So when you hit a corrupt chunk of a movie you're watching or a really CPU-intensive part of a game your internet performance tanks? If your modem gets zapped in a storm you lose your game console? I don't think you've thought through what you're asking for.
Combining the modem and router isn't too bad in theory but in practice most of that kind of combo device are designed to the wants of the ISPs who want cheap, simple, and remotely manageable. They're usually terrible at anything other than being a plain modem.
As a general rule it's best to keep the converged devices to situations where none of the parts is very useful independent of the others. In the mobile world it's a bit different because the advantage of still having X and Y things while not having to actually carry two things is much more useful, where as far as hardwired components that sit on a desk or in a closet unless you live in the tiniest of studio apartments the space you save is pretty much negligible.
As for the cable box part, there's no technical reason a television provider couldn't offer an app for pretty much any smart device that attaches to a TV. The only reasons they don't are stupid restrictions made up by lawyers rather than actual technical problems to solve.
It supports the full dekstop drivers stack (OpenGL 4, Cuda, PhysX, OpenCL, ...) so it would be pretty easy for Valve to recompile their Steam Linux games to it.
I like how this can also double as a media center (too bad it doesn't have an internal SATA bay available) and a desktop (having Maxwell a high-quality open source driver, I'm certain it will run Ubuntu perfectly).
It's just a recompile. The same code can be compiled on either architecture, because this chip supports the same graphics APIs that the gtx 980 does. It's very easy, trivial compared to say the x86 version of android that intel uses (also essentially a recompile)
I guess I forgot to mention all of the x86 naitive or console games ported for the launch of this (Doom 3, Crysis 3,Borderlands, etc. Obviously none developed for ARM, just recompiled
They've probably even actually ported (at least part of) SteamOS to Arm to get that steam link thing working.
In some ways I think it'd almost be more surprising it SteamOS doesn't gain an arm branch at some point. Maybe NV will get enough leverage via Android to not bother though.
Recompiled, yeah. But some optimization is definitely needed, because Tegra X1 is not so powerful compared to PCs(it doesn't even satisfy the minimum requirements).
Oh ho ho. There's a little more to it than just a bit of tweeking. Nvidia did most of the work on Doom 3 it seems, although Crytek did a fair bit on Crysis 3.
It's not a simple task, and you can bet your boots Nvidia paid through the nose for it to get attention on the platform, but whether *other* developers want to go through the extra QA and testing is an entirely different matter, as at that point it's their money, not Nvidias.
When they announced the price i assumed it must have a HDD next to the NAND to justify the 199$. Seems difficult to sell this to anyone that's not hellbent on getting GRID. This way they won't get many customers for either the device or GRID so maybe that's what they actually want. It could be that they would rather let others offer gaming streaming with Nvidia hardware and this is just a demo. Or maybe they are just not ready for much volume and they need some more time.
$199 isn't that bad, when you compare it to other set top boxes like the WD Live, or the Roku, or similar. Yes, those are all around the $100-150 CDN mark, so this seems more expensive ... until you add in the gaming aspect (which none of the other boxes do).
It's half (or less) the cost of a full-fledged console, offers almost the same gaming experience, and better app support (for Netflix, Hulu, Shomi, etc).
It'll be interesting to see how much cross-over there is between "just want something to show video on my TV" group and "just want something to play games on my TV" group to make this a success.
I'm very tempted by this, mainly due to it having a real, wired Ethernet port on it. The only other one I've found is the Amazon Fire TV, which isn't available in Canada.
It's twice as much as it should be , it offers Android gaming that almost anything can do (and it's far behind consoles) and access to a payed service that is rather poor to begin with and , if anything, the hardware should be cheaper if the goal is to push the service. 99$ is an established price for an Android TV box in an overcrowded market. Even Razer went for 99.99$ without a controller for it's SD805 based Forge TV.
I have the HPH TV Box Quad core 4 GB RAM DDR3 32 GB NAND Flash eMMC GPU Mali-T764 Ultra HD 4k RK3288 1.8 GHz Cortex-A17 Android 4.4.2 HDMI 2.0 deep color In/Out Dual Band WIFI 2.4GHz/5GHz ac, gigabt, Bluetooth 4.0 all for $169 direct or $189 from amazon
Given that just watching the stream of the Nvidia presentation often looked like a GTX 970 hitching and hawing around 3.5gb boundaries, should be a reminder that buyers will be beholden to net traffic and sw/hw glitches and ultimately to the reliability of Nvidia.
Just look at the overpromising and underdelivering of the entire Nvidia Tegra product history and you will see why Nvidia has lost OEMs and lost trust with sw/hw vendors and customers.
But, no doubt Nvidia will find a way for many reviewers to proclaim how incredible their golden sample product is and how everyone should be living the streaming with low latency lifestyle.
So just sit back and wait for the release of Nvidia next "piece of Shield" (POS) and reports of selling out everywhere at 1000s of sales per minute, because the Nvidia depends on a number of their followers to be reliable suckers for whatever POS they dish out...
Almost perfect. No disrespect to Plex but if this supports XBMC and HD Audio passthrough and had 32GB local it would be an instant buy. They really needed to spend the $5 and put 32GB in.
Supporting Steam In-Home streaming would also be nice, but it does support the Nvidia version so its not all bad.
From article: "The microconsole market has been fairly treacherous so far – one only needs to look at the Tegra 3 based Ouya to see that first-hand."
Sony made news at GDC 2015 by announcing they have sold through over 20 MILLION PS4s, making it one of the fastest selling consoles in history.
When you add Microsoft Xbox One sales, you have AMD based x86 next gen console sales over 30 million and probably heading toward 40-50 million by the end of 2015.
By contrast, Nvidia refuses to say how much Tegras they have sold for *any* of their gaming products.
Any software developer (and customers!) looking at the record of Sony, Microsoft and Nvidia, would make the rational choice of choosing Sony or Microsoft for a gaming console.
Build me a pc that can run games at 1080p@medium-high details for 350 bucks, including a controller. We're all sick of these comments, it's not funny. It's only childish
As games start using more and more cores, the g3258 will age very poorly. The 260x isn't good for fluid 1080@medium-high now, let alone in the coming years. 250GB will get filled in no time. 4GB of ram are really scarce, it won't be enough for the next years.
Stop moving the goal posts. It wasn't what it was going to run in the future, but what it could run now.
And let's face it... A PC that can run all previous and currently released games is going to have a larger games library than any other platform that currently exists. Not only do you have decades worth of games, but emulation of a dozen other platforms too.
All for $350.
Besides, with so many "Mobile" and Indie games arriving on PC, remakes and remasters... There really isn't much pushing the hardware envelope except for demanding AAA titles, my PC that is 7 years old is still playing the latest games just fine. (Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.6ghz, 8Gb DDR2, Dual Radeons.)
So I would argue, depending on what *kind* of games you enjoy, the Pentium Anniversary is all you will need for the next half decade.
There is also a push for better CPU efficiency thanks to the likes of Mantle, Direct X 12 and the OpenGL competitor, where even the slowest and crappiest of CPU's are more than enough, go look at benchmarks.
Try enjoying battlefield 5 on your Q6600, or on a G3258 for that matter. You can't ignore the fact that a pc will age. You can't ignore the fact that games are going to use more and more cores either. And that resolutions will grow, and textures will become heavier and heavier. A few years ago, 1GB was plenty for 1080p. Now, 2GB is
Oops sorry for this many messagges. The phone is going crazy. I was sayng : now, 2GB isn't that much anymore, and i bet that by next year, 4GB will be standard on mid range gpus. Your Q6600 may be ok for the *kind* of games that you enjoy, but it certainly isn't for serious gamers. And for those who are not serious gamers, the casual gamers, there are the consoles, while they'll do their sporadic pc use on dad's old PC. heck, we still have P4 PCs at school, where they teach us C programming.
Sometimes you'll find special offers on a gpu just like sometimes you'll fins deals like console + 2 controllers + a game for the price of the sole console, but it isn't the norm. And, you'd want an i5 or an fx8320, and a better mobo wouldn't hurt either. You CAN play games even on a 250$ budget, but gaming for good starts at 450-500$ in my book. YMMV.
Come on now, make it fair. If he's competing with the Xbox One he's only got to reach 720p-900p, and 30fps. Don't forget to add a year of Gold for $50 too. ;)
Linus and Luke over on LinusTechTips just ran through a "scrapyard wars" challenge where they were tasked with building a complete gaming computer (just the tower) for $300 or less and were only given 2 days to source parts and build the machines. They were able to build some pretty solid machines capable of playing modern games at 1080p and both stayed within the budget. Either of them could have bought a brand new wired X360 controller for less than $50 and had a superior gaming experience than any of the current-gen consoles could provide for less money on top of having a full-blown Windows computer. If you're willing to buy used components you can get some serious bang-for-your-buck buying last year's hardware.
1080p sure, but at wich detail settings? You could go with a 50$ pentium and a gtx 750, a 30$ mobo, 4GB of ram, a cheap case+psu combo and your own old hdd for even less than 300$, but the sacrifices you'd have to make just aren't worth the saved money IMO. If you wanna do it, do it for good. If you just wanna casually play games sometimes, that's what the ps4 is made for.
Just watched it and yeah, he somehow got a 290, but it was coupled with a dinosaur old dual core cpu (i don't even know how that cripple's architecture is called, guess i'm too young), wich severely bottlenecked it. I guess a gtx 960 + pentium g3220 would beat it, for 250$ NEW. A used g3220 would cost less than spit, and just wait a couple of months and the 960's price will fall through the floor to compete with AMD's new gpus. Honestly, i'm not impressed. I believe i could do better myself if i could buy used parts too.
No its not, because its not at a mobile level. The Shield console uses a 40 watt adapter, that's not even remotely mobile levels. I own an Intel laptop that has a 35 watt adapter.
I own an original Shield Portable and love it. Even if it didn't come with all the other features that are included, it's by far the best handheld emulator device on the market. I spend more time playing my old PS1, Genesis, and SNES games than anything else. Having a built-in controller device while sitting back on a lounger in the pool doing some retro gaming is boss.
I have streamed games via the GRID service over wireless and I did not notice any discernible impact on my gameplay other than in twitchy racing games (45MB down/5MB up connection). For me, it simply worked great, and that was even on shitty single band wireless-N (I've since upgraded to dual AC). Having the console plugged into Ethernet should improve on that experience in terms of lag.
Local GameStream from the PC has had its ups and downs. It worked great for a long time and I used it to stream games like Deus Ex: HR, Skyrim, Kingdoms of Amalur, a few LEGO games, and The Witcher 2 without any issues from soon after it's launch to about October 2014. Some of the recent Geforce Experience PC updates (Nov. 2014-early Feb. 2015) broke a lot of functionality for me though and I was having connection issues, dropped signals, jerky streams, and just overall less performance. However, they seem to be working out the bugs that were introduced with subsequent releases and I have seen my performance improve to I think about where it was since the last release.
What disappoints me about this console is that, for the most part, my Shield Portable does all of these things already. If I want to stream GRID games or PC games via GameStream to my TV, I can hook it up via HDMI and use an XBOX wireless controller. Want to play Android games on the TV? Same thing. Bluetooth voice control accessories? Check. This new console just has more performance, which is to be expected for a larger and newly released device.
I was really hoping they were going to release an update to the handheld with the X1 and market it as a portable home console. Increase the screen size to at least 6" from the current 5", slap a high resolution screen in it, throw in the X1 with active cooling just like the original shield, put 3-4GB of RAM in and call it a day. All you would need to do to get all of the functionality of a home console would be to plug it in via HDMI if you just wanted to leave it on the shelf, but the portability factor would be there if you wanted it. The Shield Portable and Tablet were already niche products for a niche audience and instead of perfecting them, they've released this device that honestly, I don't know who it's for.
I mean, the X1 can probably handle PS2 games now as soon as someone releases a Android emulator. Wouldn't that be sweet to have in a handheld, plus all the benefits they are touting with the X1?
I'll pass on this console, thanks. Give us an updated portable already!
Um.. You can already play many PS2, even PS3 and later PC gen games even on cheap midrange phones and tablets. GTA, Max Payne, Xcom, Half life, Star Wars TKOR, Bioshock and many many more.
And many native Android games do offer classic "AAA" experience. You just need to look and leave your prejudices behind.
Darkich - you have no idea what I'm even talking about. Yes, there are ports of PC, Xbox, PS2, etc. games on Android that run great. I have the KOTOR port on my Shield - it ran great.
I'm not talking about ports of past titles, though. I'm talking about a PS2 emulator that would allow me to play my old PS2 titles on a handheld; games I already own in my library and ones that will probably not see ports made.
So don't lecture me on prejudices (or whatever you're talking about) because you don't understand my comment.
Bear in mind that Windows 10 is supposed to have functionality for streaming games. Obviously, not from GRID. It has a timing edge, but not by much. I would have liked to see that remote included in the purchase price or an extra remote.
We need a review. I don't know how close it comes to a console experience. How many controllers? Games that allow for multiple users like Madden or a basketball title? From the games I saw it looks like 1-2 player or multiplayer online. I am assuming it accepts a Bluetooth keyboard. Does it do screen sharing like AirPlay or Miracast? Regular, upgradeable version of Android?
Well, i see 1 big design flaw Jensens boys forgot add at least optimal HDD model, sorry but 16 GB for games and overpriced memory cards (64 gb memory card for price of 500 GB HDD is slower) arent good idea.
Does it support Google Cast? I'm not sure if all Android TV devices support that or not. It seems like all the others I've seen do, and I'd think this one would as well, but I haven't seen anything about it on the Shield console mentioned by anyone.
It looks like another good technology that gives your main media portal some more flexibility, maybe once W10 has been released there can be a thorough comparison of Grid/shield and Steam Box/Stream and the Microsoft Camps offerings, what works best what the requirements are...
Im wondering what the latency will be like in countries outside the US Im looking at around 200ms over DSL to Blizzard servers for example (to New Zealand) that is assuming Shield retails outside the US at all, and combined with however long it would take publishers and Nvidia to come to a per country agreement for game pricing it would probably be a nonevent. And this is a shame as the Shield seems like a neat little convergence box, Netflix Spotify, Google Play Store, Amazon Prime?, Hulu? check that is alot of online media. Plex for local media collection check. If you have a machine with a suitable dGPU then you can stream your game to your main portal (4k60 capable HDMI so dual 980GTX?) or if you dont have a dedicated gaming machine pay (another) subscription and game from Grid. It does almost everything I could want and for $200.
I wonder if AMD have something up their sleeve that will allow for a native streaming scenario, include a 4k capable HDMI dongle and a bluetooth controller with every R9 295 right? :)
Or even some technological convergence, take a 40" or bigger inch display and go Project Ara on it, have a base number of connections on a base model for a base price then throw in a connection bus (proprietary because royalty free wouldnt make fiscal sense now would it :)) and then have a range of expansion modules you can connect discreetly, a DTV tuner, cable tuner, an ARM module for light browsing/gaming duties, an Intel/AMD module for heavier duty processing, storage module if you need it, webcam if you want it, Dolby Atmos/DTS module for your wireless speaker system, even a mood backlighting module, whatever the hell you want to do. In my head Im thinking an HP Z1 workstation(apparently very easy and modular to work under the hood of) but scaled up and made couchpotato/kid/grandparent friendly.
What do you have in mind as the perfect digital convergence setup?
That looks very much like a fan at the top, notebook type or worse :-(
There's got to be plenty of crazy car amp cooling solutions out there that this could be bolted to, I don't mind a pound of aluminum heat spreader, but I do like my equipment without any moving parts.
Let's hope the box comes off easily enough and someone does a reasonably cheap passive upgrade.
A bit more DRAM would be nice to run a Linux desktop (in a chroot()/LXC under Android) just in case you don't want to get up from the sofa (and the nice big screen) to do some work.
Hope it will be easy to hack because it sure beats the hell out of your average Odroid.
Should it really be called 4Kp? I imagine 'progressive scan' refers to the number of horizontal lines stacked on top of eachother, and there aren't 4000 lines. You should probably say 4K60.
I have the HPH android TV Box Quad core 4 GB RAM DDR3 32 GB samsung eMMC GPU Mali-T764 Ultra HD 4k RK3288 1.8 GHz Cortex-A17 Android 4.4.2 HDMI 2.0 deep color Dual Band WIFI 2.4GHz/5GHz ac, gigabit, Bluetooth 4.0 all for $179 direct or $189 from amazon. Kodi runs very smooth and so far has played everything very well
I have a Shield Portable and love it. It does most of these things and I can see a market for this product. It's like Fire TV that is less restrictive, but you can stream all of your Steam games or play android games or things like Crysis 3 directly on the box. There's a lot of value to be had if you think outside of your PC gamer niche.
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bebimbap - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
if this was also a cable box, cable modem and router....it would clear up almost all the clutter in my closet.
blanarahul - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Is it just me or the 4x A53 cluster is missing from the Tetra X1 in the comparison table?Murloc - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
not gonna happen.... cable box at most.wolrah - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
So when you hit a corrupt chunk of a movie you're watching or a really CPU-intensive part of a game your internet performance tanks? If your modem gets zapped in a storm you lose your game console? I don't think you've thought through what you're asking for.Combining the modem and router isn't too bad in theory but in practice most of that kind of combo device are designed to the wants of the ISPs who want cheap, simple, and remotely manageable. They're usually terrible at anything other than being a plain modem.
As a general rule it's best to keep the converged devices to situations where none of the parts is very useful independent of the others. In the mobile world it's a bit different because the advantage of still having X and Y things while not having to actually carry two things is much more useful, where as far as hardwired components that sit on a desk or in a closet unless you live in the tiniest of studio apartments the space you save is pretty much negligible.
As for the cable box part, there's no technical reason a television provider couldn't offer an app for pretty much any smart device that attaches to a TV. The only reasons they don't are stupid restrictions made up by lawyers rather than actual technical problems to solve.
Marc GP - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
What a nice SteamMachine would this make.It supports the full dekstop drivers stack (OpenGL 4, Cuda, PhysX, OpenCL, ...) so it would be pretty easy for Valve to recompile their Steam Linux games to it.
I like how this can also double as a media center (too bad it doesn't have an internal SATA bay available) and a desktop (having Maxwell a high-quality open source driver, I'm certain it will run Ubuntu perfectly).
Beany2013 - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
This is ARM, not x86 - so no, it wouldn't be easy to port Steam Linux games to it.sowoah - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
It's just a recompile. The same code can be compiled on either architecture, because this chip supports the same graphics APIs that the gtx 980 does. It's very easy, trivial compared to say the x86 version of android that intel uses (also essentially a recompile)sowoah - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
I guess I forgot to mention all of the x86 naitive or console games ported for the launch of this (Doom 3, Crysis 3,Borderlands, etc. Obviously none developed for ARM, just recompiledQwertilot - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
They've probably even actually ported (at least part of) SteamOS to Arm to get that steam link thing working.In some ways I think it'd almost be more surprising it SteamOS doesn't gain an arm branch at some point. Maybe NV will get enough leverage via Android to not bother though.
kron123456789 - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Recompiled, yeah. But some optimization is definitely needed, because Tegra X1 is not so powerful compared to PCs(it doesn't even satisfy the minimum requirements).Beany2013 - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
'just recompiled''some optimisation'
Oh ho ho. There's a little more to it than just a bit of tweeking. Nvidia did most of the work on Doom 3 it seems, although Crytek did a fair bit on Crysis 3.
It's not a simple task, and you can bet your boots Nvidia paid through the nose for it to get attention on the platform, but whether *other* developers want to go through the extra QA and testing is an entirely different matter, as at that point it's their money, not Nvidias.
ton master - Saturday, May 2, 2015 - link
In this case main processor must share same instructions set which probable doesjjj - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
When they announced the price i assumed it must have a HDD next to the NAND to justify the 199$.Seems difficult to sell this to anyone that's not hellbent on getting GRID. This way they won't get many customers for either the device or GRID so maybe that's what they actually want. It could be that they would rather let others offer gaming streaming with Nvidia hardware and this is just a demo. Or maybe they are just not ready for much volume and they need some more time.
phoenix_rizzen - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
$199 isn't that bad, when you compare it to other set top boxes like the WD Live, or the Roku, or similar. Yes, those are all around the $100-150 CDN mark, so this seems more expensive ... until you add in the gaming aspect (which none of the other boxes do).It's half (or less) the cost of a full-fledged console, offers almost the same gaming experience, and better app support (for Netflix, Hulu, Shomi, etc).
It'll be interesting to see how much cross-over there is between "just want something to show video on my TV" group and "just want something to play games on my TV" group to make this a success.
I'm very tempted by this, mainly due to it having a real, wired Ethernet port on it. The only other one I've found is the Amazon Fire TV, which isn't available in Canada.
jjj - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
It's twice as much as it should be , it offers Android gaming that almost anything can do (and it's far behind consoles) and access to a payed service that is rather poor to begin with and , if anything, the hardware should be cheaper if the goal is to push the service.99$ is an established price for an Android TV box in an overcrowded market. Even Razer went for 99.99$ without a controller for it's SD805 based Forge TV.
bendetto - Monday, March 16, 2015 - link
I have the HPH TV Box Quad core 4 GB RAM DDR3 32 GB NAND Flash eMMC GPU Mali-T764 Ultra HD 4k RK3288 1.8 GHz Cortex-A17 Android 4.4.2 HDMI 2.0 deep color In/Out Dual Band WIFI 2.4GHz/5GHz ac, gigabt, Bluetooth 4.0 all for $169 direct or $189 from amazonnandnandnand - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
It seems reasonable and very cheap.Wow, Shield Tablet has GLONASS
Valis - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
The Tegra Note 7 has support for GLONASS too, from 2013.revson7 - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Given that just watching the stream of the Nvidia presentation often looked like a GTX 970 hitching and hawing around 3.5gb boundaries, should be a reminder that buyers will be beholden to net traffic and sw/hw glitches and ultimately to the reliability of Nvidia.Just look at the overpromising and underdelivering of the entire Nvidia Tegra product history and you will see why Nvidia has lost OEMs and lost trust with sw/hw vendors and customers.
But, no doubt Nvidia will find a way for many reviewers to proclaim how incredible their golden sample product is and how everyone should be living the streaming with low latency lifestyle.
So just sit back and wait for the release of Nvidia next "piece of Shield" (POS) and reports of selling out everywhere at 1000s of sales per minute, because the Nvidia depends on a number of their followers to be reliable suckers for whatever POS they dish out...
Marc GP - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
I think that the Tegra K1 delivered pretty well what they promised. And this Tegra X1 also looks amazing.You are stuck in the past on your critics to Tegra.
BuddyRich - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Almost perfect. No disrespect to Plex but if this supports XBMC and HD Audio passthrough and had 32GB local it would be an instant buy. They really needed to spend the $5 and put 32GB in.Supporting Steam In-Home streaming would also be nice, but it does support the Nvidia version so its not all bad.
axien86 - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
From article: "The microconsole market has been fairly treacherous so far – one only needs to look at the Tegra 3 based Ouya to see that first-hand."Sony made news at GDC 2015 by announcing they have sold through over 20 MILLION PS4s, making it one of the fastest selling consoles in history.
When you add Microsoft Xbox One sales, you have AMD based x86 next gen console sales over 30 million and probably heading toward 40-50 million by the end of 2015.
By contrast, Nvidia refuses to say how much Tegras they have sold for *any* of their gaming products.
Any software developer (and customers!) looking at the record of Sony, Microsoft and Nvidia, would make the rational choice of choosing Sony or Microsoft for a gaming console.
Lithium - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
hahaha50 millions of NON 1080p capable consols
aaa HAHAHA
Lithium - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
in 2014nikaldro - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Build me a pc that can run games at 1080p@medium-high details for 350 bucks, including a controller.We're all sick of these comments, it's not funny. It's only childish
hemedans - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
yes you can.cpu- pentium g3258 $70
mobo- MSI Motherboard H81M-P33 $55
gpu- Gigabyte R7 260X $100
ram- Crucial Ballistix 4GB $30
hdd- 250GB WD Caviar Blue $22
psu and case- Cooler Master Elite 350 with 500w psu $55
total $332
add Logitech Gamepad F310 for $20 then you have gaming pc with controller for $352.
if you use cpu+mobo combo for that pentium you can save $20-$30 or even more
nikaldro - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
As games start using more and more cores, the g3258 will age very poorly.The 260x isn't good for fluid 1080@medium-high now, let alone in the coming years.
250GB will get filled in no time.
4GB of ram are really scarce, it won't be enough for the next years.
anandreader106 - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Plus he forgot to include the OS, keyboard and mouse. And yes, Windows is the only real choice for PC gamers. The other operating systems are niche.The XB1 and PS4 will last 10 years. That PC wouldn't last 3 years keeping up with console ports even when you factor in DX12.
anandreader106 - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
And he forgot the case! HA!nikaldro - Thursday, March 5, 2015 - link
He actually added both the case and mouse/keyboard..StevoLincolnite - Thursday, March 5, 2015 - link
Stop moving the goal posts.It wasn't what it was going to run in the future, but what it could run now.
And let's face it... A PC that can run all previous and currently released games is going to have a larger games library than any other platform that currently exists.
Not only do you have decades worth of games, but emulation of a dozen other platforms too.
All for $350.
Besides, with so many "Mobile" and Indie games arriving on PC, remakes and remasters... There really isn't much pushing the hardware envelope except for demanding AAA titles, my PC that is 7 years old is still playing the latest games just fine. (Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.6ghz, 8Gb DDR2, Dual Radeons.)
So I would argue, depending on what *kind* of games you enjoy, the Pentium Anniversary is all you will need for the next half decade.
StevoLincolnite - Thursday, March 5, 2015 - link
There is also a push for better CPU efficiency thanks to the likes of Mantle, Direct X 12 and the OpenGL competitor, where even the slowest and crappiest of CPU's are more than enough, go look at benchmarks.nikaldro - Thursday, March 5, 2015 - link
"So I would argue, depending on what *kind* of games you enjoy, the Pentium Anniversary is all you will need for the next half decadenikaldro - Thursday, March 5, 2015 - link
Try enjoying battlefield 5 on your Q6600, or on a G3258 for that matter. You can't ignore the fact that a pc will age.You can't ignore the fact that games are going to use more and more cores either. And that resolutions will grow, and textures will become heavier and heavier. A few years ago, 1GB was plenty for 1080p. Now, 2GB is
nikaldro - Thursday, March 5, 2015 - link
Oops sorry for this many messagges. The phone is going crazy.I was sayng : now, 2GB isn't that much anymore, and i bet that by next year, 4GB will be standard on mid range gpus.
Your Q6600 may be ok for the *kind* of games that you enjoy, but it certainly isn't for serious gamers. And for those who are not serious gamers, the casual gamers, there are the consoles, while they'll do their sporadic pc use on dad's old PC. heck, we still have P4 PCs at school, where they teach us C programming.
Anonymous Blowhard - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Go to the R9 280 at Newegg right now for $160 and you're still limboing under the $400 pricepoint while making Mashed Potatoes.nikaldro - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Sometimes you'll find special offers on a gpu just like sometimes you'll fins deals like console + 2 controllers + a game for the price of the sole console, but it isn't the norm.And, you'd want an i5 or an fx8320, and a better mobo wouldn't hurt either. You CAN play games even on a 250$ budget, but gaming for good starts at 450-500$ in my book. YMMV.
Anonymous Blowhard - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Come on now, make it fair. If he's competing with the Xbox One he's only got to reach 720p-900p, and 30fps. Don't forget to add a year of Gold for $50 too. ;)nikaldro - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
DAT microsoft XDThey were like "we'll destroy sony at E3"
LolZ
WithoutWeakness - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Linus and Luke over on LinusTechTips just ran through a "scrapyard wars" challenge where they were tasked with building a complete gaming computer (just the tower) for $300 or less and were only given 2 days to source parts and build the machines. They were able to build some pretty solid machines capable of playing modern games at 1080p and both stayed within the budget. Either of them could have bought a brand new wired X360 controller for less than $50 and had a superior gaming experience than any of the current-gen consoles could provide for less money on top of having a full-blown Windows computer. If you're willing to buy used components you can get some serious bang-for-your-buck buying last year's hardware.nikaldro - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
1080p sure, but at wich detail settings? You could go with a 50$ pentium and a gtx 750, a 30$ mobo, 4GB of ram, a cheap case+psu combo and your own old hdd for even less than 300$, but the sacrifices you'd have to make just aren't worth the saved money IMO. If you wanna do it, do it for good. If you just wanna casually play games sometimes, that's what the ps4 is made for.nikaldro - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Just watched it and yeah, he somehow got a 290, but it was coupled with a dinosaur old dual core cpu (i don't even know how that cripple's architecture is called, guess i'm too young), wich severely bottlenecked it. I guess a gtx 960 + pentium g3220 would beat it, for 250$ NEW. A used g3220 would cost less than spit, and just wait a couple of months and the 960's price will fall through the floor to compete with AMD's new gpus.Honestly, i'm not impressed. I believe i could do better myself if i could buy used parts too.
SunnyNW - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Doesn't the X1 have 4 A53 cores as well?Marc GP - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
It haves the typical big.LITTLE structure of 4 x Cortex-A53 + 4 x Cortex-A57http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/01/nvidia-anno...
Jumangi - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
I chuckle at how Nvidia keeps comparing their hardware to last gen consoles. Beating 8 and 9 year old tech is so impressive...Marc GP - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
At a mobile thermal envelope IT IS impressive.Jumangi - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
No its not, because its not at a mobile level. The Shield console uses a 40 watt adapter, that's not even remotely mobile levels. I own an Intel laptop that has a 35 watt adapter.lucam - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Very true and it doesnt have the battery too. So not sure how it can be considered mobile.SpartyOn - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
I own an original Shield Portable and love it. Even if it didn't come with all the other features that are included, it's by far the best handheld emulator device on the market. I spend more time playing my old PS1, Genesis, and SNES games than anything else. Having a built-in controller device while sitting back on a lounger in the pool doing some retro gaming is boss.I have streamed games via the GRID service over wireless and I did not notice any discernible impact on my gameplay other than in twitchy racing games (45MB down/5MB up connection). For me, it simply worked great, and that was even on shitty single band wireless-N (I've since upgraded to dual AC). Having the console plugged into Ethernet should improve on that experience in terms of lag.
Local GameStream from the PC has had its ups and downs. It worked great for a long time and I used it to stream games like Deus Ex: HR, Skyrim, Kingdoms of Amalur, a few LEGO games, and The Witcher 2 without any issues from soon after it's launch to about October 2014. Some of the recent Geforce Experience PC updates (Nov. 2014-early Feb. 2015) broke a lot of functionality for me though and I was having connection issues, dropped signals, jerky streams, and just overall less performance. However, they seem to be working out the bugs that were introduced with subsequent releases and I have seen my performance improve to I think about where it was since the last release.
What disappoints me about this console is that, for the most part, my Shield Portable does all of these things already. If I want to stream GRID games or PC games via GameStream to my TV, I can hook it up via HDMI and use an XBOX wireless controller. Want to play Android games on the TV? Same thing. Bluetooth voice control accessories? Check. This new console just has more performance, which is to be expected for a larger and newly released device.
I was really hoping they were going to release an update to the handheld with the X1 and market it as a portable home console. Increase the screen size to at least 6" from the current 5", slap a high resolution screen in it, throw in the X1 with active cooling just like the original shield, put 3-4GB of RAM in and call it a day. All you would need to do to get all of the functionality of a home console would be to plug it in via HDMI if you just wanted to leave it on the shelf, but the portability factor would be there if you wanted it. The Shield Portable and Tablet were already niche products for a niche audience and instead of perfecting them, they've released this device that honestly, I don't know who it's for.
I mean, the X1 can probably handle PS2 games now as soon as someone releases a Android emulator. Wouldn't that be sweet to have in a handheld, plus all the benefits they are touting with the X1?
I'll pass on this console, thanks. Give us an updated portable already!
darkich - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Um.. You can already play many PS2, even PS3 and later PC gen games even on cheap midrange phones and tablets. GTA, Max Payne, Xcom, Half life, Star Wars TKOR, Bioshock and many many more.And many native Android games do offer classic "AAA" experience.
You just need to look and leave your prejudices behind.
darkich - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Btw..GTA San Andreas for Android is graphically the most advanced version of the title, and can run in HD without a hitch even on 3 year old phones.Modern high end smartphones are at least 15 times more capable than PS2.
X1? It is much faster than PS3 and can surely run ALL PS3 titles easily
kron123456789 - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
That's true, if PS3 titles are properly ported. But SpartyOn was talking about PS2 Emulator.SpartyOn - Thursday, March 5, 2015 - link
Darkich - you have no idea what I'm even talking about. Yes, there are ports of PC, Xbox, PS2, etc. games on Android that run great. I have the KOTOR port on my Shield - it ran great.I'm not talking about ports of past titles, though. I'm talking about a PS2 emulator that would allow me to play my old PS2 titles on a handheld; games I already own in my library and ones that will probably not see ports made.
So don't lecture me on prejudices (or whatever you're talking about) because you don't understand my comment.
eanazag - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Bear in mind that Windows 10 is supposed to have functionality for streaming games. Obviously, not from GRID. It has a timing edge, but not by much. I would have liked to see that remote included in the purchase price or an extra remote.We need a review. I don't know how close it comes to a console experience. How many controllers? Games that allow for multiple users like Madden or a basketball title? From the games I saw it looks like 1-2 player or multiplayer online. I am assuming it accepts a Bluetooth keyboard. Does it do screen sharing like AirPlay or Miracast? Regular, upgradeable version of Android?
blanarahul - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Is it just me or the 4x A53 cluster is missing from the Tetra X1 in the comparison table?ruthan - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Well, i see 1 big design flaw Jensens boys forgot add at least optimal HDD model, sorry but 16 GB for games and overpriced memory cards (64 gb memory card for price of 500 GB HDD is slower) arent good idea.ruthan - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
I know there is USB possibility but add USB external HDD isnt beatiful and could be more problematical that build in HDD.ezridah - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Does it support Google Cast? I'm not sure if all Android TV devices support that or not. It seems like all the others I've seen do, and I'd think this one would as well, but I haven't seen anything about it on the Shield console mentioned by anyone.WatcherCK - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
It looks like another good technology that gives your main media portal some more flexibility, maybe once W10 has been released there can be a thorough comparison of Grid/shield and Steam Box/Stream and the Microsoft Camps offerings, what works best what the requirements are...Im wondering what the latency will be like in countries outside the US Im looking at around 200ms over DSL to Blizzard servers for example (to New Zealand) that is assuming Shield retails outside the US at all, and combined with however long it would take publishers and Nvidia to come to a per country agreement for game pricing it would probably be a nonevent. And this is a shame as the Shield seems like a neat little convergence box, Netflix Spotify, Google Play Store, Amazon Prime?, Hulu? check that is alot of online media. Plex for local media collection check. If you have a machine with a suitable dGPU then you can stream your game to your main portal (4k60 capable HDMI so dual 980GTX?) or if you dont have a dedicated gaming machine pay (another) subscription and game from Grid. It does almost everything I could want and for $200.
I wonder if AMD have something up their sleeve that will allow for a native streaming scenario, include a 4k capable HDMI dongle and a bluetooth controller with every R9 295 right? :)
Or even some technological convergence, take a 40" or bigger inch display and go Project Ara on it, have a base number of connections on a base model for a base price then throw in a connection bus (proprietary because royalty free wouldnt make fiscal sense now would it :)) and then have a range of expansion modules you can connect discreetly, a DTV tuner, cable tuner, an ARM module for light browsing/gaming duties, an Intel/AMD module for heavier duty processing, storage module if you need it, webcam if you want it, Dolby Atmos/DTS module for your wireless speaker system, even a mood backlighting module, whatever the hell you want to do. In my head Im thinking an HP Z1 workstation(apparently very easy and modular to work under the hood of) but scaled up and made couchpotato/kid/grandparent friendly.
What do you have in mind as the perfect digital convergence setup?
abufrejoval - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
That looks very much like a fan at the top, notebook type or worse :-(There's got to be plenty of crazy car amp cooling solutions out there that this could be bolted to, I don't mind a pound of aluminum heat spreader, but I do like my equipment without any moving parts.
Let's hope the box comes off easily enough and someone does a reasonably cheap passive upgrade.
A bit more DRAM would be nice to run a Linux desktop (in a chroot()/LXC under Android) just in case you don't want to get up from the sofa (and the nice big screen) to do some work.
Hope it will be easy to hack because it sure beats the hell out of your average Odroid.
mkozakewich - Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - link
Should it really be called 4Kp? I imagine 'progressive scan' refers to the number of horizontal lines stacked on top of eachother, and there aren't 4000 lines. You should probably say 4K60.bendetto - Monday, March 16, 2015 - link
I have the HPH android TV Box Quad core 4 GB RAM DDR3 32 GB samsung eMMC GPU Mali-T764 Ultra HD 4k RK3288 1.8 GHz Cortex-A17 Android 4.4.2 HDMI 2.0 deep color Dual Band WIFI 2.4GHz/5GHz ac, gigabit, Bluetooth 4.0 all for $179 direct or $189 from amazon. Kodi runs very smooth and so far has played everything very wellOc noob - Monday, April 13, 2015 - link
I have a Shield Portable and love it. It does most of these things and I can see a market for this product. It's like Fire TV that is less restrictive, but you can stream all of your Steam games or play android games or things like Crysis 3 directly on the box. There's a lot of value to be had if you think outside of your PC gamer niche.Ballist1x - Friday, May 1, 2015 - link
Will this play Neodroid?