Transcription
Smaller, faster, and cheaper than Valve's Steam Machine. And the best part is that you can copy this for yourself right now. That is all exactly what the goals were for today's gaming PC build project, but I want to make something very clear before we move on.
I am not making this build to attack Valve or minimize in any way the value of the Steam Machine. I don't think the pricing of the Steam Machine is malicious by a greedy corporation. It's obviously high, but Valve is dealing with the same PC market struggles that we all are. This isn't them raising prices to be greedy. They just have to pay the really high RAM and storage prices like everyone else.
I'm only making this video and this type of build because I'm on the wait list for the Steam Machine, and I just can't wait any longer. If that's also the position you're in, then I consider a build like this for yourself, and I'm going to show you exactly how to do that, and we'll of course benchmark the heck out of it to see what it's capable of. There is a serious weak point in this build just as a heads-up, but I'll fully explain all of that later in the video.
And real quickly, if you're new around here, my name is Zach, and I love teaching you how to build custom gaming PCs like this. I not only have a ton of build guide videos just like this one, but I also have a ton of totally free PC building resources on my website to help you out. If you want to skip all of this hassle, then we also sell pre-builts over there. I got you covered either way. I just want to show you all of the gaming PC options, and this Steam Machine alternative is definitely a fun one. So, let's dive in.
All right. So, this tiny little ITX PC is packing some serious hardware, almost too much hardware if we're being honest. However, the operating system is what I want to start with first. I decided to not go with Steam OS. Not because I don't like it, but because it's just not ready for this build yet. This specific case can only utilize a single fan graphics card, and the best single-fan graphics card right now comes from Nvidia. Valve and Nvidia are currently working on bringing GPU drivers over to Steam OS, but that hasn't happened yet, so it's running much better with AMD GPUs. Once Nvidia has proper drivers on Steam OS, I definitely am going to revisit builds like this and even the budget version of this that I uploaded a couple months ago.
And speaking of which, yeah, that build was using this exact same case, but just the white version. That build is hundreds of dollars cheaper than this one, so check that one out if you're on a tighter budget.
What you also might have the budget for is today's video sponsor, the LTT store True Spec cables. I've been personally waiting for these because they solve a stupid problem that our industry shouldn't have. When you purchase USB cables, it's a lottery to determine what the specs will actually be. Sometimes the data is slower, sometimes it doesn't deliver enough power, it's never a sure thing. That's where True Spec comes in because every cable has the power and data specs clearly labeled. It's built with a soft silicone sheathing that's UV and kink resistant, so it'll last. There's some firm strain relief at both ends, and there's plenty of options to choose from between USB A to C, USB C to C, at all sorts of different lengths and specs. You can tell the LTT store team is passionate with all their rigorous testing and attention to detail. I recommend checking out their 13-minute video all about these cables, but if you want to go straight to buying since they're selling out so fast, I'll have the link for that at the top of the description.
But yeah, using Windows isn't that big of a deal, especially for someone like me, but if you're trying to mimic the authentic Steam Machine and Steam OS experience, then you might want to make some tweaks to this parts list.
Speaking of which, let's start with the CPU. And for a tiny form factor build, going with an efficient and easy to cool chip is a must. This is the Ryzen 5 9600X, and remember that one of the main selling points of the 9000 series was power efficiency. That's exactly what we need for this build because the tallest cooler that I could fit in this case was only 36 mm. This is a Thermalright AXP90-X36, and it's probably the best option available at this height. There's very few options to even consider. They just don't make coolers this short too often.
Now, I will admit though, this is exactly the weak point in this build that I was talking about. Here you can see in the new Assassin's Creed Black Flag resync that even though we're playing in 1080p high at 69 FPS and the game looks smooth and beautiful, that 9600X is getting up there in the mid-80s degrees. In a game like Fortnite where the CPU is being taxed even more, yeah, we're right under 100. So, we're pushing this thing to the absolute max.
One of the things you can and should do with a small form factor build like this is to go into the BIOS settings and enable eco mode for the CPU. That'll tune down the wattage going into the chip, but unfortunately, that did not drop the temperatures as far as I would have liked. The best thing to do would be an undervolt, and unfortunately, I just ran out of time and didn't get to test all of that, but I really think that you should do it. Undervolting would have significantly dropped those temperatures, and I know a lot of you already default to undervolting no matter what the cooling situation is. I'd highly recommend you do that, and maybe I'll make a follow-up YouTube short one day for this build, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Regardless though, even if we are running in the 90 degrees, we're still getting some really good FPS numbers, and there's not a whole lot of other options we can do without replacing the case, so just be aware of that if you're thinking about copying this tiny build.
Let's move on to the motherboard, and this is the Gigabyte This costs $130 brand new on Amazon, and the main reason I went with it is because it is the most affordable ITX AM5 board on the entire market. If you want to then max a little bit and get a better chipset and possibly better VRMs, feel free to spend more. I was trying to keep this build priced around the Steam Machine, so going with the cheapest motherboard option was a necessity to make that happen.
I also had to keep the RAM down to 16 GB, and I think we all know why at this point. There's just no way you can fit 32 gigs of DDR5 RAM in any build around this price point, let alone an ITX one. This is a Teamgroup 2 by 8 GB 6,000 MHz kit, which populates both slots nicely. We actually had an absolute beautiful brain-scratching itch ASMR when installing this. We didn't have any microphones pointed at it though, other than the built-in camera audio, which will not do it justice. >> Ooh, that's nice. That's nice uh That was good. >> Sorry, I can't share the satisfaction I got, but if you copy this parts list for yourself, just know that you're in for an absolute treat when you install the RAM.
Next up, we have the SSD, and this is a Timetec 512 GB NVMe. This is just a Gen 3 drive to keep the total build price down, and this cost $84 brand new on Amazon. One of the things I really appreciate about the Steam Machine is how they made half a terabyte drives kind of acceptable in this $1,000-ish price range now. I'm not happy that this is the situation that we're in, but the fact that a company like Valve is selling a build over $1,000 with half a terabyte drive, it really just paints a picture of how bad the market really is right now. It kind of gives people like me permission or validation to do that in build guides right now. It sucks, but that is our only realistic option right now unless you try to buy used.
And speaking of which, now would be a good time to experiment with buying a used RAM kit or even SSD. You got to be careful though, because with parts like that, I would only buy them used if you're on a platform that has a buyer-friendly return policy. RAM and SSDs can be a little finicky, and SSDs specifically only have a certain amount of life in them before they start to degrade. If you buy them used, make sure you get them in your PC as soon as possible and fully test them before your return window closes up. I've scored some serious deals lately buying these parts used. If you want to keep the cost down and trust yourself on the used market, it's definitely something to consider.
Another part to consider is the power supply. Not used though, but this is a good old trusty Apivia ITX PFC 500 W unit. This is absolutely not a super well-respected PSU, but when you're buying a flex power supply, we don't have as many options as you would think. Tiny cases like this only support flex PSUs and they just don't make a whole lot of them, so our options are limited. Now, there are some really nice and expensive models, just so you know, but they're like $150 to $250. That would make zero sense in a build like this and there's really just no in-between options, so we got to go budget here. This only costs $49, but the good news is that I've used this exact model in so many builds already and so has my buddy ETA Prime have used it probably more than I have. I haven't seen a single issue with this power supply, so I think it works great for builds like this. Just keep all of this in mind if you're going to do the same thing.
And finally, let's get to the case, which we've been talking all around throughout this video and this is a mini ITX case from Joy Jam and I'm pretty sure it doesn't even have a name. Like I said earlier, I've used this exact model except the white one in a previous YouTube video and I really like it. It's about as tiny as an ITX build will go because as you can see, there's literally no room in here for anything else. It's a sandwich style of case, so on one side you have the little ITX motherboard and on the other side is a single fan graphics card. The way that happens is with this PCIe riser cable that comes included, but do keep in mind that this is only a PCIe 3.0 riser and that can cause some issues. Depending on the GPU, this can limit the performance a bit, so definitely research the specific card you go with ahead of time to figure out if you need a different riser. If you go with this one, then make sure you go into your BIOS settings and set Gen 3 for the PCIe slot because if it's left to auto, you may have some driver issues.
The GPU I went with is an RTX 5060, specifically the ZOTAC Solo model and this thing is an absolute beast for its size, much better than the chip that's in the actual Steam Machine. For this case only being able to support a single fan GPU, you have to be very careful with the size though. Some single fan GPUs might not even fit in here because of this connector hanging from the top of for case, which can get in the way. I've already used the Zotac Solo cards in here before, so I knew they were good to go, but I'd be interested to see if the MSI 560 Ti Cyclone fits in here if anyone tries that out. I'm pretty sure the 560 Ti is the most powerful gaming graphics card that comes in a single fan model, but this 560 non-Ti is still pretty solid as we'll see in the upcoming benchmarking section.
In terms of the PCIe Gen 3 bottlenecking the card, that might be true to a very small degree. I've seen some testing where Gen 3 drops the FPS by a few frames in the single digits, but nothing crazy. Honestly, that's just something I'm willing to deal with in a tiny build like this. I wouldn't strive for that situation, especially in a normal-sized micro-ATX or ATX-sized build, but for a tiny small form factor case like this, I'm fine making some tiny sacrifices to make this easy and it'll still perform really well.
Here's what the final parts list is looking like, and as you can see, we're very close to the price of the Steam Machine's cheapest option of $1,049. We went a touch over that, but still much cheaper than the 2 TB model. Regardless of the price, this has a better CPU, better graphics card, and the same amount of DDR5 and NVMe storage. So, in terms of FPS per dollar value, we're looking pretty good, but let's check out these benchmarks just to make sure.
Here's the new Forza Horizon 6, and in 1080p Ultra, we got up to 73 FPS, which looks pretty good. One thing to keep in mind is that for all of these benchmarks, we aren't using any sort of upscaling. We do have the power of DLSS with the 560, and I would actually take advantage of that if you're plugging this into a 4K TV or just want some better results. For benchmarking specifically, we just kept all of these games at native resolution, so don't compare these against the Steam Machine FSR benchmarks because it's just not the same.
Next up, we have Arc Raiders, and in 1080p high settings, we're at 125 FPS. Again though, that CPU is getting very hot, and even though I don't think it was limiting these results a whole lot, an undervolt would go a long way in this type of system for sure.
Let's now run a couple of Valve games just for fun, and here's their latest Deadlock, which I still haven't tried for myself yet, even though I really want to. In 1080p with high settings, we're at 152 FPS. A lot of these games we definitely could have tested in 1440p, just for the record. Here's also Counter-Strike 2, and obviously that game is no match for a system like this. We got 373 FPS in 1080p Pro settings.
Here's the rest of the games that we tested, all in 1080p high or ultra settings, and yeah, this little box is super impressive. I haven't quite calculated the FPS per volume metric, but I'm sure it would be through the roof and possibly the best build I've ever done. If you want to see longer gameplay and benchmarking clips, we uploaded the full benchmarking run over on the ZTT Extras channel.
So, yeah, even though I don't have my hands on the Valve Steam Machine just yet, I think this little guy can get the job done for now. I cannot wait for Valve to get the Nvidia drivers loaded on Steam OS, so I can try that out next, though. Either way, tiny builds like this are still possible even in our terrible PC building market right now. And if you want to see the much cheaper way on how to do this, then the video for that is up on the screen right now.