GlorifiedPaperShuffler

In my other build log, I called my wife's build "The Guinea Pig". A guinea pig for what you might ask?
 
Well, here is a build I call "Technica", named after Subaru Technica International (STI), the motorsports and high performance division of Subaru (the car manufacturer, not the telescope).
 
The parts list isn't finalized yet, since I estimate it'll take me months just to do the mods I have planned for the case.
But think Ryzen 9, 2080 Ti, all watercooled, RGBed to the max, plus a good helping of automotive grade paint.
 
This is my dream build. It's been about 6 months in conceptualization.
For the longest time, I referred to it in my budget/parts sheet as "Magnum Opus", because I think this will be the last major build I do from scratch.
Everything after will just be updates to the internals here and there.
 
The build's theme is Subaru, but specifically, the design will try to evoke themes found in the following Subarus:

 
So lots of WR Blue (I'm partial towards WR Blue Pearl), a touch of Cherry Blossom Red/Pink (undecided if I should harken back to the original pink or the newer pinkish red), and just a touch of High Viz Yellow.
 
I'm starting this thread today, because today is the day the case for this build arrived:

 
Yes, I am a nutjob who just paid for a C700M. My fingers are tightly crossed that this case will be the last case I buy.
Beyond this, I hope everything will just be a matter of upgrading internals.
 
If you are thinking of buying a Cosmos C700M, know that it is a MASSIVE case. My wife's Crystal 570X looks like a toy next to it.

 
Yes, this also does mean that I got parts for a 2nd build before finishing the 1st.
I'm hoping to take advantage of what remaining warm weather we have outside for painting.
Additionally, I can do more detailed planning with the case in-hand, so I can see what I can take apart for painting, and how I can best apply the color theme discussed above.
 
Will update when I make more progress.

Absolutely it'll be hardline! I'm currently thinking of a way to evoke the Boxer Engine with my hardline routing. See where it'll take me.
 
I'm kinda torn between just running blue coolant, or if I should try to color match the Cherry Blossom Pink/Red by mixing coolants. Not sure if the latter will result in problems.
 
I'm currently partial towards EK rads really, though I'm perusing Alphacool's range as well. I'll check out Hardwarelabs. No harm in doing so.
 
I forgot to mention...the hardline loop fittings will be gold!

In my other build log, I called my wife's build "The Guinea Pig". A guinea pig for what you might ask?
 
Well, here is a build I call "Technica", named after Subaru Technica International (STI), the motorsports and high performance division of Subaru (the car manufacturer, not the telescope).
 
The parts list isn't finalized yet, since I estimate it'll take me months just to do the mods I have planned for the case.
But think Ryzen 9, 2080 Ti, all watercooled, RGBed to the max, plus a good helping of automotive grade paint.
 
This is my dream build. It's been about 6 months in conceptualization.
For the longest time, I referred to it in my budget/parts sheet as "Magnum Opus", because I think this will be the last major build I do from scratch.
Everything after will just be updates to the internals here and there.
 
The build's theme is Subaru, but specifically, the design will try to evoke themes found in the following Subarus:

 
So lots of WR Blue (I'm partial towards WR Blue Pearl), a touch of Cherry Blossom Red/Pink (undecided if I should harken back to the original pink or the newer pinkish red), and just a touch of High Viz Yellow.
 
I'm starting this thread today, because today is the day the case for this build arrived:

 
Yes, I am a nutjob who just paid for a C700M. My fingers are tightly crossed that this case will be the last case I buy.
Beyond this, I hope everything will just be a matter of upgrading internals.
 
If you are thinking of buying a Cosmos C700M, know that it is a MASSIVE case. My wife's Crystal 570X looks like a toy next to it.

 
Yes, this also does mean that I got parts for a 2nd build before finishing the 1st.
I'm hoping to take advantage of what remaining warm weather we have outside for painting.
Additionally, I can do more detailed planning with the case in-hand, so I can see what I can take apart for painting, and how I can best apply the color theme discussed above.
 
Will update when I make more progress.

In my other build log, I called my wife's build "The Guinea Pig". A guinea pig for what you might ask?
 
Well, here is a build I call "Technica", named after Subaru Technica International (STI), the motorsports and high performance division of Subaru (the car manufacturer, not the telescope).
 
The parts list isn't finalized yet, since I estimate it'll take me months just to do the mods I have planned for the case.
But think Ryzen 9, 2080 Ti, all watercooled, RGBed to the max, plus a good helping of automotive grade paint.
 
This is my dream build. It's been about 6 months in conceptualization.
For the longest time, I referred to it in my budget/parts sheet as "Magnum Opus", because I think this will be the last major build I do from scratch.
Everything after will just be updates to the internals here and there.
 
The build's theme is Subaru, but specifically, the design will try to evoke themes found in the following Subarus:

 
So lots of WR Blue (I'm partial towards WR Blue Pearl), a touch of Cherry Blossom Red/Pink (undecided if I should harken back to the original pink or the newer pinkish red), and just a touch of High Viz Yellow.
 
I'm starting this thread today, because today is the day the case for this build arrived:

 
Yes, I am a nutjob who just paid for a C700M. My fingers are tightly crossed that this case will be the last case I buy.
Beyond this, I hope everything will just be a matter of upgrading internals.
 
If you are thinking of buying a Cosmos C700M, know that it is a MASSIVE case. My wife's Crystal 570X looks like a toy next to it.

 
Yes, this also does mean that I got parts for a 2nd build before finishing the 1st.
I'm hoping to take advantage of what remaining warm weather we have outside for painting.
Additionally, I can do more detailed planning with the case in-hand, so I can see what I can take apart for painting, and how I can best apply the color theme discussed above.
 
Will update when I make more progress.

I only had a few hours today to make some progress with this build.
 
Initially I had wanted to plan the routing for all the wires in this computer, but it became too much to keep track of. So I decided to say, "fuck it", and just make up the routing as we went along.
 
I put in the MB, top radiator, and a few fans:

 
But what I'd like to focus on in today's log is a little experiment for cable management (see the USB 3.0 cable sticking out near the bottom?). Originally I had wanted to buy some nice custom length cables from Cablemod, until I found out how goddamned expensive they were, and even after that, there was no guarantee that I could give them the precise measurements needed.
 
So after some thought, I realized that IRL I am an automotive engineer, with 50% of my work being automotive harnesses. Why not apply the same construction methods to PC cable management?
 
I experimented a little with the USB 3.0 cable, and I think the results look decent. Additionally, with automotive harness construction methods, you could get the cables to stay in certain shapes ("forming" or sometimes "dressing").
 

 

 
Also, there is a myriad of additional accessories you could buy online (if you know their part numbers) to enable even more ways to manage cables. You can even bundle multiple cables together that are going the same route, and you get a nice clean run of cables.
 
What do you guys think?

I only had a few hours today to make some progress with this build.
 
Initially I had wanted to plan the routing for all the wires in this computer, but it became too much to keep track of. So I decided to say, "fuck it", and just make up the routing as we went along.
 
I put in the MB, top radiator, and a few fans:

 
But what I'd like to focus on in today's log is a little experiment for cable management (see the USB 3.0 cable sticking out near the bottom?). Originally I had wanted to buy some nice custom length cables from Cablemod, until I found out how goddamned expensive they were, and even after that, there was no guarantee that I could give them the precise measurements needed.
 
So after some thought, I realized that IRL I am an automotive engineer, with 50% of my work being automotive harnesses. Why not apply the same construction methods to PC cable management?
 
I experimented a little with the USB 3.0 cable, and I think the results look decent. Additionally, with automotive harness construction methods, you could get the cables to stay in certain shapes ("forming" or sometimes "dressing").
 

 

 
Also, there is a myriad of additional accessories you could buy online (if you know their part numbers) to enable even more ways to manage cables. You can even bundle multiple cables together that are going the same route, and you get a nice clean run of cables.
 
What do you guys think?

For months now, I have been planning to build two high end rigs for me and the wife.
 
The wife's system will be built first, because ladies first, and also because I've never done hard line water cooling before, so I need a guinea pig.
Her rig will be high end for sure, but it'll just be a generic high end rig. It'll serve as the test bed for many things, including hard line bending/cutting, water block installation, Corsair's iCue, HydroX parts, X570, Ryzen 3rd Gen, and RTX games.
 
We've got the furniture for a twin battlestation area last weekend. Today, the first set of tools arrived. I figured the Eiskoffer will give me the best chance of pulling this off well the first time around. Actual construction will begin this Labor Day weekend.
 
Total budget for her rig is $3800.
Parts list:
PCPartPicker Part List Type Item Price CPU AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor $327.79 @ OutletPC Motherboard Asus PRIME X570-PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard $236.89 @ OutletPC Memory Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory $199.99 @ Amazon Storage Corsair MP600 Force Series Gen4 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive $249.99 @ Best Buy Video Card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB Video Card $699.99 @ Best Buy Case Corsair Crystal 570X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case $189.98 @ Newegg Power Supply Corsair 860 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply   Case Fan Corsair LL120 RGB White with Lighting Node PRO 63 CFM 120 mm Fans $119.99 @ Amazon Case Fan Corsair LL120 RGB 63 CFM 120 mm Fan $35.99 @ Amazon Case Fan Corsair LL120 RGB 63 CFM 120 mm Fan $35.99 @ Amazon Case Fan Corsair LL120 RGB 63 CFM 120 mm Fan $35.99 @ Amazon Keyboard Corsair K70 RGB MK.2 SE Wired Gaming Keyboard $179.99 @ Amazon Mouse Corsair M65 RGB ELITE Wired Optical Mouse $54.86 @ OutletPC Custom Hydro X Series XD5 RGB Pump/Reservoir Combo $154.99 Custom Hydro X Series XF Hardline 14mm OD Fitting Four Pack — White $25.99 Custom Hydro X Series XC7 RGB CPU Water Block (115X/AM4) $74.99 Custom Hydro X Series XR7 360mm Water Cooling Radiator $114.99 Custom Hydro X Series XR5 240mm Water Cooling Radiator $59.99 Custom Hydro X Series XG7 RGB 20-SERIES GPU Water Block (2080 FE) $149.99 Custom Hydro X Series XF Hardline 14mm OD Fitting Four Pack — White $26.99 Custom Hydro X Series XF Hardline 14mm OD Fitting Four Pack — White $26.99 Custom Hydro X Series XF Ball Valve — Chrome $19.99 Custom Hydro X Series XT Hardline 14mm Tubing $19.99 Custom iCUE Commander PRO Smart RGB Lighting and Fan Speed Controller $74.99 Custom Hydro X Series XL5 Performance Coolant 1L — Purple $17.99   Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts     Total (before mail-in rebates) $3165.32   Mail-in rebates -$30.00   Total $3135.32   Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-28 23:37 EDT-0400    
I'm opening this thread first and foremost to log the build process, so you can laugh at our mistakes, and maybe I can also learn something, but also because when I'm spending this kind of money, I'd like someone else to at least know about it. We're both sorta introverted people who don't often welcome guests in our home. So no one will probably ever see the rigs in-person.

So I work for one of the mainstream Japanese automakers.
 
Basically, the Japanese name for my field is 設計, or "designer". But "designer" in English doesn't have the same meaning. People generally think fancy sketches of crazy cars when you say "designer".
 
So I'd probably call it "design engineer". Basically, we take what the product planning guys say they want in next-gen ABC vehicle, and do our best to turn it into reality. We'll study the technical requirements, define specifications, determine where to place it in the vehicle, min/max parameters (weight, fuel economy, etc.), issue drawings for manufacturing, do revisions to improve things, file patents, etc.
 
We're what happens between marketing's imaginations and mass production.
 
Specifically, I am in Electronic Platform Design. So that means enabling all the various parts of the car to talk to each other (CAN/LIN communications from physical layer onwards between each part's CAN/LIN interface), enabling the car to talk to other things (think Onstar and internet services, and the associated cybersecurity aspects too), and enabling ancillary stuff like key fobs talking to the car, etc.

So I work for one of the mainstream Japanese automakers.
 
Basically, the Japanese name for my field is 設計, or "designer". But "designer" in English doesn't have the same meaning. People generally think fancy sketches of crazy cars when you say "designer".
 
So I'd probably call it "design engineer". Basically, we take what the product planning guys say they want in next-gen ABC vehicle, and do our best to turn it into reality. We'll study the technical requirements, define specifications, determine where to place it in the vehicle, min/max parameters (weight, fuel economy, etc.), issue drawings for manufacturing, do revisions to improve things, file patents, etc.
 
We're what happens between marketing's imaginations and mass production.
 
Specifically, I am in Electronic Platform Design. So that means enabling all the various parts of the car to talk to each other (CAN/LIN communications from physical layer onwards between each part's CAN/LIN interface), enabling the car to talk to other things (think Onstar and internet services, and the associated cybersecurity aspects too), and enabling ancillary stuff like key fobs talking to the car, etc.

I know the heading said a 2U box for pfsense, but I forgot to remove that. The one Netgate Appliance specified in there is the SG-3100, one step above the basic box someone else had recommended. I saw that it had two M.2 slots for easy upgrading later, if for whatever reason I need to have 64GB of storage on a router. Decided eh, I could upgrade it later, or if I'm doing something that really justifies the extra horsepower, I can always just deal with pfsense virtualization at that point.
I think I might stick to ESXi + Virtual FreeNAS with HBA at this moment. There seems to be a lot more documentation about passing an HBA over to FreeNAS in ESXi, instead of portioning out a RAID array to FreeNAS. It'll make setup easier, so I can actually tinker with the fun stuff, instead of struggling just to get storage up and running at all.
 
P.S. >> Thank you very much for all this free advice you're just giving out like candy. Pretty sure I'd have to pay for a training course or something without you and the LTT community. I'm an automotive development engineer IRL, so feel free to ask me for advice in that realm whenever you need it.

Yeah, no, I'm not gonna run used hardware. I've had an unRaid box for a while now, and this home server/networking stuff is like crack to me. Endless tinkering, playing with nifty new Dockers, new VMs, etc.
 
It's also a minor passion for me. I used to do physical networking for banks. Having my own mini "datacenter" setup is a minor dream, and these two servers are a starting point for that.
 
(Sweet setup btw! I don't know what to do with all that space yet, but I wanna end up there some day.)
 
From what I understand, the router processes data transfers between subnets (routing!). The pfSense box will eventually be processing data transfers between my home security network (estimated maybe 5-6 high res cameras), my smarthome network, maybe my own personal cloud accessible via VPN, etc. etc. I'd like to eventually kill off my Google Drive/MEGA subscription.
 
Do you run multiple subnets?
 
I see two people suggested ESXi. Sounds like more tinkering, which is great!
 
But why? Is there any particular advantage to virtualizing pfsense/FreeNAS?
My reasons for a dedicated pfsense box is at the start of this post. There will be multiple subnets. Does it matter enough to justify a dedicated box?
 
Reason for using different cables is cost reduction, and ease of passing a Fluke test (for CAT-6). Back when I did physical networking it was a PITA to test/certify CAT-6A.
 
Also, again, you're the second person to mention ESXi. Is there any particular advantage to doing so?

Shit man, this is why I come here. You win.
Literally within the hour too!

you might wanna check again
there are 2 versions of MARK1:
SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK 1/USB 3.1 SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK 1 and they aren't identical 

Jesus Christ.
 
I had an inkling there might be another version of the Mark 1 that I wasn't aware of, based on 0x1e's post.
 
So I searched again on Asus's website. Lo' and behold, there was another version, and I just updated my bios without a hitch.
 
All that hair pulling and table slamming, over something so simple.
 
Thanks everyone for the help. I guess this is what they mean when they say "let's get a fresh pair of eyes on this".

Jesus Christ.
 
I had an inkling there might be another version of the Mark 1 that I wasn't aware of, based on 0x1e's post.
 
So I searched again on Asus's website. Lo' and behold, there was another version, and I just updated my bios without a hitch.
 
All that hair pulling and table slamming, over something so simple.
 
Thanks everyone for the help. I guess this is what they mean when they say "let's get a fresh pair of eyes on this".