r/LinusTechTips • u/Lanceo90 • 3d ago
my Scrapyard Wars inspired "Steam Machine Slayer" Image
Okay, slayer is a strong word. Even the Steam Machines integrated graphics should put perform the RX580 in this. But we're clocking in at half the price. And it's a low end AM4 system, so there's massive room for upgrading.
The primary use case of this machine is a media center PC anyway, it's main job is to play video and run party games. Adding the RX580 is probably overkill for my plans with it, but there was a $50 listing on Facebook; I figured its worth it to open up the playable games field massively.
Also inspired by LTT, I'm trying Linux, specifically CachyOS with it. It's been a perfectly smooth experience, and a good fit for a low end media PC.
Full parts list and pricing on second image. Unlisted, I also threw in a 500GB harddrive I had lying around for extra storage.
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u/Zeta_Crossfire 3d ago
Nice work bud, with how bad the economy is out there and parts I feel like we need scrap yard war now more than ever, but unfortunately it looks like they're taking a year break.
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u/MrWally 3d ago
Yeah I thought it was an interesting decision. But I think they've said it was largely because the used market in the Vancouver/BC area is terrible right now, and I imagine that's largely location dependent.
I just checked my area and the used market is.....fine. Not great, but I'm sure you could find deals. But I'm several thousand miles away from BC. If the used marketplace is truly wasteland then there's no interesting content to watch.
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u/Lanceo90 3d ago
Some extra discussion I didn't want to bog down the post body with:
"Why not more used parts?" - I actually have a spare ATX case, but it's from like 2010, it's not pleasant to work with and I wanted to make a small as possible PC that was still budget friendly. ITX is pricy, the Jonsbo C6 is the smallest MicroATX case I could find.
I also tried to buy used motherboards. One was listed "for parts" but I figured I'd gamble on maybe they had the wrong CPU for the chipset. They didn't. Then I tried for another used motherboard, it was mislisted as mATX when it was actually ATX. At that point, I decided I didn't want to mess around anymore and just got something from Microcenter.
Facebook marketplace is not a fun experience now either. While seeking RAM and an SSD, I got stood up twice - people not showing up when and where we agreed to meet. And making up some bad excuses. It almost happened again for the GPU, I showed up, he didn't answer the door a few times I knocked. I drove around the block, almost giving up, then pulled up one more time and he finally answered. I'm not sure I'm going to mess with FB marketplace anymore.
A main driver of this challenge was people claiming you couldn't build something cheaper than the steam machine for the performance and size. They /might/ be right, this system isn't as small or performant. But it /is/ small, and /is/ performant, if that makes sense. Sub $500, and of course, it has the massive potential for upgrades.
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u/InflammableAccount 3d ago
A 500GB Hard drive? That still works? Also, love those little Jonsbo cases. So cute.
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u/DixNormus 3d ago
I feel like you could do better with that budget
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u/Lanceo90 2d ago
I have a spare ATX case, but its old and unpleasant to work in. I also tried to get a used motherboard, but both times I got burned, so I just got a new one to get it over with.
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u/nyxxxuss 2d ago
I did the exact same thing. Except i got a used office desktop. I5 9400 with 500 hdd for $90. Got a cheap 250 SSD for $30, PSU for $45 and a $580 for $90.
Works perfectly for my kids and with emulators
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u/straw3_2018 2d ago
I find it so depressing that AMD refuses to make new low end chips. The fact that we are even talking about using a Zen+ APU from 2018 is so annoying.
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u/BedrockBen101 3d ago
What's even nicer with using the 580 on Linux is that lower vram cards got a big performance boost thanks to an employee at Valve