ASUS has two Steam Machines and one is incredibly compact
Computex has a heavy PC gaming flavor to it in places. Between the likes of NVIDIA and ASUS' ROG brand, it acts as a gentle primer to PC-based gaming hardware ahead of E3 -- which is next week, if you forgot. Alongside a frankly ridiculous 4K gaming laptop, ROG's announced two new Steam Machines with varying footprints and specifications. The GR8 takes up just 2.5 liters of space, and ASUS ROG is talking up the size/power ratio as the best it's ever made, with a Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti inside. Meanwhile, 4K output and Miracast support could well make this a plausible, portable "console" PC -- you'll just need to provide the screen.
Slightly more powerful (and bigger), the G20 gaming desktop still packs high-end fourth-generation Core i7 processors, but upgrades the GFX to the GeForce GTX 780. Interestingly for a gaming rig, there are no visible exhaust events, with a hidden airflow tunnel apparently offering heat management and (really?) near-silent operation. ASUS has it pegged at 25dB at idle. Even without the ports, if you still like your gaming PCs at least a little garish, there's still built-in lighting, which will cycle through millions of color shades. Millions!
Both units will launch as Steam Machines, bundled with Steam controllers, although in traditional Computex style, ASUS hasn't got prices to share just yet -- expect those to appear alongside Valve's next announcement.
