If Xi3’s Piston is any indication, PC-based game consoles that run Steam and other services won’t come cheap.

The Piston, a modular gaming PC that’s small enough to hold in your hand, will cost $1000 and up when it ships near the end of this year. Xi3 is now taking pre-orders on its Website, with a $100 discount on all configurations for anyone who orders by March 17.

The base configuration includes a 3.2 GHz quad-core processor (Engadget says it’s an AMD A10), 8GB of RAM, and a 128 GB solid state drive. A 256 GB solid state drive costs another $340, and a 512 GB drive costs $750 extra. The Piston prototype we saw in January included 12 USB ports, Gigabit Ethernet, 2 mini-DisplayPort connectors, and an HDMI/DisplayPort combination jack.

Xi3 revealed the Piston during CES in January, but didn’t provide many specifics. The device has been referred to as a “Steam box,” because Valve, maker of the Steam PC gaming service, has invested in Xi3 to help bring the Piston to market.

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