http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonev...red-steam-machines-for-2014/?partner=yahootix
Of course AMD will be included, they're 35% of Steam's users choice of graphics. Anyone who thought AMD would be completely locked out of pre-built Steam Machines were silly. But as I have said over, and over, and over, I think the big reason Nvidia was selected exclusively for the beta is because, as usual, their driver and software support team is ahead of AMD - specifically in Linux / SteamOS functionality in this instance. And again, I think with AMD's layoff's over the past few years, seemingly limited support, and combined with recent initiatives and expansion of scope, if they don't hire more software engineers they are stretching themselves really thin (i.e. worse than already are) between AAA support for SteamOS, Linux / OpenGL, Mantle, Directx, and the individual console development kits.
On a side note, I think the Steam Machines testing and SteamOS will be in beta for some time to come, probably well into next year. Given that, I think the Prototype machines have high powered GPU's (Titan and gtx780 specifically) because new video cards that will be out next year (at some point) will reach those levels of performance for significantly less price, and Valve is forward thinking about this. I'm sure no one at Valve realistically expects to sell $1200 pre-built machines in high volume. I think they know $550-700 worth of capable hardware is going to be the sweet spot.
Of course AMD will be included, they're 35% of Steam's users choice of graphics. Anyone who thought AMD would be completely locked out of pre-built Steam Machines were silly. But as I have said over, and over, and over, I think the big reason Nvidia was selected exclusively for the beta is because, as usual, their driver and software support team is ahead of AMD - specifically in Linux / SteamOS functionality in this instance. And again, I think with AMD's layoff's over the past few years, seemingly limited support, and combined with recent initiatives and expansion of scope, if they don't hire more software engineers they are stretching themselves really thin (i.e. worse than already are) between AAA support for SteamOS, Linux / OpenGL, Mantle, Directx, and the individual console development kits.
On a side note, I think the Steam Machines testing and SteamOS will be in beta for some time to come, probably well into next year. Given that, I think the Prototype machines have high powered GPU's (Titan and gtx780 specifically) because new video cards that will be out next year (at some point) will reach those levels of performance for significantly less price, and Valve is forward thinking about this. I'm sure no one at Valve realistically expects to sell $1200 pre-built machines in high volume. I think they know $550-700 worth of capable hardware is going to be the sweet spot.
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