SteamOS now supports Intel and AMD graphics

[Himanshu Arora]

When the first SteamOS beta was released last month, gamers with Intel and AMD GPUs were left out in the cold due to the initial "Nvidia graphics only" requirement. Well, things have changed now. The latest alchemist update to the Valve's operating system adds support for AMD and Intel graphics, along with various other fixes.

Don't expect too much as the operating system is still in the beta stage. According to AMD, there are some screen tearing issues even with V-sync enabled, and SteamOS Overlay while playing games can result in a slower user interface response time. The company is still working with AMD and Intel to fix these issues.

So, what do you have to do to install the update? Well, nothing. "Existing SteamOS installs should update themselves automatically," says Valve. For those who are planning to install the OS, make sure your machine has a 64-bit processor, at least 4GB of RAM, 500GB of storage space, UEFI boot support, and a USB port for installation.

Note that as of now, SteamOS does not support drive partitioning, which means that it will wipe your hard drive during the installation process. If possible, install it on a spare hard drive.

If you haven't downloaded SteamOS yet, you can do so from here.

Update: AMD has just released their first Catalyst drivers with support for SteamOS. It’s just a beta, but marks an important step for the platform. As always you can download the latest release from or drivers section.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/55285-steamos-now-supports-intel-and-amd-graphics-updated.html

 

[GhostRyder]

Cool, im really wanting to try this steam OS I think ill make a mini-itx machine with Steam OS when Iget some extra cash.

 

[Ahmed90]

Personally will wait till the good Linux community start porting the steam/gaming (stuff? ) to other Linux flavors and then I will be happy to drop windows and get Ubuntu or fedora or mint or or or or

 

[penn919]

I'll probably try it when they allow partitioning. I have a spare 120gb drive that I've since abandoned and only use a small partition of it for pagefile swapping, but I don't even want to have to get rid of it just to test out SteamOS. It's still in beta and there aren't any advantages over windows yet.

I think there's potential for SteamOS to dominate the gamer marketplace, but admittedly that'll be quite a feat. What will be most interesting for me is to find out exactly how many game developers they can manage to get onboard. That's what will ultimately count the most.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Note that as of now, SteamOS does not support drive partitioning, which means that it will wipe your hard drive during the installation process. If possible, install it on a spare hard drive.

But can you clone a drive with Steam OS to a partitioned drive and it still work?

 

[Guest]

No point in bothering with SteamOS in it's current stage. It has a fair amount of issues, and if you want to game on Linux, you're better off installing Ubuntu and running the Linux version of Steam. I'm anxious for SteamOS, however I'll be patient and wait for the official release.

 

[Guest]

Personally will wait till the good Linux community start porting the steam/gaming (stuff? ) to other Linux flavors and then I will be happy to drop windows and get Ubuntu or fedora or mint or or or or

If you want to see games like Call of Duty, StarCraft, Elder Scrolls, etc. on your Linux platform then good luck waiting forever for that to happen.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Good to see that the OS now supports AMD cards. OpenGL is much faster on AMD cards than nVidia cards so that would help a lot on a Linux-based OS.

 

[Nobina]

Are we gonna see benchmarks between SOS and W7? If It's a gaming system it should be gaming optimized.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Are we gonna see benchmarks between SOS and W7?

I doubt it. By the time Steam OS matures, Windows 7 will probably be considered too old.

 

[St1ckM4n]

Are we gonna see benchmarks between SOS and W7?

I doubt it. By the time Steam OS matures, Windows 7 will probably be considered too old.

Yep.

Valve said to "watch out for announcements on which AAA studios will become partners." CES has come and gone, announcements have come and gone, no AAA partners?