New house, two new builds

[Bombertodd]

Hi everyone!

 

I am building an addition on my house and I'm looking for input. I used to be an avid computer builder, modder, and overclocker more than 10 years ago. Life got busy and I haven't built anything since .

 

I'm looking to build two computers for my wife and I to use. I have an equipment room with two 44u racks (plenty of space). I need a rack mount case for her build. I also want to output the computer signal to my media room, office, and Zwift room. I am planning on mirroring the screen to all displays unless someone has a better idea. 

 

Uses:

CAD (Solidwork/Inventor)  - me only

Ripping movies to server   - me only

Gaming (mostly Zwift http://zwift.com/what-is-zwift)

General internet and office activities 

 

My screens will be:

Epson 5040ub projector (Media Room)

2x - 45-55 inch UHD curve (Zwift room)

2x - 40 inch UHD (Office)

 

I live in California (USD$) and I'd like to spend under $2,000 for both computers combined. I am willing to go a little higher if the gains are worth it. 

 

Attached is a picture of my floor plan. If you have any questions let me know. Thanks for the help!

 

 

[Romeo Bodmon]

Bro this sounds really lit. Keep the photos coming. 

 

I'm assuming you got inspiration from Linus's "Personal Rig Update" video series but if you haven't seen it then defiantly give it a look because it'll solve most of the problems you'll have connecting the computers to their respective screens. 

[Energycore]

Welcome to the forum!

 

That looks like a pretty ambitious project. I don't know much about rack mount cases but given your budget and workload, you should do i7-6700K or similar 8 threaded monster for the CAD computer (OC it if able), and i5-6500 for the other one. Xeon equivalents are an option too, whenever they're better priced.

 

If you wait a month, we're expecting a new generation of AMD CPUs - the first in 5 years. They could prove to be great performers.

 

I trust you've watched Linus' Personal Rig Update where he does exactly that, if not here you go

 

[Shog]

I googled Zwift, really neat. Looking forward to seeing how much more powerful your computer is to hers

*Edited to add, Idk about your Solidworks load but I use a workstation, it's got the expand ability for the task at hand without the odd increase in price from the "enthusiast" pc market. Xeon E5 2650, 128gb ram, 256gb m.2.

[Bombertodd]

14 minutes ago, Romeo Bodmon said:

Bro this sounds really lit. Keep the photos coming. 

 

I'm assuming you got inspiration from Linus's "Personal Rig Update" video series but if you haven't seen it then defiantly give it a look because it'll solve most of the problems you'll have connecting the computers to their respective screens. 

Thanks, I saw that video a few months ago, but I didn't recall that he used a rack mount case. 

 

@Energycore Thanks for the direct link. I do have time to wait. I'll probably start building in about 2-3 months. I'm finishing electrical this week. I need to get back to work or I'll never finish. :-)

 

@Shog She usually ends up with the nicer stuff. Her bike is nicer than mine. Happy wife, happy life. Zwift is cool. I struggle with weight gain like many people. I have trouble riding in the winter because of weather and daylight. Zwift will allow me to ride and race any time or day. 

[Bombertodd]

I love the thunderbolt setup Linus used in his build for my Zwift room. However it's about $1,000 for two hubs and two cables. Ouch!

 

Currently I am going to run active usb extension and HDMI. I need USB for an Ant+ dongle to communicate to my bike trainer. I do not need a mouse or keyboard with Zwift. Just a tablet for their in ride app. Maybe I'll run some conduit for the future if display port ever does come down in price and I want more peripherals in the room. 

 

If anyone has any other ideas to provide peripherals at 32 feet let me know!

[Chewique]

Ahh! A fellow cyclist!

[Bombertodd]

2 hours ago, Chewique said:

Ahh! A fellow cyclist!

Yes! Do you use zwift?

[Romeo Bodmon]

On 1/4/2017 at 3:14 PM, Bombertodd said:

I love the thunderbolt setup Linus used in his build for my Zwift room. However it's about $1,000 for two hubs and two cables. Ouch!

 

Currently I am going to run active usb extension and HDMI. I need USB for an Ant+ dongle to communicate to my bike trainer. I do not need a mouse or keyboard with Zwift. Just a tablet for their in ride app. Maybe I'll run some conduit for the future if display port ever does come down in price and I want more peripherals in the room. 

 

If anyone has any other ideas to provide peripherals at 32 feet let me know!

In this video Linus uses a wireless HDMI device to send the video signal to the projector in the ceiling. Im not sure how well the signal will be passing from room to room but if a bit of latency isnt the biggest issue (Which i dont see it being for Zwift). 

https://www.amazon.ca/OFKP-High-Speed-Wireless-Projector-Operation/dp/B012NDWC2U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483745068&sr=8-1&keywords=Wireless+hdmi

This has pretty good reviews and is only $30 CAN. Apparently the setup is long and unnecessary but once you get it going it is apparently has good performance.

 

So I googled what an Ant+ dongle is and if there is any wireless options. I found a support page that mentions a wireless transmitter but people say it sucks. Then I thought about bluetooth and Zwift says that it's in the works. So i guess for now your solution is a long ass usb male to female cord and then you'll just have to wait for bluetooth connectivity. But even if youll still have to hope that the signal works from another room. If the Ant+ just needs USB 2.0 then youre in luck and there's some cheap options. https://www.amazon.ca/REDGO-Premium-Repeater-Extension-Extender/dp/B01E5GPV6W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1483746357&sr=8-2&keywords=usb+3.0+extension+cable+50+feet

 

 

[Romeo Bodmon]

1 minute ago, Romeo Bodmon said:

In this video Linus uses a wireless HDMI device to send the video signal to the projector in the ceiling. Im not sure how well the signal will be passing from room to room but if a bit of latency isnt the biggest issue (Which i dont see it being for Zwift). 

https://www.amazon.ca/OFKP-High-Speed-Wireless-Projector-Operation/dp/B012NDWC2U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483745068&sr=8-1&keywords=Wireless+hdmi

This has pretty good reviews and is only $30 CAN. Apparently the setup is long and unnecessary but once you get it going it is apparently has good performance.

 

So I googled what an Ant+ dongle is and if there is any wireless options. I found a support page that mentions a wireless transmitter but people say it sucks. Then I thought about bluetooth and Zwift says that it's in the works. So i guess for now your solution is a long ass usb male to female cord and then you'll just have to wait for bluetooth connectivity. But even if youll still have to hope that the signal works from another room. If the Ant+ just needs USB 2.0 then youre in luck and there's some cheap options. https://www.amazon.ca/REDGO-Premium-Repeater-Extension-Extender/dp/B01E5GPV6W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1483746357&sr=8-2&keywords=usb+3.0+extension+cable+50+feet

 

 

If anything the wireless HDMI is a great solution to your Media streaming room. 

[Bombertodd]

@Romeo Bodmon thanks for the info. A while back when planning I looked at wireless options but could not find any that supported UHD. I noticed that product only supports up to 1080p. 

 

As for the Ant+ dongle, I picked up a Monoprice active USB cable. I'll run it through the wall to a keystone faceplate where I will plug the dongle into. For some reason if this does not work, I added some conduit to try something later.

 

In the media room have 1.5 inch conduit from the equipment room to the projector. My wife said I have a conduit addiction. Oh well...

 

 

[Romeo Bodmon]

1 hour ago, Bombertodd said:

@Romeo Bodmon thanks for the info. A while back when planning I looked at wireless options but could not find any that supported UHD. I noticed that product only supports up to 1080p. 

 

As for the Ant+ dongle, I picked up a Monoprice active USB cable. I'll run it through the wall to a keystone faceplate where I will plug the dongle into. For some reason if this does not work, I added some conduit to try something later.

 

In the media room have 1.5 inch conduit from the equipment room to the projector. My wife said I have a conduit addiction. Oh well...

 

 

Dang, missed the UHD thing. So I did some digging on Amazon for you and I found a line of 4k/UHD HDMI receivers/transmitters. Out of the 5 of them the cheapest one looks like it'll work fine. I included a photo of the spec chart so you can see the differences. I mean it'll cost $200 per kit but for that UHD at 60fps, god damn. I found some cheaper options but most only do 4k at 30fps, so theres that if you wanna make that trade off. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Atlona-AT-UHD-EX-70-2PS-HDMI-Over-HDBaseT/dp/B014RVPEX0?th=1

 

For the dongle, I googled it and from a quick scan it seems like its just a USB 2.0 device so you shouldn't have any issues and i mean if you're going to route a usb cable all that way it might not be a bad idea to tape an HDMI cable to it and push em both through. End the day with an extra $200 in your pocket. 

[Bombertodd]

Some pics of how it looks today.

 

Above, two gray 1.25 inch conduit for speaker cables to front of media room. Blue conduit 0.75 and 0.5 for surround speaker cables, security cameras (POE), and WAP's on other side of house. 

Zwift room. Tons of Commscope Cat6a wire. The black thing is a line set for a dedicated Fujitsu air conditioner. 

Conduit on the left goes to office computers. Trying to keep it clean and wire free for my wife. My two Middle Atlantic racks are on the right. Gray conduit on the right provides speaker cable to seats for Buttkickers and usb/ethernet to bar in the back of room. 

Edited January 13, 2017 by Bombertodd