- Joined
- Nov 14, 2020
- Messages
- 21
- Likes
- 77
What's up gamers, it's me, ya girl, back at it again with another contest entry idea!
(This is one I'll actually stick to, because I was gonna do it anyway! Life Hacks
)
The upcoming Steam Machine looks cool, with just one flaw... Its price, and its performance. Ok, that's two, but who's counting? Certainly not Valve with that markup, that's for sure.
Now, I *really* want to build my own Small Form Factor PC for my own Steam Machine, but with a twist! The twist being "hehe Gamecube". When I was thinking of a name, I realised "Nintendo GameCube" should have the acronym NGC, but for some reason Nintendo chose "GCN".
I"m taking that acronym for myself, god damnit! And I've got the perfect name to match:
The "New! Gaben Cuboid"
I think it's a nice, subtle and in no way obtuse name that really harkens to its Nintendo and Valve inspirations
To start with, I'll be going for everyone's favourite SFF case: The Fractal Terra.
Look at that beauty! I think I'll choose matte black because it complements the wood grain of the front panel well. I chose this case because it still allows me to include a full-size GPU while being absolutely tiny AND looking wonderful!
However, if I'm going to be building a Steam Machine with a GameCube twist, there's some criteria I want it to follow:
- Console GUI: I will be using either official SteamOS or Bazzite for this build. I considered CachyOS but I have experience *just* enough bugginess with it that it wouldn't be good for the experience I'm going for.
- Steam Power: I want to be able to wake it up by pressing the Steam button on the Steam Controller, no external dongles necessary.
- HDMI CEC: I want this to be able to turn my TV on when it wakes up, and turn the TV off when it goes to sleep!
- Official GameCube Controller support: I want to be able to sync Wavebirds and also plug controllers directly into the device, no external dongles needed!
- Much more powerful than the upcoming Steam Machine, or even a PS5 Pro
"But Stevie!" I hear you cry. "HDMI CEC and Wake on Input via controller require silly external dongles!"
I have a solution: DisplayPort to HDMI cables often include CEC tunnelling. As such, as long as I use one of these, I can enable HDMI CEC with Bazzite and write a basic service script that sends the appropriate command to turn the screen on, off etc.
But what about the whole "the Steam Puck is just a floppy desk space-wasted that looks terrible" situation? My solution is simple: integrating the steam puck into the build itself via the internal USB headers. Just remove the plastic shell of the puck, wire up the connectors to the appropriate cable headers, and you're golden.
For the GameCube controller ports, I will also utilise something like the Mayflash GCC to USB adapter. Similarly to the puck, I will take the PCB out of its shell and just wire it up to internal headers! I will wire up internal WavePhoenix receivers to each player's port on the PC, with an LED light Illuminating the inside of the GCC ports when syncing or connected.
The GCC ports (and a MicroSD card port for funzies) will, in theory, be on the wooden panel. Super complicated diagram for reference:
(The line represents the MicroSD slot, and the 4 circles represent the GCC Ports. I'm an artist, I know).
Being able to play Bloodborne in 4K 60FPS with DK Bongos plugged directly into this thing will be a dream. Likewise, having native Steam Controller, Wavebird and GameCube Controller support will be a nice bit of fun, especially when playing games such as Elden Ring, Melee, MKWii, and the Twilight Princess recomp.
I will achieve the power criteria by shoving an RX 9070 XT 16GB GPU inside, as well as a Ryzen 9700 (chosen for its relatively low TDP with high power). I hope to also include 64GB of DDR5 RAM and a 4TB SSD.
TL;DR
To be considered a complete build, this has to meet the following criteria:
- The system boots into Bazzite/SteamOS and has no glaring issues
- GameCube Controller Ports built into the system
- Internal Wavebird receivers built into the system via WavePhoenix
- Integrated Steam Controller puck
- Wake on Input
- HDMI CEC
- Better performance than PS5 Pro on the same titles (this might be difficult to test because the PS5 has no games...)
But what about stretch goals?
This one was difficult, because I feel like the entire vision of the system is already planned out. Alas, I have chosen two stretch goals for this, for if I have the time/patience/money (which I likely will not).
1) A dock for my Wavebirds and Steam Controller to charge to complete the seamless, frictionless aesthetic. This would include making a custom battery pack solution for the Wavebirds.
2) Custom PCBs for the interfacing between components to make the integration of everything more streamlined and take up less volume. I cannot see this one happening: the main thing for now is saving up for the PC, and I'll have the money for it very close to the deadline of the contest. Alas, if a miracle somehow happens, I'll be on it.
Thank you for reading my third (and final) contest entry idea. The other two have been moved to their relevant forums, but this one *will* stay. Expect an update in September, because I likely won't be able to give one before then!
Being able to build a small, high-quality Steam Machine that provides a proper console experience (including the relevant ports / connectivity) seems like fun, and I think the name is funny. See y'all later!
(This is one I'll actually stick to, because I was gonna do it anyway! Life Hacks
)The upcoming Steam Machine looks cool, with just one flaw... Its price, and its performance. Ok, that's two, but who's counting? Certainly not Valve with that markup, that's for sure.
Now, I *really* want to build my own Small Form Factor PC for my own Steam Machine, but with a twist! The twist being "hehe Gamecube". When I was thinking of a name, I realised "Nintendo GameCube" should have the acronym NGC, but for some reason Nintendo chose "GCN".
I"m taking that acronym for myself, god damnit! And I've got the perfect name to match:
The "New! Gaben Cuboid"
I think it's a nice, subtle and in no way obtuse name that really harkens to its Nintendo and Valve inspirations
To start with, I'll be going for everyone's favourite SFF case: The Fractal Terra.
Look at that beauty! I think I'll choose matte black because it complements the wood grain of the front panel well. I chose this case because it still allows me to include a full-size GPU while being absolutely tiny AND looking wonderful!
However, if I'm going to be building a Steam Machine with a GameCube twist, there's some criteria I want it to follow:
- Console GUI: I will be using either official SteamOS or Bazzite for this build. I considered CachyOS but I have experience *just* enough bugginess with it that it wouldn't be good for the experience I'm going for.
- Steam Power: I want to be able to wake it up by pressing the Steam button on the Steam Controller, no external dongles necessary.
- HDMI CEC: I want this to be able to turn my TV on when it wakes up, and turn the TV off when it goes to sleep!
- Official GameCube Controller support: I want to be able to sync Wavebirds and also plug controllers directly into the device, no external dongles needed!
- Much more powerful than the upcoming Steam Machine, or even a PS5 Pro
"But Stevie!" I hear you cry. "HDMI CEC and Wake on Input via controller require silly external dongles!"
I have a solution: DisplayPort to HDMI cables often include CEC tunnelling. As such, as long as I use one of these, I can enable HDMI CEC with Bazzite and write a basic service script that sends the appropriate command to turn the screen on, off etc.
But what about the whole "the Steam Puck is just a floppy desk space-wasted that looks terrible" situation? My solution is simple: integrating the steam puck into the build itself via the internal USB headers. Just remove the plastic shell of the puck, wire up the connectors to the appropriate cable headers, and you're golden.
For the GameCube controller ports, I will also utilise something like the Mayflash GCC to USB adapter. Similarly to the puck, I will take the PCB out of its shell and just wire it up to internal headers! I will wire up internal WavePhoenix receivers to each player's port on the PC, with an LED light Illuminating the inside of the GCC ports when syncing or connected.
The GCC ports (and a MicroSD card port for funzies) will, in theory, be on the wooden panel. Super complicated diagram for reference:
(The line represents the MicroSD slot, and the 4 circles represent the GCC Ports. I'm an artist, I know).
Being able to play Bloodborne in 4K 60FPS with DK Bongos plugged directly into this thing will be a dream. Likewise, having native Steam Controller, Wavebird and GameCube Controller support will be a nice bit of fun, especially when playing games such as Elden Ring, Melee, MKWii, and the Twilight Princess recomp.
I will achieve the power criteria by shoving an RX 9070 XT 16GB GPU inside, as well as a Ryzen 9700 (chosen for its relatively low TDP with high power). I hope to also include 64GB of DDR5 RAM and a 4TB SSD.
TL;DR
To be considered a complete build, this has to meet the following criteria:
- The system boots into Bazzite/SteamOS and has no glaring issues
- GameCube Controller Ports built into the system
- Internal Wavebird receivers built into the system via WavePhoenix
- Integrated Steam Controller puck
- Wake on Input
- HDMI CEC
- Better performance than PS5 Pro on the same titles (this might be difficult to test because the PS5 has no games...)
But what about stretch goals?
This one was difficult, because I feel like the entire vision of the system is already planned out. Alas, I have chosen two stretch goals for this, for if I have the time/patience/money (which I likely will not).
1) A dock for my Wavebirds and Steam Controller to charge to complete the seamless, frictionless aesthetic. This would include making a custom battery pack solution for the Wavebirds.
2) Custom PCBs for the interfacing between components to make the integration of everything more streamlined and take up less volume. I cannot see this one happening: the main thing for now is saving up for the PC, and I'll have the money for it very close to the deadline of the contest. Alas, if a miracle somehow happens, I'll be on it.
Thank you for reading my third (and final) contest entry idea. The other two have been moved to their relevant forums, but this one *will* stay. Expect an update in September, because I likely won't be able to give one before then!
Being able to build a small, high-quality Steam Machine that provides a proper console experience (including the relevant ports / connectivity) seems like fun, and I think the name is funny. See y'all later!
Unlike most GameCube sleeper builds, I really want to try and integrate a modern dedicated GPU. Let's see if I can using the tiny bit of extra space from the Gameboy player shell!
