StickMan's SteamBox

[St1ckM4n]

I finally put together my 'Steambox' last night. Pics here:
http://imgur.com/a/2hl00

Specs:
- i5 3570k
- Some cheapish AsRock mobo
- 8GB RAM
- Noctua fans throughout
- Noctua heatsink
- Sapphire 7970 OC Hyper-X
- WD 2TB Green
- Twin TV tuner card
- Wifi card
- Antec Platinum 550W PSU
- Silverstone HTPC case


On base clocks, it's probably more powerful than my i7 920 rig in terms of gaming performance (same GPU in that too). That one has a heavy OC though, which helps.

Accessories:
- Xbox 360 wireless USB adaptor
- 360 controllers
- 360 speedwheel
- SNES USB controller

Future upgrades:
- Sound card (definite)
- Depending on the games ... SSD for OS+game storage, or simply more of everything.

 

[LNCPapa]

This is awesome.

 

[LukeDJ]

That's a slick rig right there (y)

 

[MrBlkfx1]

Nice! How are you liking SteamOS? Also, what's the noise levels like with that setup?

 

[GhostRyder]

Very cool, like your choices for the steam box! Though im curious why you chose Ivy-Bridge over Haswell. But anyway, the system is a cool design filled with good internals and choices!

 

[St1ckM4n]

Nice! How are you liking SteamOS? Also, what's the noise levels like with that setup?

Thanks.

• Not using SteamOS. And I'm probably not going to, unless 80%+ of the controller-based games that I want to run are native. Streaming is not an option. It's running Win8.1 that I got for free, which looks okay in a lounge room.
• Noise is excellent:
• CPU cooler is Noctua NH-C12P SE14 with ULNA. In order to hear it, I must put my ear so close that the fan touches the hairs on my ear.
• The other Noctua fans are running ULNA or LNA, pretty much inaudible. GPU at stock is inaudible over the very faint electric buzz.
• PSU is probably the loudest (even with Platinum efficiency), but to be fair it's extremely hard to tell even with an open case. Additionally, Noctua fans with ULNA are pretty hard to beat..
• At idle, the entire thing is at least half as quiet as an idle Xbox360 slim or PS3 slim.
• I'll get back to you with load temps, but I managed to play Burnout Paradise with idle fan speed and only 75C. Idle = 25%, 55% is still quieter than a loaded console, so I have high hopes.

Very cool, like your choices for the steam box! Though im curious why you chose Ivy-Bridge over Haswell. But anyway, the system is a cool design filled with good internals and choices!

Thank you.

This build was purchased exactly one year ago, for a HTPC media centre use. Recording dual TV streams, transcoding, using the IGP for some light indie gaming on the couch.

I only added the GPU recently after a good sale and disappointment in the next-gen consoles. Figured all I need is a GPU and I have a SteamBox that will out-perform consoles for their lifecycle.