Anyone got any ideas on what setup I shall use for my steam In-Home streaming?

Thought of using this machine:

ZOTAC ZBOX ID18

got some good reviews and it has HDMI output (what I need).

Tired of sitting here sometimes, couch can be much more comfortable with controller (and GF can join too)

Does SteamOS have some special requirements?

Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

I know, thats why you should take a look @ the one I posted, its just a small barebone machine and doesnt cost that much.

I tried this over the weekend Fluff, I thought you might like to read how I got on. I can't help you with SteamOS I'm afraid, but this was my experience with steam home streaming and big picture mode.

First of all my setup. The host is upstairs and the client downstairs hooked up to a flat screen TV. The client is comprised of parts from old machines (dual core chip, low end GPU, Win 7, Steam big picture mode) and usually sits under the TV for media centre duties and a bit of light gaming. The host has a quad core chip and a mid range GPU and can run most modern titles at high to max. Both host monitor and client TV use the same resolution (1680 x 1050) and both machines are on the same network with the host directly connected to the router and the client connecting via WiFi and/or powerline adaptors.

The machines are a floor apart and approximately 10 metres from one another. There are internal brick walls, a couple of RSJ beams and a draft excluder in the shape of a fluffy python that interfere with the WiFi.

OK - I first tried streaming from host to client over WiFi and although it worked, games were unplayable and some dumped me straight back to the desktop. I then tried over powerline adaptors and this time the experience was MUCH better. I could launch and play games just like I was sitting in front of my host and although I had some input lag and the occasional dropped frame or 10, I was pretty impressed it worked so well using this method.

It would appear the host is doing all the work and the client very little, so you could get away with something very low spec for your streaming machine. Just make sure your network is up to the task though, that's what gave me the biggest headache.

Connection shoudnt be a problem, host (my pc in this case) has a gigabit connection and so will the client. [if I dont forget to buy the damn cable]. Thanks though for your experience

No problem. Sounds like you're all set Fluff so the best of luck!

Yeah I hope so, I am going for this setup now:

ZOTAC ZBOX ID18

Samsung HN-M101MBB 1 TB

G.Skill SO-DIMM 4 GB DDR3-1066 Kit

in total that makes aprox. 220€.

It should arrive tomorrow and I will post the results here, if SteamOS screws up Ill just use W7, if it doesnt work out I'll just send it back

Gear arrived and its assembled, currently it looks like this:



Next step is putting the OS (in this case the ISO of SteamOS) on my USB stick cause there is no floppy disk drive available.

Failure at its best...bought the wrong RAM (noone noticed?), so this has to continue friday / saturday