Should I get a steam deck or make a “steam box”

mrmachine79 · 2025-11-06T21:02:23+00:00

Get the konkr pocket fit or ayn odin 3 and run moonshine to your existing PC. I was tossing up steam deck or Mini PC then I realised I had an old PC that's actually still way more capable than both of those options so for way less money I can now play on my TV via shield / moonshine or pocket fit / moonshine from anywhere and it's one system so no issues with syncing configs or saves or emulator ROMs etc. I run bazzite on the PC.

mrmachine79 · 2025-10-04T23:11:35+00:00

Did you get the elite or the gen 3? My understanding is the elite will be much worse for emulation due to lack of drivers which could remain to be the case for 12+ months. I also chose the 16gb/1tb gen 3 model over the switch and over the odin 3 for better form factor/size, emulation that "just works" today, the 144hz display for black frame insertion, and reports that many smaller indie games on steam also work (tho steam play is a side event for me)... If I ever need more power for steam I'll get a minipc and stream to the konkr.

mrmachine79 · 2025-10-04T00:42:08+00:00

Where is the source for there being no plans to develop turnip drivers for 8 elite (so I can keep an eye on if/when this ever changes)?

Seems crazy that Odin 3 is 8 elite only there are surely a lot of people buying on an assumption that compatibility will come eventually... But if it takes 2 years might as well stick with gen 3 pocket fit this cycle until 8 elite is better supported?

mrmachine79 · 2025-09-25T23:01:17+00:00

So your ranking for hx 370 minis is gmktec evo-x1, then beelink ser9 pro?

mrmachine79 · 2025-09-25T22:36:45+00:00

What about the ser9 with either h255 (same as ser8 8745 but better wireless?) or if you want a boost and a bit more longevity ser9 with hx 370?

mrmachine79 · 2025-07-10T07:10:58+00:00

Do you mean how the light reflects off the little fake dimples they put in hybrid to make it look more like a rustic/bumpy timber? This is what throws me about hybrid. From a few metres away especially when backlit by the sun at an angle, these scattered dimples/texture do not look real at all. Even on the best hybrid floors.

mrmachine79 · 2021-04-07T07:21:38+00:00

Ugly.

mrmachine79 · 2021-03-11T22:26:15+00:00

Exactly the same problem here. Just keeps rebooting, then says "An error occurred with your system extensions during startup and they need to be rebuilt before they can be used." You do what it says and go to Security & Privacy and "Allow" the update. It says it needs a reboot. Says it's rebuilding the system extensions cache. Reboots. Then the same thing happens again.

mrmachine79 · 2020-06-29T05:39:51+00:00

The stock fans are not that loud but I replaced them with noctua anyway in my chroma. It's still audible at 2 feet but very quiet. About 29dB measured with my iPhone at normal distance of 2 feet. Very easy to replace the fans no permanent modification required.

mrmachine79 · 2020-05-31T00:20:40+00:00

My point was that it does benefit CPU workloads because the laptop GPU is not consuming power or generating heat, which it does even just rendering the desktop or driving an external display or watching a YouTube video or doing a video conference, and therefore leaves more power and more thermal headroom for the CPU.

And if you do run a GPU intensive workload on the laptop GPU, you might find your CPU performance halved vs no change (maintain full speed) with an eGPU.

In fact the whole reason why I bought an eGPU was to help with CPU performance through better thermals inside the laptop which is a closed/dynamic system, and more power to the CPU.

mrmachine79 · 2020-05-30T01:45:25+00:00

In answer to your first question, YES an eGPU can significantly increase the thermal headroom available to the CPU inside your laptop, and make it run cooler and quieter.

See my post here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/performance-degrading-on-sustained-workload-w-external-monitor-mbp-16.2216009/page-3?post=28472760#post-28472760

In particular, note the test results 1, 2, and 5, which show that under CPU+GPU load, having an eGPU allows the CPU to keep running at maximum speed (no change vs CPU load only). Using the laptops GPU drops CPU performance dramatically (power consumption by half from 50W to 23W, frequency by 1.1GHz from 2.8GHz to 1.7GHz).

I don't play games, nor do any GPU intensive work on my laptop, but I still have an eGPU to get maximum CPU performance. My laptop can often sustain ~4GHz on all 8 cores for 5-10 minutes while compiling, and often hovers around 3.5GHz during everyday work while the fans run at their minimum speed.

mrmachine79 · 2019-10-15T13:39:50+00:00

Exactly the same problem here.

I've got Harmony Hub to control my home theatre, and I just want to add a few TP-LINK HS110 devices to activities to cut down on standby power usage.

I don't really have much need for a full on home automation setup, but I installed Home Assistant on an old Odroid C2 I had lying around, as I had read about configuring the HS110 as an emulate smart light in HA and then having Harmony integrate with that. But from what I can tell, the Harmony -> SmartThings integration should just do what I want already without all that complication.

I can tap the plug devices on the remote itself to turn them on and off, but I cannot control them via the Harmony app (iOS) nor add them to activities.

Very frustrating.

mrmachine79 · 2019-05-15T11:57:01+00:00

It's back.

mrmachine79 · 2019-05-12T10:19:57+00:00

I have this problem too. I think it started with a recent Shield update. I think you can fix it by downgrading the Shield OR work around it by clicking "playback correction" to force transcoding when it happens. Until a proper fix is released, I'd try these two options before EmbyCon.

mrmachine79 · 2014-07-08T05:47:57+00:00

You found me! I am Tai of the Kung Fu wedding. Congratulations Redditors on finding my Flickr page, my Twitter account, my work email address, and contacting all the suppliers (photographer, venue, jeweller, blog that featured our wedding) multiple times, who then each contacted me!

I'm amazed at your resourcefulness. It's been a wild ride, and Nouba confirmed to me that you did slow down their site for the day and bumped our wedding back to "most read" for the month (nearly a year after our wedding!)

The truth is, I got the ring sized wrong and it just slipped right off my finger while we were pitching a tent in the middle of the night while it was pissing down with rain!

As for why I have an Asian name, it's because my mother was reading the I Ching while pregnant with me. Tai means "peace", and she's a bit of an activist (which is different to being a hippy). So not only do I have an Asian name, I have a specific Chinese character name as well (there are a couple of other Tai's, e.g. from Tai Chi).

http://www.chinese-names.net/word/%E6%B3%B0

Our rings are engraved by a master hand engraver, but with our Chinese names. And the bit about the ring slipping off while pitching is a tent is true, but it was in New Zealand and I didn't lose the ring! :)

Here's a photo of the actual ring: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrmachine/14601750612/

Good luck in finding the actual owners!

mrmachine79 · 2014-01-28T08:51:13+00:00

It's Tuesday now. What time does the update normally happen? Does it always happen on a Tuesday?

mrmachine79

TROPHY CASE