Cheapest SFF system capable of Steam in home streaming

D

doug_7506

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 17, 2004
Messages
3,247
Thinking about picking up a SFF system that would be capable of steam in home streaming. Don't need anything special. Plan to pair it with a Logitech harmony Hub keyboard and Xbox one remote.

Was looking at mini pc are a use Mac mini. I've seen Mac mini G4 for as cheap as $140. Don't know if that would be strong enough to decode h.264

Thoughts?
 
I guess to add a little more info.

I'm also looking at NUC like the intel nuc. I'm wondering if a celeron would be enough or if i need an i3?

Plan on running steam OS. May add windows.
 
Newegg's search is screwed up at the moment so I can't find cheap but decent motherboards yet. That'll determine the case as well.

But here's a preliminary setup:
$57 - Intel Pentium G3220 CPU
$55 - mITX or mATX motherboard
$70 - Kingston HyperX FURY HX316C10F/8 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$63 - Crucial MX100 128GB SSD
$40 - Corsair 430CX V2 430W PSU
$50 - mATX or mITX case
---
Total: $335 shipped.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
I'd personally go with an Intel NUC (with a 4th gen i3), because if you repurpose it later on, it can still function as a desktop computer or fast HTPC. It's price wouldn't be much different than Dangman's proposed setup, except it's volume would be <1L instead of >10L, also a lot lower idle and load power consumption.
 
Dangman said:
Newegg's search is screwed up at the moment so I can't find cheap but decent motherboards yet. That'll determine the case as well.

But here's a preliminary setup:
$57 - Intel Pentium G3220 CPU
$55 - mITX or mATX motherboard
$70 - Kingston HyperX FURY HX316C10F/8 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$63 - Crucial MX100 128GB SSD
$40 - Corsair 430CX V2 430W PSU
$50 - mATX or mITX case
---
Total: $335 shipped.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dangman, I always appreciate your input. I am looking to go even smaller in size though. Would need to be the size of a NUC.


Phuncz said:
I'd personally go with an Intel NUC (with a 4th gen i3), because if you repurpose it later on, it can still function as a desktop computer or fast HTPC. It's price wouldn't be much different than Dangman's proposed setup, except it's volume would be <1L instead of >10L, also a lot lower idle and load power consumption.
Click to expand...

Yeah in the $300 ballpark I could def do an i3 variant of a NUC variant. But, since it will really only be serving one purpose, I don't want to overbuy. If I can get away with a celeron that's what I would like to grab.

i.e. this celeron 2957U based Zbox with 64gb ssd, 2gb ram, and win 8.1 is only $160 right now. if this will handle 1080p h.264 then its a sure thing. From what I can tell, the celeron 2957U has quicksync enabled which supposedly helps with h.264 playback.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
I think that Zotac ZBOX-BI320 would be able to handle 1080p h.264 without issue, it will most likely depend more on software though. But it has a 1GHz Intel HD Graphics GPU which should be more than plenty.
 
Phuncz said:
I think that Zotac ZBOX-BI320 would be able to handle 1080p h.264 without issue, it will most likely depend more on software though. But it has a 1GHz Intel HD Graphics GPU which should be more than plenty.
Click to expand...

Kaos_Drem said:
I've actually done quite a bit of in-home streaming testing and the Pico-BI320 is 100% stable in the testing I tried.

http://www.amazon.com/Zotac-Z3735F-...TF8&qid=1418047884&sr=8-1&keywords=zotac+pico

Pretty cheap too, and not bad at all considering its a quad core atom that feels very responsive running win8.1.
Click to expand...

That's great news. Looks like if that Atom can handle it then the celeron should be more than capable. Is my thinking correct?
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Kaos, think that Pico would do well velcro'd to the back of a TV with the Xbox wireless pc dongle? With steam stream as the only use?
 
It actually comes with a mount adapter that would allow you to secure it into place with 4 screw holes in 25mm increments so it supports 75x75 and 100x100 vesa. It is heavy enough that I don't know if you would want to secure it with velcro, and it still has an external power brick.
 
Thanks for everyone's help.

I ended up pulling the trigger on an zbox with the celeron for 169.99. Added a refurbished g700s and with the 25 off 200 promotion I got out the door for 184.98!
 
I know you already made a choice, but for those considering the PI320, I'd highly recommend using wired ethernet for any use of it, but especially with Steam Streaming. My wifi performance has been terrible with it.
 
Dangman said:
Newegg's search is screwed up at the moment so I can't find cheap but decent motherboards yet. That'll determine the case as well.

But here's a preliminary setup:
$57 - Intel Pentium G3220 CPU
$55 - mITX or mATX motherboard
$70 - Kingston HyperX FURY HX316C10F/8 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$63 - Crucial MX100 128GB SSD
$40 - Corsair 430CX V2 430W PSU
$50 - mATX or mITX case
---
Total: $335 shipped.
Click to expand...
I do it with a system very similar to this. The integrated GPU on the g3258 is plenty enough to run games over my gigabit network.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Ive been playing TF2 with this little guy for a bit now
MEEGOPAD

Z3735F processor just like the zotac too, i wonder what makes the zbox so much more expensive
 
TypeRazor said:
Ive been playing TF2 with this little guy for a bit now
MEEGOPAD

Z3735F processor just like the zotac too, i wonder what makes the zbox so much more expensive
Click to expand...

I was just going to recommend the same thing. I saw it listed here as well:
www.gearbest.com/tv-box/pp_128507.html
Coupon code GBCLM should bring it down to $96, though I haven't tried it myself.

Waiting until it comes out to see how the perf is, might give it a try as an XBMC box if it can handle high bitrate 1080p decoding. I think the CPU will handle it, but I have a feeling the 802.11n is going to be a slow 1x1 or similar, and won't have quite the bandwidth to handle the high bitrate stuff.
 
TypeRazor said:
i wonder what makes the zbox so much more expensive
Click to expand...

Well for one, it has a brand and isn't just some no-name thing out of a Chinese factory. I mean, obviously Zotac isn't HP or anything, but there's ostensibly some customer support there. And also, Windows is already included / pre-loaded on the PI320. Personally though, I had one of those on order from China off AliExpress, but couldn't deal with the wait (two months and counting) and just ended up ordering the PI320 off Newegg and received it the next day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top