BUILDING YOUR OWN STEAM MACHINE

What is SteamOS?
SteamOS is a game-centric operating system made by Valve, the sole proprietor of Steam which is the biggest digital game portal in the world. It is designed to bridge the gap between consoles and PCs, which means you will get to play PC games on your couch. With it, SteamOS is a freeware Linux-based operating system that requires installation on a “Steam Machine”.

So, what is a Steam Machine?
Steam Machine is basically PC hardware labelled as such by Valve for marketing purposes which means anyone with a decent enough PC can install SteamOS in his system and announce it as a 'Steam Machine'. Valve hasn't set any strict minimum requirement for these new SteamOS specific boxes. However, we can guess they will obviously aim at the mid range.

Is this machine worth it?

This is where personal preference comes into play. Personally, as avid PC gamers, we will never stoop to anything that is less than a keyboard and a mouse. Steam Machines will come with a specialised controller made by valve which is tailored to the SteamOS. For those PC gamers who already use controllers, asking for a console experience to begin with, you can say SteamOS was tailored for their use as well. The OS will also support mouse and keyboard but we, PC gamers, demand high framerates, higher resolutions and total freedom to modify our games and hardware; modding being the focal point of many gamers. Given the amount of effort we put into the modifications behind our games and apps, we'd rather launch Steam in full-screen mode than switch our whole operating system.

What do I need to make my own Steam Machine?
You need nothing but the current gaming PC you already have at your disposal. In this guide, we'll aim at something that is affordable and near the Tk 35k price range. I will be gradually excluding low tier PC hardware mainly because modern games don't cut it with those, plus there is the lack of UEFI support on older PCs.
Let's see now…

Lord Gaben has revolutionised much of PC gaming with the Steam platform.

The Budget Bang for Buck Steam Machine (40k)
CPU: Core i3 3220 @3.30GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte B75 D3H (Rev 1.1)
RAM: 8 GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz
GPU:  nVidia GTX 550 ti
HDD: 500GB (1TB IDEAL)
PSU: Corsair VS 450w

As you can see, these components will be ample for the OS. Not to mention this will also run all your Steam games with decent details on 720P panels.

The High-End Steam Machine (80k+)
CPU: Core i7 3770k
Motherboard : Asus Sabertooth z77
RAM: 8GB Gskill RipJaws
GPU: Geforce GTX 770
HDD: 1TB
PSU: Thermaltake Smart Power 650w

Enthusiasts will spare no expense to get the best experience; running every modern Steam game to its fullest on HD panel demands serious processing power. The previously mentioned build will run 1080p and above like a hungry Usain Bolt running towards food.
These build specs are for people who haven't decided on their PC purchase yet, those of you who already have a capable PC at home can skip this part and go on with the OS installation.

How do I install SteamOS?
Valve has left users the choice between two installation methods: the default and the custom installation method. The former is the more recommended one since it is a pre-configured image-based install using CloneZilla. The latter allows for customisation after setup but the process becomes quite complicated on varying levels. Both installation methods will erase all content on the target computer. The methods are still very unpolished which is why Valve is urging people to wait until they are done with their beta testing.

Note that it is still in its beta phase and a wide range of hardware including AMD is not supported yet. We highly recommend you install SteamOS after it's through with the complications.
If you are a capable techie who is confident about accomplishing the job without error, then you might as well not wait and start the conversion process anyway.
You need only follow the small set of instructions and download the required files from http://store.steampowered.com/steamos/buildyourown
Sounds pretty easy right? Well, boy oh boy you are in for a surprise.
P.S: Half Life 3 still not confirmed.