Building a Mini-ITX Gaming PC in a 3D Printed Steam Machine Case
▼ Summary
– The Valve Steam Machine uses a custom, non-standard PCB and power supply, which prompted a project to fit a Mini-ITX board, SFF PSU, and full-sized GPU into a similarly sized 3D-printed case.
– The 3D-printed case project, by [3DCatt] in cooperation with AMD’s [Jacob Terkelsen], includes a GeForce RTX 5060 GPU and was shown off stuffed with these parts.
– The original Steam Machine has a different cooling configuration with CPU and GPU on the same PCB sharing a massive heatsink, unlike the imitation case.
– The imitation case would benefit from a blower-style GPU to exhaust hot air, and additional ventilation was added to address the heating issue.
– Overall performance compared to regular compact Mini-ITX cases remains to be seen, but the project is viable for those with spare parts and a 3D printer.
The launch of Valve’s Steam Machine was met with a mixed reception, largely due to its reliance on a custom motherboard and non-standard power supply. That design choice has clearly frustrated a segment of the enthusiast community, who have decided the logical response is to engineer a workaround. The result? A project to squeeze a Mini-ITX motherboard, a Small Form Factor (SFF) power supply, and a full-sized discrete graphics card into a case no larger than the original console. This is the premise behind the SFF Mini-ITX Steam Machine Case, a 3D-printed design uploaded to Printables by creator [3DCatt].
The build is a collaborative effort, with input from AMD’s [Jacob Terkelsen], who demonstrated the prototype packed with a GeForce RTX 5060 GPU. One critical distinction from the official Steam Machine is the cooling layout. Valve’s design places both the CPU and GPU on a single custom PCB, sharing one massive heatsink,a detail highlighted in the [Gamers Nexus] teardown video. That unified thermal solution is absent here, which presents a challenge.
For this angular, imitation chassis, a blower-style GPU would be ideal. It would exhaust hot air directly out of the case rather than recirculating it inside the tight enclosure. [Jacob] flagged this exact concern, prompting the addition of extra ventilation to help manage temperatures. Whether this setup can match the thermal and acoustic performance of a conventional compact Mini-ITX build is still an open question. But for anyone who wants to replicate the Steam Machine aesthetic, has spare components lying around, and owns a 3D printer, this project offers a compelling, if experimental, path forward.
(Source: Hackaday)