Xi3 Piston optimized to run Valve's Steam platform -- and specifically Big Picture Mode -- and to that end it packs a quad-core AMD APU -- likely from AMD's Fusion series. Most other specs remain vague, though the Piston apparently offers up to 1TB of storage. The package is tiny yet rugged, with an aluminum chassis that's made to resist heat (and that will certainly come in handy during gaming sessions).
Xi3 first showed off the Xi3 Piston back at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this year. It was touted as being specifically designed for the Big Picture variant of Steam, and Valve was said to have made some investment in Xi3.
Since then, the concept of a Steam Box has expanded, with Gabe Newell recently saying that prototypes of the console-style PC would be available in three to four months, and Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward showing off a mysterious PC, which used the Xi3 form factor, via its Twitter and Facebook.
Xi3 has now used the South by South West (SXSW) Festival to announce that it will be taking pre-orders for the Piston, although the device itself won't actually ship until "holidays 2013" — that is, until the end of the year.
The pre-order page allows you to "design your own Piston", although this seems limited to just choosing the size of the SSD. Currently, a Xi3 Piston Steam Box price starts at US$999 for the default specs model (128GB SSD), up to US$1749 for the 512GB version. Until 17 March, there's a US$100 discount on pre-orders.
Xi3 Piston Steam Box availability, The pre-order process has begun so early because Xi3 is, according to founder and CEO Jason A Sullivan, "seriously concerned that [it] will not be able to meet the demand for Piston consoles", given the "amount of awards, media attention and gamer interest" the device has gathered since CES.
Curiously, the press release about the Piston makes no mention of Valve or Steam, instead stating that the Piston will "deliver the beauty and small size of consoles, with the upgradeability of computers".
It's unclear if this means that the partnership between Valve and Xi3 has shifted in focus, or that Valve is concentrating on its own work on the Steam Box prototype.
To buy online check availability and price at Amazon here: Xi3 Piston
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