Spec me a Steam Box?

wanderer89

wanderer89

wanderer89

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Hi there, first off, if this is in the wrong place, feel free to move it to the appropriate forum!

In need of a bit of help here, brother wants a steam box, just something that will play games, nothing else.

Max budget is £550.

Needed:

Case
CPU
CPU cooler
Motherboard
Power supply
Graphics card

The box will be going in the TV cabinet which will replace the Xbone so a case around the same dimensions as the Xbone is required. Doesn't need anything else as he has all that.

If anything else is needed, I'll do my best to reply with answers as soon as.

Thanks for any and all help, much appreciated!
 
wanderer89 said:
In need of a bit of help here, brother wants a steam box, just something that will play games, nothing else.

Max budget is £550.

Needed:

Case
CPU
CPU cooler
Motherboard
Power supply
Graphics card

The box will be going in the TV cabinet which will replace the Xbone so a case around the same dimensions as the Xbone is required. Doesn't need anything else as he has all that.
Click to expand...

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 280 Gaming 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £191.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £157.99
1 x Silverstone Grandia GD05 Desktop HTPC Case - Black (SST-GD05B USB3.0) £79.99
1 x Gigabyte H87M-HD3 Intel H87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £64.99
1 x NZXT Hale Power 90+ 550W '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £39.95
Total : £555.43 (includes shipping : £17.10).







You said around the same dimensions. Don't know the exact maximum size the case can be? The Grandia case is definitely bigger than the Xbox One so you'd need to check if it would fit in the TV cabinet.

I can't find the dimensions for the PSU. I know it's bigger than average but the Grandia takes PSUs up to 180mm depth so think it should be okay. It's something that you could ask OcUK about, unless someone who sees this and knows, can answer. There are smaller PSUs but this one is available for a very good price just now.

CPU/Mobo are non-overclockable. Don't think that type of case lends itself to overclocking but thought I'd better mention it anyway in case you would like the option.

The Intel stock cooler is fine in cases with at least a bit more room. In such a tight case I don't know how hot the CPU will get and therefore how noisy it will be. If I were you, I'd try the stock first, then only if necessary get a better/quieter low profile cooler, like this one for instance:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Raijintek Pallas 140mm Low Profile CPU Cooler £33.95



With coolers like that, which overhang the memory, the memory (heatsink) height may be a factor, so bear it in mind.

Hope this helps with your decision.
 
steam box runs linux yes????

For the love of God do not go AMD graphics on linux, the drivers are terrible.

I have my normal PC and have a second SSD with openSUSE 13.1 running KDE desktop environment with a GTX680 and it works gloriously.

IF you have no need for a small box just buy a spare hdd for linux and run steam on debian/opensuse/ubuntu(yuk)
 
Martini1991 said:
You wouldn't run SteamOS if you want to do serious native gaming tbh.
Click to expand...

I thought a steam box had to include SteamOS/aq linux distro of your choice... but yes, as a pure gaming machine a windows PC in a small box is best.

I must say though, they really have improved gaming on linux with steam, which itself has improved no end since release. I am now not getting any input lag.

I dual boot as I like the security of linux and the operating system/KDE but accept I still need windoze for Arma and DCS :(
 
craptakular said:
I thought a steam box had to include SteamOS/aq linux distro of your choice... but yes, as a pure gaming machine a windows PC in a small box is best.

I must say though, they really have improved gaming on linux with steam, which itself has improved no end since release. I am now not getting any input lag.

I dual boot as I like the security of linux and the operating system/KDE but accept I still need windoze for Arma and DCS :(
Click to expand...

OP doesn't have to run SteamOS :p

SteamOS still has the massive issue of games generally being incompatible native.
 
I'm not suggesting to only run linux to game as that would be madness, I would dual boot though; buy one hdd for windoze and a seperate one for linux. That way you can watch the evolution...

AMD were terrible back in 2006 and still are in 2014.
 
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