Project Steambox V2 - also canned

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StarBound
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Project Steambox V2 - also canned

Post by StarBound »

Yes here we go again. I've already looked at various options to get some way of gaming on my hdtv without having to move my box to the living room. So far all options looked into had some kind of flaw. In the end the only way to get this to work is to have a dedicated gaming box in the living room. Downside is the cost either way you slice it.

I have considered the AMD FM APU option and all comes back to a single problem, I am far past the point of lowering my settings to get a decent frame rate. It needs to look good and run fast. If I add a graphics card then the FM system failed in its purpose and I could get better performance by going with intel from the start.

Ok let's slap a system together then.

Target is a system that can be in the living room and run games at 60fps with high settings, play movies and music, be semi unnoticed by people walking in. So here is my planned setup:

i5 3470
Z77 board
MSI geforce 660 twin forzer (not ti version)
8gb ram
1 x 120gb intel 330 ssd
1 x 240gb ssd
CM storm enforcer chassis
600W psu
mini wireless keyboard
wireless xbox 360 controller
windows 7 64-bit

My estimation is it will cost around R12-13k.

Why not 660ti?
The aim is 60fps with high detail. A 660 can easily reach it and hdmi is limited to 60hz so 60fps max.

Why 600W?
It's all it needs. The ivy bridge cpu needs 77W, the 660 needs 140W, the board shouldnt need more than 100W. That is not even 350W so still 250W of headroom.

Why i5 3470?
It's all that is needed. A 3.2ghz quad core.

Why SSDs and not a HDD?
Speed, speed, speed. At the end of the day I am more about speed than about space. I have portable drives to use as backup.

Why do this?
Because I can.

Is it sensible?
Maybe not.

Look I can easily cut the 240gb ssd and 120gb ssd and replace it with a 2TB hdd making it R2.5k cheaper. I am open for suggestions and changing some specs. But I don't want to alter too much. I want something to play on a 47". I can afford it. I am just trying to find a way to justify the idea. But it keeps coming back to the PC in my sig is the only one I really need.
Last edited by StarBound on 10 Dec 2012, 14:20, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Project Steambox V2

Post by SykomantiS »

SB, there is no justification other than "Because I can." Either settle for that or use your current system :)
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Re: Project Steambox V2

Post by StarBound »

...BECAUSE I CAN!!!
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Re: Project Steambox V2

Post by Cataclysm_ZA »

I have a question:

Why Z77? Are you planning to manually Turbo the i5-3470 to full to save a few bucks?

Why the Enforcer? The Elite 344 costs much less and can house a lot inside that tiny system.

If I were building a Steambox (and btw, have you seen Big Screen yet?), this is what I'd go for:

Intel Core i5 3470 @ R2066
ASRock B75M @ R710
TEAM Xtreem Dark DDR3-1600 8GB @ R400
MSI GTX660 Twin Frozr 2GB DDR5 @ R2699
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM @ R1123
ASUS BC-12B1LT 16x Blu-Ray Reader @ R1123
Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 420W @ R710
Cooler Master Elite 344 @ R298
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo @ R333
Total: R11,058

If it were me, I'd chuck out the SSD. The rig is being used for games, movies and music, so there's not really an emphasis on having it boot up faster because it won't really benefit you. In any case, the most software I'm assuming you'll be using on it is the web browser and the music and video players, so there's not going to be any more applications running at any given time. If you use Windows 8 and keep the Hybrid Sleep option enabled, you'll be into the Start Menu in less than 30s.

Some additions might need some explanation as to their inclusion:
1) Blu-Ray player: You might decide to rent a movie every now and then, or you buy your favourite series collection and rip it in high quality to your hard drive so you can watch it later. Given the ever-increasing industry support of Blu-Ray, its well worth the purchase for a little bit of future-proofing

2) Silent Pro M420: Well its modular, which helps in a tiny chassis like the 344. Its also very effective at idle speeds, switching off the fan completely at power levels below 100W.

3) Elite 344: Given how well the Elite series does cooling on a budget, I'd say its well worth the purchase as well. And its miniscule. Take out the hard drive cage and you have all the space in the world for any size GPU. And its uninterrupted airflow, which is always a welcome thing.
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Re: Project Steambox V2

Post by StarBound »

I'd rather have some over head left on the power. A 500W might be cutting it close. 550W is more safe. If anything a year or 2 down the line I might opt for going with a better gpu that might need more juice.

I might still slap in the ssd as a boot drive but coin tossing if I should not just use a harddrive for games. It's just I'd rather have speed over capacity as not all my steam games are going over to the new box. Just those with controller support.

On the case side its hot during summer. I clocked my gpu at 69C and it is a twinfrozer aswell. My cpu should be 40C with the water cooling it has. Stock might be 60C.

Bluray player was something I am looking to add.

Now I am just wondering if the 660 can do 3D out for games and bluray to a screen.
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Re: Project Steambox V2

Post by StarBound »

Seems the B75M chipset only supports 1 SATA6 device. That won't do.

But I am considering the HDD instead of the 240gb ssd. However the 120gb intel boot drive will stay.
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Re: Project Steambox V2

Post by StarBound »

Chassis I will also stick to the CM Storm Enforcer due to front USB3 and look of the case.

I'm also not planning on overclocking. Turbo boost will have to do when needed.
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Re: Project Steambox V2

Post by StarPhoenix »

Target is a system that can be in the living room and run games at 60fps with high settings, play movies and music, be semi unnoticed by people walking in. So here is my planned setup:
So.....buy a Playstation 3?

Or put an HDTV of suitable size near the PC in your sig? That would be cheaper than spending R12000 on a whole new system, wouldn't it?

Why is it so important to you that you play games on your hdtv? Is it the comfy couch?
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Re: Project Steambox V2

Post by StarBound »

PS3 does not do 60fps. I have one. I guess it comes back to the ability to play games at a smooth speed, fast pace, low loading time and comfort of the couch.

I do loose a surface for a mouse when doing so and I also loose the 120hz screen. Being the living room it means I also share sounds of everyone around me vs my study with only me.
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Re: Project Steambox V2

Post by StarBound »

Dropping bluray from the build. PS3 does bluray and 3d bluray. I don't have experience or references to say if 2d/3d blurays can play on the same drive and if nvidia can do 3d out.

SSD is heading for being scrapped due to space limitations and cost involved.

Windows 8 will replace Windows 7 due to pricing.

The cheapest board I could find with a front USB3 header is the Z77 D3H from gigabyte.
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Re: Project Steambox V2

Post by StarBound »

Ok here is the final specs of the system:

i5 3470 - We are no overclocking or anything. Stock is fine.
Gigabyte Z77 D3H board - 1 PCIE 16x v3 slot for a single graphics card. No SLI but Xfire is supported with 16x/4x.
MSI geforce 660 twin frozer. No need for R1k more for the TI when this card can do 60fps is most cases already with high/max detail.
8GB 1600 ram - No page file, just load everything to memory!
2TB HDD - I love my SSD but the point was low cost system and SSD won't help across the board.
Windows 8 - Cheaper than Windows 7 and still windows.
CM Storm Enforcer case + 600W PSU - Large case with good airflow and a PSU with enough juice.
Logitech K400 keyboard - Small and mobile, no need for more surfaces as it is a gaming system with a controller.
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Re: Project Steambox V2

Post by StarBound »

It's done, It's finished, It's awesome ...and it completely side tracked into the wrong way. DAMMIT!

The end price for the above system is around R13k. The price for the original Steambox is R6k - R7k. Clearly I've completely missed the entire purpose of going from chair to couch.

So here is my recap...
1 - Is the system fast?
Yes!
2 - Does the system fill the gap left by other hardware?
...no. The PS3 already handles blurays and 3D blurays. The Dedicated gaming PC can do anything besides that.
3 - Is it cost effective?
Yes and no. For anyone that wants to game this would be your high end system. To me its the lowest I am looking at. It surpasses the original Steambox specs by miles and at double the price offers 4 times the gaming bliss. Double framerate and max quality vs half frame rate low detail.
4 - Does it hit the mark?
No it misses completely. The idea was a low cost gaming system that could take up a spot in the living room. In the end it is your mainstream gaming box.
5 - What happened?
I miscalculated what I want from the system. AMD FM benchmarks showed games at 30-60fps with low detail. If I want better detail I would have to get a dedicated graphics card. If I get a dedicated graphics card I might as well go Intel since AMD is sitting at the wrong place for gaming. Long story short, Intel for high end gaming. CPU 25% more expensive, board 100% more expensive, dedicated card R3000 extra.

So what now? I still need to decide... There is no way to get my current PC to play on my 3D HDTV in the living room. HDMI over ethernet is not an option. 20M HDMI cable is not an option. Original Steambox is not an option due to my expectations. Steambox v2 is a very expensive option. So what to do what to do? ...Maybe I should hi-jack my brothers PC that is standing in near the place and play my games from his system. But it is his system so I still have a problem.
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Re: Project Steambox V2 - also canned

Post by StarBound »

Due to above mentioned reasons the system serves no beneficial purpose against what I already have the project has been cancelled ..yet again!

I could try to write it off as using much less power than the socket 2011 and 680gtx but then I might as well spend the money on buying a few solar panels.
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Re: Project Steambox V2

Post by SykomantiS »

SykomantiS wrote:SB, there is no justification other than "Because I can." Either settle for that or use your current system :)
Told you so... :)
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Re: Project Steambox V2 - also canned

Post by StarBound »

Yeah, but that's also what I told myself. Sanity won this time around.
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