[Project] Steam Machine !

Apache14 · 19 Dec 2013 at 12:14

Hi,

Im very new to this forum (so i hope this is the correct place for this). This is going to be a log for my holiday project ..... A steam machine.

So here is a list of what i am thinking of getting :

CPU : AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300
MoBo : MSI 760GM-P23
Ram : Corsair Vengeance Pro Silver 8GB (1866MHz )
HDD: Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO

And what i already have :

Case : BitFenix Prodigy M (White)
PSU : BeQuiet Pure Power L8 600W
GPU *: Sapphire 7950 Vapour X
HDD : 500GB Seagate Laptop Drive

* I know AMD GPU's are not supported yet but they should be usable with some hacking around !

So what does everyone think ? I Love some feedback

wndsr · 19 Dec 2013 at 12:30

Apache14 said:
Hi,

Im very new to this forum (so i hope this is the correct place for this). This is going to be a log for my holiday project ..... A steam machine.

So here is a list of what i am thinking of getting :

CPU : AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300
MoBo : MSI 760GM-P23
Ram : Corsair Vengeance Pro Silver 8GB (1866MHz )
HDD: Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO

And what i already have :

Case : BitFenix Prodigy M (White)
PSU : BeQuiet Pure Power L8 600W
GPU *: Sapphire 7950 Vapour X
HDD : 500GB Seagate Laptop Drive

* I know AMD GPU's are not supported yet but they should be usable with some hacking around !

So what does everyone think ? I Love some feedback

Sell your GPU to a miner and buy a supported one instead

Apache14 · 19 Dec 2013 at 12:46

I was considering that, however i have never had much luck with NVIDIA cards and Linux. AMD (with cat drivers) just work (HDMI Audio ect.).

BaDBoY_uK · 19 Dec 2013 at 15:03

wndzr said:
Sell your GPU to a miner and buy a supported one instead

+1

Good luck

Apache14 · 27 Dec 2013 at 09:36

After the xmas rush I have finally gotten everything on order

AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6350
Corsair Vengeance Pro Silver 8GB
Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 AMD 760G
Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA
OcUK Wireless Media Centre Keyboard
VTX3D Radeon R9 290 X-Edition

The R290 is going into my main gaming rig and the low noise 7950 Vapour-X is going in this build.

I have already gotten the PSU and case (as an xmas gift) and have gotten hold of a DVB-S2 tuner card for use as a freesat receiver

I should have all the parts on Monday, so expect lots of pictures

Apache14 · 29 Dec 2013 at 19:26

And ...... its built

Overview of all components

HD7950

Case with PSU

Most components in place

Not much room left !

Almost all done

Top of the case provides perfect air flow for the GPU

Overall this case worked very well for this build, and Linux (Debian) works fine with all H/W working well, Steam works well

cypto · 29 Dec 2013 at 19:37

Apache14 said:
Top of the case provides perfect air flow for the GPU

Might want to look at the cable management near the GPU.

All I see is a mess of wires strung over the fans.

Not great for airflow and more importantly noise once a cable starts vibrating on the fan.

Other than that, nice looking build.

Tokin · 29 Dec 2013 at 19:47

Love that case.!

kiel367 · 29 Dec 2013 at 19:48

if thats an arctic cooler freezer pro 7 id watch the temps, i had one for about 6 weeks, until one day the temps skyrocketed, the bracket holding it on had cracked in half, i may just have been unlucky, but it happened

Apache14 · 29 Dec 2013 at 20:26

kiel367 said:
if thats an arctic cooler freezer pro 7 id watch the temps, i had one for about 6 weeks, until one day the temps skyrocketed, the bracket holding it on had cracked in half, i may just have been unlucky, but it happened

Humm iv used these in a few sub 100 watt CPU's and iv never seen any weakness on the fan bracket, but I will keep an eye on it

thanks for the heads up.

Apache14 · 29 Dec 2013 at 20:29

cypto said:
Might want to look at the cable management near the GPU.

All I see is a mess of wires strung over the fans.

Not great for airflow and more importantly noise once a cable starts vibrating on the fan.

Other than that, nice looking build.

Yeah im going to look at that, unfortunately due to the length of the cables they have to run passed the GPU fans in some way, I have attached the cables so that the cannot fall back into the fans while in use

Apache14 · 11 Jan 2014 at 20:37

Just updated my steam machine build

Changes :-

- 3 fan setup (2 x 120mm intake fans at the top + 1 x 200mm exhaust fan at the bottom)
- Inverted power an reset switches and switched the side panels

Improvements :-

- More air flow to the HD 7950 and CPU (not that they got hot but the 7950's fans did get a little noisy)
- Better cable management (as you can see now their are no cable in the direct line of any of the fans / components)
- Red LED on the 200mm fan makes a nice glow under the PC with those plastic stand offs

Notes :-

- Anyone with this case Id advise switching the side panel (it make cable management a LOT better

Photos :-

The New Fans !

The Button/USB side panel after inverting the switches

That Nice 200mm Fan all in place

HD7950 Now Totally Clear Of Cables

The 120mm Fans Channel Air Directly Onto The GPU

There wasn't enough headers on the motherboard

Nothing to interfere with air flow here

Same for the GPU

Almost Done

All Back Together

Apache14 · 14 Jan 2014 at 22:39

You know everything is good when a cat approves a build .....

Xelene · 14 Jan 2014 at 22:45

Are you using CAT-5 or CAT-6 cable there? hard to see.

Confused · 15 Jan 2014 at 08:48

Looks like you've got the 200mm fan and the CPU fan blowing in opposite directions - these will be fighting for air and your CPU cooling won't be as good as it should be.

SeraphX · 15 Jan 2014 at 08:56

^^ Is correct

The top 200mm fan is blowing air out of the top of the case, while the Arctic cooler is trying to suck air down, Change the cooler around, heat naturally rises and all that

Havana_UK · 15 Jan 2014 at 11:34

SeraphX said:
^^ Is correct

The top 200mm fan is blowing air out of the top of the case, while the Arctic cooler is trying to suck air down, Change the cooler around, heat naturally rises and all that

Except it's not....the airflow there is completely arse about face! Cool air coming in at the top and warm air going out at the bottom (the 200mm fan is blowing down).

PLUS the 200mm fan blowing in the opposite direction to the CPU heatsink fan will starve it of air (as others have pointed out), increasing CPU temps dramatically.

Turn the PC upside down, so at least natural laws are working for you (heat rises, you're trying to force warm air in the opposite direction) and switch that CPU heatsink around so that it works WITH the 200mm fan.

Rainagul · 15 Jan 2014 at 11:52

Havana_UK said:
Except it's not....the airflow there is completely arse about face! Cool air coming in at the top and warm air going out at the bottom (the 200mm fan is blowing down).

PLUS the 200mm fan blowing in the opposite direction to the CPU heatsink fan will starve it of air (as others have pointed out), increasing CPU temps dramatically.

Turn the PC upside down, so at least natural laws are working for you (heat rises, you're trying to force warm air in the opposite direction) and switch that CPU heatsink around so that it works WITH the 200mm fan.

You will need to flip that 200mm fan upside down if you want it to be blowing hot air out the bottom.

Edit: Nope ignore me, it is fine the way you have it. Time for coffee

Havana_UK · 15 Jan 2014 at 11:56

Rainagul said:
You will need to flip that 200mm fan upside down if you want it to be blowing hot air out the bottom.

Edit: Nope ignore me, it is fine the way you have it. Time for coffee

No, it's blowing down already (mind you, unless it generates some healthy static pressure the airflow will be severely restricted by all the small holes in the case).

/edit (Ah, almost caught the ninja edit!)

Apache14 · 15 Jan 2014 at 12:32

Confused said:
Looks like you've got the 200mm fan and the CPU fan blowing in opposite directions - these will be fighting for air and your CPU cooling won't be as good as it should be.

SeraphX said:
^^ Is correct

The top 200mm fan is blowing air out of the top of the case, while the Arctic cooler is trying to suck air down, Change the cooler around, heat naturally rises and all that

Yeah I flipped the CPU cooler for now (as the top fans take in air to cool the GPU). The CPU temps are still fine (under 47'c under extreme load / compiling Android *) And now the 7950 keeps cool enough not to make too much noise, before it would get quite noisy when decoding videos.

Havana_UK said:
No, it's blowing down already (mind you, unless it generates some healthy static pressure the airflow will be severely restricted by all the small holes in the case).

/edit (Ah, almost caught the ninja edit!)

There is a fair bit of air flowing out of the bottom, so all seems to be working well.

Any improvements for the cooling solution (without going H2O) would be very much appreciated.

* Compiling android 4.1+ should be in a benchmark section

tests CPU, RAM and IO really well