The ultimate teacher PC??

theschoolbored · March 3, 2019

Good afternoon! (or whenever you're reading this...are time of day salutations still useful?)

Ok, so I teach grade 7 and 8 and am also a bit of a tech nerd. I have an Oculus DK2, a Vive, and have a Pimax 5k plus on the way (initially backed the 8k, but all my research points me to the 5k just looking better). I can see a time in the very near future where virtual reality, or just far better computers, will play a massive role in education, and I want to be a part of that wave.

For a very long time I've wanted to build a crazy PC along the lines of a 10 gamers / 1 cpu...but for my classroom. Running a ton of virtual machines all connected through my rig would be far more useful and 'maneuverable' than chromebooks and the limited computers school boards are able to purchase. I've been following the LTT videos, be it for editing or gaming rigs, and have come to the conclusion that that's still quite a ways off (both in feasibility of setup, and cost...although I'm not opposed to spending a significant amount on a setup if it'll work reliably). My goal would be to have a bunch of useful workstations without having to buy so many full setups.

With my pimax on the way, I'm looking to build an over the top PC that can do everything...VR gaming, capture, streaming, editing, all that fun stuff...oh, and portable so that I can take it with me and do some demos. So nothing in a massive case, and hopefully a case with handles! I intend to make VR videos to teach the subject matter for the classes I'm teaching, so capture needs to be smooth, and ideally I don't need a second PC if I want to stream. Budget isn't unlimited, but I'll consider anything if it's got good reasoning behind it.

I'm just starting my research, and the only thing that seems clear so far is that I should probably go with a 2080ti, based on the VR demands alone.

I'm not lazy and looking for people to research for me, just checking to see if anyone has done anything similar, or might have some suggestions. I'll be building it in the next few weeks (unless there's a good reason to put it off for a few months), so please get in touch if you have any suggestions or ideas!

Have a great day!

SenKa · March 3, 2019

No compromises balls to the walls (but portable) would be:

Track down a Corsair 380T. May not be easy, but it is the ultimate portable PC case.

ITX X299 board https://www.amazon.com/ASRock-X299E-ITX-AC-X299-DDR4/dp/B075KJJ93M

i9-7980XE: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G6K58869&Description=x299 cpu&cm_re=x299_cpu-_-19-117-836-_-Product

GPU: RTX 2080Ti (or Titan RTX, but thats mega pricey...)

Corsair RM 1000X: https://www.amazon.com/d/Computer-Power-Supplies/CORSAIR-RM1000x-Certified-Modular-Supply/B015YEI7LK

Storage is up to you, cooler is... whatever air cooler will fit, I don't know X299 well enough to make a recommendation. If this is too much, the only place to save money is step down on the processor. But any X299 i9 will be plenty.