Two gamers one... Xbox?

[Acoreus]

Quick side note: I've been working on this idea since I saw the "Two gamers one CPU", and I'm a bit jealous that LTT has been dropping hints on their own Xbox build, because I'm damn sure it'll look better then mine. Regardless! I'm still pushing on with this project.

 

So, sticking with the sticky above:

1. Budget & Location

I’m currently in the USA (Ohio to be more exact) and the budget is pretty much unlimited.

 

2. Aim

The aim of this rig is to run two gamers on a single original Xbox cased PC. There are a lot of competing issues that running in this sized case are putting in front of me. Hence this thread!

 

What I’d loved to do is have the Xbox have the ability to run two gaming rigs and possibly a streaming rig? I know the two gamers one CPU has their NAS running from their third, so I was just toying with the idea that maybe the third head could be a streaming machine. That’s not actually important though.

 

3. Monitors

Three monitors pushing 1920x1080. Not looking for 4k here, and they’re all smaller due to being able to be brought with us on airplanes. Not saying that this is going to be ready by LTX, but that was the original goal.

 

4. Peripherals

The keyboards and mice will be different to avoid the VM assigning conflicts. Do the monitors all have to be different?

 

5. Why are you upgrading?

To see if it can be done!

 

So, with that out of the way, lets dig in.

 

I wanted to stick with an AMD build, but that seems to be so far from a realistic proposition that I can’t even start with that. I need two PCI-E connections at 8x+, and AMD has ZERO AM4 motherboards that fit in the standard Xbox case with that. So it looks like this will be Intel for a mATX motherboard, Nvidia for two small PCB 2060’s,

 

If anyone knows a way around this (Splitting a single PCI-E 16x into two 8x’s) that would be awesome. I’ve dug into bifurcation a bit, but the limited research I did yielded bad gaming results. I’d be happy to be wrong on that though.

 

So without further ado: The parts list!

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/BK83QZ

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($369.99 @ B&H)
Went with the i7-8700k because it can dedicate 2 cores per computer and run them fairly well. Would prefer an AMD 2700X here, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me. Possibly an i5 could be used here? Thinking of heat concerns and hoping an i5 would still push good frame rates without adding a larger thermal load. 

CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-L9i 33.84 CFM CPU Cooler  ($39.95 @ Amazon)
Best SFF cooler I’ve seen. Thought of doing liquid cooling but the CPU isn’t really going to be breaking a sweat here, so I’m not too worried about it.

Motherboard: Asus - TUF Z390M-PRO GAMING (WI-FI) Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($178.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Two PCI-E 16x’s, wifi, onboard video for third computer head. Really just a great idea overall.

Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($239.99 @ Newegg)
I’m not sure what’s better here, running the 2x16 or 4x8. Also, what’s the best way to divide this up? 12/12/8?

Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (Quantity: 2) ($495.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($278.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Both gaming PC’s get a 1tb M2 to run with, and then they share the 2TB with the third head. I don't hate the idea of doing two 500GB 970's and then diving up the 2TB with an extra 500GB for the two gaming VM's. Leaves 1TB for the third head, streaming, whatever. Cuts down on costs. 

Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB MINI ITX OC Video Card (Quantity: 2) ($699.98 @ Amazon)
Honestly the best heat/size/performance I could find. This might actually be one of the things that puts this project on the back burner because the Navi might do even more with less power and size. Think that’s worth the wait?

Power Supply: Corsair - SF 600 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply  ($98.86 @ OutletPC)
Lastly this is one of the smaller PSU’s I’ve seen with plenty of power. Again, suggestions here are always welcome!

Total: $2402.63
(I do realize I’m missing PCI extensions since the two video cards will be mounted against the chassis and not just sitting in their slots as a normal build would be. Suggestions on which to use would be cool.)

So that’s where I’m sitting now. There are some pretty big ticket concepts that if they changed would change the whole build. If I can run two video cards off a single PCI-E x16 slot, then the CPU turns into a 2700x and the motherboard becomes some X470 variant. This frees up some pretty good space on the inside.

 

Liquid cooling: Heat is going to be an issue. I’m going back and forth with liquid cooling because I want the rig to be able to be tossed in a bag and brought on a flight. Adding liquid cooling means either A: Possible leaks as TSA is throwing my bags around like they owe money. B: The loop is drained and refilled every time I travel. So air cooling negates this issue overall. But…. The heat! Suggestions?

 

Motherboard tray: I can’t find standalone motherboard trays. Seriously. These things should be a couple of bucks at the most and I just can’t find them anywhere. I was thinking of just going on craigslist and buying something that would work and using a Dremel to get it down to the right size.

 

The virtual machines themselves: I’ve been playing around with VM’s a bit, but really am inexperienced with them. So I actually see this as a bigger hurdle then the build itself. I’ve never used unRaid and that seems to be key to this.

 

Anyway, if you made it this far, thanks! I hope you guys like the idea and I look forward to hearing any criticism tossed my way

[GoldenLag]

5 minutes ago, Acoreus said:

I wanted to stick with an AMD build, but that seems to be so far from a realistic proposition that I can’t even start with that. I need two PCI-E connections at 8x+, and AMD has ZERO AM4 motherboards that fit in the standard Xbox case with that. So it looks like this will be Intel for a mATX motherboard, Nvidia for two small PCB 2060’s,

ITX boards only have a single PCIe 16 slot. 

 

its not AM4 motherboards. its the actual motherboard standards.

 

 

get a PCIe splitter to get around this and run the cards in 8x. 

 

also wait for Zen 2 for 12 or 16 cores split between two people. 6 cores is way too little.

[Acoreus]

1 minute ago, GoldenLag said:

ITX boards only have a single PCIe 16 slot. 

 

its not AM4 motherboards. its the actual motherboard standards.

 

 

get a PCIe splitter to get around this and run the cards in 8x. 

 

also wait for Zen 2 for 12 or 16 cores split between two people. 6 cores is way too little.

While making the original post, they posted their Xbox build! Not fair! (unlike them, I did destroy a working Xbox for my project)

I understand it's the limitation of ITX, but AM4's don't come in microATX which was the main complaint.

The PCIe splitter, do you have any benchmarks on that? I only found some random forums posts complaining about it. 

And waiting for Zen 2 is absolutely in the works if I wait for Navi.

 

Thanks for the observations!

[GoldenLag]

Here is a 16x to 2 8x splitter. 

 

https://www.wiredzone.com/supermicro-components-motherboards-accessories-rsc-r2ut-2e8r-10019543

 

Get some risers to place the cards however you want. You might want to consider getting regular cards and watercooling them to be 1 slot cards

[GoldenLag]

1 minute ago, Acoreus said:

but AM4's don't come in microATX which was the main complaint.

Yes they do....

 

mATX is super common.......

 

Usually in the B series tier. 

[Acoreus]

3 minutes ago, GoldenLag said:

Yes they do....

 

mATX is super common.......

 

Usually in the B series tier. 

You are 100% right, and I apologize for not being clearer with before. The X470 series isn't available and I was leaning towards that for the Zen 2 forward compatibility. Doing a B450 would work, but doesn't that run the risk of not being forward compatible with Zen 2? I know the slots are the same, but one of the released statements is that some motherboards won't be able to update their BIOS to be able to use Zen 2 architecture. 

 

The watercooling aspect of the cards is an iffy thing due to TSA travel concerns, but a fill/drain port on the back of the case may have to be added to the design. 

[GoldenLag]

15 minutes ago, Acoreus said:

Doing a B450 would work, but doesn't that run the risk of not being forward compatible with Zen 2

AM4 is supported to 2020. so even B350 will work.

15 minutes ago, Acoreus said:

oing a B450 would work, but doesn't that run the risk of not being forward compatible with Zen 2?

this is in relation to updating to PCIe 4.0 on the CPU lanes. unlikely that boards get updated with  a few exceptions

15 minutes ago, Acoreus said:

The watercooling aspect of the cards is an iffy thing due to TSA travel concerns, but a fill/drain port on the back of the case may have to be added to the design. 

there are Blade card up to the gtx 1070. they are long, but you might be able to fit them. 

 

edit: they are named "katana"

[GoldenLag]

you can use ITX boards with the splitter i linked. it should leave more room open for the GPUs, and PSU. 

[Acoreus]

I like the idea of the Galax Katana cards, but they're a bit harder to get ahold of than is really possible. The mITX 2060's still feels like the right way to go, and in the end they may need to be watercooled to fit. But again, if I'm waiting for Zen 2, then we'll see if there are any single slot Navi cards that fill the bill.

 

And have you seen any benchmarks for splitting the PCIe? I may have to do my own if I can't find any.

 

And thanks for the correction on the motherboard updates. I missed that it was for the PCIe slots not the CPU itself.