Home Gaming Asus GR8 Steam Machine launching soon

Asus GR8 Steam Machine launching soon

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GR8_side cover

The Asus stand at rAge this year was, as always, quite impressive. There was a ton of tech on show, including a look at the company’s two upcoming Steam Machines. The GR8 is the more console-like device between the two, featuring a small form factor and portability. It’s also coming out very, very soon.

The Asus GR8 is a small desktop that can be used on your desk, next to your TV or hooked up to a projector. Like most of the Steam Machine models out there the G8 is relatively portable, allowing PC gaming virtually anywhere. The GR8 will eventually ship with SteamOS, but considering Valve is still dabbling with it you’ll have to settle for Windows 8.1 for now.

The GR8 isn’t the most powerful horse in the stable, but still seems fairly capable of handling most of your 1080p needs. The GR8 comes standard with an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of DDR3L memory and a choice between an HDD or SSD as the main drive. The Nvidia GTX 750Ti will be handling all the pixel pushing, a card which uses early Maxwell tech to deal with standard HD gaming quite well.

Built-in wireless will save you a cable during setup and a built-in Miracast receiver will also allow for seamless streaming from Android devices you may have lying around the house. The compact form fact will also give you easy access to RAM and hard drive bays, allowing you to add more memory at any time. No luck with the GPU though – that’s locked in tightly.

The Asus GR8 is set to launch locally on October 28th, with the not so low price of R12 999.00. You’ll still manage to build an equivalent desktop for less, but it’ll be tough to find one as compact as the G8. If form factor is a big deal, then this may be the answer. Look out for our review soon.

Last Updated: October 15, 2014

45 Comments

  1. 13k for an i7, 16gb RAM and a 750ti isnt bad at all actually.
    atleast for a compact build.
    same problems as laptops with upgrade options and its no 2gb 750ti OC edition, but not bad.

    Which i7 and which 750ti?

    Reply

    • AceZero911

      October 15, 2014 at 13:39

      Intel® Core™ i7-4510U Processor
      NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 750Ti Graphics w/ 2GB GDDR5 VRAM

      Is what they say in the press release.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief 0

        October 15, 2014 at 13:41

        Impressive

        Reply

        • AceZero911

          October 15, 2014 at 13:42

          Dual core CPU…

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief 0

            October 15, 2014 at 13:59

            Sorry, forgot to input the [Sarcasm]

            😛

        • Captain JJ Underleyened

          October 15, 2014 at 14:00

          Impressive for Nvidia, I suppose 😉

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief 0

            October 15, 2014 at 14:03

            Indeed, hence the [Sarcasm]

          • Mossel

            October 15, 2014 at 14:03

            Hahaha ah wtf, you’ve been on team red for a full month and you’re already bashing NVidia! Where’s your loyalty?! Have you no shame?!

          • Captain JJ Underleyened

            October 15, 2014 at 14:06

            Hahaha. I know. I need to establish myself in the red team. I actually don’t have big issues with Nvidia, just felt like I had to honour AMD.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            October 15, 2014 at 14:09

            What are you talking about? What he said sounds perfectly reasonable to me 😀

          • Admiral Chief 0

            October 15, 2014 at 14:12

            #TeamRedFTW

          • Captain JJ Underleyened

            October 15, 2014 at 14:13

            We should get little signs next to our avatars that say RED or GREEN. Or black for consoles, but they’re usually easy to spot just by their silly comments. Trololololo

          • Spaffy

            October 15, 2014 at 14:14

            This.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            October 15, 2014 at 14:15

            lol oh you

          • Admiral Chief 0

            October 15, 2014 at 14:18

            XD

          • Mossel

            October 15, 2014 at 14:12

            Nvidia for life yo. lol, on a serious note I might upgrade to AMD just before Witcher 3.

          • Admiral Chief 0

            October 15, 2014 at 14:18

            I think your piloting skills will get a MASSIVE increase then

            XD

            #NevarForgetTheCrashes

          • Mossel

            October 15, 2014 at 14:21

            IT WAS ONE TIME!! xD I shall play BF3 tonight and start my training!

          • Admiral Chief 0

            October 15, 2014 at 14:30

            LOOOOL, it was quite fun later on though 😛

            PS: We actually need to do the other co-op maps!

          • Mossel

            October 15, 2014 at 14:50

            I’m ready when you are! Drop me a message on steam some time then we can do it!

          • Admiral Chief 0

            October 15, 2014 at 15:04

            Don’t you mean origin?

            😛

          • Mossel

            October 15, 2014 at 15:16

            lol you know what I mean!

          • Captain JJ Underleyened

            October 15, 2014 at 14:41

            Oh, BF plane crashing. Yes. I can relate to that.

          • Mossel

            October 15, 2014 at 14:51

            I’m completely useless with jets and helicopters! I want to try and fly it with my controller next time, might be easier!

          • Spaffy

            October 15, 2014 at 14:21

            Yea, those nvidia stuff tend to crash. Alot.

          • Admiral Chief 0

            October 15, 2014 at 14:30

            I was referring to his piloting skills…But yes, that too!

      • Matthew Holliday

        October 15, 2014 at 13:53

        mmm, the 4510 isnt exactly fantastic i guess.
        core2duo is pretty old tech and its the weakest of the i7s, that would definitely make me nervous when looking into a new pc.

        for 13k in a regular desktop, you could get a 4770 and the OC black version of the 750ti.

        Reply

    • CypherGate

      October 15, 2014 at 14:36

      This should definitely fit in there http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/GTX760DCMOC2GD5/ Same size as the 750ti and runs so much better as well. Ordered mine and waiting for it to complete my ITX entertainment/graphic design pc.

      Reply

  2. Hammersteyn

    October 15, 2014 at 13:36

    “You’ll still manage to build an equivalent desktop for less” nice save, nullifies consoles are cheaper arguments

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief 0

      October 15, 2014 at 13:41

      Cheaper for less. Like buying a 500ml milk instead of a 1.5liter

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief 0

        October 15, 2014 at 13:42

        [Disclaimer]
        Yes, I’m saying PCs are at least 3x more powerful!

        😛

        Reply

  3. Galbedir

    October 15, 2014 at 14:01

    Daaaaamn! That thing looks sexy. Abit pricey, but very nice. Also I would only invest in a steam console if SA had a much better net connection, so I dont have to wait 3-4 days to download a game.

    Reply

  4. Mossel

    October 15, 2014 at 14:05

    Speaking of Steam machines. I want to build my own steam machine for as cheap as humanly possible. But it should still be able to stream games from my main rig at 1080p and 60hz. Any suggestions?

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Underleyened

      October 15, 2014 at 14:08

      Make it black.

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        October 15, 2014 at 14:14

        And red – makes it go faster 😉

        Reply

        • Spaffy

          October 15, 2014 at 14:15

          Stripes. And stickers.

          Reply

          • Captain JJ Underleyened

            October 15, 2014 at 14:16

            That’s science. Stripes make something go faster.

          • Admiral Chief 0

            October 15, 2014 at 14:31

            More pipes as well. We all know more kazoz pipes make it go faster!

          • Thats_how_I_Troll

            October 16, 2014 at 11:55

            19″ CRT monitor, best R/KG value….

  5. Ricardo Harvey

    October 15, 2014 at 14:09

    I just built a pc and the price of this system is pretty decent, you could save about R2k but that design is worth paying for

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Underleyened

      October 15, 2014 at 14:11

      At 11k you can build a really nice rig. Way above this one. But that price includes Windows as well, I suppose.

      Reply

      • Ricardo Harvey

        October 15, 2014 at 14:13

        I wouldnt say WAY ABOVE. good quality ram, psu, casing, all those little bits add up. And like you said the OS too. I think the price is fair.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Underleyened

          October 15, 2014 at 14:15

          Alright. “Way above” is a bit overly ambitious maybe. I’ve had the same case now for three upgrades over about eight years. If more games on Steam ran on Linux it would’ve been great to have that option instead.

          Reply

  6. cr1t

    October 15, 2014 at 16:47

    U can almost buy an ps4 and xbox1 for that price

    Reply

  7. Kikmi

    October 15, 2014 at 18:15

    This is really not bad at fucking all. Seriously, considering it will keep you at least 3 years. I think its fantastic. (@1080p though)

    Reply

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