Dual System Beast

[six60six]

 

A little background first.  I am a professional creative who has been creating content for large advertising campaigns for nearly 25 years.  I design, develop, shoot and edit so my rig needs to be able to accommodate several different types of workflows including handling a photo library of over 1 million RAW files, editing of 8k/30, 4k/120 and 360 video and AR/VR development.  Throughout the years, I've always run MacOS as my primary system, but also use Windows and Linux a nearly equal amount so it made sense to consolidate the Mac & Windows portions into 1 system that can be run simultaneously and using Logitech's Flow software, I am able to basically combine the MacOS and Windows desktops on the 2 monitors just by moving the mouse between the screens.  Bottom monitor is MacOS, top is Windows 10, for usability, its one big system.

 

With Apple having long ago abandoned any sense of reality regarding the professional market, I've been running powerhouse Hackintosh's since the first beta's of OSX86 in 2004, so I was no stranger to the hurdles before setting out to build basically the ultimate creator Hackintosh with a monster PC living in the basement.

 

Specs:

System 1 - ATX:

• Intel i9 10980xe @4.9ghz
• Asus Prime X299 Deluxe II
• 256GB (8x32GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro 3200 CL16
• 2 x AMD Radeon VII 16GB
• Corsair AX1600i
• 8TB (4x2TB) NVME PCIe RAID
• 2 x 2TB NVME (System/Cache Drives)
• 5 x 14TB Seagate IronWolf Pro HDD (Photo Library Storage)
• 2 x 20TB Glyph StudioRaid USB3 External HDD (Overflow/Portable Storage)
• EK Velocity CPU Block
• EK Velocity Radeon VII GPU Blocks
• EK Quantum Kinetic D5 300 Pump/Res
• 2 x 480mm x 60mm EK Coolstream XE radiators
• macOS Big Sur 11.2 Beta - Opencore 0.6.4

System 2 - Mini ITX:

• AMD Ryzen 9 3950x (PBO Settings)
• Gigabyte Aorus X570i Pro Wifi
• 64GB (2x32GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro 3600 CL18
• Nvidia RTX 3090 24GB-Dual 8-pin reference card - 385watts (System was built with a TitanXP, then an RTX Titan and now the 3090)
• Corsair SF750
• 2 x 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVME (System/Data Drives)
• EK Velocity CPU Block
• EK Velocity RTX 3090 GPU Block
• EK Quantum Kinetic D5 300 Pump/Res
• 240mm x 28mm EK Coolstream SE radiator
• 420mm x 45mm EK Coolstream CE radiator
• Windows 10 20h2

Case / Fans / Lighting:

• Corsair 1000D
• 19 x 120mm Corsair LL fans
• 6 x 140mm Corsair LL fans
• 4 x Corsair Commander Pros
• 4 x Corsair RGB Hubs
• 2 x Corsair Node Pros
• 2 x 8 way powered PWM hubs (the front 16 fans for the MacOS system are controlled by the CPU header)
• 8 x 300mm 5v LED strips
• 7" LCD USB/HDMI Touch Screen (Sold for RaspberryPi)
• CableMods fully sleeved cable sets

Build Pics:

 

Odd neighbors -  First batch (Nov. 19) Intel i9 10980xe & AMD Ryzen 9 3950x

 

 

The 1000D is a big case and that's a lot of fans.

 

 

Building the fan/radiators in modular packs to keep the wiring in check as much as possible.  25 fans = 50 wires.  If I ever need to undo something, at least each element will be self contained.

 

AMD Radeon VII's ready for a swim.  The card that nobody bought because it sucked for games.

 

 

Insert witty joke about Chrome tabs here.

 

1 system blocked in and the 1000D still looks huge. (Note the original plan was this Gigabyte X299X board, but it wouldn't boot Opencore so I went to Asus)

 

 

A little more full... Mounting the stand-offs for the 7" LCD panel on the front of the HDD cage.

 

Latest addition: RTX 3090 under water.

 

Where it lives.  Dual Samsung CRG9 49" screens on a custom desk.

 

 

Overall the build took about 3 weeks to complete from start to finish and has been in 24/7 operation since February 2020. Over that time I've swapped the GPU in the ITX system from the original Titan XP, to a RTX Titan and now to the 3090.  At one point in July, a compression fitting down on the ITX systems CPU waterblock developed a slow leak, which is completely not visible from anywhere once the rig is assembled.  After noticing about an inch of water missing from the reservoir in the morning and the system still running, I powered it down, pulled it apart and dried everything out but the motherboard never powered back up.  At that point the board was replaced and both loops were taken apart, cleaned and refilled, which in itself is a full day process.

 

Performance is what I expected, I'm able to edit 8K RAW footage from both RED and Canon easily on the MacOS system within Premiere Pro and After Effects.  On the PC side, the 3090 makes short work out of the AI enhanced video apps that I use to upscale and convert drone footage or 3D photogrammetry processing and at the end of the day has no problem firing up whatever game I want to unwind with.

 

The BIGGEST issue with this build is moving it.  The tower alone weighs 160lbs. 

 

PCPartPicker List

[Quickstrike]

Wow...
So many fans, have you tried to make it hover?

[FavoringWinter]

Nice setup, but can it run crysis?

 

[six60six]

Just now, Quickstrike said:

Wow...
So many fans, have you tried to make it hover?

Sadly, it's 1 fan short of hovering since I couldn't fit the 26th up on the rear radiator 

[six60six]

Just now, Hackerman25 said:

Nice setup, but can it run crysis?

 

Yes, yes it can.  It's been running Cyberpunk all week.

[jaslion]

Simply put this is sweet. I do feel bad for that poor shelf carrying that monster :p. Your fans probably cost more than my computer alone :p.

[Quickstrike]

Just now, six60six said:

Sadly, it's 1 fan short of hovering since I couldn't fit the 26th up on the rear radiator 

You know you have to post some benchmark numbers now...
3dMArks, Cinebench and the work..

[six60six]

Just now, jaslion said:

Simply put this is sweet. I do feel bad for that poor shelf carrying that monster :p. Your fans probably cost more than my computer alone :p.

I custom built that stand that it's on to go with the desk.  No mortal desk will hold it

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, six60six said:

I custom built that stand that it's on to go with the desk.  No mortal desk will hold it

Sweet nice carpentry skills too. Just imagine a poor ikea side table. It would break at the mere sight of that.

[six60six]

37 minutes ago, Quickstrike said:

You know you have to post some benchmark numbers now...
3dMArks, Cinebench and the work..

You're welcome to browse my benchmarks

https://browser.geekbench.com/user/273199

https://www.3dmark.com/spy/15846225

https://www.3dmark.com/pr/582658

https://opendata.blender.org/benchmarks/a862771e-9a5b-4191-857e-9599b7f0c9e4/

 

Cinebench R23 is 27399 for the 10980xe, I'll have to rerun it on the 3950x since there has been tweaks to the PBO on that system.

Edit: 3950x came in at 23205 in R23.

[Chris Fortune]

For all the fantastic specs the outstanding in it's field aspect is the screens. I have one myself and I hate it, I am forever consigned to ultrawide format now, nothing less will feel right.

[Quickstrike]

EK blocks and reservoir, Corsairs fans, what about fittings, Rads and cooling product?
What size and kind of tubes?
Are the loops independents?

 

I'm gonna start doing custom water soon and Aesthetics is what I'm going for.

[six60six]

36 minutes ago, Quickstrike said:

EK blocks and reservoir, Corsairs fans, what about fittings, Rads and cooling product?
What size and kind of tubes?
Are the loops independents?

 

I'm gonna start doing custom water soon and Aesthetics is what I'm going for.

The rads are all listed, they're all EK's SE, CE or PE series.  There's 2x480mm rads on the loop for the 10980xe and 2 x Radeon VII's.  The 2nd loop has the 240mm and 420mm radiator for the 3950x and RTX 3090.

 

Fittings are all Bitspower 16mm OD with 16/12mm PETG tubing.

 

As for cooling product, the only thing I use is type II deionized water with an antimicrobial additive.  I've had too many issues over the years from running "fancy" coolants.