SFF.Network More Power for Less Money: Build Your Own Steam Machine

Image Credit – Valve
Article written by Christopher Moine, Senior Editor SFFN
 
Valve had a rough day yesterday. The Steam Machine came to market packing much less power than it should, and costing far more money than everyone  hoped. Admittedly, it’s not entirely Valve’s fault. The AI induced RAM and NAND crisis had a large part to play in the matter. Valve won’t say what they wanted to price the Steam Machine for originally, but $699 to $799 is what was originally rumored. Even at that price, with the specs it has, it wasn’t going to be an easy sell against established gaming consoles such as the PS5 and Xbox Series X; both of which can match the Steam Machine’s performance. The value of the Steam Machine was going to be in the freedom it gave users to decide how to use that...

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[hrh_ginsterbusch]

My build needs a Flex ATX PSU and I'm looking at an Enhance with twice as many watts as I need in the hope that it will be quiet...

If there is enough space, try HDPlex GaN 500. So far this one has been dead silent.

To recap: Either by accident or "intended design choice" the BIOS of my MSI board got reset when I replaced PSUs, so when I did a quick "does it at least post and does the GPU get detected?" the 7950X sat in default mode, so roughly on regular desktop boot up and about 5 - 10% CPU load it sat at about 150W all in? The only noise was coming from the fans and the AIO pump.

Still have to test proper load scenarios, but I gonna do this after I've set up a manual "Eco+" mode with roughly 120W cTDP. Will be posting my results in the main build thread, but could reply here whether and if I've noticed any PSU fan noise or coil whine during these tests

cu, w0lf.

 

[rfarmer]

I decided to do a Steam Machine build to see what I could come up with. I had most of the parts already which really kept the cost down. I had the CPU, motherboard and ram from my last upgrade. I have coolers, fans and SSDs. I wanted a SG13 since it is cube shaped and I found one on Performance PCs for $30 and only $45 with shipping. I got the 9060 XT off of ebay for $350 and the SF750 for $75 with no cables. I have a SF750 in my main rig with custom cables so I have a full set. Specs are:

Silverstone SG13
Intel i5 13600kf
Gigabyte z690i Aorus Ultra Plus
2 x 16GB (32GB) Silicon Power 3200MHz DDR4
AsRock RX 9060 XT Challenger 8GB
Corsair SF750 Platinum
Noctua NH-L12 GE
Noctua NH-A12x25 Chromax
120GB BPX Pro NVMe
2TB Crucial BX500

It actually games pretty decently, I'm impressed with that little 9060 XT. With some quality FSR and frame gen runs at 120 fps in most modern games. GPU stays under 70C and the CPU is 65-75C depending on the game.

I spent less than $500 for the new parts, existing parts were probably worth about $500 so I think I have about $1000 in it.

 

[hrh_ginsterbusch]

I decided to do a Steam Machine build to see what I could come up with. I had most of the parts already which really kept the cost down. I had the CPU, motherboard and ram from my last upgrade. I have coolers, fans and SSDs. I wanted a SG13 since it is cube shaped and I found one on Performance PCs for $30 and only $45 with shipping. I got the 9060 XT off of ebay for $350 and the SF750 for $75 with no cables. I have a SF750 in my main rig with custom cables so I have a full set. Specs are:

Silverstone SG13
Intel i5 13600kf
Gigabyte z690i Aorus Ultra Plus
2 x 16GB (32GB) Silicon Power 3200MHz DDR4
AsRock RX 9060 XT Challenger 8GB
Corsair SF750 Platinum
Noctua NH-L12 GE
Noctua NH-A12x25 Chromax
120GB BPX Pro NVMe
2TB Crucial BX500

It actually games pretty decently, I'm impressed with that little 9060 XT. With some quality FSR and frame gen runs at 120 fps in most modern games. GPU stays under 70C and the CPU is 65-75C depending on the game.

I spent less than $500 for the new parts, existing parts were probably worth about $500 so I think I have about $1000 in it.

Did you add some UV / PL to the 13600k? I've just cooked up something very similar, expect that its with an 13700k, and an RX 6800, which probably will be going into the S400 - so max cooler height is 67 mm.

cu, w0lf.

 

[rfarmer]

Did you add some UV / PL to the 13600k? I've just cooked up something very similar, expect that its with an 13700k, and an RX 6800, which probably will be going into the S400 - so max cooler height is 67 mm.

cu, w0lf.

Nope stock settings, temps were good so I didn't even mess with it.

 

[hrh_ginsterbusch]

Nope stock settings, temps were good so I didn't even mess with it.

Upgrade: "sth similar" actually is now: "something slightly more massive", as in: 270k plus