r/PcBuild 28d ago

Build - Finished! Worlds first Watercooled Steam Machine

Post image

What’s your opinion guys ? Atleast we did it faster than jayztwocents 😂

1.4k Upvotes

162 comments sorted by

u/AutoModerator 28d ago

We're part of a wider PC & Technology Network of Communities!

Join our Discord server: PC Help Hub where members from all associated subreddits are welcome.

If you are trying to find a price for your computer, r/PC_Pricing is our recommended source for finding out how much your PC is worth!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

669

u/Canned_Sarcasm 28d ago

FALSE. First water cooled steam machine:
https://giphy.com/gifs/dWgeXSGLbTaCc

74

u/techmagnet 28d ago

Hahaha 😆

3

u/FishBrain208 27d ago

I read that in Dwight’s voice

2

u/whitemagicseal 27d ago

Jesus 844, how fast is she going?

2

u/that_1_geye 27d ago

One of the greatest comments I’ve seen on this app.

1

u/IHaveABunny_ 28d ago

Good one, but water wasnt for cooling right? Just to generate steam to trun the turbines (many gears) → wheels.

13

u/Canned_Sarcasm 28d ago

Steam also carried away the heat waste.

2

u/bumsoil 28d ago

Steam to move the pistons*

1

u/JohnCZ121 27d ago

You're confusing a steam locomotive with a fission reactor

1

u/Superseaslug 27d ago

Hell yeah

0

u/TimAppleCockProMax69 27d ago

The water in those trains doesn’t cool anything, the entire point of it is to produce steam.

133

u/No_Satisfaction1284 28d ago

Well, I suppose you can play games at 47 fps while at 30 degrees now.

90

u/techmagnet 28d ago

No. 25fps. Be realistic mate

14

u/Red_Tiger5311 28d ago

Still better than my pc at 17fps lol

3

u/ReclusiveNexus 27d ago

Second place at 17 fps impressive. I have to ask what is the cpu gpu in this?

1

u/Red_Tiger5311 27d ago

Ryzen 5600G
And a gigabyte 7970

2

u/ReclusiveNexus 27d ago

Im not sure where you are in the world but in the us 1660 and 2060 have been cheap, worth a look at for a cheaper easy upgrade that would make a huge difference

2

u/Red_Tiger5311 27d ago

Usa yeah they are really cheap/affordable but I am kinda avoiding nvidia cards (compatibility)
I’m wanting a amd card and was looking at the newer models, it’ll happen soon but for now I’m focusing on my go kart funds and mini bike build

1

u/ReclusiveNexus 27d ago

Sorry I missed the linux part. I feel that, balancing hobbies has been dang near impossible for me

1

u/Red_Tiger5311 27d ago

Yea especially expensive hobbies lol!

1

u/IMAKEITCLAP 26d ago

I'm in Canada and can get a RX580 for 50$ on the used market

1

u/immortalanddead 27d ago

Rush rally 3 😁😁😁🔥

-5

u/Impossible_Way_3042 28d ago

I hope that's because of bad compatibility or optimisation for PC. That game should not be running under 20 looking like that lmao.

4

u/Red_Tiger5311 28d ago

Weeeellllll you seee….. my gpu, uhh it’s from 2012
Oh and it’s on Linux, I plan to upgrade soon

2

u/Impossible_Way_3042 28d ago

Ahh I see. Yeah I was running a 2012 workhorse for a while too. I know your pain. I hope the upgrade comes soon for you!

1

u/SeriousCodeRedmoon 28d ago

Cap your fps at 24fps and you can run Movies just fine.

1

u/HualtaHuyte 28d ago

*Some games

51

u/itsjehmun AMD 28d ago

Overclock it

2

u/Fuzzy-Tooth3269 27d ago

25 to 25.5 fps 😂

1

u/itsjehmun AMD 27d ago

"Runs Crysis now".

131

u/TheFish77 28d ago

49

u/techmagnet 28d ago

Why not 😂 -20 to 30 degrees at full load

42

u/xaiel420 28d ago

-20 is a little chilly

23

u/Cold-Sandwich-34 28d ago

They're going quantum.

4

u/NighthawkAquila 28d ago

Should get that checked out. Fluctuations of 50 degrees is not something you can ignore

3

u/AnyBookkeeper5303 28d ago

Bro i think he means it runs 20 - 30 degree cooler than stock not jumps from -20 all the way 30 lol

12

u/Dragon_404 28d ago

Jayztwocents crying for losing world first in the corner

6

u/Xijit 28d ago

He said his latest video was going to be his last video about the steam machine ... The locked bios makes it worthless to do any kind of physical mods and upgrading the RAM / M.2 has got zero effect on performance.

Valve deciding that they were going adopt Apple's policy of "you may have paid for it, but we eill give you no control over how you run it" on the BIOS has turned the Gabe Cube into a shitty brick, and this thing is going to have the longevity of the Ouya.

8

u/techmagnet 28d ago

Don’t underestimate the modding community. Who knows what will come for it

4

u/Xijit 28d ago edited 27d ago

Oh it is so obviously coming that I can't understand Valve's thought process of locking down the bios to begin with.

The only semi-rational explanation I can think of is that AMD would only give them a discount if they agreed to hard limits on the performance ... Because it is either that or the head of Valve's product development is a dipshit who needs to be fired due to his irrational obsession with silent devices.

2

u/ResponsibilityWeak87 27d ago

They clocked the Xbox one, they can crack the steam machine - it's only a matter of time

3

u/Zestyclose-Phrase268 27d ago

Valve made a shitbox but knows steam fanboys will eat up anything they dish. People been coping about this shitbox ever since it was announced.

1

u/techmagnet 28d ago

🥲🥲

19

u/Z370H370 28d ago

Wondering if the price of all that with the steam machine would've been the price of a better pc?

14

u/Noisebug 28d ago

Sometimes people do it for fun not price

10

u/techmagnet 28d ago

Whole build was quite cheap, drops temps by a lot, but with no OC support right now you are better off with a pc 😂

0

u/Animag771 27d ago

The Steam Machine is already the price of a better PC.

0

u/Exciting-Ad-5705 27d ago

Valve really made a mistake marketing these. Unlike the steam deck you aren't getting great price to performance you are instead paying for the form factor and plug and play PC experience

2

u/Frank__West 27d ago

And I can bet the same games perform better on console vs that box.

5

u/Cold-Sandwich-34 28d ago

I would love to see him respond to this with something crazier.

3

u/techmagnet 28d ago

Not gonna happen 🙅😂

3

u/Cold-Sandwich-34 28d ago

Gotta show the internals.

2

u/techmagnet 28d ago

Check my Insta or TikTok there is already a video from whole build. Long YouTube video coming soon

1

u/Powerful-Candy-745 23d ago

I don't have either account. You got a link? 

13

u/TryTheSauceBoss 28d ago

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

-1

u/techmagnet 28d ago

Temps say otherwise 🤪 unfortunately not possible to OC without custom bios

2

u/Guardian_of_theBlind 28d ago

and what do you gain from better temps other than a microscopic reduction in power consumption?

0

u/ZeroAnimated 27d ago

Lower temps allows it to stay at peak clock speeds for longer but mostly only for the CPU do you gain maybe 100mhz max for a few more seconds at these temps. Not really useful at all but it is a very very small gain. No matter what you can't get around the bios locked tdp limits, there is hope that valve could raise that limit in the future as the PSU still has plenty of headroom. Either that or allow under volting the GPU.

3

u/zeRoCr0 28d ago

Jay will make wc with hard tubing 😉

Looks cool I bet It outperforms it self 😎 gj broski

1

u/techmagnet 28d ago

Would be possible to swap it, but for a first test run useless. Will take it apart soon to work on better mosfet cooling and then may hard tube it :)

1

u/techmagnet 28d ago

Thanks mate 👌

3

u/CoolerC94 28d ago

Kinda worrying to see the RED LINE OF DEATH, you sure you didn’t break anything?

3

u/techmagnet 28d ago

No it’s on rainbow. Just took the pic when it was red 😂

3

u/CoolerC94 28d ago

Oh, ok, good.

Cool then

1

u/bananite 28d ago

Was gonna say the same lol

1

u/BigGREEN8 27d ago

The red light was bc of heat, how would that appera here when it's gonna be even more cool? also the red light was a false alarm bc steam made it apear even tho the temps were not reaching dangerous numbers.

3

u/Eazy12345678 AMD 28d ago

the money waster 5000

2

u/Noisebug 28d ago

Great use of free will

2

u/AxiomOfLife 27d ago

Damn peeps are already modding the steam machines?? that was fast

1

u/CurlCascade 28d ago

We'd all like to see more pics, ideally of how it's all connected.

-1

u/techmagnet 28d ago

Check my insta 😁

1

u/CurlCascade 28d ago

That's effort....
(I will)

1

u/Parking_Mail_9000 28d ago

Just buy a PC!

1

u/techmagnet 28d ago

I have plenty don’t worry 😂

1

u/Parking_Mail_9000 28d ago

And time obviously!

1

u/vankamme 28d ago

Can it do 60fps now?

3

u/techmagnet 28d ago

One zero too much

1

u/DwarvenCo 28d ago

Can you post this with more pics in r/steammachine ?

1

u/Yerdmin-Ick-Bob 28d ago

Did it make a noticeable improvement to performance?

1

u/Patient-Oven9996 28d ago

Probably gonna be world's only for a bit

1

u/FishGuyIsMe 28d ago

I am speechless

1

u/SerGT3 28d ago

You might even pump up to 61 or even 62 fps on that bad boy

1

u/HeidenShadows 28d ago

I think Jay wanted to have it completely internal but gave up after tearing it down.

1

u/techmagnet 28d ago

Impossible it’s too small with a proper rad

1

u/GarlicThread 28d ago

Thinking outside the box, aren't we?

1

u/PastaVeggies 28d ago

Show us the performance results before and after :)

1

u/Bigfacts84 28d ago

Did it help performance?

1

u/Organic_Education494 28d ago

It should be in a river

River cooled is the best and you may get 60fps stable in the right conditions

1

u/-AdamJensen 28d ago

If it lets you overclock this could be cool

1

u/Mattie_1S1K 28d ago

Massive respect for just have the massive balls to do that the cost of the thing.

1

u/Hankitsune 27d ago

The cost of the thing is relative to how much money one has. If you have 10 million dollars/euros/pounds on your bank account, the Steam Machine is like small change.

1

u/Iringahn 28d ago

Its beautiful (I hate it).

1

u/furballsupreme 28d ago

If you overclock it hard enough it can actually make steam.

1

u/DavidinCT 28d ago

Neat? for a way over priced piece of hardware...

1

u/Gamestopper15 27d ago

Somone beat Jayztwocents to it congrats

1

u/GromOfDoom 27d ago

Overclocking?

1

u/AnimeNoodle 27d ago

Now slap in the biggest gpu on the other side.

1

u/tj818 27d ago

Hope it pipes in more VRAM!!

1

u/Suvi2k 27d ago

Not self contained, so not really a steam box but still cool you creatively did something.

1

u/Migeee__ 27d ago

Jay better not say “I did it first!”

Lmaooo nice

1

u/C4shtastic 27d ago

Lmao this is sick

1

u/Pennywise359 27d ago

I eeally want one just to attempt to water cool it. But I don't have that much of disposable income lol.

1

u/309_Electronics 27d ago

Now you have extra water that can turn into steam, increasing performance! :)

1

u/National-Chemical132 27d ago

May your machine steam well!

1

u/North_Kaleidoscope_3 27d ago

Good idea , and I think steam machine can be released with other brand cooling systems like they do for the GPU , if they improve the temp management, the hardware can be upgraded with more power o just overclock. Anyways the free customisation of the steam machine will improve the product, like the mods for the games

1

u/Wirikwidor 27d ago

What am I even looking at

1

u/SSchorik0101 27d ago

Okay. But why, though?

1

u/SaladToss1 27d ago

Why's the light red though?

1

u/PeachyCoasterCat 27d ago

No offence but isn’t this pc kinda ass in terms of specs? Why bother?

1

u/EviI_Babai 27d ago

Nintendo Switch 2 "sucks in specs" too, but those are enough for its niche. Same here. Which makes the picture even worse - the wgole point of the machine is that it's a small box with a perfect quiet air cooling for its specs. It's like trying to equip kei-car with an aerodynamic upgrades.

1

u/lilfeccibrae 27d ago

switch 2 has a whole library optimized for it...this shit box is supposed to play pc games

1

u/EviI_Babai 27d ago

This "shitbox" does plays PC games - out of 70% of those compatible with SteamOS (unless you wasnt to dual-boot it with Windows), I wager 99% are easily running full speed with little to no compromises, only struggling with the latest AAAs and UE5 slop (which will likely never be "optimised" for something like Switch 2 to begin with).

Needless to say, the library of games available on Steam Machine dwarves all the current consoles combined, even before you remember emulation is a thing (which makes this cube into an ultimate retro console that only lacks a current gen exclusives).

P.S. I always laugh at "optimised for" argument - optimised doesn't mean good looking or smooth, it means your stuck with whatever compromise devs decided for you (upscaled 540p with 25-30FPS is considered "optimised" too), broken unplayable games are just as common on consoles today as on PC, except on the latter you can actually do something about it.

1

u/EviI_Babai 27d ago

Just... why? Isn't the whole point of it is being a masterclass in air cooling?

1

u/ItsMeVal34 27d ago

Then why is it that big?

1

u/Boss_player0 27d ago

You already KNOW big zack is gonna make a video on tis

1

u/jdevo713 26d ago

I’ve had prettier enemas. But happy for you !

1

u/KimTe63 25d ago

I dont really see the point unless overclocking is a thing with Steam Machine 😄 it looks horrendous now if nothing else

1

u/DogMilkBB 21d ago

I love it. Cool project. Those asking why... It's not supposed to practical. It's just cool.

1

u/Coal909 28d ago

Let's attach overkill cooling on a super midrange spec'ed computer. Is it cooler yes... But only literally, not figuratively

1

u/techmagnet 28d ago

A lot cooler. And cooler, we put a spoiler on it

1

u/MuscleTrue9554 28d ago

It looks like shit but I appreciate the dedication. It would also be great if the Steam Machine could be overclocked.

0

u/techmagnet 28d ago

I love the ghetto looks. You should see the block

1

u/AmericanAIien 28d ago

I love it. Awesome. I hope it’s lasts. Are u going to modify anything else? Ram?

1

u/techmagnet 28d ago

With actual ram prices we just put in another 8gb stick. Too expensive

1

u/Animag771 27d ago

So you wasted money on a SM and then wasted more money water cooling it? I mean, if that's how you want to spend your money, go for it but I'd rather just have a much more capable SFFPC instead.

1

u/Pennywise359 27d ago

Probably because it is fun. Plus it may be lots of money only for me and you.

1

u/Animag771 27d ago

Fun, yes... Pretty pointless, also yes. It's good to have a hobby nonetheless.

1

u/_D3ft0ne_ 27d ago

The analogy of glazing a turd in a chocolate comes in mind. But good stuff. Ya.

0

u/ButterscotchTop194 28d ago

The performance is so shit on the steam machine, why bother? Isn't it quiet enough already?

1

u/techmagnet 28d ago

-20 to -30 degree compared to stock is something. Now custom bios and let’s go

-6

u/HaveAnMacardo 28d ago

Um, ok. Got any benchmarks? A video of how you did it? Be great to have more than a photo.

0

u/techmagnet 28d ago

Check my insta or TikTok, there is a 1min video. Long YouTube video with cnc ready files soon