Maingear has joined the hoard of companies releasing Steambox options with its Spark, a “small and mighty” desktop designed to offer significant power without significant bulk.
The system, which is smaller than a DVD case, measures just 4.5 inches wide, 4.23 inches deep and 2.34 inches tall. That’s tiny for any desktop PC, never mind one with gaming aspirations.
Such a small footprint is possible thanks to an AMD A8-5557M processor paired with Radeon R9 M275X graphics boasting 2GB of GDDR5 RAM. This hardware, which is taken from AMD’s line of mobile products, can fit the grunt games require into a slim-and-trim desktop. Up to 16GB of RAM can be added, as well.
Other features include four USB 3.0 ports, an mSATA port that can connect to external solid state drives, and a 2.5”-inch drive bay for mechanical storage. The Spark also support 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and gigabit LAN. Video output can is handled over HDMI or DisplayPort, and two displays can be hooked up at once.
Wallace Santos, CEO and founder of Maingear, stated in an official press release that “We have been working with Valve for over a year building what we think is a great performing tiny PC with tons of storage for games and entertainment, we are very excited to be releasing this soon.”
While this PC will no doubt spark some interest, one important detail remains unknown; price. Still, there’s plenty here to excite PC gamers hoping to enjoy Steam in the living room.
