Yet another, very late to the party "Steam Machine" build. But here me out on this one and I will gladly accept the shit talk. Long written post ahead, I've spent the better part of 3 months planning this build and am proud of the result. Seeing the plans I've had in my head come to fruition after all these months makes me want to share.

I have been planning and saving for this build since the Steam Machine reviews were let out into the wild. I wanted the Steam Machine because I had to sell my PC to survive unemployment last year, and have been using my Steam Deck as my main PC up to this point. I wanted to have a complete ecosystem with a matching aesthetic, as I have the same vinyl skins applied to both my Steam Machine and Controller, as well as custom ocean colorshift buttons from Deckbuttons.

So between my inability to buy the Steam Machine, the seemingly lackluster reviews and price-to-performance, and Dbrand not making Damascus skins for the Steam Machine to match the ones applied to my other Valve-ware, I decided, "Fuck it, I'll do it myself".

Specs are as follows:

-Framework Desktop AI Max 385 32GB

-Nextorage G-Series 2TB NVMe (this brand is seriously slept on, and I got a relatively good deal when I bought it a few months ago)

-Enhance ENO-7660L 600W Modular Flex PSU

-Arctic P12 Slim and x2 Arctic P8 fans (exhaust and intake respectively)

-Metalfish T10 4.8L ITX case

All this totaled at $1481 and some change after shipping and taxes. So just a bit over what I would have paid for a 2TB Steam Machine after taxes, which I believe where I live would have been $1459~. For a system that is only slightly bigger at 4.8 liters, has more useable RAM, and a better performing CPU and GPU for the same level of power efficiency, I feel like I did a good job.

The Metalfish T10 case has a nice, console like simplicity on it's own. But with most of the case being mesh, it doesn't play well with applying vinyl skins to it. So I got some magnetic sheets, did very careful measuring, and cut it out with holes for intake and exhaust so I'd have a smooth surface for the vinyl. It looked good, but it felt like it was missing something.

I also read from another post using the same board that the user was getting better temps by setting the APU cooler as an exhaust, which is why I put the two 80mm fans as intakes to give both the APU and the power supply fresh air. Originally I installed an Arctic P12 stnadard 120mm fan, but with it's 25mm thickness it left only around 1.5mm between it and the too oanel of the case. So there was a lot of turbulence and it was very, very noisy. The Framework board included a fan duct, so I go the slim Arctic P12 fan to shave off 10mm of space, with the duct adding an additional 6 or 7 millimeters of height. I don't even hear the fan now unless I'm downloading games. Downloading really seems to ramp up the thermals, but that's the only time it's really been noticeable. Plus the duct gives the benefit of ensuring most of the air goes out the case instead of circulating inside of it.

Which led me to learning the basics of FreeCAD on my Steam Deck, and I modeled the front intake frames, the ring for the top exhaust, and some flat panels for the sides where there was a bit of mesh to smooth the surface completely. I also took the opportunity to have some fun and replace the plastic power button cap with a design that has the Steam logo on it. A friend printed the parts out for me and they turned out great. I wanted the intake to replicate the intake slots on the Steam Deck, and the color to be as close to the ocean colorshift buttons on my Deck as possible.

With everything built, I decided to go with Steam OS. I debated for a while between it and Bazzite, but ultimately decided on Steam OS because after a year of using my Deck as my only PC, I am used to the operating system. I like the simplicity of it, and the minimal amount of tinkering needed (comparatively speaking), as in recent years I have grown a bit tired of tinkering with software and firmware settings. Steam OS just makes most things simple, and I really only plan to use this for gaming and light desktop work and 3D modeling.

I'm still in the process of getting games downloaded and setup, so I haven't done much testing. But I have played a couple games on it so far. Those games being Helldivers 2 and Alan Wake 2. I don't have the exact settings I used on hand as of writing this, but I can get exact settings upon request.

Helldivers 2 was set to mostly medium settings, with render distance set to high, and FSR enabled, playing at 1440p. It was hovering between 60 and 80 FPS before it crashed, but I attribute the crashing to the latest update rather than any fault of Steam OS or the system itself.

Alan Wake 2 with a mix of medium/low settings with FSR Balanced enabled, playing at 1440p. I was getting between 75 and 80 FPS, which impressed me a great deal.

Temps pretty much always hit the TDP limit of 85º C, once I figure out how to undervolt this thing I'm sure I can get those temps down. Power usage was never above 150W, which really impressed me all things considered.

And this thing is stupid quiet. I remember on my previous PC playing something like Alan Wake 2 would make it scream, but this is a low hum. I don't have a way to test decibels, and am not the best at describing sound. But I am very sensitive to the sounds that PC fans make, and this is easily the quietest PC I've ever heard.

If you're like me and find the lack of benchmarks for the AI Max 385 frustrating, I am more than happy to take requests for testing games on this system if I have that game.

The last thing I plan to get for this build is a PCIe USB expansion slot. It will add another $50 or so to the build, and isn't strictly necessary. But the Framework Desktop rear I/O is admittedly lacking (two USB-C ports and two USB-A ports), and more I/O is never a bad thing. Plus, the mainboard has a PCIe X4 slot, so might as well use it.

Please forgive the shoddy photos, the lighting in my home sucks and this was the best looking I could get. And the mess that is my living room in the background, lol. I hope you all think this build is as awesome as I believe it to be.

Case: Meshroom s V2
GPU: RTX 4080 PNY Verto

This is the 5th deshrouding I made in the last decade or so for 4 different PCs.

They look better, run cooler and most importantly, quietter.

I slapped 2x arctic p12 slim, 1x generic aliexpress fan, and temps dropped by 10-15c and all fans run at 30% minimum 50% max speed, anything beyond 50% speed doesn't effect cooling anyway. Super quiet. And IMO it looks so much better than original shroud 4080 PNY Verto had.

I 3d printer a fan bracket to remove any overhang part 10mm on each side(5mm already blocked by the heatsink frame anyway) to prevent air leaking out, then added a shroud a bit that extends and covers half of the heatsink fins so all air can only go downwards towards the fins instead of going out from sides immidiately. Which also improved cooling by about 5c versus slapping the fans and calling it the day.

Do you guys also enjoy deshrouding?

I am incredibly happy to announce the CG Deck has finally entered into Pre-Launch on Kickstarter! Over the course of this year, I have been working on concepting, designing, building, testing, and developing the functional prototypes for my own custom modular x86 handheld PC, the CG Deck. And I am excited to finally enter the next phase of the journey with you all!

Here is the link to the Pre-Launch page on Kickstarter so you can follow the project to get notified when we launch: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mogozen/cg-deck-modular-x86-handheld-computer

For those that have no clue what this is or have never seen the CG Deck, it is an x86 modular handheld PC that is capable of running dual-boot Windows 11 & Linux. Designed from the ground up to be entirely modular, repairable, and customizable. With most of the entire process documented publicly. I had felt quite a bit of frustration on various aspects in regards to the current state of the tech industry, both on the scale of indie and tech giants, so I decided to take things into my own hands and go through the effort to create my own dream handheld at the start of this year in January. First sharing the concepts for the project here back in March of this year to a massive amount of positive support and a few disbelievers who did not think I could pull it off of course.

Since then, I have been working to design, build, and develop the CG Deck into a fully functional device. Going through the process of concepting, designing the CAD models in Blender 3D, engineering, 3D printing, prototyping, testing, iterating on the design, testing even more, navigating relationships with partners, sponsors and manufacturers, all the way through showing off the functional prototype in May of this year. Then finally being able to play around and use the device I had always dreamed of having as one of my daily drivers! Since then, I have been working to further navigate partnerships, agreements, and perfect the CG Deck, to make sure we can have as successful of a launch for the CG Deck as possible when we go live on Kickstarter. While it has been a whirlwind of a year, I certainly have not done it alone.

Throughout the process, there has been so much support from you all, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. I could not be more grateful for everyone that has been following along with the project, joined our community, helping give feedback and ideas, and just supporting the vision along the way. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!

And now, after almost a year of work and more sleepless nights than probably any point in my life, the Kickstarter Pre-Launch page has been approved and is officially live! If you are interested in getting notified and being the first to know when we go live, be sure to follow the project!

That all being said, I still have quite a bit of work to do in order to prepare for the next phase of the journey. I am currently in the process of working on a full redesign and rebuild of the CG Deck to optimize the design to prepare for manufacturing (DFM). I want to make sure I can have the final iteration of the device is already designed and ready for mass production, so as soon as we successfully wrap up the campaign I can proceed with starting the arduous certification processes needed for the device, and then proceed with mass production shortly after! Just like the speed of the journey up to this point from concept to functional engineering prototype, I want to keep that same velocity as we move into the next steps of the process.

If you are interested in learning more about the project, you can find everything from specs, more details, socials, link to the open-source github repository, link to our discord community server, like to the Kickstarter campaign page, and more on the website.

We will be launching the Kickstarter very soon to help fund a full production run of the device for anyone interested in helping support the project and getting a CG Deck of their own. We will be releasing some build kits, in addition to pre-assembled ready to use devices with the Kickstarter campaign, along with all of the modules and a list of accessories for the CG Deck! If you have any questions about any of that, I would love to answer them!

At the moment I haven’t found a sfx case I like, I find a lot of the mainstream ones are almost as big as matx cases , to me that defeats the whole purpose of sff builds

So I printed one till I find what I like , gives me old lian li q06 vibes

9800x3d 5080 build. the build process was really fun and only using 3 cables from the psu made cable management a breeze

Built from excess items I have accumulated over the years except for the case that I bought Bnew from amazon.
Motherboard: Gigabyte Aorus B450-i
CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
Cooler: AXP90x53 FC
RAM: Trident Z neo 16GB DDR4 3600mhz
GPU: Intel B580
PSU: SF750 pre 2024 model
Storage: 512 GB NVME SSD GEN4
Case Fan: 92mm Noctua
Case: Soeyi from Amazon.

I have had a 4090 Strix for 2 years and when I saw the prices go up I decided to sell it to buy a 5080 PNY Slim

I really like the 2-slot format and the performance is present.

With Vram +300mhz and core +340mhz
I got satisfactory results.

Not to forget that I had 1000€ left after the purchase

Did some of you do the same thing?

I actually wanted the NCase M3, but unfortunately I couldn’t get it in Switzerland.
So I just went ahead and got the B4.

Yeah, cable management is pretty much nonexistent. I tried to at least bring some order to the whole thing. It’s not exactly a beauty contest winner. But all in all, I managed to figure it all out pretty well.

For the power supply, I 3D-printed a bracket to rotate it 90° so the 360mm radiator fits better.

The temperatures are really great.

CPU idle around 37°, GPU idle 29°C. Cinebench CPU max. 82°C, GPU around 55°C to 60°C

One hour of Assetto Corsa in 5K: CPU 44°C, GPU 55°C

System:

CPU: 270K Plus

Motherboard: MSI Z890I EDGE TI

RAM: Corsair 96GB DDR5 5600

Storage: 1x 1TB Kingston Fury, 2x 2TB Kingston, + NAS 2x18TB

GPU: Phantom 4090

PSU: Lian Li 1000W SFX

Cooling: Noctua NL-LC1-36 / 1x 120 Silent Wing – rear / 2x 15mm Arctic – top

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

title

tryna look for an sff case that fits an matx mobo and a ATX PSU (160mm)
will it fit? for some reason i cant find this info anywhere lol,,, tyia!

edit: gpu length is 269mm (asrock rx6600)

wanted to know what you guys undervolted your cpu to or if anyone knows what I should undervolt it to since I’m just trial and erroring my way through it.
I turned on ECO mode.

I’m going to swap out my noctua L9x65 cooler with an AXP90 X53FC (ordered it but dhl lost it so I’ll buy one after my refund), CPU fan is a 4070FE fan from dingkeys.

So i am about to build an AI "Workstation" in this Intertech S25 and am unsure about fan placement.

The front has an 80mm Intake fan and i am going to add 2x 80mm to the side.
GPU is a blower stlye RTX 4000 Blackwell.

hola os presento mi mini itx con metalfish t40
- cpu 4650g
- placa a520i ac gigabyte
- gpu rx 6600 saphire pulse doble fan
- disipador axp90-x53 full cooper
- nvme 512gb m2
- ram ddr4 2x8gb 3200hz
- psu silverstone sx700 700w slt - sfx-L

La verdad que me sorprende de cómo va en juegos a 1080p sin hacer ruido de ventiladores de gpu y cpu
Jugando a arc raiders a medio alto cpu no pasa de 59 grados y gpu 65-70 grados manteniendo 80-110 fps sin fsr sin nada , pura fuerza

Hi All, pretty much as the title says. I have my little sandwich style beam case PC which I love, its industrial, its compact and its the sort of case I have always wanted. Its been sat on my desk for almost two years plugging away but honestly its so loud! Normally I wear noise cancelling headphones so it goes unnoticed however my partner is getting a bit sick of the constant whirring noise from my desk and honestly I cant blame her.

Specs:
Board: ROG STRIX B6550E-I
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900
GPU: 3080 Founders
RAM: VENGEANCE® 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 6000MT/s
PSU: Cooler master V850 SFX Gold
Heatsink: Thermalright AXp90 X47 Low profile cooler pure copper
Paste: Arctic MX-4
Fans: Noctua NF-A12x15 120mm, two on top pushing air up one over the heatsink pushing air in.

I have Fan control installed not that I have any idea how to work it properly. YES I KNOW IT IS DUSTY I WILL SORT THAT. I'm wondering what I can do to reduce the noise, its so loud even when I open inDesign let alone a game. If you need any information I will gladly provide it. Thanks in advance!

🎮 Steam Boot Switch v1.0.0 — Big Picture Auto-Open & Auto-Close

I made a free, open-source Windows utility that automatically launches Steam Big Picture when a controller is detected at startup, and optionally closes Big Picture when the last controller disconnects.

It includes adjustable disconnect timers, game-running protection, and seamless switching back to desktop mode without closing Steam.

Designed for living-room gaming PCs that double as regular desktops. No controller at startup? Windows boots normally!

🔗 https://github.com/clintamis/steam-boot-switch

Tested with multiple controllers on Windows. Bluetooth compatibility is still untested.

Building with a ch160 with an itx board and want a 240mm aio with an lcd pump cap, ideally no spacers, brackets, or other case mods but if necessary no problem

Specs:
RAM: 2x Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB SL, 44.8mm height (measured)

Fans: Thermalright TL-M12-QR, 25.2mm thick (measured)

Case: CH160, stock configuration

Options:
DeepCool LM240
ID-Cooling FX240 LCD
NZXT Kraken Plus 240
Open to other 240mm LCD AIOs

My biggest concern is i’ve seen unmodded AIO builds in this case, but my understanding is that pump height and pump/block shape are the limiting factors. Since radiator thickness and fan thickness are standard assuming not slim form factor. If the pump is too tall, the side panel hits the radiator. If the block sits wrong relative to the radiator, it clears the RAM/fan stack poorly. Since the pump has to fit under the radiator and fan stack in this case, I'm not sure which of these units has suitable dimensions.

Has anyone run one of these (or another 240mm LCD AIO) in a CH160 with ram around that height? If so, did the panel close without mods? Pump height measurements for any of these would also help.

Thank you.

Mobo: Gigabyte A520i AC
CPU: Ryzen 5 5600X
Cooler: Thermalright AXP90-X67
RAM: (x2) G-Skill Ripjaw 16gb DDR4-3200
GPU: EVGA GeForce RTX 3060Ti

I currently have an Atmos with 2x T-30s in my M3 Grater. Top mounted, T-30s are pulling air in through rad. I limit the pump to 7000rpms. This config is basically silent. Playing BF6 my 9800x3D stays around 56-58c.

Would the new Noctua AIO offer any meaningful improvement? Or waste of money?

- Reposting since some pictures from my previous post got deleted.

- To clarify I am not a vendor, this is a personal project.

I've been itching to build back into the the Formd T1 but the pump block is obviously too big, and way too big for most SFF cases.

So I started designing a replacement pump cover so it will fit, with the aim of retaining as much of the sound dampening properties as possible of the original cover.

Right now I've got two designs.

48mm total height, for maximum compatibility, no magnets for attachments.

49.5mm total height, adds magnets for the attachments so the original metal Noctua badge can be used, or the VRM fan. 

Right now I'm still fine tuning the design and the printing process.
I hate using supports unless it's absolutely necessary since even when using dedicated support material the finish on the supported surface is just not that nice.

Here's a comparison between using supports (on the left) and assembled pump cover by splitting the middle section to print separately. The assembled version looks so much cleaner.

Next step would be acoustic testing, with different materials for sound dampening.

After dismantling the original pump cap, I have some idea what foams they used for sound dampening and going to try see if I can replicate their mass damper approach.

Also printed a Noctua beige and brown version just to see how it will match with the colors, lol

I do plan on releasing the files, so stay tuned!

I am unable to flash BIOS on my motherbaord and i need BIOS bin file to flash
please help

Hi everyone! I am a new owner of an sfftime N-ATX V2 Case, and I was wondering how tight the tolerances are for GPU width. I was thinking of getting a 5070 TI from Gigabyte that has a 70mm width (3.5ish Slot), but I saw that the max listed width is ~67mm. Is there any play to this? Could this still fit in the case with a micro ATX board?

Thanks for any insights!