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http://techreport.com/discussion/25743/ ... ost=786502
Can you guys help ssidbroadcast select components to build a Steam Box?


The Steam Box should be a PC that can be placed in a living room entertainment center. The ginormous 41.7 liter Corsair Obsidian 350D case in the system guide doesn't fit.
$101 -10MIR Silverstone Grandia GD05 21.6 liter micro-ATX HTPC case


There are plenty of good Micro-ATX LGA1150 motherboards available. Let's pick one with no obsolete PCI slots. PCIe slots may be useful in the future. PCI slots haven't been needed in a gaming PC since 2008.
$105 ASRock Z87M Pro4
$106 MSI Z87M-G43
$123 Gigabyte GA-Z87MX-D3H
$123 ASRock Z87M Extreme4
$135 Asus Z87M-Plus
$168 Asus Gryphon Z87
$173 ASRock Z87M OC Formula
$203 -20MIR Gigabyte GA-G1.Sniper M5
$206 Asus Maximus VI Gene
$97½ MSI CSM-H87M-G43


We'll want a quad-core Haswell processor.
$200 Intel Core i5-4570 (3.2 GHz quad-core) with HSF
$240 Intel Core i5-4670K (3.4 GHz unlocked quad-core) with HSF


Do we need an aftermarket CPU cooler? Beware of the clearance issue with the back end of the 5¼" optical drive extending over the CPU socket in the Grandia GD05, limiting CPU cooler height to 70 mm when the drive is installed vs. 120 mm without. Here are two CPU coolers that will work with a standard 5¼" optical drive installed.
$46 Scythe SCBSK-2100 Big Shuriken 2.b (58mm tall)
$60 -5MIR Silverstone NT01-Pro + $7½ 80mm PWM fan


We're looking for 2x8 GiB of DDR3 memory that runs at PC3-12800 or faster with CAS 9 or less at 1.5 V or less. Ridiculous huge decorative DIMM heatsinks will not fit under the Big Shuriken 2 CPU cooler. The excellent low-profile Crucial Ballistix Sport VLP memory defaults to PC3-12800 and CAS 9 at 1.35 V but it includes an XMP profile to run at PC3-14900 and CAS 10.
$128 or $165 2x8 GiB PC3-12800 Crucial BLS8G3D1609ES2LX0 (low profile, DDR3-1600, CAS 9, 1.35 V)
$140 2x8 GiB PC3-12800 Mushkin 997069S (DDR3-1600, CAS 9, 1.5 V)


Valve currently recommends an NVidia GPU for the Steam Box OS (though AMD Radeons are reported to be supported). Ssidbroadcast didn't ask for a Windows gaming box, so we'll select an NVidia GPU. GeForce GTX760 delivers performance similar to Radeon R9-270X / HD7870GE for a 25-30% higher price. This is probably about the performance level that we need for gaming at 1080p. At 9½" long, the GeForce GTX760 will easily fit into the 11" available in the Grandia GD05.
GeForce GTX660Ti uses a less-crippled version of the NVidia GK104 GPU in the GTX760 but it has a crippled memory interface.
GeForce GTX770 / GTX680 has the full version of the GK104 GPU but some of those cards are over 11" long so we have to be careful about which one we choose.
$208 -35MIR ECS GTX660TIA-2GR5-WFM GeForce GTX660Ti 2GB
$247 -20MIR EVGA 02G-P4-3765-KR GeForce GTX760 2GB
$260 Zotac ZT-70406-10P GeForce GTX760 4GB
$336 Zotac ZT-70301-10P GeForce GTX770 2GB
$386 -20MIR PNY VCGGTX7704XPB-OC GeForce GTX770 4GB


We need a 0.5 TB or larger hard-drive.
$90 -10 code"NAFBSTS124" 2.0 TB Seagate ST2000DM001 HD
$130 -40 combo 2.0 TB Seagate ST2000DX001 SSHD


Do we want to be able to play any shiny discs? Some folks have used a laptop-style slim optical drive in the Grandia GD05 to allow room for a taller CPU heatsink.
$55 LG WH14NS40 Blu-ray burner (6½" / 165 mm deep)


Here are some decent power supplies that conform to the ATX depth standard of 5½". EPS12V units may be too deep in some compact cases. A PSU would have be more than 180 mm (7") deep to cause a problem in the Grandia GD05 but PSU depth is important in a case like the Antec NSK3480 or Silverstone Sugo SG08.
$44 SeaSonic SS-400ET (Bronze, 30 A @ +12 V)
$50 -20MIR Corsair CX500 (Bronze, 38 A @ +12 V)
$70 -5 code "EMCWVWT52" -20MIR Corsair CX600M (Bronze, Modular, 46 A @ +12 V)
$81 SeaSonic S12G-550 (Gold, 45 A @ +12 V)
$95 Antec EA-550 (Platinum, 43 A @ +12 V)

Oh lols...

ssidbroadcast wrote:

Oh lols...

You did say you wanted one.....

GO SSIDBROADCAST!

In honor of your handle, make sure there's built-in wifi on the motherboard!

Just FWIW I have that exact set of Ballistix Sport in my main rig running at PC12800 and the Corsair CX600M for a PSU. They all do awesome, rock solid. I also have two 1TB hard drives of that DM family. So far so good on those. If it wasn't gift-buying season I'd think about jumping on that 660Ti for $208 - that's quite a bit more GPU than I have for the right price. Solid recs from JAE.

ssidbroadcast wrote:

Oh lols...

You're welcome.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

ssidbroadcast wrote:

Oh lols...

You're welcome.

When you said we, I imagined you two were married.

Before we run wild picking out components, let's answer two questions:

1. How small do we want this?
2. How will this be used?

These, I think, are key to building a good Steam Machine. Size is important because the Grandia might be smaller than an Obsidian case, but we can get a lot smaller. A tiny mITX case is an option, and picking out integrated graphics might allow us to go even smaller.

But then we also need to know how this will be used. Are we targeting 1080p, or are we fine with 720p in games? Is this a fully capable Machine, or will it primarily be used to stream from one? What about other stuff? Do we need WiFi? Cable tuner?

superjawes wrote:

Before we run wild picking out components, let's answer two questions:
1. How small do we want this?
2. How will this be used?

Good questions.

1. Small enough to sit next to a PS4 and not seem ungainly or over-huge. Maybe something the size of an original Xbox and no larger.
2. Just Steam OS games connected to a 1080p 42" television. Discrete graphics desired.

ssidbroadcast wrote:

Good questions.

1. Small enough to sit next to a PS4 and not seem ungainly or over-huge. Maybe something the size of an original Xbox and no larger.
2. Just Steam OS games connected to a 1080p 42" television. Discrete graphics desired.

I think for the size, that GD05 might be a bit big. You might consider something like the mini-ITX ML05 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811163242). There's an ML06 (with a full aluminum fascia) coming, but it's not for sale yet anywhere I can find.

It's in the "7 liter" class, so it's small. But it DOES have space for a half-height discrete GPU. Alas, I think the 7750 is the best you can get that will fit. There's a half-height 650 from Zotac, but I think the HSF is just a bit wider than the space you've got next to the PSU for the 650 to fit. The 7750's not too bad, though, and better than any integrated GPUs.....

While inexpensive, I hear you almost have to go with the ST45SF (or ideally the modular version, SF45SF-G) PSU to fit.

Playstaton 4 is reported to be 275 mm (10.8") wide, 305 mm (12.0") deep and 53 mm (2.1") tall.
A TiVo Roamio Plus DVR is 16.5" (419 mm) wide, 9.7" (246 mm) deep and 2.4" (61 mm) tall.
A premium Blu-ray player is 430 mm (16.8") wide, 311 mm (12.2") deep and 79 mm (3.1") tall.
An inexpensive home theater receiver is 17.1" (435 mm) wide, 12.5" (318 mm) deep and 5.9" (149 mm) tall.
Grandia GD05 is 440 mm (17.3") wide, 325 mm (12.8") deep and 151 mm (5.9") tall.

Grandia GD05 has dimensions very similar to those of a home theater receiver.

If you go with a low profile case, you may be limited to a wimpy GeForce GT640 graphics card. That's okay for Plants vs. Zombies or Candy Crush, but it's not going to provide a great gaming experience for recent 3D games at 1080p. The slightly-slower graphics in my ultrabook can play Guild Wars 2 with all of the graphics options at minimum. At this performance level, I might start thinking about Radeon HD 8670D or Iris Pro 5200 in something like a Gigabyte Brix as an option.

Dear Motherboard Designers,

Please develop mATX90, a mATX motherboard with a 90 degree angle between the plane for the CPU socket and PCI slots. You'll have to flip which side the PCI slots extrude from, but we only need one PCIe x16 for a sound card and one PCIe x1 for a sound card.

Sincerely,
-System Builders Anonymous

Haswell RAM speed sweet spot is 1866MHz, not 1600

Or...you know...you can just use an x16 riser card, as seen in This Steam Machine Teardown.

That makes it best for mITX (you'd need a little 3-dimensional thinking to get two 90 degree turns), but to be honest I hadn't even thought that "risers" might already exist.

My parents had an old Acer desktop many moons ago that had PCI risers so it could fit two PCI slots in a slim desktop enclosure. Too bad the rest of the computer wasn't great.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

The Steam Box should be a PC that can be placed in a living room entertainment center.

The Steam Box should be placed in a location that has adequate airflow.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

The ginormous 41.7 liter Corsair Obsidian 350D case in the system guide doesn't fit.

The 350D is not "ginormous". I've got an 85 litre Corsair 700D that fits nicely into my entertainment setup. It's very quiet even though has two X5650's to deal with.

End User wrote:

The 41.7-liter micro-ATX Corsair Obsidian 350D is not "ginormous".

The Obsidian case is almost twice as big as the 21.6-liter micro-ATX Grandia GD05 case that I recommended.
Compare it to the 23.0-liter micro-ATX Silverstone Sugo SG10. The Obsidian case takes up 81% more space.
Compare it to the 35.6-liter ATX Rosewill Line Glow. The Obsidian case takes up 17% more space but has 43% fewer slots.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

End User wrote:

The 41.7-liter micro-ATX Corsair Obsidian 350D is not "ginormous".

Compare it to the 23.0-liter micro-ATX Silverstone Sugo SG10. The Obsidian case takes up 81% more space.
Compare it to the 35.6-liter ATX Rosewill Line Glow. The Obsidian case takes up 17% more space but has 43% fewer slots.

If I cared to compare I'd compare it to my 1.36 litre HTPC and then I'd have to say that case/GPU/motherboard manufacturers have a long way to go.

Hopefully manufacturers will be inspired by the new Mac Pros packaging.

End User wrote:

JustAnEngineer wrote:

The Steam Box should be a PC that can be placed in a living room entertainment center.

The Steam Box should be placed in a location that has adequate airflow.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

The ginormous 41.7 liter Corsair Obsidian 350D case in the system guide doesn't fit.

The 350D is not "ginormous". I've got an 85 litre Corsair 700D that fits nicely into my entertainment setup. It's very quiet even though has two X5650's to deal with.

If you have two X5650s in your home entertainment center, I'd suggest you're doing something wrong.