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Steiger Dynamics Maven Pure Custom PC Review: Game In Silence
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1. A Spark Of Brilliance

Have you ever asked yourself why you need so many boxes in your living room? The cable box, the DVR, the gaming console, the Blu-ray player, the little silent-but-weak PC substitute that checks your Facebook page or Twitter feed—you don’t need all of that, right? Cable companies have gotten on-board with video recorders the size of small PCs, and console makers include Blu-ray drives. And then you can always retreat to your desk for PC gaming, right?

I’ve always said that a home theater PC should be able to do everything all of those other devices do, and faced strong push-back for it from those who think set-top boxes only need to play back media, silently. That a media PC should be limited in order to assure complete silence. That even a few decibels of noise audible in a quiet room is too much. Rather than continue arguing, I ditched the plans I had for covering living room entertainment, put away my own HTPC, and kept on writing reviews of more traditional desktop-class hardware.

Maybe I gave up too easily? Steiger Dynamics figured out that a strong message reaches beyond the silent movement's din (irony?) and into the hearts of true performance geeks. Here we have a machine that gives the impression of silence, relying on the logic that most people either can’t or have great difficulty discerning sound pressure levels lower than 16 decibels in natural environments.

Configurable Components
CPUIntel Core i5-4690K: 3.5-3.9 GHz, Four Cores, 6 MB Shared L3 Cache
DRAMCorsair CMZ16GX3M4X1866C9: DDR3-1866, C9
GraphicsEVGA 02G-P4-2771-KR GeForce GTX 770 2 GB
System Drive2x Kingston HyperX 3K SH103S3/120G in RAID 0
Storage DriveWD Red WD30EFRX 3 TB, 5400 RPM, 64 MB Cache
Optical DrivePanasonic UJ265: 6x BD-R, 8x DVD±R
MotherboardAsus Z97-AR: LGA 1150, Intel Z97 Express
ChassisSteiger Dynamics Maven
CPU CoolerCorsair H60 (CW-9060007-WW) Closed-Loop Liquid
Power SupplySeasonic SS-660XP2: 660 W Modular, 80 PLUS Platinum
Chassis Features
Expansion SlotsSeven
Internal Bays3x 3.5", 2x 2.5"
External Bay1x Slim/Slot-loading ODD
Power BayPS/2
Front Panel I/O2x USB 3.0, Headphone, Microphone, SD Card Interface
Fans2x 92 mm Intake (side), 1x 140/120 mm Exhaust (top)
Motherboard Features
External Peripheral4x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0
External Audio5x Analog, Digital Optical
External VideoDisplayPort, HDMI
Internal Ports6x SATA 6Gb/s (Shares SATA-E, M.2), 2x USB 3.0, 6x USB 2.0
Internal Slots2x PCIe 3.0 (16+0 or 8+8 paths), 1x PCIe x2 (long), 2x PCIe x1 (Shares M.2)
Maximum Memory4x DDR3-1333 to DDR3-3200 (all standard capacities)
Gigabit EthernetIntel I218V PHY
Wireless NetworkGigabyte GC-WB867D-I: Intel 7260 802.11ac / BT 4.0 combo
Audio ControllerRealtek ALC892 DAC, 7.1+ 2 channels rear/front, DTS Connect
Other Features
Dimensions7.0" (H), 17.1" (W), 15.8" (D), 26.9 Pounds
WarrantyTwo-year parts replacement, 45-day free shipping, lifetime tech support
Optional three-year parts, three-years free shipping, lifetime tech (add $199)
Additional ServicesOverclocking (4.3 GHz at 1.17 V) $49
Custom single sleeved power supply / drive cables and management $99
SoftwareMicrosoft Windows 8.1 Pro OEM ($110)
CyberLink PowerDVD 14 Ultra ($59)

The price for this machine is only $330 over the self-built option, with us using the closest-matching $400 OrigenAE case. If you subtract the $49 overclock fee and $99 cable service, Steiger only has about $189 in mark-up. And even if we deduct another $80 for the LED panel not present on the special Maven case, we’re still impressed by the value Steiger Dynamics offers the high-end PC market. But is the machine equally impressive?

2. Getting To Know The Maven Pure

With a thick face panel that wraps around the sides, Steiger Dynamics’ Maven chassis resembles the super-expensive S15V from OrigenAE, but with a smaller access panel and no digital display. Rather than hide the Blu-ray burner behind a door, Steiger Dynamics uses a slot-loading version.

The smaller panel hides a simplified connector set, with two USB 3.0 ports, headphone and microphone jacks, and an SD flash media interface.

The Maven chassis doesn’t have any rear-panel fan mounts, and instead has a 140/120 mm mount on its lid. This gives Steiger Dynamics more room for the super-quiet, closed-loop liquid cooler in our test configuration.

Note that the I/O panel port section represents Asus’ Z97-A. A recent switch to the similar Z97-AR helped Steiger Dynamics ditch the integrated VGA and DVI-D ports, while retaining the DisplayPort and HDMI outputs. The removed connectors are even less important to anyone who orders their system with a discrete graphics card, as shown.

Corsair’s H60 quietly cools Intel’s Core i5-4690K, EVGA’s GeForce GTX 770 pushes pixels quickly without much acoustic output, Seasonic’s Platinum Power SS-660XP2 feeds those devices at nary a whisper, and the entire assembly relies on high-efficiency components and reduced thermal output to retain low fan speeds.

Two Kingston HyperX 120 GB SSDs in RAID 0 offer exceptional performance noiselessly, while a 3 TB Western Digital Red drive provides NAS-oriented mechanical storage for user data. Super-thick panels keep most of the hard drive’s noise from being transferred out of the case, and foam padding on all large surfaces helps prevent it from being reflected out of the Maven’s vents.

3. Maven Pure Customizations

Every machine that Steiger Dynamics sells is a custom order, yet some are more customized than others. In the case of our Maven Pure Custom, that included a $49 CPU overclock service (4.30 GHz) to go with the manufacturer-overclocked graphics card and DDR3-1866 CAS 9 SDRAM.

The machine also comes with a cool little kit built into its soft foam packing.

Our configuration came with the power supply's bag and accompanying cable, along with a pair of white cloth gloves. It also included an 802.11ac/Bluetooth combo card, so Steiger Dynamics bundled the corresponding antennas.

A $15 add-in, the BlueRigger DVI-to-HDMI cable wasn’t tested, so we left if off the price sheet.

A three-ring binder includes a CD sheet with manufacturer-supplied driver discs, an owner’s guide, and a pouch for each component’s documentation.

Remaining leftover pieces from the case, motherboard, power supply, and graphics installation kits are found inside the accessories box.

Steiger Dynamics also sent along a CouchMaster Basic. Unfortunately, I don't have a suitably-photogenic couch. Shown above on one of its couches. To be fair, this $174 add-on was also untested and left out of our pricing calculations.

4. How We Tested Steiger Dynamics' Maven Pure Custom
Test Hardware Configurations
 Steiger Dynamics
Maven Pure Custom
System Builder Marathon
$1600 Performance PC
System Builder Marathon
$1200 Enthusiast PC
Processor
(Overclock)
Intel Core i7-4690K: 3.5-3.9 GHz, Four Physical Cores
O/C to 4.30 GHz, 1.17 V
Intel Core i7-4770K: 3.5 GHz-3.90 GHz, Four Physical Cores
O/C to 4.20 GHz, 1.29 V
Intel Core i5-4670K: 3.4-3.8 GHz, Four Physical Cores
O/C to 4.3 GHz, 1.285 V
Graphics
(Overclock)
EVGA GTX 770: 1085 MHz GPU, GDDR5-7000, no additional O/CPowerColor R9 290X: 1050 MHz GPU,  GDDR5-5400
O/C to 1100 MHz, GDDR5-6200
Powercolor R9 290: 975 MHz GPU, GDDR5-5000
O/C to 1100 MHz, GDDR5-5600
Memory
(Overclock)
16 GB Corsair DDR3-1866 CAS 9-10-9-27, 1.50 V, no O/C8 GB G.Skill DDR3-1866 CAS 8-9-9-24, O/C to DDR3-2133 CL 9-10-10-27, 1.60 V8 GB Team DDR3-1600 CAS 9-9-9-24, no O/C
Motherboard
(Overclock)
Asus Z97-A:
LGA 1150, Intel Z97 Express
Stock 100 MHz BCLK
Asus Z97-A:
LGA 1150, Intel Z97 Express
Stock 100 MHz BCLK
ASRock Z97 Pro3:
LGA 1150, Intel Z87 Express
Stock 100 MHz BCLK
CaseSteiger Dynamics MavenCM Storm Scout 2 AdvancedApevia X-Hermes
CPU CoolerCorsair H60 Closed-LiquidThermaltake NiC L32Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
Hard Drive2x Kingston HyperX 3K SH103S3/120G in RAID 0Samsung MZ-7TE250BW 250 GB SATA 6Gb/s SSDWestern Digital Blue WD10EZEX 1 TB, 7200 RPM, 64 MB Cache
PowerSeasonic SS-660XP2: 660 W Modular, 80 PLUS PlatinumRosewill  HIVE-750: 750 W Semi-Modular, 80 PLUS BronzeCorsair CX750: 750 W, 80 PLUS Bronze
Software
OSMicrosoft Windows 8 Pro x64Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64
GraphicsNvidia Forceware 340.52AMD Catalyst 14.4AMD Catalyst 14.4
ChipsetIntel INF 9.4.0.1026Intel INF 9.4.0.1026Intel INF 9.4.0.1026

Building for reduced noise does have a few drawbacks; the Maven Pure Custom’s GeForce GTX 770 has to face off against the Radeon R9 290X and 290 from our previous System Builder Marathon. It’s at least 20 decibels quieter than my $1600 machine though, and for those who don’t remember the significance, decibels are on a logarithmic scale.

Benchmark Configuration
3D Games
Battlefield 4Version 1.0.0.1, DirectX 11, 100-Sec. Fraps "Tashgar"
Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA, 4x AF, SSAO
Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 4x MSAA, 16x AF, HBAO
Grid 2Steam Version, In-Game Test
Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA
Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 8x AA
Metro: Last LightSteam version, Built-In Benchmark, "Frontline" Scene
Test Set 1: DX11, Med Quality, 4x AF, Low Blur, No SSAA, No Tesselation, No PhysX
Test Set 2: DX11, High Quality, 16x AF, Normal Blur, SSAA, Tesselation Normal, No PhysX
Far Cry 3V. 1.04, DirectX 11, 50-sec. Fraps "Amanaki Outpost"
Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA, Standard ATC, SSAO
Test Set 2: Ultra Quality, 4x MSAA, Enhanced ATC, HDAO
Adobe Creative Suite
Adobe After Effects CCVersion 12.0.0.404: Create Video which includes three streams, 210 Frames, Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously
Adobe Photoshop CCVersion 14.0 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates
Adobe Premiere Pro CCVersion 7.0.0 (342), 6.61 GB MXF Project to H.264 to H.264 Blu-ray, Output 1920x1080, Maximum Quality
Audio/Video Encoding
iTunesVersion 11.0.4.4 x64: Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minutes, default AAC format 
LAME MP3Version 3.98.3: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s)
HandBrake CLIVersion: 0.99: Video from Canon EOS 7D (1920x1080, 25 FPS) 1 Minutes 22 Seconds
Audio: PCM-S16, 48,000 Hz, two-channel, to Video: AVC1 Audio: AAC (High Profile)
TotalCode Studio 2.5Version: 2.5.0.10677: MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, two-channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV
Productivity
ABBYY FineReaderVersion 10.0.102.95: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages
Adobe Acrobat 11Version 11.0.0.379: Print PDF from 115 Page PowerPoint, 128-bit RC4 Encryption
Autodesk 3ds Max 2013Version 15.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080
BlenderVersion: 2.68A, Cycles Engine, Syntax blender -b thg.blend -f 1, 1920x1080, 8x Anti-Aliasing, Render THG.blend frame 1
Visual Studio 2010Version 10.0, Compile Google Chrome, Scripted
File Compression
WinZipVersion 18.0 Pro: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r"
WinRARVersion 5.0: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3"
7-ZipVersion 9.30 alpha (64-bit): THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5"
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
3DMark ProfessionalVersion: 1.2.250.0 (64-bit), Fire Strike Benchmark
PCMark 8Version: 1.0.0 x64, Full Test
SiSoftware SandraVersion 2014.02.20.10, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / Multimedia / Cryptography, Memory Bandwidth Benchmarks

5. Results: Synthetic Benchmarks

Ah, the GeForce GTX 770. Quiet, efficient, and simply mid-range next to more enthusiast-oriented graphics cards. Yet, this same part is probably necessary for Steiger Dynamics to reach its goal of ultimate low-noise performance. AMD's cards certainly aren't known for their acoustic conservatism.

The Maven Pure Custom blazes through PCMark, partly because of its RAID array and partly because of Steiger Dynamics' excellent overclock. The lack of Hyper-Threading can make a Core i5 easier to overclock than a Core i7, but I was still embarrassed by the excessive voltage it took to reach 4.3 GHz on my System Builder Marathon machine.

The Core i5 even performs well in Sandra’s CPU tests, which is why I’m happy that SiSoftware's synthetic suite isn’t used in our overall performance calculations.

The XMP defaults for the Maven Pure Custom’s DDR3-1866 C9 perform nearly as well as my own custom DDR3-2133 C9 overclocks.

6. Results: 3D Games

Ultra HD might be the next standard in super-quality home theater displays, but they're still relatively rare in our living rooms. Our System Builder Marathon machines are instead set up for extreme desktop gaming. Trendsetters might like 4K, however, 5760x1080 would look pretty awesome as well on a trio of 48” displays.

The Maven Pure Custom barely survives Battlefield 4 at Ultra quality and 4800x900, forcing anyone looking to run at even higher resolutions (like 3840x2160) to drop to Medium quality defaults. Our best machine reaches 5760x1080 at Ultra quality, but again leaves little room for a 4K upgrade.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, both of our noisier comparison machines appear to have enough power left to run Grid 2 at Ultra quality  and 4K. The Maven Pure Custom is probably tapped-out at 5760x1080, but remember what I said about a wall of huge 1080p displays?

Arma 3 hammers all three machines, though the Maven Pure Custom barely stays above 20 FPS at 4800x900 and Ultra quality. Though the noisy machines are faster, all three need to drop to lower quality presets before running smoothly at 3840x2160.

At Ultra quality, Far Cry 3 finally pushes the Maven Pure Custom down to 1080p. That machine might have enough potential to hit 4K at the game’s High Quality preset, but the comparison systems are our only somewhat-secure bet against the future of high-quality panels.

7. Results: Media Encoding And Creativity

The virtually-silent Maven Pure beats our conventional desktops in iTunes and LAME MP3 encoding. That's what you get when you can get single-threaded apps running quickly on one core.

The benefit of logical cores and added cache are apparent in HandBrake and TotalCode Studio as a performance match between the $1600 SBM machine’s stock CPU and the Maven Pure’s overclock.

Nvidia’s technology works a little better in Photoshop’s OpenCL-based filters, so the Maven Pure takes its lead.

Extra cache and Hyper-Threading are nice features for the $1600 PC to have in Adobe Premiere, but Acrobat’s single-threaded engine is far more clock rate-dependent.

8. Results: Productivity And File Compression

ABBYY FineReader, Blender, and 3ds Max are all optimized for threaded architectures, which is what our cheaply-built $1600 machine’s Core i7 offers. But the Maven Pure Custom still beats our Core i5-based $1200 gaming PC.

We’ve seen this type of result in Visual Studio before, but I've never been able to figure out the exact cause. In this case, it’s probably related to the RAID driver, as I believe former application-specific performance problems were also found on some “Intel Enterprise Storage”-loaded machines.

WinRAR and 7-Zip seem to think that the $1600 machine’s Core i7 is great, placing the Core i5-based Maven Pure and our own $1200 machine on-par. WinZip EZ breaks the back of our $1200 machine, and only its builder could tell you why.

9. Power, Heat And Noise

Moderating noise usually involves a combination of quiet case technology, large coolers, and low-speed fans. Steiger Dynamics tackles the fan issue using the knowledge that less power in means less heat to put out.

A low-voltage overclock helps the Maven Pure Custom demonstrate moderate power levels in spite of its high performance.

Large coolers help the Maven Pure Custom keep heat levels down in spite of its low fan speeds.

The combination of low power and high performance gives the Maven Pure Custom exceptional efficiency. But how quiet is this thing, really?

The Maven Pure Custom is so quiet that I had to measure its noise level from a fraction of a meter away! But what happened to the other machines?

Our System Builder Marathon tests don’t include noise because the authors don’t have matched equipment and environments, which means that our measurements wouldn’t be comparable. On the other hand, I do enough audio measurements to give a good estimate that my own Q2 System Builder Marathon $1600 machine was running in the low 30s and fighting in the mid-40s from one meter away. Because decibel levels are logarithmic, that means it has over 100 times the sound energy. And because of the way people hear, it also sounds over four times as loud.

One meter is an important distance to remember, since it’s the distance that many industries use as a baseline. Speakers are rated at 1 W/1 m. Fan noise is also usually rated at 1 m. Yet, three meters is also important because it’s roughly the industry-standard distance for large-screen TV viewing.

(UPDATE: At 35 dBA measured, my Q3 System Builder Marathon machine was quieter than my Q2 build.)

10. High-End Gaming Meets Silence

Targeting the living rooms of high-end gamers, the Maven Pure Custom we received from Steiger Dynamics produced a scant 8.8 decibels at three meters and full 3D load. That’s about as loud as your own heartbeat. Most people would need to be inside a noise chamber to hear it. I'm sure the silence snobs will still snub the machine for producing some noise. Any noise. I say let them go back to the Via C3 platforms they were lauding back in 2001.

Performance enthusiasts know the score. If you can’t hear it, the noise doesn’t matter. I personally fought the purists reading Tom's Hardware with the argument of near-silence back when I was just a reader. And now that I’m doing the reviews, I’m very happy to see that a major builder has picked up the gauntlet. At least now Steiger has an editor on its side.

I’d love to give this machine our ultimate Tom's Hardware Elite award, as its craftsmanship and performance-to-noise is unsurpassed by anything we’ve tested. The only problem is that I’d need to compare it to something in the same class for a more definitive conclusion.

Similarly, I think it deserves a Tom's Hardware Smart Buy award for being only a couple hundred dollars costlier than a home-built machine using similar components and software. However, I’d need a similar machine from another vendor to prove that this one is a better value.

And so the Maven Pure gets our Approved recognition, recognizing its quality and value. For those of you who love the concept but disagree with the award, Steiger Dynamics even gives you the blueprint. That must be worth something to the most die-hard do-it-yourselfers, right?