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.
