Damascus

Wrong, very wrong.  There are several ways to do so
Mainstream chips (3950x, 10900k, 9900k etc.) which are functionally 100+ w parts (3950x taking up to 144w, for example) can be cooled well enough to reach all advertised stock and boost clocks using high end aircooling like the black ridge (47mm) or LP-53 (42mm with 14mm fan) or even tthe l9i/l9a (37mm) if one is willing to undervolt  Using Desktop HEDT or xeon platforms (x99/x299/C621) along with high end vapor chamber coolers like the Dynatron T318 (43mm with fan) Pics in case you want to try telling me my 6950x @80c all core load doesn't exist 
 
Dancase?  Perhaps a flatpack like the sliger?  These are both commonly accepted as "ITX" form factor, are sub 10L and use only 2 PCIe slots, enough for a single GPU
 
If we're sticking to your rigid definition of ITX wherein one cannot go past 180mm, there are still option for high performance gaming through gigabyte and MSI mini ITX 1070, 1080, 2060 and 2070 GPUs.  Not 2080 ti levels of performance, but not an APU trash as implied here.  It would be rather easy to run a 3950x + 2070S in the S4M for example, which would be a 5L case as the upper limits of a high end gaming PC
 
Feel free to elaborate on any point, I'm quite curious as to your definition of what a true ITX case would be, for example what the L/W/H maximum dimensions would entail and what a max volume could be.  ATX cases aren't a mobo tray and nothing else after all, so you shouldn't demand ITX be any different

Wrong, very wrong.  There are several ways to do so
Mainstream chips (3950x, 10900k, 9900k etc.) which are functionally 100+ w parts (3950x taking up to 144w, for example) can be cooled well enough to reach all advertised stock and boost clocks using high end aircooling like the black ridge (47mm) or LP-53 (42mm with 14mm fan) or even tthe l9i/l9a (37mm) if one is willing to undervolt  Using Desktop HEDT or xeon platforms (x99/x299/C621) along with high end vapor chamber coolers like the Dynatron T318 (43mm with fan) Pics in case you want to try telling me my 6950x @80c all core load doesn't exist 
 
Dancase?  Perhaps a flatpack like the sliger?  These are both commonly accepted as "ITX" form factor, are sub 10L and use only 2 PCIe slots, enough for a single GPU
 
If we're sticking to your rigid definition of ITX wherein one cannot go past 180mm, there are still option for high performance gaming through gigabyte and MSI mini ITX 1070, 1080, 2060 and 2070 GPUs.  Not 2080 ti levels of performance, but not an APU trash as implied here.  It would be rather easy to run a 3950x + 2070S in the S4M for example, which would be a 5L case as the upper limits of a high end gaming PC
 
Feel free to elaborate on any point, I'm quite curious as to your definition of what a true ITX case would be, for example what the L/W/H maximum dimensions would entail and what a max volume could be.  ATX cases aren't a mobo tray and nothing else after all, so you shouldn't demand ITX be any different

Just gonna point out the one thing that genuinely offends me is when I see others try to be offended for me. 
 

Yes, thank you. Now what was your question?

Thanks for pointing out that just because I don't have a ton of posts that I might not be a noob, I could do the signature thingy and detail the computers I have running in my house if that's a thing. But I'm not sure if there is a character limit on signatures. two servers, 4 gaming pcs, an HTPC, and various other pissant machines here and there runs to a long list. 
I actually have 4 of those beasts (picked them up from salvage) and they are glorious, but the light tubes are yellowed to hell and gone
 

Eber disagrees
 
I'm going to be honest, I like ultrawides.  I run a 3440x1440/144hz panel and love it to bits.  It's also important to acknowledge that OP has clear, concise requirements and wants a product recommendation based on those, not the personal preference of other users.  Not every new user on LTT is tech illiterate

Eber disagrees
 
I'm going to be honest, I like ultrawides.  I run a 3440x1440/144hz panel and love it to bits.  It's also important to acknowledge that OP has clear, concise requirements and wants a product recommendation based on those, not the personal preference of other users.  Not every new user on LTT is tech illiterate

That case has a ton of mounting options. Even if you leave all the drive cages in, you can still fit a 480mm rad (which is m a s s i v e) in the front:


If you go for a 360mm AIO (or a 480mm one if they exist and you can find one) it'll fit just fine. If you decide to stick with a custom loop, you'll probably want to put the pump/res combo (I'd recommend getting the combo for simplicity) in the bottom, you'll still have that whole massive front section to mount HDDs. If you go with a 360mm rad instead of a 480, you can also keep the 5.25" bays in case you need those:


These are from the manual btw, which you can grab here: https://www.fractal-design.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Define_7_XL_Manual-V2.pdf. 

Since you'll be running stock, you don't need a stupid amount of rad space. A single 360mm will be plenty when custom watercooling, a 360mm AIO isn't too far behind that. Either should keep it at safe temps (which are well into the 80s when running stock). Then EK-ZMT tubing, it's plain black rubber (EPDM or something IIRC). Very clean, but more importantly, super easy to work with and basically never leaks (you'd have to leave a fitting loose for that to happen). For fittings, I'd get barbs and then use zip ties or hose clamps to remove any risk of even the possibility of slipping, or good compressions (which do the same thing but are bulkier and cost more). If you don't mind cost, you can even get quick release fittings, which let you easily remove blocks (or if you had a GPU in the loop, remove that too) without spilling any fluid or having tubing dangling in the way. These are bulky and cost a lot though. 

For blocks, my personal preference is Watercool's Heatkiller line, they're amazing. HardwareLabs makes some of the best rads out there, so I'd recommend those (I use two slim ones in my build right now). For fittings and pumps I'm a basic bitch, I just use an EK D5 pump/res combo (just always get a D5, they chug along and basically never have issues or make much noise at all) and EK stubby fittings with zip ties. Have some additional stuff from Bitspower and some other peeps for drain plugs and the like. Which you'll need to account for on a custom loop, since they need to be drained, flushed, then refilled once a year or so (more often if you use fancy pastel coolants and stuff like that, since they can muck up your blocks). 

 
JayzTwoCents has a ton of videos on watercooling, he's been doing it for years. I don't know many others, watching his stuff + googling and asking around on here is mostly how I got my start on watercooling. @Damascus may have more resources, and is himself a resource. He's the guy who got me into custom loops uh... late 2017 or so when I built a loop for a friend. 👌

Cheapest 5700 you'd actually want is $330 USD, after currency conversion that's 465.47 CAD.  Cheapest 5700 in Canada is...  $479.  Also known as much more than $500 after tax

1080p 144hz is the sweet spot for price and performance. 
 
Any higher resolution is a nice luxury but is far from standard.
 
Higher refresh rates are also still niche.
 
I aspire to 1440p 144hz as I see that as the ideal, but it comes at a significant cost vs my current resoltion and its harder to justify spending the cash.
 
No person should ever be ashamed or feel inadequate for using 1080p 144hz for gaming, it is where you will find most gamers except those who can afford the luxury of something more.
 
Anyone at less than 1080p 144hz should aim to try and get there, if feesable and affordable but one single important thing remains.
 
ALWAYS have fun playing games, if the fun stops, stop.

Unrelated to this, but every time I imply dislike or talk about my irritation with the tier list, someone inevitably jumps down my throat with the force of a thousand John Cenas.
 
Obviously not everyone associated with this project is that thin skinned, but if you guys don't calm down and (as a group) dial it back a bit there's going to be a point where nobody takes it seriously

Unrelated to this, but every time I imply dislike or talk about my irritation with the tier list, someone inevitably jumps down my throat with the force of a thousand John Cenas.
 
Obviously not everyone associated with this project is that thin skinned, but if you guys don't calm down and (as a group) dial it back a bit there's going to be a point where nobody takes it seriously

I dont have issues with it, other than the way it's organized.  But that's a personal preference, and thus irrelevant 
No comment
I've never made that arguement, and it would invalidate any review anyways, unless you're noting a higher than average DOA rate
Yes, abandoning single rail to the deadlands is not great 
I don't mind that, and actually find arguing with people enjoyable.  But there are absolutely people involved with the list who fully believe it's the best (/be all end all) solution and are totally willing to attack anyone who says otherwise. 

Unrelated to this, but every time I imply dislike or talk about my irritation with the tier list, someone inevitably jumps down my throat with the force of a thousand John Cenas.
 
Obviously not everyone associated with this project is that thin skinned, but if you guys don't calm down and (as a group) dial it back a bit there's going to be a point where nobody takes it seriously

Unrelated to this, but every time I imply dislike or talk about my irritation with the tier list, someone inevitably jumps down my throat with the force of a thousand John Cenas.
 
Obviously not everyone associated with this project is that thin skinned, but if you guys don't calm down and (as a group) dial it back a bit there's going to be a point where nobody takes it seriously

So the pins are RGB? 

Thank you so much for all of this info! Typed out a reply while on a meeting phone call and closed the tab, sorry for the late reply. I will certainly order that chip and continue testing. Additionally, I am not sure if the motherboard has two BIOS'. I believe it does because it is the Asus X99-a which was the creme de la creme of the time if my memory serves me correctly. I need to go through the MB manual more and do a lot of research. I certainly appreciate the info you provided and will update this thread as I go through the troubleshooting.

Nzxt offers 7 years, Corsair 5.  Evga is insanely good at customer support and I would go with then if that's an issue.

this is the best choice. pretty much on par in gaming with i9 9900k but better in any other scenario.

I'm a big fan of X99, @Zando Bob is also a veteran HEDT enthusiast.  My first thought is that it may be a dead CPU, as the early gen Asus X99 boards have this nasty habit of pushing way too much voltage through stock cpus (iirc 2v) 
 
The easiest way to test if this is a cpu issue would be to buy an e5 2620 v3 on aliexpress, a mildly unimpressive cpu (6c/12t 2.5-3.2hz) that currently retails for a whopping ~15 USD on Aliexpress.  If that does wind up being the case, you can then go bother asus for killing your cpu.
 
Second method is the good old fashioned "trust internet strangers with the hardware and hope they send it back after testing" method.  Cheap but risky 😄  Lots of us have too much x99 hardware for no good reason...
 
Last option would be attempting to swap out the bios chip.  Again with the early asus boards, they were notoriously finicky and prone to seizing up in after BIOS failure.  If the board has two chips, try switching to the secondary.  If it has one, you can buy a replacement from sellers like BIOS depot on ebay (no relation, I've simply used their services in the past on an X99 OC Formula)

To actually respond to your questions-
https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3494-amd-ryzen-3000-undervolting-offset-override
 
Gamers nexus did a pretty interesting piece on this a while back, worth a read/watch 

Or, and just hear me out here, motherboard manufacturers constantly fuck up the default voltage settings!  Exhibit A being early gen asus x99 boards pumping 2v through cpus and killing loads of them on (you guessed it) stock settings.  How about all the z390 boards with entirely different Tjmax, voltage and allowed power draws?  Or maybe the time every manufacturer ever did their own little fucky thing with voltage controls and auto boost weirdness.  
 
Lowering vcore isn't going to hurt a CPU, worst case scenario OP gets some black screens, resets the bios and ups the score a little bit to correct for going too low

Shouldn't be an insane difference in performance, but 1650x1050 (1732500 pixels) is a decent bit smaller than 1920x1080 (2073600) 
 
That little bump might be messing with your cards VRAM buffer just enough to cause issues

Shouldn't be an insane difference in performance, but 1650x1050 (1732500 pixels) is a decent bit smaller than 1920x1080 (2073600) 
 
That little bump might be messing with your cards VRAM buffer just enough to cause issues

"...they seem to die faster, that's been my experience with them in general...." - Linus