Build a PC or wait for Steam box ?

daredevil360 · 19-02-2014 4:52pm #1

Ok so I have a Dell Dimension 3000 ,40 gb hard drive fecked (making a clicking noise ) , so basically I have a case and a power supply ,I play Payday 2 on 360 waiting since October for update and dlc and I don't think it will be here anytime soon ! ,

So is it worthwhile upgrading what I have to a basic gaming PC or will the steam box be cheaper and better ?

bassey · 19-02-2014 4:53pm

daredevil360 wrote: »

Ok so I have a Dell Dimension 3000 ,40 gb hard drive fecked (making a clicking noise ) , so basically I have a case and a power supply ,I play Payday 2 on 360 waiting since October for update and dlc and I don't think it will be here anytime soon ! ,

So is it worthwhile upgrading what I have to a basic gaming PC or will the steam box be cheaper and better ?

Probably better off building a steam box than buying one I'd imagine, depending on the prices when they come out

darrencan1 · 19-02-2014 4:55pm

I have a really good motherboard there €50 euro brand new

daredevil360 · 19-02-2014 4:57pm

bassey wrote: »

Probably better off building a steam box than buying one I'd imagine, depending on the prices when they come out

Ok , I would be a rookie PC gamer and wouldn't have a budget of €1000 for a really good gaming PC .

darrencan1 · 19-02-2014 4:59pm

daredevil360 wrote: »

Ok , I would be a rookie PC gamer and wouldn't have a budget of €1000 for a really good gaming PC .

Il sell you a new azus mother board and you buy the rest on ibay all you need is i5 good ram use the original box and few bits and a new graphics card €500 max

daredevil360 · 19-02-2014 4:59pm

darrencan1 wrote: »

I have a really good motherboard there €50 euro brand new

Ok so what do you think the total cost of a basic gaming PC build roughly ? Second hand parts etc ..

Awkward Customer · 19-02-2014 5:00pm

It's not worth upgrading a Dimension 3000 if you want to play modern PC games its just far too old. Theres not even a AGP slot for a dedicated graphics card. I have a Dimension 3100 and its sitting in a corner gathering dust. I think your best option is to save up and build a new PC and stick either Windows or SteamOS on it. €500 would get you a decent build which you could add to if you wanted.

darrencan1 · 19-02-2014 5:01pm

daredevil360 wrote: »

Ok so what do you think the total cost of a basic gaming PC build roughly ? Second hand parts etc ..

Max € 500 motherboard graphics card ram i5 and a few other bits

€50 board
€150 graphics card
€150 i5
€50 bits

bassey · 19-02-2014 5:03pm

daredevil360 wrote: »

Ok , I would be a rookie PC gamer and wouldn't have a budget of €1000 for a really good gaming PC .

When the steam boxes come out I guarantee you'll be able to build a pc of the exact same spec it'll be cheaper, stick steam os on it and your flying.

You could even stick windows on it and set it to open steam in big picture mode on start up and you've got the best of both worlds

daredevil360 · 19-02-2014 5:03pm

darrencan1 wrote: »

Il sell you a new azus mother board and you buy the rest on ibay all you need is i5 good ram use the original box and few bits and a new graphics card €500 max

Any idea how much it costs to get everything assembled as I wouldn't have a clue how to do it myself .

darrencan1 · 19-02-2014 5:06pm

do you know anyone who is handy with PCs ?

daredevil360 · 19-02-2014 5:08pm

darrencan1 wrote: »

do you know anyone who is handy with PCs ?

A few local guys that do repairs would have to ask and see if they do builds

darrencan1 · 19-02-2014 5:09pm

well putting it together is not to hard but just see what they will charge and let me know

briany · 19-02-2014 5:09pm

Steam boxes will essentially be pre-built PCs with a specific spec and SteamOS. With that fact in mind, it might be worth building a PC and then installing SteamOS on it later, either as the main OS or in a dual-boot config.

daredevil360 · 19-02-2014 5:11pm

darrencan1 wrote: »

well putting it together is not to hard but just see what they will charge and let me know

Ok will do ,thanks

daredevil360 · 19-02-2014 5:15pm

briany wrote: »

Steam boxes will essentially be pre-built PCs with a specific spec and SteamOS. With that fact in mind, it might be worth building a PC and then installing SteamOS on it later, either as the main OS or in a dual-boot config.

Ok but I wouldnt mind using Steam OS as main OS only gona use PC for gaming

BloodBath · 19-02-2014 5:21pm

Just a quick note about steam boxes. You will not be able to play the vast majority of pc games on them. Only games that support opengl will run on them. The majority of games run on Direct-x which requires windows.

This might change in future but the vast majority of games made in the past 5 years or so have used direct-x. Some support both.

daredevil360 · 19-02-2014 5:24pm

BloodBath wrote: »

Just a quick note about steam boxes. You will not be able to play the vast majority of pc games on them. Only games that support opengl will run on them. The majority of games run on Direct-x which requires windows.

This might change in future but the vast majority of games made in the past 5 years or so have used direct-x. Some support both.

Ok didn't know that thanks

briany · 19-02-2014 5:33pm

BloodBath wrote: »

Just a quick note about steam boxes. You will not be able to play the vast majority of pc games on them. Only games that support opengl will run on them. The majority of games run on Direct-x which requires windows.

This might change in future but the vast majority of games made in the past 5 years or so have used direct-x. Some support both.

If SteamOS is Linux based, it's natural enough that PC games won't run. Does this mean that Valve will be making the push toward OpenGL for games published through their online store? What's the incentive for developers to make games for the Steam Box?

BloodBath · 19-02-2014 5:37pm

Yes it's the same reason why mac and linux are not good gaming OS's. The support simply isn't there. OpenGL is and always has been better though. An open source solution is far greater than microsoft's proprietary API.

Hopefully we will see the push going back towards openGL in future. Microsoft will fight tooth and nail to maintain windows and directx as the status quo though.

briany · 19-02-2014 5:58pm

BloodBath wrote: »

Yes it's the same reason why mac and linux are not good gaming OS's. The support simply isn't there. OpenGL is and always has been better though. An open source solution is far greater than microsoft's proprietary API.

Hopefully we will see the push going back towards openGL in future. Microsoft will fight tooth and nail to maintain windows and directx as the status quo though.

What sort of revenue does the PC gaming sector generate for Microsoft? I was always under the impression that it was fairly slim and enterprise made up the real bulk of the cash flow. If this and the rumours about shareholders wishes to move to MS's strengths (enterprise & cloud services) are true, maybe they might lose focus on direct X? It's pretty unlikely I'm sure, but just putting it out there. Aren't AMD coming out with Mantle as well?

BloodBath · 19-02-2014 6:06pm

I'm not sure to be honest but I wouldn't imagine it's a whole lot.

I'm surprised devs use directx at all anymore to be honest. It seems to be shifting now though but doesn't the xbox one still use dx? The x-box name comes from direct-x in the first place.

PS4 uses opengl I think. It makes more sense for devs to use openGL for the widest market. There can't be much variation since ps4 and xbo have x86 processors now like mac and pc. An opengl game should work on any of those platforms as well as linux with very little changes needed.

Build a PC or wait for Steam box ?

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