unclear.

I know jack about your setup or what hardware you have - but I'm just talking out loud.

This is absolutely not an issue with modern SSD's. There's plenty of research material to prove this.

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You say that it's not an issue with modern SSDs - and I completely agree.

However, you've already told me your computer is 3 years old, and who knows how old that SSD was before it was inserted, was it an early model, a later model? Was it 3 months old, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years?

SSDs date back to 1976, it wasn't really until about 2012/2013 that SSDs became mainstream (maybe I can't remember back far enough).

And certainly, 2015 - 3 = 2012.

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Please note, I'm not disagreeing that you are having a great experience with your setup.

I'm just saying that I don't necessarily agree with only having 4 gb of RAM in a 64 bit OS setup.

Does it work in some setups? Yes. Does it always? No.

That's all.

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I can assure you my current setup will be obsolete as a whole well before the write cycles of the SSD become a problem :) It's much more likely to die for another reason before that. Also, in that theoretical situation when an SSD actually does run out of write cycles, it can still be read from. You would simply replace it without losing any data.

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Absolutely, I'm not disagreeing with you.

But this has nothing to do with Alienware and Steam.

A lot of the Steam machines (and I'm not going back to check) are mechanical drives, not SSDs.

So 8gb of RAM is still my recommendation for these computers at the moment.

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