Mini PC for Steam Big Picture!

B

bobby_joe

n00b
Joined
Aug 17, 2013
Messages
7
Hello!
1) Gaming and streaming onto 42" TV
2) What's your budget? ~$500
3) Canada, Montreal
4) CPU, RAM, GPU, HD, MoBo, Case (small form factor), Gaming controller, PSU
5) Have: TV, cables, sound system
6) No or little OC (small for factor, want to keep temp down)
7) 42" 1080p
8) Buying it asap
9) USB 3.0 and any other new tech.
10) Legit 64bit W7 home

I am looking to build a small form factor PC and hook up a gaming controller so as to play games through Steam Big Picture. I think that waiting for the PS4 is a waste of time, and prefer an upgradeable mini itx (atx?) system.

Cheapest & bestest! I currently have a full tower with a Q6600 and 9800gt.. and I cant put games to their max settings on my 1650x1080 screen... Im tired of not using max settings! So I guess most of my money would go to a good GPU?
Budget isnt fixed.. but Id rather not have a console replacement cost me $700...

Thanks HF!
 
Last edited:
Do you really need an optical drive?

But to get max settings at a decent frame rate on a new SFF PC, your $600 is unlikely to be sufficient. A Shuttle SZ77R5 is $350 and a Radeon 7950 is $250, and you'll need another $250+ for OS, CPU, and memory.

Stick with buying yourself just the GPU and use the money saved for a selection of controllers.
 
Why a shuttle though? The fractal design case is $70.. a Mobo would be $100?...
I want to keep the tower as the office PC, this build wouldnt reuse any parts.
I dont need fully maxed graphics.. just high on new games. The 9800 gt can do Max textures, but then you have to lower everything else to Low/Med.

As for controllers.. any suggestions?
Optical drive for the reformatting?

Thx
 
Yeah $500 CAD is not going to be enough for a gaming PC capable of handling the latest games at 1080P. As Quartz-1 kinda showed (I would not have recommended a Shuttle), you're easily looking at $750+ for a SFF build. And probably even more once we factor in CAD pricing.

Just the CPU alone is going to be like $200. Then the GPU is $260 (USD not sure of CAD pricing). Again, this is for high, not max. So that's already well above your $500 CAD budget once you factor in the PSU, case, RAM, HDD, etc.

So again, do you want to continue this route and are willing to deal with the increased budget? (We're looking at $800 CAD).
 
bobby_joe said:
Why a shuttle though? The fractal design case is $70.. a Mobo would be $100?...
I want to keep the tower as the office PC, this build wouldnt reuse any parts.
I dont need fully maxed graphics.. just high on new games. The 9800 gt can do Max textures, but then you have to lower everything else to Low/Med.

As for controllers.. any suggestions?
Optical drive for the reformatting?

Thx
Click to expand...

yeah build it from scratch, dont bother with the expensive barebones like the shuttle. you dont need a 680 at all, but if a 760 is doable with your budget then that should keep you very happy at 1080p for a while.

i would suggest an external optical drive since they are pretty comparable price to internals, and saving that space in your itx case will be a huge help later, for cable management if not for an extra hdd or bigger heat sink, etc. if you really only need it every now and then like for reformatting, then it's not worth wasting all that space, which is at such a premium in itx cases.

for controller: WIRELESS XBOX. done. it will play almost every controller-enabled game on steam with zero setup or third-party programs required. wired is ok, but the extra cost of wireless is very worth it IMO.
 
Danny: Sure! Let's see where the rabbit hole takes us! I can bump the budget. But I might have to cut certain corners lol.

ekuest: I was leaning towards the Xbox controller, glad to hear its just plug'n'play. I could even just unplug an optical drive from one of the towers and connect it via SATA just for a format once in a while.. So I think you're right. Let's scratch the optical.
 
Last edited:
What games are you wanting to play? When you say Steam Big Picture, I'm thinking mostly of indie games. Those games aren't terribly demanding, so you can save a lot of money on the hardware if you build for those types of games and not AAA FPS type games.

You could easily get away with an i3 or even Pentium processor. There are some decent, if basic, mITX boards available for under 80 dollars. And you in no way need a GTX 680 either. I'm not sure where the best bang for your buck is, but I think a 7850/7870 would be more than enough for run those types of games at 1080p for the foreseeable future.
 
Not even going to bother doing the links since it appears that NCIX links aren't working correctly (they keep redirecting to the main page). So you will have to manually search for the following items:

$200 - Core i5 4570 CPU
$120 - Asus H87I-Plus mITX Motherboard
$75 - Kingston HyperX KHX1600C10D3B1/8G 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$200 - Asus Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card
$68 - Wester Digital Blue 1TB Hard Drive
$95 - Silverstone ST45SF-G Gold 450W PSU
$50 - Silverstone SG05BB-LITE mITX Case
---
Total: $808 CAD plus shipping and tax.

That video card should be able to handle current games at 1080P at high or near high settings. I second the recommendation for the 360 controller as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top