I am creating this blog to document my process of building a budget "Steam Machine" in 2014 to match or surpass the power of the current "next-gen" living room gaming consoles. I am including info and pictures for my pre-production, production, and post-production experiences.
PRE-PRODUCTION
I had a few requirements that I wanted to meet with this build. First, it had to handle all of my media needs. I wanted to ditch my PS3, which has been my media machine for the last 4 years. Second, it had to be able to handle newer games at 1080p at around 60FPS on higher quality settings. I don't mind sacrificing some additional graphic setting such as "god rays" to get more frames per second. Finally, it had to be small and around $500 at the end of the day. I wanted something different than the gaming PC I already own. It was going to be fully funded by money earned in the Team Fortress 2 economy!
Yay for hats.
After researching mini-ITX builds and reading dozens of reviews, I had finally pieced together my parts list. After a $20 mail in rebate, I was $38 over budget. Not bad at all! Here is my selection:
CASE: COOLER MASTER ELITE 110 - $49.99
I went with the Cooler Master Elite 110 because of it's size. It is crazy small - almost a cube. I pictured it sitting in the cabinet under my HDTV. It would be a perfect match for any living room.
Here is a picture I took of the case next to an apple so you could see the scale. All of it's front panel ports are on the front left side. Power button is on the front panel. It has one large case fan in the front. Mainly made of metal.
MOBO: ASROCK H61MVITX - $49.99
A case as small as the Elite 110 requires a motherboard just as small. This was my first time looking into a size other than the standard ATX motherboard. There was not much to chose from on Newegg that fit my budget, but the H61MV seemed to meet my needs and had a handful of positive reviews to back it.
CPU: INTEL I3 3220 - $114.99 My budget wouldn't allow for an i5, so I found the i3 3220 for what looked like a decent price. I think there was a newer i3, but it was a little bit more at the time. I was trying to stick to budget though, so it was not an option. Since I planned on buying a dedicated GPU, I wasn't too worried about a lack of power in the CPU when it came to gaming.
MEMORY: G. SKILL SNIPER 8GB - $69.29
Probably one of the more depressing experiences was the lack of affordable memory. Less than 2 years ago, I bought a G. Skill 32GB pack of RAM for $130 on Newegg. At current prices, that would only get me 16GB of RAM. I missed some good 8GB sales leading up to my day of purchasing, but it wasn't that big of a deal. I used a Newegg promo code and had a few bucks knocked off my RAM investment.
STORAGE: WD 1TB BLUE - $59.99
I have plenty of spare hard drives laying around, but I felt that would take away from the experience of building a tiny system from scratch. I decided that its probably best to double whatever the "next-gen" systems have in terms of space. After all, this thing will have a ton of media and games on it and may eventually be streaming from a NAS if I ever decide to put an SSD inside of it and ditch the HDD. I have always bought Western Digital drives and rarely
have problems...except for that one time...
PSU: CORSAIR CX500 - $39.99 AFTER REBATE
With great parts comes the need for great power. I actually screwed up and went a little overkill. I could have gotten away with something less powerful, but most of the power supplies on Newegg were very similar in price. If I had the extra cash, I would have went with a modular PSU since this thing was just going to be a pain in the ass while building. Oh well.
GPU: EVGA GTX 750 TI - $149.99
The announcement of the 750 TI was basically the spark that made me decide it was time to build an HTPC. It was the last piece of the puzzle to arrive because it was always out of stock. I got lucky and picked up the standard version from NCIX with free shipping. Enjoy my cute macro shots of the 750 TI!
CONCLUSION
CASE: COOLER MASTER ELITE 110 - $49.99
I went with the Cooler Master Elite 110 because of it's size. It is crazy small - almost a cube. I pictured it sitting in the cabinet under my HDTV. It would be a perfect match for any living room.
MOBO: ASROCK H61MVITX - $49.99
A case as small as the Elite 110 requires a motherboard just as small. This was my first time looking into a size other than the standard ATX motherboard. There was not much to chose from on Newegg that fit my budget, but the H61MV seemed to meet my needs and had a handful of positive reviews to back it.
CPU: INTEL I3 3220 - $114.99 My budget wouldn't allow for an i5, so I found the i3 3220 for what looked like a decent price. I think there was a newer i3, but it was a little bit more at the time. I was trying to stick to budget though, so it was not an option. Since I planned on buying a dedicated GPU, I wasn't too worried about a lack of power in the CPU when it came to gaming.
MEMORY: G. SKILL SNIPER 8GB - $69.29
Probably one of the more depressing experiences was the lack of affordable memory. Less than 2 years ago, I bought a G. Skill 32GB pack of RAM for $130 on Newegg. At current prices, that would only get me 16GB of RAM. I missed some good 8GB sales leading up to my day of purchasing, but it wasn't that big of a deal. I used a Newegg promo code and had a few bucks knocked off my RAM investment.
STORAGE: WD 1TB BLUE - $59.99
I have plenty of spare hard drives laying around, but I felt that would take away from the experience of building a tiny system from scratch. I decided that its probably best to double whatever the "next-gen" systems have in terms of space. After all, this thing will have a ton of media and games on it and may eventually be streaming from a NAS if I ever decide to put an SSD inside of it and ditch the HDD. I have always bought Western Digital drives and rarely
have problems...except for that one time...
PSU: CORSAIR CX500 - $39.99 AFTER REBATE
With great parts comes the need for great power. I actually screwed up and went a little overkill. I could have gotten away with something less powerful, but most of the power supplies on Newegg were very similar in price. If I had the extra cash, I would have went with a modular PSU since this thing was just going to be a pain in the ass while building. Oh well.
GPU: EVGA GTX 750 TI - $149.99
The announcement of the 750 TI was basically the spark that made me decide it was time to build an HTPC. It was the last piece of the puzzle to arrive because it was always out of stock. I got lucky and picked up the standard version from NCIX with free shipping. Enjoy my cute macro shots of the 750 TI!
CONCLUSION
I was able to grab all the parts except for the GPU from Newegg. I was only charged $3.99 for shipping when I ordered the case - everything else was free. I had to hunt around for the GPU because it was always sold out. I ended up finding it on NCIX with free shipping. I got all the parts one by one because I tried to take my time researching each component before buying. All of the parts sat next to my desk at work until the final piece arrived. Game time!
I had to disable the music in the game because YouTube complained about it being owned by Warner Brothers. How silly is that? I wish I was far into the game where his suit is all fucked up and shit. I bet that would have looked nice. I have no idea how to play this game so I just mashed buttons. It seemed like intense fighting scenes were at a steady 40 FPS while exploring the city alone was around 50 FPS.
PRODUCTION
I
wanted to document the process as best as I could, so I set up a spot
in one of the larger rooms at work to put the machine together. I took
pictures of each step. Here we go:
Case Preparations - I only had to take the shell off and install 4 standoffs and rear plate.
Ultra Preset - 47.7 FPS
Batman Arkham Origins
Throughout the video, the frame rate jumps around the mid 40s and 50s during the more intense scenes. When there were less people, it broke 60 FPS and sometimes 70. As more people died on screen, more frames seemed to be gained. I felt complete fluidity throughout my whole run and it looked crazy good on screen. I think If I dumbed down some of the "fancy" settings like reflection and depth of field, I could have gained a handful of frames to help even out the results.
TOMB RAIDER
Probably not a good example from Tomb Raider since nothing happens but you can at least see how nice it looks. I am guessing the FPS may be in the 40s and 50s during more chaotic scenes with these settings. It looks really nice on my shitty HDTV too.
BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS
CPU - Used to be scary but now it's a piece of cake.
Drop it in, close it up and you are on your way.
Drop it in, close it up and you are on your way.
CPU Cooler - First time installing a stock cooler.
Real nice after having to install a Hyper 212 on my normal machine...
RAM - Self explanatory...
Case Preparations - I only had to take the shell off and install 4 standoffs and rear plate.
Motherboard dropped right into place and secured to the standoffs!
GPU - Had to wiggle it a bit to get it in but it eventually was locked into place.
PSU - Very sad that it was not modular but I needed to stick to budget.
I managed to hide most of the unused cables.
Connections - Since the motherboard didn't support USB 3.0, that portion of the front panel
connector was pushed to the side. I had a hard time getting my fat hands into the tiny case
to plug the audio in, but it ended up alright. It took some time to get the 24 pin power secured
into the motherboard. My finger tips were beat to shit after that part...
HDD - The case can fit a few normal HDDs or SSDs. I only have one HDD so I mounted
it upside down on the bracket that was provided with the case. Tight squeeze but I can manage.
Finalization - I had to bend some cables in so the metal shell could fit on.
It only takes 4 screws on the back to hold it all together.
Notes - Probably easier to build a machine this small if your hands are not as large as mine. Also, a modular PSU would be a great help if your budget allows for it. It would have been cool to have a motherboard that made use of the case's USB 3.0 connectors, but in the end it isn't really something I would need because this is going to be for media and gaming. The whole thing is pretty heavy for being so small, but it doesn't get moved around a whole lot. I can't really hear the case fan or CPU fan unless I put my ear up to it. I believe the loudest thing in this system is the HDD. It has the normal hum, but it also seems to vibrate the bracket and case a little. Right now, it sits under the TV with a closed glass door. You can't hear it at all from the couch so it isn't a real problem. Overall, it was pretty fun to put together!
POST-PRODUCTION
Since there is no optical disk drive, I used a USB to install a copy of Windows 8.1. I have been using Windows 7 for the last few years on my other computers but figured this would be a fun tim to try out the tile interface of Windows 8.1. Little did I know, the tile interface was kind of annoying. Even when switching to the normal desktop interface, things seemed too different. I didn't feel like getting used to it so I just put Windows 7 on it and called it a day.
Once the drivers were all set, I installed Steam and authorized my account. I then installed XBMC to handle my media and games. I played with XBMC a little on my normal computer so I could get used to it before setting up the new HTPC. It is pretty self explanatory. I installed it, put the program in my "start up" folder, and then added Steam to it's interface. I switched the "shutdown" option in XBMC to "sleep". I can wake up or turn off the machine with my wireless Xbox 360 controller - right into XBMC without really seeing the Windows desktop (or needing a kb/m). From XBMC, I can jump into Steam Big Picture Mode and play/install games. If I leave Steam BPM, it jumps back into XBMC. It all works pretty smoothly. I have a Logitech wireless keyboard and trackpad that I got off Amazon for $23 which I use in case any typing is required. I am really bad with the SBPM daisy typing thing.
With everything set up, I plopped the little guy in his new home. Since most of the peripherals are wireless, there are only 3 cables coming out of the machine. Power goes to the wall. Ethernet goes to a switch in the other room. HDMI goes to the TV that is sitting above. Simple.
Benchmarks And Gameplay
I was very eager to see how the 750 TI handled the newer games that live in my Steam library. But first, I wanted to run 3Dmark and see how it handled Firestrike 1.1:
Once the drivers were all set, I installed Steam and authorized my account. I then installed XBMC to handle my media and games. I played with XBMC a little on my normal computer so I could get used to it before setting up the new HTPC. It is pretty self explanatory. I installed it, put the program in my "start up" folder, and then added Steam to it's interface. I switched the "shutdown" option in XBMC to "sleep". I can wake up or turn off the machine with my wireless Xbox 360 controller - right into XBMC without really seeing the Windows desktop (or needing a kb/m). From XBMC, I can jump into Steam Big Picture Mode and play/install games. If I leave Steam BPM, it jumps back into XBMC. It all works pretty smoothly. I have a Logitech wireless keyboard and trackpad that I got off Amazon for $23 which I use in case any typing is required. I am really bad with the SBPM daisy typing thing.
With everything set up, I plopped the little guy in his new home. Since most of the peripherals are wireless, there are only 3 cables coming out of the machine. Power goes to the wall. Ethernet goes to a switch in the other room. HDMI goes to the TV that is sitting above. Simple.
Benchmarks And Gameplay
I was very eager to see how the 750 TI handled the newer games that live in my Steam library. But first, I wanted to run 3Dmark and see how it handled Firestrike 1.1:
I suppose I am spoiled by my normal machine, so watching the playback of Firestrike made me cringe. Luckily, this benchmark is supposed to be tough and my resulting score put me a little bit above a "gaming laptop", but quite far from a "high end gaming PC". I don't even think my normal machine hits the "high end gaming PC" level and it has an i7, 32GB of RAM and a GTX 770. Still, it placed me above 34% of all results. For something that basically cost $500 and fits under my TV...and is a full blown computer...and can be upgraded if needed...that's pretty cool to see.
When I got my GTX 770, I was constantly running the Tomb Raider benchmark to see all the different results I could get with different settings. It was the first one I tried on the new system. I didn't expect to run the "ultimate" preset with TressFX hair at 60FPS, but I had hoped that I could do "high" without TressFX and get around 60FPS. Here are some results of the game benchmarks I ran so far:
Tomb Raider
High Preset - 66.5 FPS
Ultra Preset - 47.7 FPS
Ultimate Preset w/ TressFX- 29.5 FPS
Batman Arkham Origins
High Preset - 70 FPS
Bioshock Infinite
Very High Preset #4 - 65.34 FPS
Ultra DX11 Preset #3 - 57.75 FPS
Ultra DX11 DDOF #2 - 46.12 FPS
Hitman: Absolution
High Preset - 39.13 FPS
CONCLUSION
I am very impressed with how well the system handled the few current game benchmarks I ran. It is good to remember that your average FPS in a benchmark is not your average FPS during normal gameplay. I forget this sometimes and get disappointed when I see the frame rates drop below 40 in a benchmark.
HITMAN: ABSOLUTION
The "high" preset on Hitman: Absolution logged an average FPS of 39.13. Actual gameplay is another story...
HITMAN: ABSOLUTION
The "high" preset on Hitman: Absolution logged an average FPS of 39.13. Actual gameplay is another story...
Throughout the video, the frame rate jumps around the mid 40s and 50s during the more intense scenes. When there were less people, it broke 60 FPS and sometimes 70. As more people died on screen, more frames seemed to be gained. I felt complete fluidity throughout my whole run and it looked crazy good on screen. I think If I dumbed down some of the "fancy" settings like reflection and depth of field, I could have gained a handful of frames to help even out the results.
TOMB RAIDER
Probably not a good example from Tomb Raider since nothing happens but you can at least see how nice it looks. I am guessing the FPS may be in the 40s and 50s during more chaotic scenes with these settings. It looks really nice on my shitty HDTV too.
BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS
FAR CRY 3
Far Cry 3 is the first open world game I have installed and tested on the build. It seems to run smoothly on the "very high" quality preset. It also seemed to have the most constant frame rate out of the prior games. Changing to "ultra" only dropped the FPS down by 3 frames. Ignore my grenade skills.
METRO: LAST LIGHT
I ran the benchmarks for this game and didn't even bother posting the results because they were embarrassing. Luckily, regular game play is not as intense as the benchmark so my frame rate stayed in the mid 40s to low 50s on the "high" preset with advance physics disabled. It dipped down to the upper 30s during heavy weather/combat portions. Its crazy how big of a difference can be felt between 30FPS and 45FPS.
BIOSHOCK INFINITE
Not a very graphically demanding game but very pretty nonetheless. I accidentally set it to the "very low" preset instead of the "very high" one. I didn't notice completely until I saw how bad the table looked in the bar. It also had some weird frame rate problems right off the bat. Could be because I had like 120 FPS...
CRYSIS 3
Medium preset. So far, Crysis 3 has been the most taxing of FPS tests. I would say the 750 ti handled it like a champ. It stayed in the upper 40s during slow scenes, 30s during intricate scenes and upper 20s to lower 30s during CHAOS! Still totally playable. I am sure I could get another half dozen frames if I dropped the preset to "low" from "medium". It would still look better than any current gen shooter, I'm sure.
ASSASSIN'S CREED BLACK FLAG
I heard this game is poorly optimized and a really shitty port. Other than Far Cry 3, this is the only other open worldish game I have tested. I set most settings to "normal" and turned off the fancy stuff. I saw numbers mainly in the upper 30s to lower 40s during walking portions and then lower 30s during chases and heavy populated areas. For 1080p on normal settings, that seems pretty impressive for a computer that costs $38 dollars more than an Xbone.
PLANETSIDE 2
I never heard of this game before I made this video. It is free and seems kind of fun if you don't suck at it like I do. It is the first multiplayer game I have tested on this build. It actually seemed to have a better frame rate when I switched from "medium" to "high" presets. On "medium" I ran around in the uppers 30s to lower 40s and saw it drop to lower 30s and into the upper 20s during shootouts. It seemed to do better on the "high" preset...
