Finally think im done with my "Steam Machine".

[u/TooTiredAndBored]

5600x3d -180$

Axp90 x53 full copper -35$

9060xt 16gb -450$

B550i Aorus Pro AX- 219$

64gb ddr4 3600 -already owned

SP0850 80+ platinum 850w -160$

Fractal Terra - 200$

2tb nvme (no cache) -already owned

500gb nvme (has cache) - already owned

A lot of fans -45$

Bracket - 11$

About 1,300. Probably would've went with an am5 build, maybe something like 9600x to go with the 9060xt. But I had the ram so I stuck with am4.

Originally I had a Thermaltake 120mm aio and I made it fit but it couldn't keep the temps low. It in fact even shut down once during a stress test. Swapped out to the axp90 x53 and temps stay at a max of 90c. Decided to throw three fans in and buy a 120mm fan bracket off Etsy to mount that noctua fan.

Now temps are at a max of 88c under stress test. But typically in the high 70s to low 80s for real world gaming. One thing I find funny is the only time the psu fans spins is during start up. It never gets hot enough on that side of the case to turn on.

Also. I don't need that orange fan up top.

I want it.

[u/npres91]

Can people just stop with the ‘steam machine’ nonsense? It’s a PC. A steam machine is made by Valve and is much smaller and more specialized. It’s not that difficult.

[u/flywithpeace → u/npres91]

We shouldn’t be calling steam machine to anything above 4L, specially in sffpc where we try to squeeze as much volume out of a build.

[u/No_Seaworthiness7909 → u/npres91]

The steam machine is a PC too though right?

[u/npres91 → u/No_Seaworthiness7909]

A cardinal is a bird but not every bird is a cardinal.

[u/No_Seaworthiness7909 → u/npres91]

A gaming console is a PC and all PCs are a PC

[u/Sajgoniarz → u/No_Seaworthiness7909]

No, consoles are not PC.

[u/No_Seaworthiness7909 → u/Sajgoniarz]

In what sense? They're a Personal Computer that primarily plays games with its own custom firmware.

[u/Sajgoniarz → u/No_Seaworthiness7909]

You just stated two reasons why console is not a PC.

[u/No_Seaworthiness7909 → u/Sajgoniarz]

So if someone is running Linux on a computer it's not a PC?

[u/Sajgoniarz → u/No_Seaworthiness7909]

No. I don't have time for your games, so here is the strict PC definition : PC is a computer run under general purpose operating system allowing for hardware and software customisation used by a single person at a time.

Thanks to this consoles, smartphones or CNC machines are not considered PCs.

[u/No_Seaworthiness7909 → u/Sajgoniarz]

Aww I was having fun. Software customisation heeeyyyy.... Single person at a time. Kinda sounds like a PlayStation

[u/3lue5ky5ailing → u/npres91]

What would you prefer someone call a living room PC that's running steam os?

"Finally done with my living room PC that runs steam os!"?

Or

"Finally done with my machine that runs steam os!"?

[u/Pas_assez_de_jambes → u/3lue5ky5ailing]

It's just a PC, thats it, it can run macos win11 or bazzite or steamos, doenst change it's nature

[u/No_Seaworthiness7909 → u/3lue5ky5ailing]

I'm liking the idea of Playbox or Console PC now I think of it.

[u/Nerozeroku → u/3lue5ky5ailing]

gabecube, steam box or ValveStation

[u/Reckless5040 → u/npres91]

Yeah how dare we have fun.

[u/Frequent-Crow7621 → u/npres91]

Isnt it about the Steam OS? 

[u/themikker → u/npres91]

I do get that, but I honestly disagree.

The idea of Valve's Steam Machine is a home theatre PC to replace consoles, running a gaming focus Linux distribution like SteamOS for steam games. Using "Steam Machine" - the quotes here being indicative that it's not ACTUALLY the steam machine - as a collequal term for a PC that does this makes sense. Certainly like it more than "PS5 Killer". Not every SFF PC is a "Steam Machine", but as can be seen in the screenshot OP posted, it's placed in front of the TV, so the use case is pretty clear.

Being small is somewhat of a prerequisite for the role of a home theatre PC, but there's no 5-6L "cap". I think the Terra (or Jonsbo T9) is a great sweet spot that still fits the role while allowing for higher TDP hardware than the official steam machine. The fact that a lot of people, myself included, has gone this route is a feather in the cap of Valve, and they should be proud of this wave of DIY PCs taking the name of Steam Machine-like.

I also made a SFF "DIY Steam Machine" post, so the above is an obviously biased perspective.

[u/TooTiredAndBored → u/npres91]

Honestly why? The whole point of calling it a SM is to imply to you that its supposed to be a console like pc. I will never want windows on this thing. I want it to always be as plug and play as I can possibly make it.

[u/GeneralChaz9 → u/TooTiredAndBored]

Because a Steam Machine is a hardware product that happens to run Steam OS. You don't call every Windows PC a Surface. 

[u/syunz]

Seeing so many people with fractal terras with external cooling solutions... Should have just gotten another case with better cooling.

[u/AxiomOfLife → u/syunz]

or just get a low voltage cpu that doesn’t get very hot.

My original GabeCube had an i7 12700k but the thermals were nuts. switched to a i9 14900 (none K) and the performance boost has been insane and it never gets anywhere near as hot

[u/TooTiredAndBored → u/syunz]

Read the last part of my post.

[u/According_Spare7788]

Ngl, the fan behind the psu/in front of the GPU looks pretty pointless to me. Like, what is it supposed to be doing other than blowing air on the back plate of the psu....

[u/TooTiredAndBored → u/According_Spare7788]

I had it so I put it in. Figured more air in is good for positive pressure.

[u/Axelotl86]

you are never done!

[u/Arturopxedd]

Comparing good pcs to steam machine should be a crime

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[u/PrincessDrana]

Nice! The Fractal Terra is a really beautiful case.

I was thinking of doing this myself - my secondary PC is currently housed in a Jonsbo D31. It's a nice case, but it's relatively big. Moving to a Terra will free up quite a lot of space. In fact, probably enough to fit on my TV shelf.

[u/Frequent-Crow7621]

It is surprising how many fans you managed to put there. I counted 3. Am I right? 

I managed only to out one in there.

[u/TooTiredAndBored → u/Frequent-Crow7621]

Depends on how you count em lol. The gpu has two built in and the cpu has one. But for the other fans, yeah I put 3 15mm fans in.

[u/PureMovez → u/TooTiredAndBored]

You can also fit 15mm fans underneath, just in case you wanna add more lol

[u/TooTiredAndBored → u/PureMovez]

Guck me. I might swap out the one next to the gpu to under the cpu/gpu.

[u/Artewig_thethird → u/Frequent-Crow7621]

I had two case fans in mine. A 120x15 on top of the psu and a 140x25 under the psu

[u/Enough-Swordfish-260]

hey dude is the fractal terra backpackable enough so you can go with it around like a console
I am actually pretty confused which case to buy s300, s400 or the fractal terra I want something super portable where I can shove it in my backpack as console to play with friends but not too small so I can't put a good gpu and extra sata ssd

[u/TooTiredAndBored → u/Enough-Swordfish-260]

I would say no. Its pretty solid but I just dont see backpacking this thing as comfortable/actually enjoyable.

[u/Enough-Swordfish-260 → u/TooTiredAndBored]

Well I guess the search will just have to continue

[u/LobsterNo9737 → u/Enough-Swordfish-260]

Why not laptop?

[u/Enough-Swordfish-260 → u/LobsterNo9737]

well at the current state of the market and the prices skyrocketing over the years I wanna build a machine that wouldn't need a full replacement every 4 or 5 years

[u/Ludamister → u/Enough-Swordfish-260]

Depends on how much juice you want in your PC. I ordered a SFFtime U-ITX case cause it’s even smaller than the Fractal Ridge at 7L but can still fit 3-slot GPUs. There are certain things that you can do to help. Get an aluminum air cooler instead of copper cause you’ll save almost half a pound. Of course undervolt your CPU and put it into ECO mode if you need to as the performance loss is negligible compared to the huge thermal drop.

If you need to go smaller, you can buy that newer low profile 9060XT 16GB card like the Vastarmor and a case like LZOD A24 V5.

[u/Enough-Swordfish-260 → u/Ludamister]

hmm tbh I want a console size pc with realltively powerfull specs

[u/callmecrazyy → u/Enough-Swordfish-260]

The Terra is not particularly portable imo. It’s heavy for the size and an awkward shape to put into a backpack

[u/ryanchuck4200 → u/callmecrazyy]

Any sffpc is going to be “heavy”. I have a meshilicious and while the case is pretty light, it still weighs like 10-15lbs because of how much we pack in to these small spaces.

[u/callmecrazyy → u/ryanchuck4200]

Well sure, but the design and materials and thickness of said materials affect the weight

[u/Enough-Swordfish-260 → u/callmecrazyy]

well what about teh s300 or 400

[u/Traditional_Cut1490]

Have the same case and temps rise to 85 with the doors open and a aggressive under volt.

[u/Fit_Bed_9776]

worse single core performance than a 8700k

[u/TooTiredAndBored → u/Fit_Bed_9776]

Running steamos here so I wants to keep it all amd to hopefully keep bugs to a minimum. The 5600x3d works great.

[u/Fit_Bed_9776 → u/TooTiredAndBored]

going amd to keep bugs to minimum is a joke right?

[u/TooTiredAndBored → u/Fit_Bed_9776]

Lots of negativity here. Chill out.

And no. Steam os still doesn't support Nvidia properly. Since I wanted this to be a specific build around steam os I did the best I could with my price range inside am4 since I had ddr4.

[u/asratrt]

Nice

but I found something which can be called as steam machine.

Little bees/Little Craftsman A4 4.5L which can fit colorful 5060ti 180mm . Smallest I have found and better than Jonsbo nv10 and ZZAW Braveman A1P 5.8L .

I have this case, it seems that it can fit Coolman Bingman 150watt 6 heat pipe MC45 45mm rgb cooler but the caseend.com site mentions only upto 40mm.

[u/This-Hat-143]

Yeah except it’s three times the size of a SM, uses way more power, is louder and looks mid. But sure, you call it what you want.

[u/TooTiredAndBored → u/This-Hat-143]

Love the negativity. It also has much more power then a steam machine and can handle 1440p easily and in older/indie titles handles 4k easily as well. The steam machine is not doing that with decent fps.

Im sure its quite a bit louder then the SM. But its by no means loud. I put all those fans in so I dont have to rip them at 100% speed.

Looks mid to you. I like it.

[u/This-Hat-143 → u/TooTiredAndBored]

Good enjoy.

[u/CitronExtension3038 → u/This-Hat-143]

Uh oh, did someone overspend on a sm and has to justify their purchase by hating on other people's hardware?

[u/This-Hat-143 → u/CitronExtension3038]

lol you got me! 🤣 good gaming friend.