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What is Aster? Aster is an amazing piece of software which lets you create Workplaces, a way to split up devices, monitors, and even GPUs to different Windows users all on the same PC. Think of this like Linus's 2-gamers 1-GPU videos, but without virtual machines. As far as I know, Aster uses an older technology in Windows called Multipoint. It allows multiple users to be logged in at the same time in a single Windows install, but each user can be given its own monitor, GPU, mouse, keyboard, speakers, microphone, network card, etc. Aside from Aster's UI looking pretty awful today, it's a really slick piece of software that has a ton of uses. I use it myself to run a single gaming machine that allows my son to play solo during the day, and my friends to use for playing LAN gaming in the evening. If you want to know why you need Sandboxie, see below. Aster Setup Install Aster after downloading it: https://ibiksoft.com/download/ Aster with Steam Steam runs at the system level in Windows, so you need Sandboxie to run more than one copy of it (see below for more on Sandboxie). Without it, Steam will close when opening on a different user's computer. These are my tips for success: Install Steam games outside of the sandbox. It saves on disk space and makes everything work as you expect. Run games at least once when not sandboxed. This allows Steam to install the redistributable files in the correct locations. When shutting down using the power button on your PC, you sometimes have to press it twice. This happens if some of the monitors have gone into power save. The first press turns the monitors on, the second one shuts down the PC. Start with Windows Depending on your needs, you could have Aster start: When you start your computer (my preferred configuration). When the first user logs in. Manually by opening Aster and clicking the "Run Aster workplaces" button. I've only tried loading Aster at boot, and it works well that way. Configure Devices in Aster First, you need to enable multiple workplaces in Aster: Then you can go to the Workplaces tab to drag and drop devices: If you don't know which device is which, move the mouse or tap the keyboard, and it will show up with a blue highlight around it: The same works for microphones and speakers, but that's a bit tricker. In terms of monitors, they're divided based on graphics cards. For each plugged-in and enabled monitor, it will allow you to assign it to a specific workplace. You can assign multiple monitors to one or only one each like I have in these screenshots. Single- or Multi-GPU My setup has multiple GPUs, so each workplace is given a single monitor on each GPU. You can also give one GPU to multiple workplaces. All you have to do is take the .1 and .2 monitors and drag them to separate workplaces. Doing so means both of those workplaces will share the same graphics card when playing games. Separating Sound Devices If you're sharing the same GPU, it's possible you'll be sharing the same soundcard as well. If you want to split the sound between workplaces, you'll need to dedicate one soundcard per workplace. You can't use the GPU for both. Your motherboard has an integrated soundcard as well. If you plug in speakers to the 3.5mm jack on the back of your PC or plug headphones into the front headphone port, those can act as a separate soundcard so you don't have to share audio. USB soundcards work just as well. My microphone even acts as a USB soundcard, and I can plugin speakers or headphones into it. Microphones work the same way, and Aster gives you a lot of control over how you're setting up microphones. Auto-Login Aster allows defining a user for a specific workplace and having that user automatically login when the computer starts. This way, you don't have to type in a username and password each time: After clicking the user, select an account and type in the user's password: Now that workplace will automatically login that user. While it looks like Aster is keeping track of passwords, it's not. Windows can do this natively; Aster is only providing a nice GUI for doing it. While it may seem strange to automatically login users, if you use these other workplaces only for playing games, automatic login means it can start up Steam in Big Picture when the computer boots, so it's ready for people to use. You don't always want to have to login and set everything up each time. Limiting CPU cores Some games don't like it when you don't give them all of the available CPU cores, so you don't want to do any CPU core limiting on any workplaces used for games. There's a menu in Aster to configure CPU cores. Don't touch this if you're planning to play games on any of those workplaces. Dedicated Network Cards If you're playing older games, it might be important to dedicate different IP addresses to different workplaces. It's also how you can assign network cards in Aster: From the Extended Settings tab, if you click the "Not Assigned" text, it will bring up a way to assign programs or the entire workplace to a static IP address: I'm not too familiar with this screen, but Aster support recommended this to me as a way to assign an Ethernet card to each Workplace with its own IP address. I haven't run into issues so far sharing a single Ethernet adapter with a single IP, but you might have to come in here and assign static IPs. I personally don't like the way Aster handles assigning Ethernet cards, so I leave this configuration alone. I wish they'd let you drag 'n drop and network card to specific workplaces instead. Disable Aster It's also easy to disable Aster: After clicking the disable button, you restart your machine, and it's back to working as if Aster was never installed. It's just as easy to turn back on using the same button. After a reboot, Aster's there working for you. This can be useful if you only want to run Aster when you have people over, but otherwise, you want to use your computer normally for a single user. In my case, I have a machine dedicated for LAN gaming, so it doesn't make sense to change this setting, but I've tested it out, and it's fast. Sandboxie Setup Install Sandboxie Plus after downloading it: https://sandboxie-plus.com/downloads/ Open Sandboxie and click the "Edit Config" icon: Download the Sandboxie.ini file I attached to this post paste it in Nodepad that opened: This is the same Sandboxie configuration I'm using. It allows Sandboxie to get out of the way of your games and create as little overhead as possible. It also removes the yellow border around sandboxed apps. The `OpenPipePath` and `RunCommand` values might not be required, but you can change them to match your machine's Steam directory if you need them. Create a shortcut for running Steam sandboxed: While I have 2 icons for Steam under this user account, it's important because you will sometimes need to run Steam unsandboxed. See the Aster with Steam section for more information. If you don't want 2 icons, you can always right-click and open in a sandbox as well: I don't recommend this method as you'll forget and open it wrong.

Intro Now that the mainstream can get crazy core counts for not insane prices, I've been wanting to do a multi user system. A workstation by day, LAN party by night. I have 2 rx480s with copper blocks on them so far, I am in discussions to get a third. So I'm thinking, a 3 headed monster with a dedicated server? 4 cores and 16 gb of ram each, with lots of watercooling! I've narrowed down a few cases and designs, more to come on that later. But right now, things are coming in... Let's do this! First I must say a big thank you to AMD, Corsair, and V1Tech for sponsoring me with the cpu, motherboard, ram, case, powersupply, and custom aesthetic pieces. I had just upgraded to Ryzen and I must say if that's the a powerhouse, then threadripper is a monster! A Kaiju, if you will? https://www.corsair.com https://www.amd.com https://www.v1tech.com/ref/Arkratos/?campaign=KingGhidorah Table of Contents Update 0: Intro/Initial packaging MORE FINAL PHOTOS Parts: CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950x Motherboard: Gigabyte x399 Aorus Gaming 7 RAM: 64GB of Corsair LPX 2933 GPUs: 3x RX 480 reference with EK copper single slot block. SSDs: 3x Corsair MP500 240GB Powersupply: Corsair RM1000x Case: Corsair air 740 Monitors: 3x Acer KG221Q bmix 21.5" Plan: [X] Post check of components [X] Monitor Mounting Design [X] Watercooling Design [X] Pass thru plate [X] Rigid tubing [X] Fill Watercooling [X] Interior Photo Shoot [X] Exterior Design [X] Front Monitor Mounting [X] Side Monitor Mounting [X] VM Software [X] Final Photo Shoot [ ] Dreamhack Austin [ ] PDX Lan 32A UPDATE 0 And look at that packaging, I've never been so in awe upboxing something...