BluEx (Houdini Workstation)

[WoodenMarker]

I built this for a friend who needed a desktop mainly for Houdini and 3D FX work. 

Named after the star of the show: blue extensions.

 

 

Originally went with this motherboard since it was on sale on Amazon during Black Friday. I only did a quick check on PCPPartpicker to see if it fit in the case and it seemed like it fit just fine in the Define / Meshify C frame. https://pcpartpicker.com/b/vgpG3C

It wasn't until later that I noticed it didn't fit without some taller standoffs. I ended up double and triple stacking motherboard standoffs to angle the motherboard in a way that wouldn't interfere with the angled cable management cutouts. The middle column of standoffs also required some re-purposed Asiahorse rubber corner bits to properly support the motherboard. 

I was worried that the graphics card might not plug all the way in with the motherboard at such an angle but it worked just fine and seems even more secure than usual due to the smaller angle between the motherboard and rear pci support panel. 

 

Due to the cable management cutouts being blocked off, most of the cables had to be routed through the top right. This resulted in fairly clean cable routing until I realized I needed extension cables to power the graphics card. 

The 24pin cable was barely long enough which prevented the hdd cage from being moved backwards for the 3x NF-P12's I had in mind for the front intake. I ended up going with NF-P14's since NF-A15's didn't fit with the internal usb 3.0 cable in the way.  

 

CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S + NF-A15 in pull

Motherboard: Asus Prime X399-A

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 8x16GB 2666mhz CL16

SSD: Adata XPG SX8200 960GB

HDD: WD Black 2TB

Graphics Card: Msi Gaming X GTX 1070

Case: Fractal Design Meshify C Black 

Case Fans: 2x Noctua NF-P14 FLX, 1x Noctua NF-P12

Power Supply: Corsair RM850 w/blue sleeved pcie extension cables

Wireless card: TP-Link Archer T9E AC1900

 

[Firewrath9]

nice build, but the noctua fans ruin it imo. Had a friend who bought a D15S, then spent 75$ (same price on the cooler) for a pair of chromax fans and the chromax cover thing. Now it looks cool, but costs 150$ which is 50% more than my 280mm CLC.

 

love the ram, looks really nice.

[Jurrunio]

camber: yes

[WoodenMarker]

18 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

nice build, but the noctua fans ruin it imo. Had a friend who bought a D15S, then spent 75$ (same price on the cooler) for a pair of chromax fans and the chromax cover thing. Now it looks cool, but costs 150$ which is 50% more than my 280mm CLC.

love the ram, looks really nice.

Thanks! I find LPX pretty plain personally but I guess it fits the bill.

Considering the solid side panel, I don't think the noctuas or blue extension cable are that bad. ^{(It still bothers me)}

[Cameron Goodwin]

Nice dude! Like the system, and that's one helluva workstation PC!

[_Hustler_One_]

21 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

I ended up double and triple stacking motherboard standoffs to angle the motherboard in a way that wouldn't interfere with the angled cable management cutouts.

 I feel sad about this.. It doesn't feels right to me..

[WoodenMarker]

55 minutes ago, _Hustler_One_ said:

 I feel sad about this.. It doesn't feels right to me..

I get what you mean. Even in person, it seems a bit bent but it's an illusion due to looking through the top mesh.

It's actually straight when checking in Photoshop.

[Defyant]

These cases are very short length ways. They are the exact same as the fractal mini itx's just taller.

 

This remind me  of what we used to call this shoehorning , when we'd shove a v8 into something the size of  a corolla

 

Looks cool !