Steam Machine under $1200

fugit · Aug 19, 2014

Looking to build my own steam box. My goal is to have a small formfactor machine for the living room that is not to load and around $1000 give or take $200

Currently I am looking at:

Zotac E Series for Gaming, Intel Core i5 4200U, GeForce GTX 860M
http://amzn.to/1BxV8Vt

ASRock VisionX 420D
http://bit.ly/Yuo2qA

MAINGEAR’s SPARK is an Ultra Small Form Factor Gaming PC
http://bit.ly/1tkrRrU

I have filled most of them with 16GB of ram a ~500GB SSD and ~2TB Spinning disk.

Please let me know what you think the best option is for any of the above or another solution. Key needs are small form factor and not to loud.

I hope to play DOTA 2, indie games and Witcher 3.

Thanks.

legend001523 · Aug 19, 2014

Why not build your own micro atx? Bit bigger but better

burdenbound · Aug 19, 2014

I would definitely build my own in a mini or micro atx case, the options you have listed above will not get you the performance you want and you have really have no room to upgrade in the future meaning you will need to buy a new system a couple years from now.

With a budget of 1k to 1.2k you can make a really nice system that will last a long time.

fugit · Aug 19, 2014

It is an option but I do need it to stay around the size of a console and in the past some of the small cases were not great to work with. I'm open to suggestions, small and quite are the main needs.

13thmonkey · Aug 19, 2014

how small? you could get an M350 case a pico PSU and a power brick and build it yourself from a mini-itx mobo It'll be maintainable too. That would be as small as most of those but you'd have complete control over it, you'd need a T series Intel processor which has a lower tdp and a lower profile fan, you could go after market on the fan and get a normal cpu though. That would mean staying away from the U series which are very low powered. I've built one with a 3200T can't hear the CPU, only the HDD.

Or if you can go bigger then there are amplifier sized PC cases that can hold full sized GPU's hence giving it some actual power to game with.

13thmonkey · Aug 19, 2014

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=m350&espv=2&tbm=isch&imgil=WxE2yhsQI3VUvM%253A%253BX0JwrPKgSuWWqM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fresources.mini-box.com%25252Fonline%25252FM350%25252F&source=iu&usg=__nOFvLuupCZOjt1oYS1_y4w5nGSE%3D&sa=X&ei=IW_zU9buDs2FhQfbmYCwCA&ved=0CEMQ9QEwAw&biw=1366&bih=677#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=WxE2yhsQI3VUvM%253A%3BX0JwrPKgSuWWqM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fresources.mini-box.com%252Fonline%252FM350%252Fimages%252Fback.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fresources.mini-box.com%252Fonline%252FM350%252F%3B640%3B487 M350 case - nice to work with

Prodigy is well worth a look.

13thmonkey · Aug 19, 2014

To my mind if this is a gaming build of any kind then you'll have to be able to get a decent sized gpu in their else you'll regret it when it goes to performance

fugit · Aug 19, 2014

Thanks for your response.

It seems that everyone agrees I should get a case that will fit a GPU. I used to have a mythbox in a cooler master HTC case, but I eventually ditched it for a Raspberry PI version

.

I started looking at htc cases and suggestions for the following could be helpful:
CASE: HTC Case full GPU(Cooler Master Elite 110? )or low profile GPU (LIAN LI Black Aluminum PC-C37B?)
GPU: Suggestions for ones that are quite and maybe low profile(if that is a reasonable option).
CPU: Suggestions for the micro ATX
MB: Suggestions for Mother Board

I've been happy with LIan Li cases and CoolMaster in the past.

I did some research on Tom's before posting, but now it looks like I should be going micro ATX I can look for that asl well.

Thanks for everyone's response and let me know if you think I should start a new post or just continue with this one.

burdenbound :

13thmonkey · Aug 19, 2014

mini itx would work just as well, only limitation would be single GPU.

some very nice mini-itx cases out there now.

Au_equus · Aug 19, 2014

Look into the Silverstone rvz-01. It can fit gpu's upto 13" long in a box 4.13" tall (WxD 15.04"x 13.78"). this case can only take an SFX psu (though it can be modded for a full ATX) to which the highest is 450W, but there's a 600W on the horizon.

fugit · Aug 19, 2014

Thanks for the case suggestion. I hope to spend some time tonight looking at a couple different case options that can fit my needs and then start trying to pick some other components.

Thanks,
Keith.

Au_equus :

13thmonkey · Aug 19, 2014

FYI witcher 3 is going to be a nightmare on systems if Witcher 2 is anything to go by.

fugit · Aug 19, 2014

I'm pretty excited they are releasing it for linux. I payed witcher 2 on PS and the original on a laptop

So hopefully this will be much nicer.

13thmonkey :

fugit · Aug 20, 2014

Someone had a nice build at pcpartpicker for a cool master 130 that looked good to me.
https://pcpartpicker.com/b/bFWZxr

I took that and made a single change, hopefully for the better maybe for the worse:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/FdFyHx

I looked into changing the Mobo, gpu, case, cpu cooler and ended up only changing the gpu. I wasn't sure if fan with a heat sink might be better than the Cool Master AIO water cooler. Also wasn't sure if there were better PSU or other options.

The case doesn't fit in the 6" section in under my TV but I can try to find a place for it that is not inside a cabinet. Couldn't find a case that was under 6" and could take a full size card.

Thanks for everyone's responses.

13thmonkey · Aug 20, 2014

ditch an ssd and get a better gpu.

fugit · Aug 20, 2014

I'm getting close to a final parts list.

Below is what I have its coming in over 1200 but just a bit. One thing I'm not used to is ordering parts from a lot of different vendors but the price difference is pretty big. I wish they had pcpartpicker back when I was building machines every 2 hears

Below is the link to the build:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/V9ZDQ7

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($299.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 120M 86.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($118.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 4GB Dual FTW ACX Video Card ($289.99 @ Micro Center)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 660W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1293.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-20 20:44 EDT-0400

I'm open to any suggested changes or ideas. This will be my first build in over 8 years.

burdenbound · Aug 21, 2014

For what you are trying to do I would grab an intel i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and an R9 280x (Same price as the 760 you have chosen but way better performance). You will end up with an overall better performing machine for less money.

fugit · Aug 21, 2014

Thanks for your reply, I'm going to look into the R9 280x card and an i5 processor. Thanks.

burdenbound :

Rammy · Aug 21, 2014

fugit :

I'm with burdenbound (to a point) - quite a few things are either excessive or unnecessary for the task.
i7 doesn't make much sense over an i5 for gaming in general.
Z97 (chipset) adds basically just overclocking at ITX level, it's likely you don't need one if your CPU has a locked multiplier.
Similarly, any after market cooler on a stock clocked CPU is potentially wasteful. It'll help temps and there's not a huge selection if you use the Elite 130, but you'd probably get along fine with the stock cooler and it's perhaps worth giving a go.
16Gb of ram is probably excessive for a gaming machine.
There's a lot of storage. This is fine if you can use it, and both of the items you have picked are reasonably priced, but that's an awful lot of games/saves installed at the same time.
PSU is excessive in cost and capacity. There's not much benefit to 80Plus Platinum unless you run thousands of watts 24/7, you'd be better served with a 500-550W 80+Bronze unit of similar quality (you could go for 80Plus Gold as a middle ground).
Video card is poor value, as are all 4GB GTX760s, as they end up too close in price to GTX770s which will destroy them, regardless of the extra VRam the GTX760 has. As was mentioned, the R9 280 and 280X are likely to be better value than the GTX760, but if you prefer Nvidia for some reason (G-sync, PhysX, whatever) then I'd pick between the 2Gb GTX760s and 2Gb GTX770s.

fugit · Aug 21, 2014

Thanks for the insightful feed back.
I will work to redo the build with all of these points in mind. I will drop the water cooler and switch to an i5 with 8GB and a different power supply. I would like the power supply to be modular.

Thank you for providing some additional video card options as well. I hope to have a new build up today.

Thanks everyone is is responding this has been a tremendous help.

Rammy :

fugit :

I'm with burdenbound (to a point) - quite a few things are either excessive or unnecessary for the task.
i7 doesn't make much sense over an i5 for gaming in general.
Z97 (chipset) adds basically just overclocking at ITX level, it's likely you don't need one if your CPU has a locked multiplier.
Similarly, any after market cooler on a stock clocked CPU is potentially wasteful. It'll help temps and there's not a huge selection if you use the Elite 130, but you'd probably get along fine with the stock cooler and it's perhaps worth giving a go.
16Gb of ram is probably excessive for a gaming machine.
There's a lot of storage. This is fine if you can use it, and both of the items you have picked are reasonably priced, but that's an awful lot of games/saves installed at the same time.
PSU is excessive in cost and capacity. There's not much benefit to 80Plus Platinum unless you run thousands of watts 24/7, you'd be better served with a 500-550W 80+Bronze unit of similar quality (you could go for 80Plus Gold as a middle ground).
Video card is poor value, as are all 4GB GTX760s, as they end up too close in price to GTX770s which will destroy them, regardless of the extra VRam the GTX760 has. As was mentioned, the R9 280 and 280X are likely to be better value than the GTX760, but if you prefer Nvidia for some reason (G-sync, PhysX, whatever) then I'd pick between the 2Gb GTX760s and 2Gb GTX770s.

fugit · Aug 22, 2014

An interesting article on GPU on linux for 4k gaming
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia_4k_linuxgaming&num=1

I'm leaning toward an Nvidia card but following the advice of other posts and lowering to a 5i chip lowering the ram and looking into a different Power Supply.

fugit · Aug 22, 2014

Here is my latest attempt. Let me know what you guys think.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/fugit/saved/7BJgXL

Rammy · Aug 22, 2014

fugit :

It more or less confirms the Windows consensus too - the tech isn't really here for 4K just yet. Most of those benchmarks are relatively lightweight. The Unigine Valley demo is more representative of high end modern games and you can see how easily it cripples even super high end cards. If you were thinking about 4K gaming I'd avoid it until it becomes more economically and practically viable - 1440/1600P is much more achievable.

fugit :

It's much more gaming focused thanks to a much more powerful graphics card. It's fine, definitely a model I'd buy, but I'd also be tempted by the $30 cheaper Asus.
The PSU would normally be excessive (both in cost+wattage) but at that price it's a bit of a steal for what is a pretty excellent unit. The 80Plus Platinum won't do much for you really, so it's not worth paying for, but that price is about right for a ~550W 80Plus Gold model so it's a decent deal.
You shouldn't need an "S" model, just get a standard i5. I'd suggest going for a 4430/4440/4460 as they are the best bang/buck i5s.
As you aren't overclocking, the Z97 board is basically pointless - not only that because it's a cheaper Z97 board it actually misses various features of the 90-series chipsets. The Asus H97I-Plus for example has an M.2 slot and is cheaper.
The cooler is kinda a waste on a stock clock CPU (especially if you stick with a lower wattage one). It's quite a lot of money for something you don't really need.

fugit · Aug 23, 2014

Thanks for your detailed reply Rammy,

Here is the latest build I feel like this might be it or really close:
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/fugit/saved/4CVmP6

I looked into getting the MSI H97I AC or the Asus but decided I like the M.2 slot you pointed out. Anything with out display port was out. It would have been nice to have a/c wifi but think the asus is a good choice.

Thanks everyone for all their responses and help.

Rammy :

fugit :

It more or less confirms the Windows consensus too - the tech isn't really here for 4K just yet. Most of those benchmarks are relatively lightweight. The Unigine Valley demo is more representative of high end modern games and you can see how easily it cripples even super high end cards. If you were thinking about 4K gaming I'd avoid it until it becomes more economically and practically viable - 1440/1600P is much more achievable.

fugit :

It's much more gaming focused thanks to a much more powerful graphics card. It's fine, definitely a model I'd buy, but I'd also be tempted by the $30 cheaper Asus.
The PSU would normally be excessive (both in cost+wattage) but at that price it's a bit of a steal for what is a pretty excellent unit. The 80Plus Platinum won't do much for you really, so it's not worth paying for, but that price is about right for a ~550W 80Plus Gold model so it's a decent deal.
You shouldn't need an "S" model, just get a standard i5. I'd suggest going for a 4430/4440/4460 as they are the best bang/buck i5s.
As you aren't overclocking, the Z97 board is basically pointless - not only that because it's a cheaper Z97 board it actually misses various features of the 90-series chipsets. The Asus H97I-Plus for example has an M.2 slot and is cheaper.
The cooler is kinda a waste on a stock clock CPU (especially if you stick with a lower wattage one). It's quite a lot of money for something you don't really need.

13thmonkey · Aug 23, 2014

can you get a seasonic instead of that rosewill?

Steam Machine under $1200

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