Cheap Steam Machine Solution?

[RelentlessAF]

Hey guys, I want to build a relatively cheap Steam Machine to play around in SteamOS as it advances.

 

My budget is $500USD and I realize that in't anything spectacular but it isn't supposed to be.

 

The Aim of this build is to just experiment with what SteamOS has to offer and some light gaming on Medium ish settings at 1080p so probably a 750ti for the GPU.

 

There are no need for peripherals however I have all those bases covered. So what would be some good components for this within my budget?

[Paralectic]

Athlon x4 750K and a GTX 750Ti, with a cheap 4GB Ram stick and all in Mini ITX form factor ofcourse will do.

HDD/Case/Motherboard near your choice :-)

[RelentlessAF]

Athlon x4 750K and a GTX 750Ti, with a cheap 4GB Ram stick and all in Mini ITX form factor ofcourse will do.

HDD/Case/Motherboard near your choice :-)

What would be a good mini-itx case?

[Marnsto]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU:  AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor  ($109.99 @ Newegg) 

Motherboard:  MSI 760GMA-P34(FX) Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($57.99 @ Amazon) 

Memory:  Patriot Viper 3 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($26.90 @ Newegg) 

Storage:  Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($57.98 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card:  Asus GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card  ($179.98 @ SuperBiiz) 

Case:  Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($39.99 @ Amazon) 

Power Supply:  Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($19.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $492.82

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-26 14:38 EDT-0400)

 

Most of my friends have a GTX660 and they seem to run their games on pretty high settings (at least med for the most of them). This should run games pretty well.

 

EDIT: after seeing the post above me I also made a mini ITX build.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU:  Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($118.93 @ OutletPC) 

Motherboard:  MSI H81I Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($64.99 @ Amazon) 

Memory:  Patriot Viper 3 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($26.90 @ Newegg) 

Storage:  Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($57.98 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card:  Asus GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card  ($179.98 @ SuperBiiz) 

Case:  Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case  ($34.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply:  Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($19.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $503.76

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-26 14:46 EDT-0400)

[Guest GRRigger]

the loudest part of this build is cpu cooler.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU:  AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor  ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard:  Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($54.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory:  Patriot Viper 3 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($26.90 @ Newegg)
Memory:  Patriot Viper 3 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($26.90 @ Newegg)
Storage:  Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($57.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card:  PNY GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card  ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Case:  Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($37.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply:  EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $504.73
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-26 14:49 EDT-0400)

[WoodenMarker]

How's this look? http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3hgQZ