New Steam Machine / HTPC - built for the Oculus Rift

[likwidtek]

With the DK2 shipping soon, I'm building a new HTPC / Steam Machine for the living room but I'm not going light on specs. It'll need to be powerful enough to run the Oculus Rift DK2 as well as all of my Steam Library natively. Any suggestions for a great case? Something that looks great in an entertainment center but will still fit a nice GPU.

Speaking of GPU, what do you think my options are for a graphics card? It'll need to fit in a small form factor case and be quiet enough to not make the living experience a bummer.

I was really expecting the Nvidia 800 series would be out by now so this is kinda of a terrible time to buy a gpu.   Anyway, what do you guys think?  (I won't be running SteamOS, at least not yet.  Will be running Windows with Steam Big Picture mode for now.

[Tbone]

Haha, I saw your Reddit post.

I've been updating a list based on price and availability. Here it is at the moment: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/TheTbone/saved/wqXfrH

Cybereality estimated that GTX 770 is probably going to be the minimum to do most things. However, this is before Time Warp and other advancements they may be working on.

[likwidtek]

I'm wondering if I should just hold out for the Nvidia 800 series though. 

That's a nice build.  Thanks, I'll play around with some ideas.

[Tbone]

Let me know what you come up with. I need to build a new PC, but I have no funds right now. I'm hoping I can find the cash somewhere. Or get another credit card I guess lol

Edit: Updated CPU to 4590. Cheaper than 4670k with about the same performance. I check Tom's Hardware each month.

[likwidtek]

Seriously those Anandtech and Toms Hardware buying guides are amazing.

Basically, where I'm at is I need to upgrade for the Oculus, my current rig just won't cut it.  But I'm also ditching my console and wanting a better gaming experience in the living room.  So basically I'm killing 2 birds with 1 stone by making my HTPC bitchin enough to become my new console (couch gaming experience) and be able to run all my fun Oculus experiences as well. 

I'll draw up some sample builds and post them here when I can.

[Tbone]

My build in progress

[likwidtek]

I've managed to decide on... A CASE!  heh, that's about it.

This will blend in perfectly into my entertainment system plus be big enough so I can put lots of quiet and cool components.

http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Tek-GD05B-USB3-0-Aluminum-Computer/dp/B008J0ZOV8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1403965771

[likwidtek]

I think this is the card I'm going to go with for now:  http://rog.asus.com/338932014/gaming-graphics-cards-2/pr-asus-announces-strix-gtx-750-ti-oc/

[likwidtek]

Update:  http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/2iw64o/build_help_oculus_rift_dk2_advanced_htpc_steam

Would you guys mind looking over my build?

[Tbone]

Looks good to me! There's been some debate as to whether two 970s will be better than one 980 when SLI/Crossfire gets fixed for the Rift (apparently it will be), but I personally feel like the less complications the better when it comes to VR, so I'd stick with one card that's powerful.

I'm not sure about your RAM voltage issues, but I'd definitely make sure that things are compatible. All of my parts were compatible and it was still a nightmare to put together. I'm fairly certain a faulty PSU screwed up my MOBO and my first video card. One of my PCI slots and one of my front USB ports don't work

Hopefully you have better luck than I did!

[likwidtek]

Hopefully ordering soon.  I'll post back when it's all built and ready

[likwidtek]

OK, pulled the trigger and purchased everything yesterday.  This will be my couch gaming / HTPC / Oculus  couch machine.  SOFUCKINGSTOKED.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($231.93 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z97M Killer Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($157.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Intel 520 Series Cherryville 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Intel 520 Series Cherryville 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 980 4GB AMP! Edition Video Card  ($548.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Silverstone GD09B HTPC Case  ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer  ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1461.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-28 12:45 EDT-0400

The idea behind this build was to replace my current HTPC and my XBOX 360. It will be running XBMC but I will also be playing my Steam library on it as well. It's a bit thirsty on power for an HTPC and I know I'll be using more power while it's on. It's estimated wattage is about 337 so it's not terrible. The new 980 card is pretty power efficient and quiet too so that helps. Either way, it will be set to sleep when not in use.

I already have the CPU and the SSDs so I built around those two items. Aside from that the biggest goals were for the machine to be as quiet as possible, blend in with my entertainment center, while still being able to run the most demanding content that I can throw at it (basically all the DK2 content). I think I did a pretty good job at balancing all of those things.

I was hoping to get faster RAM in the build but in the end, I stuck with 1.5V RAM to stay within Intel's spec. That said, I got the lowest CAS latency RAM I could get at that voltage and frequency. I was hoping to get higher than 1866 frequency but it's CAS 9, so I'm sure I won't notice much difference. The whole system will support Intel's XMP memory overclocking so hopefully I'll see a boost there.

Everything else should work out pretty great. I'll be using XBOX 360 controllers for the couch gaming stuff but I'm still really excited for the Steam Controller to come out. My wife is pretty stoked to be able to use a controller on the couch to play things like CIV 5.

Anywho, This was fun planning this machine. Hopefully everything works out great. I'm excited to retry all of the Oculus stuff once this is built. I'll post pics when it's done.

[likwidtek]

So I am ashamed to say that I had not hooked the DK2 up to the new machine until yesterday.  It works really well.

I've tried the built in Tuscany Demo, the Desk Demo, BlazeRush, Windlands, and Titans of Space in that order so far.

Keeping only the newest and best experiences for the DK2 in mind, what are your choices for the all time top 5 DK2 experiences so far?

[likwidtek]

[Tbone]

So I am ashamed to say that I had not hooked the DK2 up to the new machine until yesterday.  It works really well.

I've tried the built in Tuscany Demo, the Desk Demo, BlazeRush, Windlands, and Titans of Space in that order so far.

Keeping only the newest and best experiences for the DK2 in mind, what are your choices for the all time top 5 DK2 experiences so far?

You should do Welcome to Oculus, From Ashes, Birdy King Land, Apollo 11, JanusVR, LiveViewRift w/ 3D movies, and DolphinVR if you can figure out the settings. Things worth buying are BlazeRush, Shufflepuck Cantina, and Elite: Dangerous.