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AMD could launch its Project Quantum gaming PC to market if it has the right conversations with OEMs, the firm has told PCR.
The chip and performance specialist announced the Quantum machine at E3 in June earlier this year, saying it could run any 4K game at 60 frames per second.
The unit is designed to show off the performance of AMD’s new Fiji HBM GPUs. Full specs haven’t been confirmed, but it’s said to feature two R9 Fiji GPUs plus an Intel i7 processor.
"The interest we got immediately after E3 was very high, from journalists and consumers and OEM partners," AMD’s gaming scientist Richard Huddy (pictured, with the Quantum PC) told PCR.
"I don’t know whether we have an OEM who is committed to building something like it. We built it as a concept PC, so like concept cars it’s not usually practical to take it straight to market, that wouldn’t make a great deal of sense. But it’s not far from that.
"I would think that if we have the right kind of conversations with some of these OEMs, then we might well turn it into a real product.
Huddy explained: "In that case, it will probably be a very small number. Maybe only one or at most a handful of PC manufacturers who would bring that to market, potentially. It’s a custom piece, not a high volume piece, but it is a thing of beauty."
Huddy also told PCR that the Quantum would be ‘capable’ of being a Steam Machine, the first of which are due this November.
"No doubt whatsoever, you could build that into a very powerful Steam Machine," Huddy said. "It would probably be way up into the top one per cent of high performance Steam Machines, in terms of horsepower, because there’s a lot of performance spread in those machines. In fact it would be very hard to build a more powerful machine.
"To do that you would need to put in probably four graphics cards from various vendors, either from us or Nvidia of course. And that’s taking up a great deal of space – a Quantum PC would be tiny by comparison."
When pressed for more information such as a potential launch date, operating system or pricing, Huddy said he couldn’t reveal more information, stressing it is a concept PC right now.
"For us it was a concept PC and that’s really important. We went out there and we invested the time and energy in building something to show that – a box as small as this," he added.
"It’s got a base of 10 inches by 10 inches and the total volume of the machine is just eight litres. A box as small as that could be one of the highest performing PCs on the planet. It’s also because it’s completely liquid cooled, it’s going to be super quiet as well. But it is a concept PC."
