9L Steam machine with a Blu-ray drive
Hi, this has nothing to do with an actual Steam Machine (I actually built my first version of this before they were even announced), I just call it that because I've been rocking the Steam Controller for years lol.
My old HTPC was in a massive Silverstone LC03 with a 3080 and an R7 5700. It took up way too much space on the table. Moving it to the bedroom (especially during the World Cup) or doing any maintenance on it was a total nightmare. So, I wanted to downsize as much as physically possible while still handling my two main uses 4K movies and 4K emulation.
For 4K Switch emulation you usually need a 2070 minimum. Since my hard limit for this build was a strictly single slot, I grabbed a Quadro RTX 4000 (same performance as 2070)
For media, I absolutely needed a 5.25 bay for a Blu-ray drive, a 3.5 bay for a HDD for BD rips, and a SD reader to swap saves from my modded Switch. Finding a sub 10L case with those bays is tough. I was originally hunting for a Rosewill RS-MI-01 BK, but ended up finding this Thermaltake Element Q brand new at a pawn shop for $20. same layout, just with exposed bays (not a big fan) The case technically only supports SFX, but I managed to squeeze an SFX-L PSU in there down to the absolute millimeter. I did this to get better airflow since the PSU fan is literally the only exhaust, I swapped the stock PSU fan for a 120mm Corsair slim (the fan I found with the highest static pressure, even more than the Noctua).
Specs
Ryzen 5 5500 (negative offset & power limited)
Noctua NH-L9a (fan flipped to blow upwards had to countersink the fan holes slightly so the screw heads sit)
Nvidia Quadro RTX 4000 (using an active DP to HDMI adapter for the TV)
ASUS ROG Strix B550-I Gaming (got this specifically for future SSD upgrades with the dual M.2 slots, and the USB-C 3.2 header)
PSU Silverstone 500W SFX-L Modular (with the Corsair fan swap)
16GB Corsair lp 3600MHz
500GB flexxon NVMe SSD + 4TB WD Purple HDD
5.25" Blu-ray drive (flashed with custom firmware to rip 4K UHDs)
3.5 bay hub with USB 3.0, USB-C, and SD/MicroSD reader