Time for a dedicated Zwift box?

We’re talking about for Zwift, and Zwift alone.

Anyway, there is definitely a place for a box with way better graphics than the Apple TV.
The Apple TV is a multi function device and not really designed for gaming.
A Zwift box with all resources dedicated to just running, displaying, and updating Zwift could provide a much better customer experience for a price well below that of a gaming PC.
I would certainly buy it.

I’ve had Zwift running on AWS EC2 with an NVIDA Tesla T4 GPU streamed to a bog standard business laptop using the NICE DVC client. Connecting ANT+ and BTLE sensors is ‘experimental’ - I didn’t get it 100% working, but the idea has legs. Pairing devices via companion app would be the way to go. Cost is about $0.70 an hour + data. FPS is very high. Disappointingly the Tesla T4 GPU was not blessed with the Ultra profile, and the RAM was not calculated correctly so the textures were basic AF. Shame.

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Almost all the money spent on a gaming PC goes into the CPU and the GPU (plus the other components required to mount, power and cool them) so without Zwift spending years and tens of billions of dollars on the R&D required to design, manufacture and market their own, the parts you’re looking for literally don’t exist at the price points mentioned in this thread.

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Delivering something that could do Ultra for “a couple hundred dollars” is… well. It’s ambitious, let’s call it that, given that higher-end gaming PCs struggle at times. Let alone trying to get people to buy it instead of a computer or a Shield or AppleTV or whatever.

There is no — none, zero, nada — business value to Zwift making a computer. They exist.

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It’ll be interesting to see what Zwift come out with for their smart bike. I expect they’ll come out with an offering similar to Peloton offering an Android tablet bundled with it (at least as an option) so as to provide something more integrated.

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It’s pretty easy* to knock one together for that price with a mix of new and used parts, it only requires a GTX 960 and I recently built several for around $300. Was obviously cheaper last year… :confused: 4K needs a step up in GPU, but it’s still not nearly as much as most people expect - a GTX 1060 is fine so nowhere near the $1000 mentioned further up. The much more difficult factor is the CPU; to maintain 60fps in Zwift at all times requires a very strong/fast/modern processor due to how the frame rate tanks when there are loads of other riders around - this is commonly attributed to the shadows and Makuri Islands seems particularly bad for it.

But yeah, there’s literally no chance of there being a dedicated system offered by Zwift aside from the [almost certainly Android] tablet type device which would be on any smart bike. That won’t be Ultra either, it’s simply not possible unless they’re doing something magical with it.

*totally accept my definition of ‘easy’ isn’t the same for everyone, and this isn’t the same as buying something off the shelf.

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That is exactly why i am promoting a Zwift dedicated box, Dave… seems that you again, missed the point…:rofl:

I don’t understand your point then. You seem to want Zwift to produce a box capable of 4K ultra at 60fps at all times, for a quarter of the price of the physical components required to do so.

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There are several PC Brands that build a gaming PC for you.
Alienware (Dell), HP, Acer, Lenovo, just to name a few.
Also there are tons of NoName brands you can get a full built PC from.
You don’t need to build your PC yourself.

Why should Zwift start building PCs?

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So they can subsidise 75% of the cost. :wink:

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On eBay, the GTX960 4GB is going for $180+ at buy-it-now and auctions closing in the next few hours are at $172+. So there’s an arbitrage opportunity if someone can get a GTX 960 (4GB) with other parts of some value for $150 and then sell the 960 for $170+.

It looks like a seller’s market for new and used GPUs now.

Are there places to pick up a 960 or similar GPU as a part of a used $150 computer? Or is 4GB not needed for top Zwift performance anyway?

The 2GB versions cope fine with Zwift in 1440p. :+1: Fairly common under £100/$140 here in the UK.

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Still missing the point, Dave , but thank you, anyway, for your contributions :slight_smile:

I’ll bite.

So what sort of spec would you see such a box having, and what would be its RRP?

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Simple. An acceptable, reliable, visual representation of all that Zwift has created.
Does that sound unacceptable or unrealistic to you?
If it does, then complain to Zwift, and not to me :joy:
I would expect that the cost would be higher than an Apple TV …but far cheaper than a a gaming PC…

I think your point is:

and I would argue that Zwift already does this by supporting almost any platform out there (PC, Mac, Android, iPad, Apple TV) with a range of performance limitations.

The solution you have suggested, an inexpensive “Zwift box” that gets you the highest performance possible, seems to be impossible given the current market. I don’t think Zwift should waste time on that or even has the market power/influence to force pricing of computer parts to lower around the globe.

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That’s not a spec though. You need to define a spec and price it up.

Otherwise we could all fantasise about a 4K 60+fps Zwift box for $50.

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O that is easy:
Windows 10 CPU Core i5-9600K @ 3.70GHz GPU GeForce GTX 1060 6GB/PCIe/SSE2 RAM 16GB ANT+ communication protocol.

In a nice Zwift Box:

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Like many others here I’ve built an inexpensive windows 10 PC.

Works out cheaper than Apple TV, doesn’t have any BT/Ant+ limitations and can be upgraded to a certain extent.

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