AIO XBOX ONE & PC & Streaming setup w/built in battery backup

[Justin_]

Ok so I was googling around and found out that only the RyZen R7 CPUs will be released on March 2nd, RyZen R5 (what I was looking at) is not going to be released until Q2, and RyZen R3 will not be released until 2H. This was all announced back at the launch, but was buried below the "AMD RYZEN WAS ANNCED LULZ HELL YEAH!!!!11!!!!!!!111111" posts.

 

So I am trying to think right now.

 

The LAN party won't be until October or November

R5 1400 (The CPU that I am/was looking at) won't be released until April-June sometime

I will be on vacation (visiting a friend out of state) for about 10 days at the end of March/beginning of April plus I will be busy a few days either end of that with packing/unpacking resting etc

My birthday is in June (will get some money)

The cheapest R7 will be $340, I was only going to spend $185-$200 on a R5 processor

 

 

So I am trying to decide weather I should go and preorder the R7 1700 because I would expect that there won't be enough to go around and they will only be available from people reselling them at double the cost for the next few months, or if I should just wait until the point in Q2 when the R5 series is released.

 

At this point I think I will just wait for the 1400. That way I will only pay for what I need, we will have independent (Linus) testing, and if the LAN party is not until Oct/Nov I will have plenty of time.

 

So that is what is going on. Feel free to let me know what you think, but that is the plan and delay.

[Justin_]

WOW This is upto 4 pages now!

Anyway

So I am going to wait to order the CPU so I can get the R5 1400 CPU (Assuming good reviews) but I can still order the motherboard right now and that is what I did.

 

I went onto Amazon and ordered MSI's X370 GAMING PRO CARBON because it has RGB (:P), it has reinforced ports (I will likely not have proper mounting support for all cards), and it has a cover around the rear I/O ports.

 

That last thing will be important because either

A)I likely will not be able to use/mount the rear I/O cover

or

B)I might be able to glue the I/O plate to the I/O port cover

 

 

Anyway I will now be able to start working on the motherboard placement and mounting onto the wood. Hopefully I will be able to get a board right away and not need to wait for the 2nd or 3rd production run.

 

I am now stuck using Ryzen, for better or worse (hopefully better :P)

 

Pre order conformation

[Justin_]

Wait, I just noticed that in the product name it says "VR Ready" Is there any motherboard that can hold a VR capable CPU/GPU and enough RAM that is not VR ready???

[Justin_]

Ok I think I will get the motherboard on its first run.

 

I woke up this morning and saw an email saying "Amazon was unable to charge your payment method" and that was just because it tried to charge the wrong bank card, and the other card didn't have the $180 in it.

 

BUT

 

That also means that it was about to ship the motherboard as they dont charge on pre orders until they ship out, and if it shipped out today, with 2 day shipping it would be here 3-2, launch day.

 

So I corrected the payment method and it should ship out. But it might be too late to ship out today, thus it might arrive on 3-3, one day late, oh well.

 

Maybe I can cancel the order and rebuy it and still get it shipped out today. Imma go check right now.

[Justin_]

Ok, so my X370 motherboard has not yet arrived yet, Amazon hasn't even shipped it yet... So much for them shipping pre orders in a way for them to arrive on launch day.

 

Anyway, I wanted to be able to post something, so I figured that I will post the videos that I took at the LAN party but never uploaded to the internet.

 

So this LAN party was ran by the Gaming Club at my local university, but I am not currently a student so I was a bit hesitant on going as for some reason I thought that it wouldn't be a normal LAN party, but one where there was only 2 or 3 computers that people were using, don't ask me why.

 

Anyway it was a 24 hour event from 10 AM saturday to 10AM sunday and I wasn't planning on going. I actually was sleeping on Saturday until about 6PM, and when I woke up I remembered that the LAN party was going on so I asked (on Facebook) if they would mind me coming over and joining them and they told me that yeah I could come over. So I packed my laptop K70 keyboard, gaming mouse, G933 headphones, and some other stuff into my backpack and took off to the university, when I got there I was surprised to find that it was just a normal LAN party (more or less). At this point it was about 10PM and there was one guy that was already packing up and takeing off, so I setup my (admittedly non gaming) laptop where he was and noticed that there was a Minecraft server running with 4 or 5 people playing (locally) and I decided that I would pick up a PC copy of Minecraft as I have played it on XBOX 360, and owned a XBOX One copy along with a Windows 10 copy, but I have never had a normal Windows copy.

 

So I was playing Minecraft and Fallout 3, and a few other games along with messing around while I was there, but at some point not too late (maybe midnight) I took a video of the 2 main rooms that people were in. There were also a few people playing card games (like Magic and other RPG card games), and these are those videos.

 

I have a photo along with a video of each room in the spoiler.

Spoiler

 

 

[vorticalbox]

On ‎15‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 7:06 PM, pwn_intended said:

Given how frequently the firmware is getting updates now, that may be an issue. I have been on the Xbox insider program and it feels like there is an update to the dashboard 3-4 times a week. Probably a lot less frequent for regular users but still at least 1-2 times a month.

I keep my Xbox on standby mode I haven't seen and update for ages just does it while I sleep lol. 

[Justin_]

Ok guys so update. I am getting kicked out of my apartment for a very illegitimate reason (leaving that at that) so I am going to be busy moving soon. I also still have my trip to Washington (and might spend a day or two in Canada(go buy linus? )) so I am not going to be able to do too many updates for the next month or so (keep getting delayed )

 

Anyway my order for the AM4 motherboard has yet to ship and I found a really good deal on a 7700K on Craigslist in Seattle that I might just pick that up.

 

So should I go bug Linus?

[Kevo05s]

6 hours ago, Justin_ said:

So should I go bug Linus?

depends on where in Canada you will be going... it's quite big... I'll remind you that Canada is actually bigger than the states (in surface area, not in population)

 

6 hours ago, Justin_ said:

Anyway my order for the AM4 motherboard has yet to ship and I found a really good deal on a 7700K on Craigslist in Seattle that I might just pick that up.

Probably... as much as Ryzen seems amazing, there's still a lot of early adopter's bugs, plus in gaming the 7700K is a bit better

 

 

On 3/3/2017 at 1:23 AM, Justin_ said:

 

 

Gotta love those people who plays on TVs...  I personally think it's kinda disrespectful to bring a large/multiple monitor setup... like, yes they're awesome at home, but other than annoying other people, being unpractical  and taking a lot of space, they don't give the player any advantages... 


I have a quad monitor setup at home + a large TV... I only bring one  monitor (24 inch) that I have to unmount from the monitor mount and dig through my stuff to get the original mount... the only reason I'd bring more monitor is for people who don't have good ones and would like to play on a good one... So no I'm not saying that out of jealousy

[Justin_]

1 hour ago, Kevo05s said:

depends on where in Canada you will be going... it's quite big... I'll remind you that Canada is actually bigger than the states (in surface area, not in population)

I am going to be within about 5 miles of there shop and could get over there no problam

 

1 hour ago, Kevo05s said:

Probably... as much as Ryzen seems amazing, there's still a lot of early adopter's bugs, plus in gaming the 7700K is a bit better

Agreed. The guy is only asking $285 for one that is new in box and is willing to hold it for me so I think that I am going to go with that.

 

1 hour ago, Kevo05s said:

Gotta love those people who plays on TVs...  I personally think it's kinda disrespectful to bring a large/multiple monitor setup... like, yes they're awesome at home, but other than annoying other people, being unpractical  and taking a lot of space, they don't give the player any advantages... 


I have a quad monitor setup at home + a large TV... I only bring one  monitor (24 inch) that I have to unmount from the monitor mount and dig through my stuff to get the original mount... the only reason I'd bring more monitor is for people who don't have good ones and would like to play on a good one... So no I'm not saying that out of jealousy

The people on TV's were mainly using consoles, PS4 primarily, also we had the entire basement of a building at the local university so space wasn't really an issue, we used 2 rooms and had another 2 available if needed. 

[Justin_]

So I finally learned the whole story. The University's gaming club DOES normally have a spring 24hr LAN party/tournament, but it was cut down to just a tournament this year due to lack of funding/budget/time at the end of the year this year.

[myselfolli]

Aaaaaaaaaand followed. The project looks sick, please keep us updated!

[Justin_]

5 hours ago, myselfolli said:

Aaaaaaaaaand followed. The project looks sick, please keep us updated!

I will do my best. I have a lot happening so there might not be too many updates over the next 3-4 weeks, but I am still working.

 

I will be picking up an Intel i7-7700k from a random guy in another state as soon as I leave an airport. so that has a possibility of being interesting...

[Justin_]

Ok so most of the products that I have been waiting for are out, Corsair has released their RGB RAM so we should have reviews soon, Ryzen is out, and while it is a good option I am going to go with a 7700k, and while Vega is not out I already have a 1070 so no huge worries. like I have mentioned I am moving and traveling right now, but it looks like I am going to be moving into a smaller place so I /should/ have more money around to work on this project (like you haven't heard that before ).

 

Anyway I will be buying a 7700k for $280 off craigslist basically as soon as I step off an airplane in Seattle WA so that could be interesting.

 

 

So I am thinking about what motherboard I want to use and the requirements that I want are

 

ASUS board so I can use Aura sync with my GPU (hopefully RAM) and other RGB lighting

Something with a shield around the IO ports because I don't know if I can use the IO plate

Z270

Something under ~$250

Full ATX

 

I am liking the ASUS MAXIMUS IX Hero as it has everything I want, and I actually have had the ASUS MAXIMUS VIII Hero previously and really liked it.

 

So two questions

1) What happened to the ASUS MAXIMUS IIX line of products

and

2) What do you think about me going with the IX Hero? Are there any other boards that you think I should consider?

[Justin_]

Alright guys, it has been, more than a few months now, so let me explain to you what has happened in that time.

Some time in March (arround the week of the 17th) I got a letter from my rental company saying they want me out in a month with no warning. I hadn't broken any of these policies, nor had I broken any laws, and the letter just said they wanted me out without saying why. So at that point I had 4 weeks to move out and find a new place. Normally it would not be too big of an issue, but I was VERY busy that month. So I started packing and looking for a new place.

March 29-April 8th I had a trip to a little city on the Washington coast to visit a friend that I had already bought airline tickets for so I could not reschedule.

Just before that trip I realised that I would not be able to get out in time, so I got ahold of the apartment company and got myself another week.

April 9th-12th I was continuing to pack and clean my place.

April 13th-16th I was back in Seattle to attend "Sakura Con" a regional Anime convention with around 25-30K attendants with the local University's Anime club.

Once I got back from Sakura Con I only had a few more days to finish packing and cleaning as I had to be out by the 21st. I managed to do that, but I didn't have a place to stay yet, so for the next 2 weeks I stayed at a KOA in a decent early 2000's RV, then I was able to find and finish the paperwork for a new place and move in on May 5th

You may thing that would be the end of it. But nope! The room I was going to be moving into (as it is a 3 floor 6 roomate house) was not yet available, so I moved into an empty room, but as they still needed to show it all I could move in was a mattress and a bag of clothes. Then on top of that there was a local con that I was working/attending that was going to take up all my time from May 26th-29th. So June 1st came around and I was finally able to start moving stuff into my place and I got the first load out of storage around the 3rd, but remember I don't have a truck, so I can only move stuff when I can get others to drive it around. The stuff was mainly my computer, some more clothes, and my tv setup. Through June I got another few loads in. The June 23rd to July 4th most days I was working at a fireworks stand taking up most of my time as I was working 8-12 hours a day, one day I even had 14 hours in, and while it was fun and I was getting paid, I was quite busy. From July 5th to now I have finally been able to move in most of my stuff and settle in. I still have some stuff in storage that I need to move/unpack, but the bulk of it is done.

 

And that is why there have been no updates, everything has been in storage.

 

Onto the progress

 

Well it's not too much progress, but more of an update.

 

Since I last posted I managed to buy some parts, but not exactly normal parts. I needed a good powerful reliable computer to do work and gaming on, and while my current system worked, it was loud and the CPU was very underpowered. So I bought a dual socket 1366 motherboard, 2 Xeon X5570 4C8T @2.93GHz 3.33GHz, 16GB (4X4GB) RAM with another 4X4GB on the way, 2X Hyper T4 coolers, and threw it all in an XATX 4U server case with some minor issues.

 

My plan was always to buy new current gen hardware, but I am starting to think that it may be best for me to just stick with that I have. I always thought that an XATX motherboard would be too big for my system, and as planned it would be, but with some tweaks it can work, so I may just use what I have. That LAN party is still coming up in November, only 4 months out!

 

So the project has been slowed for a bit, but it is not dead., I still have all of the parts and want to move forward. I will add the new stuff to the parts/price list if I do use them.

 

Hopefully I will have more frequent updates now, but not for a week or so as I am heading to LTX and that will be keeping me busy. I am going to be bringing a good camera so if you want some BTS stuff check out the same channel that these vids are posted to.

 

And here is the update in video form, I do show some stuff in a way that is easier to understand so it may help to watch.

 

[Justin_]

WOO update time! So getting back into it! I got the box put back together so that I can measure the length of cables I need because when I was at LTX I got a $100 Gift Certificate to CableMod and I need $110 of cables so I can do that THANKS LINUS!I am ready to order, but I don't know what color(s) to go with. I am thinking that I might just go with black cables as they should not stand out too much and the final case will be black, but I don't know  Thoughts?

 

1GB of DDR1 RAM to cover the actual code

 

[Justin_]

You know what? I was thinking. The original reason that I was going to go with CableMod cables (besides the good looks) is that I thought I was going to need really long cables to get to the lower shelf and reach the PSU, but now that I have actually measured the lengths I can tell that the stock cables should be long enough to reach.

 

 

Should I go with Cablemod cables OR should I use the gift card to get RGB light strips to put inside? I really don't know.

[Justin_]

Alright guys, so I made quite a bit of progress! First I was having my Windows VM in UnRAID crash and it took me several hours to find out that the new 16GB of RAM I ordered off ebay as a matching 4 stick kit wasn't, also 1 stick didn't work, one stick was corrupt (crashing my VM and making it unrecoverable) and the other 2 sticks had diffrent timings. Based off the serial numbers they were from 3 diffrent RAM kits. I hate sellers that don't know what they are talking about. And the listing said "Pulled from a working system" but when I asked for a refund because it was bad he didn't even ask me to explain how I decided it was bad, so I call bullshit on that.

Anyway after I fixed that I got to work trying to figure out how to mount my 6 HDDs and this is also my NAS system and what I ended up doing was hammering a bunch of nails through the board under the HDDs and cutting them down so that they would act as pins slipping into the screw holes, and that worked quite well!

Next up I added in my XBOX again and re-spaced the shelves so that 1) there could be more space between the PSU+HDDs and the motherboard and 2) the top panel will fit without touching the CPU heatsinks.

(still uploading ETA 10 minutes)

I dont have the back panel on, but other than that it is mostly in its final design, I am going to order some new cables, and I still need to run networking cables and a few other things, along with deciding on how to brace the PCI-E cards, but it is coming along.

 

I still need to mount the handles and wheels along with painting it and adding clips for the front panel but I will get to that eventually.

[WigglesTheHoly]

Are you planning on an IO panel bracket and brace for the mobo, capture card and GPU? Also I was thinking a unit like this https://www.amazon.com/AC-Infinity-AIRPLATE-Thermostat-Cabinets/dp/B00QFXC4MS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1502428122&sr=8-2&keywords=cabinet+cooling+fans+with+thermostat+quiet might be handy in your setup. 

 

Great idea with the build!

 

 

[Justin_]

9 hours ago, WigglesTheHoly said:

Are you planning on an IO panel bracket and brace for the mobo, capture card and GPU? Also I was thinking a unit like this https://www.amazon.com/AC-Infinity-AIRPLATE-Thermostat-Cabinets/dp/B00QFXC4MS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1502428122&sr=8-2&keywords=cabinet+cooling+fans+with+thermostat+quiet might be handy in your setup. 

 

Great idea with the build!

 

 

I am still trying to figure out how to brace the PCIE cards, but I will have some sort of brace by the time I am done.

Also while  fan like that may be a good thing to use I have limited space, and I have designed it to have air move through all of it with just a few 120mm fans, so I think it will be ok.

[Justin_]

Ok i'm back with another not real update, but still thing to consider post bump. I actually took the system as is to a LAN party a few weeks back and while it did work as expected and the dual CPU's helped as I used XSplit to capture my desktop and make a RTMP stream to the main output computer (we had one computer capturing up to 6 inputs at a time and streaming to twitch. we had 2X SDI inputs, 3X HDMI inputs, and my computer would make an RTMP stream to it. We had plenty of adapters so we took inputs from everything from computers to cameras to a WII to a XBOX ONE to a couple Nintendo Switches). Anyway, it worked BUT it was VERY heavy and as it is currently only held together with finishing nails the back panel tried to fall off. Anyway, I shouldn't need to tell most of you, but picking up a 14"X14"X24" 60+ pound wooden box that tries to fall apart is not easy, especially when it is sitting on the ground.

 

So I need to get those handles installed soon and I need to get it held together with something better than finishing nails

but

I am still thinking about how to do the outside. I still like the aluminium rails ( but I will need to get more as I have been using them(they are useful)) but I was thinking about the middle area. I am thinking about it and I think that the fabric that people use to cover speaker boxes with. I can get a roll for $50 and that makes it mostly affordable (unlike the vinyl wrap that requires a super smooth surface and is expensive) but should look fairly good, unlike just painting the box.

 

Thoughts?

[Justin_]

WOW has it really been 3 months since a video update??? Well between School and my 3 jobs i have been quite busy.... ANYWAY...

Here is an update!

So I don't use my XBOX much, part of that is that I don't currently have a TV that will connect it to properly (all I have that works is my desktop displays, but they will only take the 720P 16:9 input into the near 1080P 16:10 displays so --==stretch==--) and it has actually been sitting at my work for people to use ever since around that last LAN party.

 

SOOOOO

 

I have removed the shelf for the XBOX and lowered the shelf for the PSU and HDDs and now I have the motherboard mounted to the left side, and i have a new Gigabyte X79 board on the right side with an i7-3820 CPU and 32GB of RAM. What I am going to do is transfer my gaming usages to the X79 motherboard, have the server dual xeon board run my NAS and also have a VM handling video cap and streaming.

 

To do this...

 

I need to add more weight. I need a new PSU for the new motherboard and I am low on space, so I ordered a Corsair SF450, it's just like the RM650X except it is smaller and has a bit less wattage. And I ordered another Cooler Master Hyper T4 cooler for the CPU as currently (but just to test) I have one of the old coolers from the server motherboard zip tied to the CPU as the holes matched up, but the threads were kinda wrong. The last thing I ordered was a 3TB HDD, I am going to use it to replace my 2TB parity disk in my NAS's RAID and then use that 2TB drive as a HDD for the new system.

 

Also, the LAN is back!

 

So it is hard to believe, but it has been a year already. It is once again time for the college winter LAN party. The date was only just announced as they were looking for a place to house them as the gaming den is getting big for their basement, BUT it is going to happen on the 18-19 this month. So I am going to try and get the new hardware installed to get both boards running by then!

 

 

Anyway, for those of you that like it, here is the video that says all of this.