STEAM should of come to us for advice on hardware

[saltynay]

Just readind the latest steam update and they mention what pc's they have in the office, room for some improvement I think, although they are very nice rigs;

As most Steam users know, the Steam Hardware Survey automatically collects information about the community's computer hardware configurations and presents an aggregate picture of the stats on our web site. The survey helps us make better engineering and gameplay decisions, because it makes sure we're targeting machines our customers actually use, rather than measuring only against the hardware we've got in the office. We often get asked about the configuration of the machines we build around the office to do both game and Steam development. We also tend to turn over machines in the office pretty rapidly, at roughly every 18 months.

Our current base configuration looks about like this:

EVGA 780i SLI FTW Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz Quad-Core Processor
4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 1066MHz ram
(Crucial Ballistix, Kingston ValueRam)
1 x NVidia GTX280 1GB - OR - ATI 4870 1GB graphics card
1 x 250GB 7200RPM SATA HD
(Seagate, Western Digital)
1 x 500GB 7200RPM SATA HD
(Seagate, Western Digital)
Antec Sonata III desktop case
Zalman CPU Cooler
850W Antec power supply
1 x Dell 3008FPW-HC 30" LCD - OR - 2 x Dell 2001FP 20.1" LCD monitors
Windows XP 32bit

We're currently transitioning to this setup:
EVGA X58 3X SLI Intel Motherboard
Intel Corei7 940 2.93GHz Quad-Core Processor
12GB PC3-10600 DDR3 1333MHz ram
(Crucial Ballistix, Kingston ValueRam)
1 x NVidia GTX285 1GB - OR - ATI 4870 1GB graphics card
1 x 250GB 7200RPM SATA HD (Seagate, Western Digital)
1 x 500GB 7200RPM SATA HD (Seagate, Western Digital)
Lian Li P60-F Case
Intel CPU Cooler
850W Antec power supply
1 x Dell 3008FPW-HC 30" LCD - OR - 2 x Dell 2001FP 20.1" LCD monitors
Windows Vista 64bit

 

[Yami]

Very good rigs indeed, I can't really think of anything to better those other than throwing more money at them

 

[Press_Corpse]

Haven't the ballistix been crapping out on people lately? I would probably recommend Dominator's or G.Skill PI's depending on budget.

 

[saltynay]

Save money with the 920
Get a decent cooler the zalman coolers haven't been top of the market for 3 years
12gb very large even for gaming development

 

[Press_Corpse]

well, they could be getting one of these sets at a discount. But I agree, that is too much RAM, even for their needs.

 

[Puressence]

They said they are turning over their systems approximately every 18 months?? That's a quick turnover IMHO. Obviously, Steam is NOT hurting for cash in these tough economic times.

 

[zedman3d]

Very good rigs indeed, I can't really think of anything to better those other than throwing more money at them

Easy,

Swap the DDR3 dimms for OCZ Cas 7 Plats (two separate 6GB kits since they are only $149 each),
Swap the 940 for the 920,
Swap the stock cooler (what were they thinking) with a Xigmatek Rifle S1283 with mounting kit and
Swap the mid tower for a full tower so they can better deal with SLI and bigger stuff in the future.