Steiger Dynamics Launches LEET Gaming HTPC Lineup
by Ganesh T S on December 13, 2012 6:15 PM EST
We are no strangers to boutique PC makers here at AnandTech, having reviewed systems from AVADirect, iBUYPOWER and Puget Systems regularly. Most of these boutique PCs are targeted exclusively towards gamers, while a few cater to the small form factor space. We rarely see boutique PC makers target the HTPC market. Low Carbon PC is one of the boutique PC makers making an effort to serve the HTPC / gaming crowd. Earlier this month, Steiger Dynamics entered the fray with a luxury gaming HTPC lineup, the LEET series. The LEET series has three models, the LEET Pure, LEET Core and LEET Reference.
Steiger Dynamics uses components from Intel, NVIDIA, Asus, Corsair, EVGA, Seasonic and Western Digital (amongst others) in the lineup. The HTPC credentials are strengthened by the option to add the Asus Xonar Essence STX (for the audiophiles who don't need bitstreaming) and the Ceton InfiniTV 4 quad-channel cable HD TV tuner card.
Steiger Dynamics aims at consolidating the various devices in the living room with the LEET series. By integrating the functionality of a desktop PC, gaming console, cable TV STB, Blu-ray player and NAS into one unit, they are implementing device convergence of a different kind. The LEET series is quite high end, with the premium being justified by an exclusive custom chassis and liquid cooling solution. The low-end LEET Pure series starts at $1798, while one could splurge more than $10000 on the highest-end LEET Reference with maxed out specs. The table below presents the hardware specifications of the various models in the LEET lineup.
Steigler Dynamics LEET Configurations | |||||
LEET Pure | LEET Core | LEET Reference | |||
Motherboard | Asus P8Z77-V (LX) | Asus P8Z77-V / Asus Maximus V Formula / Asus Maximus V Extreme | Asus Rampage IV Formula / Extreme X79 | ||
Processor | Core i3-3220 / i5-3570K | Core i7-3770 / i7-3770K | Core i7-3930K / i7-3970X | ||
DRAM | Corsair Vengeance Blue / Black (8 - 16 GB), Corsair Dominator (32 GB) | Corsair Vengeance Black (8 / 16 GB), Corsair Vengeance Red (32 GB), Corsair Dominator Platinum (16 / 32 GB) | Corsair Vengeance Red (16 / 32 GB), Corsair Vengeance Black (64 GB), Corsair Dominator Platonum (16 - 64 GB) | ||
GPU | Intel HD Graphics / EVGA GTX 650Ti - 670 | EVGA GTX 660 - 2x GTX 690 | EVGA GTX 660 - 2x GTX 690 | ||
Audio | Bitstreaming / Asus Xonar Essence STX | Bitstreaming / Asus Xonar Essence STX | Bitstreaming / Asus Xonar Essence STX | ||
System Drives | Corsair Neutron GTX (120 GB to 2x480 GB) | Corsair Neutron GTX (120 GB to 2x480 GB) | Corsair Neutron GTX (120 GB to 2x480 GB) | ||
Storage Drives | None / WD Red (1 TB to 4x3 TB) | None / WD Red (1 TB to 4x3 TB) | None / WD Red (1 TB to 4x3 TB) | ||
PSU | Seasonic G-Series (360 / 450 W), X-Series (660W), Platinum Series (860 / 1000W) | Seasonic G-Series (360 / 450 W), X-Series (660 / 1250 W), Platinum Series (860 / 1000W) | Seasonic X-Series (660 / 1250 W), Platinum Series (860 / 1000 W) |
We will be meeting up with Steiger Dynamics at CES. If you have any questions for them, feel free to sound off in the comments.
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ShieTar - Friday, December 14, 2012 - link
No they don't. Sorry, was looking at the wrong picture.ingwe - Friday, December 14, 2012 - link
Minus the name, I would love to have a maxed out one of these. I don't like managing different systems and so it would be nice to have one system that did everything. However, I could never see myself buying one of these because to do all of the things it wants to do doesn't work very well. Power consumption is way too high to be a great NAS and it is too big to be a great HTPC. Maybe others of you feel differently, but for the price I would rather have an HTPC/NAS and then a separate gaming rig. That would be sooo much cheaper too.In any case, the internals are beautiful. As someone else pointed out, it looks like the Mac G5. I would love it AT tested this to find out if the engineering level matches the level of styling.
CeriseCogburn - Sunday, December 30, 2012 - link
I have always thought that's not integration at all, that's 100% standard:" desktop PC, gaming console, cable TV STB, Blu-ray player and NAS into one unit "
Well guess what, every PC can do all that (tv tuner needed / blueray drive (just use your DVD ) - so really there's no THERE, there.
People have a freaking fit though... they want their HTPC just so, then they buy some stupid dvd player, then a blueray player, then some "box" as if at home they need some stupid storage for the "whole house"....
So, the main thing I like about this company is they aren't idiots specializing in one thing.
Their box does it all, just like all my PC's.
That's all any of those named devices are, anyway, people, but you're all so golldurn brainwashed and so full of yourselves, none of you know it, and likely never will.
Now as for my requirements that may be present in some unpolished form - the ISSUE IS - when I'm surfing, the partiers need to be having their gaming war, AND the loungers need to be watching their flick - blueray, netflicks or otherwise - a camera playing the trips vids... all that HAS to be able to happen all at once...
So what I want is a box like this with perhaps two boards, or maybe virtual OS/s handling separate mice, keyboards, gaming pads, and remotes - all at once.
There should be 4 screens - one or two across the room - so boost or wiring is necessary, with multiple sound outputs controllable - all that has to be integrated and color coded for setup.
WIFI keyboards and mice, game pads/joysticks, wireless for printing, etc.
What we're always lacking is an actual multiple duty system that allows more than 2 groups of people to interact at once.
So the "companies" are still missing the ball - this is closer because any PC can do all this - at least this is closer - now let's hear about many operators with the various activities going on all at once - no one has to stop and wait and give it up for someone else... come on - WHEN.....
versesuvius - Saturday, December 15, 2012 - link
Anything horizontal is HTPC now? That is just great! Start naming things around the house and you are a technologist.Laststop311 - Monday, December 17, 2012 - link
Starting at 1798 for the base series with no upgrades. The case looks nice. Do I need my cpu and gpu usage meter to be filling my room with light? No, I would have that permanently turned off so there's money wasted.I'm not really big on it having to look so neat and proper and just like a stereo receiver. Why does a HTPC HAVE to look like a stereo receiver to go near your tv? It's a stupid restriction. Wit the kind of money you are spending on a LEET system with some proper specs not just bare minimum crap I could build something utterly amazing out of the bitfenix prodigy. Yes I know it's bigger and doesn't look like a stereo receiver, but it does the same job.
I could easily put in an i7-3770k overclocked to 4.5ghz on a 140mm double thick rad push/pull and a gtx 690 with a liquid cooling block and a 240mm double thick rad with 4x fans in push/pull and all the fans in the system would be dead silent noctua fans and it would be infinitely cheaper then what the leet would cost with full water cooling and an i7 and 690
Xential - Wednesday, December 26, 2012 - link
Very impressive and very sleek. Would look pretty good under my TV :)dotems - Saturday, December 29, 2012 - link
Why would they use a stereo sound card for that box when most home theatre setups use 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setups. If they wanted to use that line they could have gone for the xonar essence ST with a xonar H6 card and got the benefit of the headphone amp and been able to output anything from stereo to 7.1. Sure you could output digital to a receiver but why use an expensive sound card to do that, it makes no sense to me.DarkUltra - Wednesday, January 2, 2013 - link
If you want EAX 5.0, ALchemy and 8 channel lossless over HDMI, you need a discreet soundcard. I expected this system to have a auzentech x-fi hometheater hd as an option (with internal hdmi passthrough).simonsayz101 - Sunday, April 21, 2013 - link
saw this at overclockers com, http://postimg.org/image/la9q4quhn/">[img=http://s17.postimg.org/la9q4quhn/Picture2222.jpg]is it true they have a VFD one too? i would buy one and WC the s***t out of it
simonsayz101 - Sunday, April 21, 2013 - link
<a href='http://postimg.org/image/la9q4quhn/' target='_blank'><img src='http://s17.postimg.org/la9q4quhn/Picture2222.jpg... border='0' alt="Picture2222" /></a>