How to Build a Steam Unit for Hundreds of Dollars Less

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It was a long time ago, but the first Steam Machines have finally arrived : compact computers that give you the quality of PC games with the convenience of living room consoles. Too bad most of them cost an arm and a leg. Here’s how you can build your own for less money.

Building your own steam engine isn’t just cheaper; it is also more customizable and updatable. Technically any PC can run like a Steam Machine, but we’ve put together our own list of parts for the living room: high-quality PC games in a compact package, slightly larger than an Xbox or PlayStation.

Parts

After much research and testing, here’s what we recommend for the perfect DIY steam machine:

  • Processor (CPU) : Intel Core i5-4460 , $ 189: Skylake may not be available, but this entry-level Haswell i5 should provide all the processing power needed for modern gaming and be paired with a cheaper motherboard and RAM to reduce performance. the cost of your car. This processor comes with a cooler that should work just fine, although if you’ve got some extra money to spend, this $ 42 Noctua cooler will be cooler and quieter.
  • Motherboard : ASRock B85M-ITX , $ 64 After Discount: ASRock continues to make good budget motherboards, and since we’re going to keep this build compact, their entry-level Mini-ITX board is a great choice for a good price. Note that it doesn’t have built-in Wi-Fi, so if you don’t have Ethernet access in your living room, you’ll need either a USB adapter or a Wi-Fi-enabled motherboard .
  • Memory (RAM) : Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB DDR3 , $ 38: 8GB RAM should be a decent amount for any current and future gaming.
  • Hard Drive : Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB, 7200RPM , $ 52: You probably won’t need 1TB of space just for your games, but it doesn’t get much cheaper if you dive into space. An SSD will not improve the performance of most games, but it will significantly reduce load times and help minimize pop-ups in open world games. If you’ve got a little bit of money to spare, an SSD like the Crucial BX100 ($ 179) makes a great upgrade here.
  • Graphics Card (GPU) : EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB with ACX 2.0 , $ 329: The graphics card is arguably the most important part of any gaming build, and we pondered long and hard before settling on the GTX 970. Despite some marketing controversy … This is still one of the best economy cards you can get if you want to play games at high or ultra high settings. Plus, it has lower power consumption than its competitors, which is a must for a build as small as this. Plus it’s very quiet here.
  • Case : Silverstone RAVEN RVZ01B , $ 84: This is a truly unique piece of this build. The Silverstone RAVEN series should have a more cantilever look, feel and size. It’s slightly larger than the Xbox One, but fits perfectly into your entertainment center when laid flat. Alternatively, you can place it upright next to the TV stand. In fact, many of the steam machines for sale use this case, so it’s perfect for your DIY version. You can also try its successor, RVZ02B , which was not available when we did our initial build, but is highly recommended.
  • Power supply unit (PSU) : Silverstone SX500-LG , $ 99 Power supplies are tricky for such a compact gaming design, but the Silverstone SX500 fits the bill. It’s as powerful as you can get in such a small form factor, and while it’s dense, it fits in our compact case and can power all of the above components just fine.
  • Operating System : Windows 10 Home 64-bit , $ 99: You can install SteamOS on this machine for free, but you’ll only have 1/4 of the games to choose from, so we’re sticking with Windows for this build. … Once you install Steam and set it to launch Big Picture automatically, you won’t even notice Windows and you have over 11,000 games to choose from.
  • Gamepad : Wired Xbox 360 Controller , $ 32: You have a variety of gamepads to choose from, but we love the Xbox 360 controller. It’s cheap, convenient, and works with most modern games straight away. If you want to spend a little more, you can upgrade to a wireless 360 controller using a USB dongle , an Xbox One controller, or even a ( somewhat controversial ) Steam controller for a full Steam Machine experience.
  • HDMI cable : you need it. It doesn’t have to be expensive. This one ($ 5.49) will do.

Final cost : $ 993. Buy this assembly from PCPartPicker.

You can build a comparable gaming PC for less money, but our goal was to make something compact and comfortable for the living room, which would push the price up a bit. However, it is still hundreds of cheaper than comparable Steam Machines like the Origin Omega (which will cost $ 1,368 with similar hardware) or the Digital Storm Eclipse (which will cost $ 1,363). If you want something a little cheaper and don’t mind a bigger tower, you can just build a regular PC instead .

We went with Haswell on this build to keep the cost down and also because our original test build was built before Skylake was released (and we didn’t want to recommend a machine we didn’t build). If you want the latest and greatest version , you can upgrade this build to Skylake for about $ 41 more: we recommend an Intel i5-6400 , ASRock H170M-ITX / DL and this Corsair DDR4 RAM set . You won’t see a significant increase in gaming performance, but you will be on the latest and greatest platform for future updates.

Alternatively, if you want to save some money on our build, you can downgrade the i5 to Haswell i3 , but as games get more CPU-intensive and more optimized for multi-core processors, the i3 won’t hold up as well as the i5 …

You can also save money by downgrading to AMD R9 380 . This is $ 100 less than we recommend the GTX 970, but it will dramatically decrease performance. You’ll still get a decent 1080p experience, but you’ll have to run some games at low to medium settings, or live at frame rates below 60fps. Plus, it will age faster than the GTX 970. It’s up to you if you want to make such a compromise. (We didn’t.)

How to build this steam engine

This guide assumes you are familiar with the basics of building a computer, but if you don’t, you can check out our complete guide to building a PC to find out more. However, the compact body brings some interesting features to the build process, so we’ll go over the basic steps here again. Watch the video above to see the entire assembly step by step, and if in doubt, check the instruction manuals that came with your case and motherboard for more details.

Here are the basic step-by-step instructions:

  1. Start by opening the case. Unscrew the two screws on the back of the side panel and remove the side panel. Unfold the front panel cables and set them aside for now.
  2. Next, unscrew and remove the video card bracket. There are six screws here, so be sure to remove all of them. We’ll need this later, so put that off as well. Under the bracket, you will find a box of screws and other accessories you will need for the rest of the assembly.
  3. Install the power supply first. We unscrew the power supply bracket – there are four screws – and carefully pull it out. Insert the power supply into the bracket with the fan down and screw it on. Connect the power cable to the chassis and, if the power supply has a power switch, turn it to the on position.
  4. If you have a traditional hard drive, slide it into the bay at the top of the PSU bracket and screw it down.
  5. When you’re done, put the PSU bracket back in place and screw it down. A magnetic screwdriver will help a lot here as you can’t reach down to grab dropped screws.
  6. Then take the motherboard and place it on the box it came in for a beautiful static-free workspace. Release the CPU lever and open the bracket. Insert the processor, making sure the gold arrow is aligned with the arrow on the bracket and pull the lever down to lock it in place.
  7. Take the memory cards and open the latches on the RAM slots on the motherboard. Make sure the notches match and slide the RAM back in place. You should hear the side latches close.
  8. Since this case is cramped, now is a good time to connect multiple cables. Take the 24-pin and 4-pin cables that came with the power supply and connect them to the motherboard. (Do not plug them into a power source yet.)
  9. Take the I / O shield from the motherboard box and slide it into the case. Lower the motherboard into the case, making sure all of its ports line up with the I / O shield, and screw it down.
  10. Once the motherboard is secured, you can start connecting the front panel cables including USB 3.0, front audio, and power and reset buttons. Refer to your motherboard manual for more information on each one.
  11. When you’re done with that, it’s time to install a CPU cooler. Place it on the processor and press the plastic pins into the motherboard until they snap into place. Connect the fan cable to the CPU FAN connector on the motherboard, which should be near the processor.
  12. Now take the 24-pin and 4-pin motherboard cables – the ones you connected earlier – and connect the other ends to your power source. It fits snugly, but you should be able to do it with a little swaying. You can also install the end of the PCI power cable on the end of the power supply (with the blue tip).
  13. Now for the fun part: installing a video card. This chassis uses a side GPU adapter to accommodate large and powerful graphics cards in a small package. Unscrew the PCI bracket from the bracket, connect a small PCI Express extension cable to the graphics card, and lower the GPU into the bracket. Make sure it is firmly in place, then screw on the GPU to stabilize it.
  14. Connect the PCI power cables and lower the GPU bracket into the bay. The side adapter should fit snugly into the PCI slot on the motherboard. Once everything is in place, screw the bracket into the case. (Remember, there are six screws in total – don’t forget one!)
  15. Your cables are likely to be all over the place at this point, so try to hide them in the space around the power supply so they don’t get in the way of your components and fans.
  16. If you’re using an SSD instead of a traditional hard drive, you can now install it in the two and a half inch drive bays on the graphics card bracket.
  17. Connect the SATA power cables to your hard drive or solid state drive, and then connect the other end to a power source. Do the same with the SATA data cable – one side in the hard drive and the other end into the SATA 3 ZERO port on the motherboard.
  18. Your case should have come with a 3-pin Y-adapter for your fans. Connect it to the SYS FAN connector on the motherboard and connect the two case fans to this adapter. When you’re done, close the case, screw on the side panel, and attach the magnetic fan filters to the outside of the case.

That’s all! The case can lie horizontally in your entertainment center like a DVD player, or stand upright next to it like an Xbox. The case comes with small rubber feet that you can mount from the bottom for stabilization, as well as some magnetic dust filters that you must attach next to the fans. You can even install a vertical or side version of the RAVEN logo.

When you’re done, connect the Steam Machine to your TV with an HDMI cable, plug it into the wall with the supplied power cable, and press the power button. If you did everything correctly, it should start and you should see the POST screen.

If it won’t turn on, you’ll need to reopen it and troubleshoot. You can find some troubleshooting tips at the end of our general guide to building computers here .

How to set up Windows, Steam and your games

The hardest part is over. Setting up the software on this system is surprisingly easy, but before installing Windows, you need to make a few changes to the BIOS first:

  1. Boot your computer and press the DEL key to enter BIOS setup.
  2. First go to OC Tweaker> Load XMP Settings> XMP Profile 1.3. This will ensure that your RAM is running at the correct speed.
  3. Then go to H / W Monitor> Chassis Fan 1 Setting and select Performance or Full Speed. This ensures that the fan runs high enough to keep your computer cool. I found that even full speed was quite quiet, but your preference may be different, so try both settings to see what works for your ears.

When this is done, you are ready to install Windows:

  1. On your regular PC (not a Steam machine) go to this page and download the 64-bit version of the Media Creation Tool. Run it when it finishes downloading.
  2. Select the option Create installation media for another PC and click Next.
  3. Select your language and Windows version. (If you used the copy we recommended, this will be the home version. If not, please tick your box or email address that you received when you purchased Windows 10.)
  4. Choose which media you want to create. We recommend using a USB stick.
  5. The media creation tool will download and write the installation files for you. When it’s done, remove the USB stick, plug it into the Steam Machine and launch it.
  6. Boot from the flash drive by pressing F12 while turning on the computer. Then select the USB flash drive from the list that appears.
  7. You should be greeted by Windows 10 Installer. Follow the initial prompts and, when prompted, select Custom: Install Windows Only.
  8. Select the hard drive where you want to install Windows 10. Most likely, you only have one hard drive installed, so click on it.
  9. Click the Format button. (If the Format button is grayed out, click Remove and then New.) Click Next to install Windows to this drive.
  10. Let the installation wizard guide you through the process.

Your computer will restart several times, but when it shuts down, you should be able to enter the Windows desktop. You’re almost there! Now you just need to install your motherboard drivers, video card drivers and Steam. It’s easy:

  1. Go to ASRock website and download INF driver and Rapid Storage Technology driver.
  2. Double click both zip files and extract them to your desktop. First, run the INF driver installer, restart your computer if necessary, and then run the Rapid Storage Technology driver.
  3. Next, go to the NVIDIA website and download the drivers for your graphics card (if you’ve swapped out the recommended card for an AMD card, you’ll obviously want the drivers from AMD ). Double-click the installer to install these drivers.
  4. Finally, download and install the Steam client from the Steam website.
  5. Once installed, launch Steam and log in. Go to Steam> Settings> Interface. Check the box next to Run Steam in Large Image Mode.

When you’re done, restart your computer. If all went well, it should boot straight into Steam Big Picture Mode so you can unplug your mouse and keyboard and start playing games right away. You can even use your controller with games that don’t support it and stream games from other computers .

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