Steam Machines come in a variety of forms with different hardware and prices. But how well would they perform?
Not all the Steam Machines have been revealed but a few have already announced their hardware specs so Futuremark decided to run a performance comparison  for Steam Machine for systems we do know about.
While Futuremark don’t actually have the systems in their hands, what they have done is built systems with same hardware as specified by a few of the manufacturers such as Origin, Digital Storm, Webhallen, Alternate, Materiel.net, Scan and Gigabyte. Futuremark stress that the tests they’ve run were using Windows so performance may differ with SteamOS.
The image below shows their findings on systems that have revealed their specs. There’s also a “measure of value” in the right column which has been compiled by Futuremark.
As in interesting experiment, you could download the Futurmark software and see how these systems compare to your current rig. It may just help you decide if a Steam Machine is even worth it or whether you could build something yourself of similar specs for a cheaper price.
It’s still not entirely clear who the Steam Machines are being aimed at but we’re guessing it’s anyone who can’t be bothered to investigate PC hardware options and just want an off the shelf solution.
Published: Jan 16, 2014 04:07 pm