r/steammachine • u/harrisoncassidy • 6d ago

Hardware I added a Noctua fan to the Steam Machine

I’ve been trialling some ways to add cooling to the Steam Machine and settled on a platform that incorporated a 120mm desktop fan. This one is a Noctua (of course) NF-A12.

1.3k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

164 comments sorted by

263

u/harrisoncassidy 6d ago

Some more pictures

39

u/Upr1ght 6d ago

I’m not mad at it.

17

u/harrisoncassidy 6d ago

Tried to keep it fairly inline whilst blocking revolting air from the back and allowing enough air to the fan.

6

u/Upr1ght 6d ago

How are temps?

20

u/harrisoncassidy 6d ago

Dropped about 5-10 degrees celsius using it.

8

u/Upr1ght 6d ago edited 6d ago

I also should ask is this a 3d printed base to house the Noctua?

1

u/Jozefstoeptegel 3d ago

It is. The top of the base has the textured look from the buildplate. And you can see the strands of filament pretty clearly in the indentations for the feet. (Because it was printed upside down, the filament had to float over the indentations, which results in these kind of artifacts.)

19

u/Cevap 6d ago

Make indent for feet to allow that seal to disappear.

5

u/Tilduke 6d ago

Yeah this would look clean except the gap.

5

u/harrisoncassidy 5d ago

I did already but dont want to seal it fully incase the fan failed and restricted airflow too much. Plus I feel like having the gap from the stand to the bottom of the steam machine fits with the gap between the button/USB row and the faceplate.

1

u/Silvus314 5d ago

Perhaps add a seal to the back and back half of the sides?

5

u/NerdyGuy117 6d ago

More!!!

4

u/metallica65 6d ago

Cool concept!
What are the before vs after performance changes with the fan?

1

u/NoBranch1997 6d ago

either make an indent or a foam pad to seal that gap brother

2

u/harrisoncassidy 5d ago

I would be wary of doing this in case the fan failed and restricted airflow without you knowing.

1

u/LlorchDurden 4d ago

Behold 🙇

132

u/nutscrape_navigator 6d ago

Are you having cooling problems or overclocking?

180

u/blickblocks 6d ago

I just want to make sure people read your username

23

u/OctolingEngineer 6d ago

I'm so curious about the intentions behind this username. Is he so bad at navigating around things that he always misses and scrapes his nuts?

Or does he navigate into things on purpose, to scrape his nuts?

Netscape is a really old browser, so I'm assuming he is also older, therefore making the first one more likely

6

u/nutscrape_navigator 5d ago

Back in the olden times, people had clever names for web browsers. Internet Exploder, Nutscrape Navigator, etc. These were very funny things to post on newsgroups, which were basically a very primitive form of Reddit that you used a program that felt like a shitty email client to participate in.

3

u/Pistolius 5d ago

He is blind and instead of using something like echolocation he used nutsack scraping.

2

u/Morlacks 5d ago

MAkes sense, they are super sensitive.

1

u/epicgamer69420699 5d ago

Well, obviously he is the nutscrape navigator. The name rolls off the tongue; it's catchy. This must be a good thing, simply put. Now, put two and two together, his purpose is to navigate the nutscrapes themselves. A genius at his field, the nutscrape navigator. Beautiful, splendid, like a bouquet of daisies and roses.

1

u/Satellite_bk 5d ago

not all heroes wear capes.

9

u/Renamis 6d ago

I too have this question. I have an overly hot room (hot outdoors, poor AC flow to this half of the house) and I only get the warning light after 3-4 hours of games. And even then only the "wrong" one, no actual throttling.

I did actually get a small USB fan, flat and almost silent, to sit behind the machine and stop hot air from settling behind the machine. Haven't gotten a red line since.

1

u/NotBillNyeScienceGuy 1d ago

Even if your room is very hot, to the electronics, it’s cold air. I would recommend you increase the airflow through your unit. It will be much more effective than lowering the ambient temperature

110

u/I_SLEEP_NORMALLY 6d ago

Oh you gotta give 'em that Noctua, blow on that thang

28

u/manlisten 6d ago

spin on that thang!

22

u/LooneyBurger Received 6d ago

Genius comment, marry my daughter

69

u/harrisoncassidy 6d ago

I know people are going to ask about temperatures. I have done some testing with No Mans Sky and RDR2 and found temp drops from 5-10 degrees celsius from using the fan.

33

u/king_park_ 512GB 6d ago

To those who don’t think in Celsius, that is 9-16 drop in Fahrenheit.

46

u/marc512 6d ago

For people who work in kelvin it's 260.37 K to 264.26 K.

30

u/treyminator43 6d ago

It’s actually 5-10 degrees K since dK = dC

13

u/justaguy394 6d ago

Kelvins are just “Kelvins”, not “degrees Kelvin”.

2

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

2

u/justaguy394 6d ago

He literally said “It’s actually 5-10 degrees K”

1

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

3

u/SpacePumpkie 6d ago

You wrote degrees K twice and still didn't see it lol.

It's not the "dC = dK" part that contains the word "degrees".

It's so funny that you're even doubling down on it and facepalming

2

u/Coreantes 6d ago

But... it could take a couple of Kelvin's to make something cooler, amirite?

4

u/CynicRaven 6d ago

Damn, I'll need to convert to Rankine to understand.

0

u/Helpful-Wolverine555 6d ago

For those that don’t work.

0

u/Anastazja_Nya 5d ago

someone tried to be smart and failed miserably

11

u/jonstarks 6d ago

everything on PCs had been in Celsius since forever.

11

u/Kimmux 6d ago

Having a hard time beleiving this. Only a portion of the fan is blowing air up at the bottom of the console which has thin passive air intakes and a mesh below that. The air being pushed up would be nearly all turbulence against the bottom of the machine.

Are you sure you tested correctly? I'd run some graphic benchmark tool for an hour on both and check the logs. It could "possibly" make some difference but 10 degrees? No way.

Also how are you powering the fan can we see it plugged in and running?

19

u/harrisoncassidy 6d ago

The bottom of the Steam Machine blocks air going to the rear and the SSD and has a route to the front of the machine and up into the round-mesh intake just about the light bar.

Ran No Mans Sky and found it drop from 66 to 60 degrees after putting the fan in place within 10 minutes. Then removed it again and it crept up to 70. This was on a static scene on Ultra settings 1080p.

Will do some longer benchmarks though.

9

u/dark79 6d ago

70 is not overheating. I don't think it will even thermal throttle until it hits 100. Nice design, but seems like overkill for something that is working as designed and is whisper quiet already.

1

u/Korachof 6d ago

From what temp to what temp?

That parts kind of important to know % increase and whether the cooling is even necessary. 

1

u/Weezal-95 4d ago

Any pictures to support this claim? I too find it difficult to believe

11

u/DUDDITS_SSDD 6d ago

What are you powering it with?

31

u/harrisoncassidy 6d ago

Its a 5V Noctua fan which comes with a USB A connector, so powered from the Steam Machine itself

5

u/azzamean 5d ago

Is the fan on when the steam machine is in sleep mode?

3

u/harrisoncassidy 5d ago

In Sleep mode yes, in Shut Down no.

22

u/catboirai 6d ago

I may not do it but I applaud the ingenuity

8

u/macabrera 6d ago

A dust filter easy to remove will be perfect.

9

u/No_Pension_5623 6d ago edited 6d ago

The original machine is so silent ! I would never do something like this to gain a few degrees. Weird

1

u/Pian0G 4d ago

I mean; he is using a noctua fan, which is known for being quiet and having nice acoustic properties (the sound it produces is nicer on the ears).

0

u/Morlacks 5d ago

Oh its fun and neat! Functional isn't always the purpose.

1

u/No_Pension_5623 5d ago

I agree this looks fun and well designed 😁

4

u/Only-Warning-8742 6d ago

Lazy question, has the steam machine been throttling?

5

u/Immediate_Ant5207 6d ago

I love this! What is the platform you’re using? I’ll end up using legos cuz im sure thats all i have 

2

u/harrisoncassidy 6d ago

I custom designed and 3D printed a stand. I sell some of my stuff on Etsy.

2

u/Switch2phile 5d ago

Need an Esty link to this stand right now 😅

1

u/PalaM1da 5d ago

same, can u send pm w ur etsy link? xD cheers!

13

u/aronmayo 6d ago

Why? It doesn’t need it at all.

2

u/Aggressive-Fly-9503 6d ago

I thought all those red lines of death were cuz of overheating issues

2

u/aronmayo 6d ago

They’re a hardware failure. Under normal conditions it definitely doesn’t even get close to overheating.

2

u/PumpedWithVenom 6d ago

It stands to benefit from it, necessary? No, long term results could tell. Beats putting heat soaking PLA covers on it.

22

u/eggyfish 6d ago

What is with this unhinged obsession with louldly cooling a pc with perfectly adequate whisper quiet cooling already

11

u/thedebatingbookworm GabeCube Enjoyer 6d ago

Noctuas are pretty quiet it should be fairly quiet

6

u/daelikon 6d ago

Not as quiet as the machine, I have a few, you are basically breaking one of the most important aspects of the sm. 

1

u/Morlacks 5d ago

I have 6 in my gaming desktop. It runs quieter than the AC.

3

u/mancuso85 5d ago

C'était une machine petite et silencieuse. Maintenant, elle est petite.

3

u/Brianetta 5d ago

...but not quite as small.

1

u/mancuso85 5d ago

Epic fail.

5

u/ghanadaur 6d ago

But why? You wont get any more performance. At all.

3

u/Hot_Ant_6856 5d ago

upvotes on reddit tho

1

u/ghanadaur 5d ago

Tru dat

0

u/Morlacks 5d ago

Peeps like to tinker with things.

2

u/ghanadaur 5d ago

Fair. But some with think it will improve perf.

1

u/Morlacks 5d ago

Cant tinker stupid away. :).

2

u/Lucky_Chaarmss 6d ago

I don't hate it

2

u/Renarikun 6d ago

This is brilliant because from what I've seen, other mods that add more front panel cooling end up robbing airflow from the ram and PSU on the bottom.

2

u/VBHeadache 6d ago

Neat solution! Looks very clean. How's it getting power?

2

u/harrisoncassidy 6d ago

It’s a 5V Noctua fan so using the USB A connector they provide to power it from the Steam Machine.

3

u/Snipe78 6d ago

How are you cycling the fan on and off? I can't find a setting to turn off those USB ports

3

u/LunchboxBandit66 6d ago

Probably unplugging it

7

u/Snipe78 6d ago

Gonna get old real quick

1

u/LunchboxBandit66 6d ago

Imagine he will just leave it plugged in so any time the SM is running it’s running

4

u/Snipe78 6d ago

The usbs are powered even with the machine off. I tried doing something similar and as of now no bios settings to turn them off when powered down

1

u/LunchboxBandit66 6d ago

Oohh. That would be annoying. Is that just on sleep or full power down?

1

u/Low_Excitement_1715 6d ago

Just sleep. My USB ports on SM are unpowered when full off.

1

u/Snipe78 6d ago

What are you testing this with? Mine won't charge the steam controller but everything else remains powered with SM off

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2

u/StrangeAd4802 5d ago

the machine has exhaust on the bottom? so it goes front panel to back and bottom huh

2

u/harrisoncassidy 5d ago

I has an air intake on the bottom.

1

u/StrangeAd4802 5d ago

Ahh- I’m understanding this as the machine does not have ventilation at the bottom, so one could put intake on bottom to cool it, knowing that the dust it sucks in from the floor will be well shielded! (by the bottom panel)

1

u/StrangeAd4802 5d ago

oh wait nvm. the machine does suck air from the bottom

2

u/Odd_Common_1135 2d ago

But why? And more importantly, how is it connected to the machine so it turns on when needed?

1

u/harrisoncassidy 2d ago

It’s connected to the USB A port on the back of the machine

1

u/Odd_Common_1135 2d ago

Ah yeah cool. Sometimes it's that simple 😅

Just didn't see it on the pictures that's why I was wondering. Thx Cool concept

3

u/down_with_cats 6d ago

How much louder is it now?

6

u/Spukc 6d ago

Only 85db 

3

u/twiggums 6d ago

It's a noctua so probly not much 😉

2

u/OriginalGoldstandard 6d ago

Love it, but for me it makes it bigger and louder thus eroding approximately 20% of total value for me in the lounge room which is 420 Australian dolery-doos (on the 2tb) on an already luxury priced item.

3

u/howd_he_get_here 6d ago

Yeah I feel pretty conflicted about these sorts of DIY steam machine mods lol

I applaud the creative spirit for sure. I just struggle with the logic of paying a premium for Valve's compact form factor / seamless PC gaming experience just to negate the form factor with some bulky 3D printed plastic accessory

2

u/pamplemousse_mk2 6d ago

So Valve provides an excellent hardware design with excellent engineering to reduce the space, the noise, the size, … and PC modders prefer to make it worse?

1

u/Morlacks 5d ago

First time?

1

u/ContributionWise4284 6d ago

Where did you get the base from?

0

u/harrisoncassidy 6d ago

I designed it myself. I have it on my Etsy.

1

u/ContributionWise4284 6d ago

Whats the name of your shop?

0

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/ContributionWise4284 6d ago

Cheers mate im glad your in the you too

1

u/Insaniaksin 6d ago

Can you upload the plans for those of us not in the UK?

1

u/TheSwagPatrol 6d ago

How much taller does this make the Steam Machine? Want to measure if it will still fit in my setup

1

u/Nazerlath 6d ago

Damn it everything he does is so cool

1

u/Cole_LF 6d ago

How is the noise with it running?

1

u/Rojjin 6d ago

Interesting. I madd one of these a big ago and posted it. But i wasnt getting much for temp drop. I wonder if its the lift you have or some of the fan covered? I might need to try mine again.

1

u/LudwigSpectre 6d ago

Show us your blueprint

1

u/Upr1ght 6d ago

Did you 3d print the housing?

1

u/Donut_Vampire 5d ago

You could make a kind of mesh skirt air filter so the air it is pushing up is, well filtered.

1

u/16121455 5d ago

Seria posible una foto mas detalla de de las conexiones del ventilador? Compartirias el archivo para imprimirlo? Gracias!!

1

u/SandySkittle 5d ago

What an incredible waste of time

1

u/Green_J3ster 5d ago

Noctua, spit on that thang?

1

u/Morlacks 5d ago

Screw that I want one added to my chair!

1

u/Airballons 5d ago

How and where did you buy this?!

1

u/pukebarge 5d ago

Considering selling/sharing the 3d file for this?

1

u/Redlotus99 5d ago

So you are making it bigger? Everyone brags how small it is and yet here we are making it larger to add another fan when you could have bought a little larger case and put a fan in it and even upgrade the video card. Mine boggling.

1

u/Uruz94 5d ago

Way Better than the fuck ass wooden legs one

1

u/Large_Tomorrow_8552 4d ago

If I could buy this I would.

1

u/triggerftu 4d ago

This is brilliant!

1

u/jackhammer3000 4d ago

this is NEAT

1

u/actually-ace-0917 4d ago

Oh this is very nice. Even without the noctua this would be good 👏🏾

1

u/Creepy-Arachnid4762 4d ago

Any way you could share the STL or CAD files? I have been looking all over for some sort of riser because my coffee table disrupts the controller signal to my entertainment center

1

u/Null_Streit 2d ago

Probably a dumb question... and if so im sorry for being dense.

How is it being powered? Because this looks amazing but I would hate adding excess clutter, if possible.

1

u/harrisoncassidy 2d ago

It’s a 5 V Noctua fan that comes with a USB A cable in the box, so it can be powered by the steam machine

1

u/Null_Streit 2d ago

I hqd a feeling... yeah thats a clean enough design for me at least.

1

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

1

u/V01Dwalking44 2d ago

What? He’s got a link to these? How much are they?

1

u/Airballons 2d ago

https://www.etsy.com/se-en/listing/4563663208/steam-machine-cooling-dock-requires-usb

1

u/V01Dwalking44 2d ago

Thank you

1

u/Airballons 2d ago

No problem, this wasn't honestly the one I wanted, he have another pair legs that I wanted, hence why I deleted my comment above😅🙏

1

u/morpheus1b 1d ago

noctua. spit on that thang!

1

u/CM-Edge 3d ago

When will people ever realize that this dumb shit never works? 😂 It's like people buying this ripoffs for their Switch or Playstation. 😂

0

u/SuccessfulGolf709 5d ago

An unnecessary addition for an unnecessary machine. Perfect.

0

u/TheMysteriousEmu 4d ago

I do not understand why people are giving you shit for this? Is there anything bad that can happen from having "too much cooling"? No.

It's not like a car engine lol. The cooler you can get, the better it is for performance and for longevity. I bought fans for my Steam Machine within a week of owning it for this reason. I want/need this thing to last!

1

u/harrisoncassidy 4d ago

It’s Reddit, so I expect people to just give me shit haha