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[Steam Box / Big Picture Mode] Build & set up your own living room PC gaming console!
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I entirely agree, it's a small box for a standard desktop PC, but it's big for an ITX case and it doesn't have the advantage of looking like home theater equipment either. Obviously for some (most?) people that isn't an issue, but it isn't what I would want for an HTPC/Steam Box.
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Depends on the case and the card. You also have to consider that you're going to be playing games at a maximum resolution of 1080p, so it's not like you need a GTX 690.
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It's like I don't even know you anymore.
He said a GTX 690, that doesnt rule out two or even three 690s.
However, there are two problems with this new setup: The first is that I have to manually switch where I want the audio source between the receiver (for my TV) and my PC speakers (for my desktop). Even if I set my receiver as the default audio connection, it won't automatically switch to my PC unless the receiver is turned off (which I can't do since all my other devices are plugged directly to it).
So is there a way to have the audio output on both the receiver and the desktop speakers, simultaneously? Or alternatively, a way to instantly switch between the desired audio source with a simple keyboard command (that I could then map to my Harmony remote)?
The other problem is that if I want to turn off my desktop monitor (as it occasionally proves distracting having the same image displayed on both), I have to manually turn it off via the button. I was wondering if there was either a keyboard command that can shut off my monitor (so, again, I can map it to the remote), or if there's a way to have my remote turn it off as a registered device (tried this, but it didn't work)?
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I got you, dogg! I was looking into this recently. Get this: http://soundswitch.codeplex.com/ Only problem is that if you have 3 sources (PC speakers, headphones, receiver), you've got to leave one of them off the toggle. Still, not a bad solution.
For that, use this: http://mikinho.com/projects/ ...The program you're looking for is on the bottom (Windows 7 Toggle Display). The problem again is that it's toggling between two, so a third state (monitor + TV) would be left out in the cold. A better option, if you have Windows 7, may be using the Win+P command.
I mainly toggle--there are very few instances in which I want to use both monitors or a combination of the two audio sources. So I've just set up my Harmony to have one switch to toggle between the monitor + speakers and TV + receiver combo by using hotkeys for the two scripts.
If you want to do something a little more complex, I would suggest AutoHotKey.
I knew this thread would come in handy. :^:
Edit: The program for audio switching works, but unfortunately I don't know how to map the command (CTRL+ALT+F11) to my remote. There's an "add sequence" option that supposedly lets me map multiple inputs to a single button, but it won't work (or I'm doing it wrong). I guess I could just map it to a single key, but I'm not sure what key I could exclusively map it for that I'll never use in anything else.
I also have no idea how to add a command line to the remote, so if you happen to be knowledgeable in that respect, kindly let me know.
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Or numpad '.'
I never use those.
PSN - sumowot
My connection solution is HDMI going through a wall and network and USB connections going through the ceiling and going to a USB hub by my couch. A USB hub lets use devices that aren't available in wireless such as an XArcade Tankstick http://www.xgaming.com/store/arcade-joysticks-and-game-controllers/product/x-arcade-tankstick-includes-usb-cables/
Monoprice CAT5 to USB adapters work perfectly to give you a 50+ foot USB cable. And Monoprice raceways means I can pull the cables from the ceiling down the walls and but still leave them invisible.
The Big Picture native gamepad support doesn't seem to work very well for me but I have a logitech controller not an XBOX controller. I mapped my gamepad to mouse controls using the logitech profiler but the profiler is pretty bad. I'm trying different gamepad mappers and I'll report on what works.
What I'm looking for now is a pretty emulator launcher for classic gaming. So far none of the interfaces I looked at have a good 10 foot interface. GameEx is close but still not exactly what I want http://www.gameex.com/ . XBMC has the new Advanced Launcher which I haven't played with but it looks promising.
I would love to be able to boot to Steam and make the game PC a really expensive and awesome console but I'm not quite there yet.
*Hides blueprints labelled "Alecthar's Steam Box"*
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Custom case, I built in 3 little cooling towers, nuclear reactor style. Steam Box for short, the full title is "Three Mile Island - With a name like that, and specs like these, you know I'm compensation for something."
Admittedly it doesn't roll off the tongue.
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According to PSUCalc, to justify my 850w PSU I need to run 2 GTX 690s. So I guess Im going to blow double the cost of my complete build (well, almost double) on 2 GTX 690s.
And then Im going to have to blow another $2600 on 3 27" Ultrasounds. Sure I could buy a super nice 60" for that, but why be limited to 2,073,600 pixels when I could have 11,059,200 (or 8,192,000 if I get 2 30" Ultrasharps).
I guess if I was going to make a tv out of them I'll need 6...
Or I guess I could do something sane. Im tempted to throw my current GTX 570 in my current HTPC (currently a E8400 and a ATi 4850), but Im pretty sure the E8400 will bottleneck it and Im not entirely sure how much gaming Im going to be doing from my couch (after all I just need to start/finish The Walking Dead, Batman Arkham City, GTA Vice City, GTA San Andreas, Alpha Protocol (assuming it has controller support, otherwise I'll just play it on the 360), Bastion, etc etc. Okay I should do it.).
Those don't appear to be options in the Logitech software. I tried using ~, but that didn't work etiher. There's got to be a more elegant solution to audio switching.
More importantly, I've been trying for ages to find a capable wireless headset for game chat. You'd think with 360 controller support MS would work to get their wireless headsets working on a PC, but no go on that front. Any close alternatives are also ridiculously priced.
Doesn't help that the people playing Borderlands 2 multiplayer are more chatty than I imagined.
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Cross-posting from the G&T steam thread
I imagine you'll be fine and dandy, but if you need any help give me a shout! I've experience building Media PCs (so, basically a steambox) having had two myself
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
You could probably ballpark something the size of the original PS3, or slightly larger. They really just don't make cases much smaller than that that are capable of housing a discrete GPU and a PSU capable of powering it. There's always the possibility of going with an AMD chip with a decent integrated GPU, which would allow you to cut down the size of the case a fair bit, and should be fine with most games if you limit it to 720p (like a console does).
Great stuff minor!
Steam ID: Good Life
It's graphics card and PSU that take up the most amount of space really. You can't go for an mATX case as (at least in my experience), you can't get a powerful enough one. This is my setup:
Sorry the pic is crap, the light's fairly low in here at the moment. Top left PS3, Top right 360, Bottom Left is my HTPC and bottom right is my amp. So my HTPC is about the same size as my amp. Inside there it's a fairly tight squeeze, I can fit in a GTX 560ti and a decent PSU but there's not really a lot of space for anything else. You could go a little smaller but things would get hot.
The only way you could potentially go smaller is to have a PSU external. I upgraded from a fairly small mAtx case that could fit in an ATI 5750 but not a full size PSU. A friend took it off my hands and just hung the PSU out the back of it! Wasn't neat or tidy but it did the trick and you couldn't see round the back.
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
I just bought a nice 60" plasma a few months back and love it. I'm kicking around the idea of a Steambox, and would like to keep it reasonable (I'm hoping $450ish as an arbitrary limit). However, my current media center is kind of full. I bought it years back for a 46" and it's kind of busted though...maybe it's time to replace it with something like this? All of my inputs are claimed on the receiver, but I could in theory replace my Popcorn Hour with a HTPC if I do it up right.
In terms of GPU's, I've got Crossfired 6850's in my desktop, and now that I have a 2560x1440 monitor they struggle with some games. I could in theory pop a 6850 in the Steambox and upgrade my desktop, but then I'm stuck with a leftover 6850.
I know, first world problems and all, but this suddenly became more complicated than just building a small pc.
the sugo08 if you want a full size PSU, or the sugo05 if you can deal with the integrated PSU are pretty much as small as you can go while still using a real desktop videocard.
i think there are a few other vendors that do mITX cases around abouts this size but i can't remember them off the top of my head.
You'll have to pick your components carefully to ensure fit but you can get desktop level performance in an enclosure this size.
silverstone as well and they actually use good OEMs for their units usually, although i haven't found a good detailed review of that unit
then, i'm not the guy to talk about spending too much on computer cases
I'm googling around but I'm sort of unclear...is this a series of processors that's meant to complement discrete GPU's? Or replace them outright?
it's AMD's combination of a cpu based on the piledriver core, and a radeon 7600 in one chip, like Intel HD graphics in Sandy/Ivy bridge, only more powerful. It can either be used on it's own, or if you can pair it with another radeon gpu in crossfire, but only laptops bother doing that.
It has just enough power behind it to run more games at 720p on medium to med-high graphics, depending on the game, while being very lower power.
So you can build a very small and cheap HTCP/SteamBox.
and another fun fact is the PS4 devkits are based around some variant of an AMD Trinity A10.
CPU performance on the top tier SKU is roughly on par with an intel i3, which is to say more than enough for a steambox. GPU performance is not bad at all for an integrated solution but i'd still go with a dedicated card if budget allows. Playing at 1080p would probably be a bit painful on new modern titles.
anandtech.com/show/6332/amd-trinity-a10-5800k-a8-5600k-review-part-1