Steam Hardware has gone live - are you buying or interested?

[AGTDenton]

Looks like Steams Hardware has finally gone live.
http://store.steampowered.com/hardware

After 2 years with delays it was a long wait. Probably harder for Dell and others to stomach as they've had hardware ready for quite some time.

I'm interested in the Steam Link and Steam Controller.
Theres a general lack of decent controllers out there for the PC. Steams is hopefully pretty good. Also its at a pretty reasonable price considering the modern tech you are getting.

The steam link is an interesting idea for being able to play on an alternate screen / TV or you want to be a bit more social when your mates are round.

I'm less interested in a Steam Machine just because I'd prefer to build my own. However if a decent enough chassis came out I might consider it.

[Jonj1611]

Steam link is the only thing I am interested in as I can use an xbox 360 controller with it. I have read some mixed results with the controller in RTS games etc so would use the link mainly for my controller based games, ie driving and fighting!

[Graywoodford]

I did get a steam controller but just couldn't get on with at all, too big and feels like an unfinished product. I would wait for another version to appear before buying one again. Sticking with Xbox pad for now for me

[Pob255]

Biggest issue I've heard about for the steam controller is the XYAB buttons.
They are a bit small, close together and too close to the right track pad.
So can cause issues if you've got big thumbs, ether hitting two buttons by accident or touching the edge of the track pad when you go for the Y or B button.

[Saracen]

No, neither buying nor interested.

[jimbouk]

T'other half is getting a steam controller for Christmas. We've just moved her new PC to under the telly and sitting on the floor with a keyboard and mouse on the coffee table isn't ideal.

[pastymuncher]

Not at all interested in these. I play my steam games on my pc and my monitor is a higher res than my tv. Anyway, I can't get to watch tv programs that I like due to the wife and her crappy soaps let alone play games on the tv!!

[DanceswithUnix]

The Vulkan release should be pretty imminent, I think that will make SteamOS far more attractive.

Really, they needed to make at least a small Portal expansion or something as a Linux exclusive/givaway to drum up some interest.

Not sure about the controller. I have a wired pad now so I can at least play the one game I have that really requires it (Gauntlet), so it seems a lot of money to take a punt at seeing if I like it.

[shaithis]

I've been tempted by the controller but I'm even hesitant to pull the trigger on that (pardon the pun!).

Seems a lot of money for something that isn't being heralded as something great.

[DanceswithUnix]

Another Steam sale at least, though I think I already have the interesting stuff on offer.

[Firejack]

My Steam Controller arrived yesterday and I'll be having a go on it later today.

Built a Steam Machine from older spare parts. Not a very powerful system by todays standards so its really a custom Steam Link as I'm only going to use it for In-Home streaming to my TV.

Tested it with keyboard + mouse a few times and I was fairly impressed... until the last update which broke AMD Hardware Encoding/Decoding for me. Valve are already working on a fix. For now I'll be re-enabling my iGPU and using Intel QuickSync.

Coolest thing I've done so far is add Kodi/XBMC to my Steam Library as a non-steam game on my host machine. Almost works perfectly. Picture is fine but get occasional audio pop/squeeks that I'm trying to get to the bottom off. Still, having a full media centre available using In-Home Streaming is an unexpected bonus!

The Vulkan release should be pretty imminent, I think that will make SteamOS far more attractive......

I've only seen Ashes of the Singularity announce upcoming support for Vulkan. Was hoping to see wider support now. I realise it might not be worthwhile for older games to go to the expense of adding Vulkan. Hopefully for current and upcoming games more developers will see it as a worthwhile addition.

[DanceswithUnix]

My Steam Controller arrived yesterday and I'll be having a go on it later today.

Built a Steam Machine from older spare parts. Not a very powerful system by todays standards so its really a custom Steam Link as I'm only going to use it for In-Home streaming to my TV.

Tested it with keyboard + mouse a few times and I was fairly impressed... until the last update which broke AMD Hardware Encoding/Decoding for me. Valve are already working on a fix. For now I'll be re-enabling my iGPU and using Intel QuickSync.

Coolest thing I've done so far is add Kodi/XBMC to my Steam Library as a non-steam game on my host machine. Almost works perfectly. Picture is fine but get occasional audio pop/squeeks that I'm trying to get to the bottom off. Still, having a full media centre available using In-Home Streaming is an unexpected bonus!

I've only seen Ashes of the Singularity announce upcoming support for Vulkan. Was hoping to see wider support now. I realise it might not be worthwhile for older games to go to the expense of adding Vulkan. Hopefully for current and upcoming games more developers will see it as a worthwhile addition.

I did something similar, but using an old AMD APU it won't run anything at decent resolution. Considering getting a 750ti, should just about manage to drive my TV and quite cheap.

Valve have, not surprisingly, said that their source engine will be released with Vulkan support. If they ever release Half Life Three that might even be relevant, I can't see Portal needing a performance boost

Still, they have plenty of big names signed up and supposedly game engine writers have been adding to the standards process:

[AGTDenton]

I've considered a Razer Sabretooth for about 2 years in case it was to be any better but just hung on to my xbox 360 controller even though I'm not so keen on it. However, £40 is less of a risk over the £70 being asked for Razer's. I'll wait for some more reviews on the Steam controller. I've just seen the Razer Wildcat so who knows...

Biggest issue I've heard about for the steam controller is the XYAB buttons.
They are a bit small, close together and too close to the right track pad.
So can cause issues if you've got big thumbs, ether hitting two buttons by accident or touching the edge of the track pad when you go for the Y or B button.

This suggests Gaben wasn't part of the testing process

[Firejack]

I did something similar, but using an old AMD APU it won't run anything at decent resolution. Considering getting a 750ti, should just about manage to drive my TV and quite cheap.
...

Yup, I'm looking at the GTX 750 Ti also. NVIDIA's drivers seem the best choice right now for SteamOS. Plus it has Hardware decoding/ encoding. Also fairly powerful card for 1080p gaming. The Digital Foundry guys at Eurogamer tested it in Fallout 4 against the Xbox One + PS4 and it was ahead all the time: https://youtu.be/iipDWbd6HNg

The EVGA Superclocked version is on Dabs/Amazon for a little under £90 right now. Tempting...

[GheeTsar]

I've had the Steam Link and Steam Controller since the early release a few weeks ago. When it works well, both are really great, but I've had a vast amount of frustration with getting them to work reliably. Rocket League has worked particularly well.

[Graywoodford]

for myself not bothered. have a shield tablet that will do steam link for me