iBuyPower unveils prototype third-party Steam Machines

While we have a vague idea of what Valve’s prototype Steam Machine is going to look like, we still haven’t seen any of the third-party offerings that will be available soon after the Steam Machine is out. Thanks to Engadget , however, we can check out what the third-party Steam Machine made by iBuyPower looks like. The Steam Machine is a sleek white box with a coloured LED going around it. Other than the Steam logo on top, it is apparently unadorned.

It looks more like dessert than a gaming machine

According to Engadget, the prototype machine is running on an early build of SteamOS. There will be two models of the machines, which currently bear the tongue-in-cheek codenames Gordon and Freeman, referencing the name of the protagonist from Valve’s flagship FPS series Half-Life. Sadly enough, iBuyPower hasn’t revealed what’s under the hood. The company has, however, stated that both of the machines will be able to run all Steam titles at 60fps at a 1080p resolution.

Back in October, Valve had revealed the hardware specifications for its own Steam Machine prototypes. On the low-end side, users can get their hands on an Intel Core i3 processor and Nvidia’s mid-range GeForce GTX 660 video card. The higher end will give users a considerable fourth-generation Intel Core i7-4770 CPU as well as a GeForce Titan GPU, currently the highest-performing single GPU in the market.

The LED is able to change colours

The middle of the range will see users getting the upper mid-range fourth-gen Core i5 CPU and Nvidia’s GTX 780 and GTX 760 GPU units. It should be noted that the GTX 780 is an upper mid-range chip while the other is a high-end one, though not quite in the same league as the Titan. And the company has managed to pack all this in a case that measures 304mm x 314 mm x 74 mm, which is almost the size of an Xbox 360 Slim, except that the Steam Machine is slightly longer and deeper.