I'm not exactly thinking of buying one, but I wonder if they've all managed to keep noise levels acceptable under load. Cooling is always a problem for tiny computer cases like these, and noise is a personal pet peeve. So much so that the GTX 760 in my current gaming rig is the first gpu I've had in years that isn't passively cooled. And even sitting in a large, well insulated Fractal Design case the double fans on the heatsink really get on my nerves when they spin up under load.

I don't know about the newer Sony/MS consoles, but at least a PS3 seems to be pretty hard on the ears, so maybe it doesn't matter that much. If the Steam Machines are not much louder than the competition I mean.

I'm not 100%, but I think in at least a few reviews of alienware steam machine it was said that it quite silent (as compared to xbox I think)

Quoting: tuubiI don't know about the newer Sony/MS consoles, but at least a PS3 seems to be pretty hard on the ears, so maybe it doesn't matter that much.

I own PS4 (that I've decided to buy half year ago only for Witcher 3, because I knew it won't be released this year and I was super eager to play this game after finishing Witcher 2 EE on linux and then Witcher 1 through wine (I know, 95% of people can't understand the order 2,1,3...)).
Anyway, PS4 is super loud, I can't stand it and that's the reason I don't use it very often now, even I've not finished Hearts of the Stone DLC yet.

i dont understand why need i7 for gaming, most games dont even use more than 2 cores.. there ofc are some exceptions but overall better GPU is needed.. that 860M range card doesnt cut it imo.
i5 and 970 or 980 would be perfect. or even amd fx6300 and 970 or 980, just AMD powerdraw is bigger and probably heat.
with i5 and 970 and 16GB of ram you would get the price down to around $800-900 and it would be pretty nice and powerful for gaming for quite some time. While 960 performs decent enough, you would need an upgrade within 2 years already at least

thats my 2 cents