# Well, build log, profession advancement...  The works I guess!! :)  Complete and Total Overkill part 3!!



## phill (Nov 8, 2019)

Well, how do I start this thread going...

So, little bit of background..  When I left school (16), went to college (3 years) finished college and tried to get a job IT..  Never worked, nothing got me close to IT work (did everything under the sun and inbetween) until about 2 and a bit years ago, I finally got my chance (about 18 years after lol) so when I got my chance I took it 

Now two and a bit years later, I've been given some amazing kit to use and try at home so I'm trying to think how I can use that better than what I'm currently doing..  So, this is a bit of a project log of the journey I take and setup for testing or just even getting to grips with things.  Now I think it might interest some, it might bore others and others might think, what the heck is he doing...

Well I've recently had a bump into the Infrastructure side of things, so a step up from the service desk/desktop support role I had previously.

As I'm a huge hardware loon, I like to get my hands on things and use things that will make use of what I have.  This is one of the reasons why I run WCG and FAH on so many machines at home, A because I have them and B with solar power, it's free whilst the sun is out, so why the heck not...
But aside from the masses of CPU power I have at home, I'd like to do different things as well, so things like creating a domain, setting up a file server, print server and whatever else I can think of, even with some input from everyone here, I'd love to learn and do more and more and push myself with the tech I have access to and I've been given so that rather than it just sitting there, I'm actually making some use of it and more so learning more to push my career forward.

So now all the boring text is out the way, I'd just like to ask about the forum to see if anyone else 'bothers' with this sort of thing at their home, whatever the scale.  I know we have a Homelab section which I love seeing @Solaris17 and everyone else that post in there (apologies for not mentioning everyone!!)   I'm also going to be hopefully following some of Solaris17's guides in setting things up that he has done via his YouTube, so I'm looking forward to that.

So, for starters then I'm thinking I'd like to start with something that I can build a domain on.  So, if anyone has any ideas of some specs I should be using or any suggestions at all, I'll willingly take that on board and see what I can find at home.  I've a few things I think I should get out the cupboard (so to speak) and make use of    I'm not sure if I'm honest a Domain Controller would need to do a massive amount of work, but I'll hopefully find out soon enough 

Some things I'd like to touch on with my project is Linux, VMWare (or just VM's in general) and learning about Group Policies (from scratch) and then maybe moving on to Clusters and maybe a bit of something more in dept like NetApp storage or setting up something similar..  I'll also add in some networking fun as well.....  I'm sure that list will grow 

So I'll stop boring everyone to death now and look forward to some comments and such    I'll see if I can add some photo's at some point to this first post (or second) and then it'll hopefully look a little more pleasing than a load of text and me waffling on... 
Thanks for looking anyone who makes it this far!!


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## phill (Nov 10, 2019)

Right, some update photo's for the few bits of kit around the house.....


     

   

Now as the crazy is out in the open (and still I may add a load more crazy to come if I'm honest...) with everything I have here, I intend on making the most of, especially the servers   So, as it's been a bus weekend I'm hoping to get a few things sussed out in my head of what I'd like to use and do for the Domain Controller setup.  I think I have another PSU spare floating around at the moment, so I should be fine for a little while..

Aside from the X99 rig I use everyday, I'd like to eventually swap that out, definitely will be AMD but I do look forward to finishing off my Intel collection as well.  I'm still trying to track down the EVGA X99 Classified motherboard which hasn't gone so well so far...  (if anyone knows of a complete retail packaged and near mint condition board with accessories please please please do let me know )  I'm looking to try and get either the Classified or the X99 OCF board in the X9 case on my desk, had it for a while now and not even close to putting it in!!  I'd like some new tubing at least for my build and possibly a new pump and res combination.  It would also be great to grab a few other loops whilst I'm at it for various other builds but with no money, I have more important things to worry about first and foremost...  (Sometimes I hate being a grown up!!)

So, here's a few pics to look through (I remembered thumbnails this time!!) whenever you fancy  If anyone has any suggestions with regards to hardware for my DC, please let me know here  Best get to bed now considering tomorrow will be a crappy day as I have to take my eldest daughter back to her Mum and we both don't particularly enjoy the drive or the doing it... Still, until next time


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## dgianstefani (Nov 10, 2019)

Why don't you sell that obsolete junk and get some current gen stuff.


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## infrared (Nov 10, 2019)

phill said:
			
		

> Would a mod mind deleting my post 2 and put this one in number 2 instead please??  I forgot that I can't edit posts after a day....


 Done, and edit time is unlocked on first two posts  Your house looks like a hardware enthusiasts treasure trove!


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## Lorec (Nov 10, 2019)

Thats a beautiful establishment You have there   
Your command center is great, Im working on mine atm too!
No chance to match up to @phill-senpai though!  
...my wife is already complaining about parts boxes etc under our bed


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## phill (Nov 10, 2019)

dgianstefani said:


> Why don't you sell that obsolete junk and get some current gen stuff.



To which hardware are you referring too?? 



infrared said:


> Done, and edit time is unlocked on first two posts  Your house looks like a hardware enthusiasts treasure trove!



I am trying but I also have two children and a misses to fit in, I mean, I think I might need a bigger house....  Some of the hardware is hidden and out of the way, sadly a lot of it is up in the loft which I have tried to make sure it's a constant temp up there, I really don't want any hardware up there to die (not that it's powered on etc).....  I do love my hardware and sadly I still have a list a mile long to get hold of kit to go with the rest of it...  I know people think that I'm crazy and that's fine, they are entitled to their opinion but me don't care   



Lorec said:


> Thats a beautiful establishment You have there
> Your command center is great, Im working on mine atm too!
> No chance to match up to @phill-senpai though!
> ...my wife is already complaining about parts boxes etc under our bed



Thank you @Lorec   I've lived here about 9 years so far, when I bought it I made sure it had one room where there was a load of power and everywhere was networked..  I made sure of that!!    I've got a few systems I'd love still to buy and have but I would have uses for all of the kit   WCG comes to mind and a LAN Gaming suite is also planned for the new home  
As a very good friend of mine knows what I'm like, it's a go big or go home type attitude with us   @TheMadDutchDude can verify I'm a bit of a loon    Oh, here's a pic tho, that might show it a little better...

    

Sadly that was back when I had some nice big monitors...  I miss big res screens   3 x 3008 monitors, what a glorious sight it was


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## dgianstefani (Nov 11, 2019)

phill said:


> To which hardware are you referring too??



I dunno, maybe the 6 generation old GPUs and 10 year old platforms?


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## EarthDog (Nov 11, 2019)

That is ridiculous and called HOARDING .  I've been a review in the industry for over 10 years and never have I accumulated that much stuff... wow.

My OCD and need to be neat just makes me want to sit in the corner in the fetal position and rock back and forth until it is cleaned up.


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## phill (Nov 11, 2019)

dgianstefani said:


> I dunno, maybe the 6 generation old GPUs and 10 year old platforms?



That's still used on a daily basis, thankfully solar panels help with the lack of worry when it comes to efficiencies etc     Some stuff is just boxed and kept for sentimental reasons which is stored away and I don't worry about it 



EarthDog said:


> That is ridiculous and called HOARDING .  I've been a review in the industry for over 10 years and never have I accumulated that much stuff... wow.
> 
> My OCD and need to be neat just makes me want to sit in the corner in the fetal position and rock back and forth until it is cleaned up.



Well as it's being used, I can't see it as hoarding but I enjoy the hardware and it's a hobby for me   When I do move, I am looking forward to a mass tidy up.  If I can get some time before I move then work and baby allowing, I will be in there cleaning and clearing stuff out and away    I'd like to get a few more cases so I can get a few systems housed as at the moment, them being open test benches isn't the best thing in the world 
I have OCD in that I need it tidy and it's far from it at the moment, but eventually given some extra cash flow and such, I'll get it to where I want it to be     The servers are part of a give away I'm doing.  If I could get some answers back from companies about boxes and protective packaging, I'll get rid of some of those as well  

There was a post in another thread, if you think this is bad, then wait till you see that


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## EarthDog (Nov 11, 2019)

Hoarders never see it as hoarding and always have a reason. That is part of the disease. 

But yeah, that room (and your others I haven't seen) would drive me batty.


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## phill (Nov 11, 2019)

I just enjoy the hardware, I keep hold of somethings and rarely sell as I always end up needing what I sell.  Drives me nuts having to buy twice!! lol

The loft has a lot of the boxes etc kept out the way, not masses of hardware up there but enough that I'd like to get down and get in use but it all costs money which I don't have.  I've not spent anything on hardware in quite some time.  Servers etc where all freebies which is what lead me to the idea of a give away to our WCG Team 
The conservatory keeps hold of my servers and rack, that will definitely get emptied out soon enough  

Check here for the post I meant


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## phill (Dec 4, 2019)

I'd thought I'd put up a little update with the project..  Nothing massive sadly, but since it had been a while without a bit of time to clean up and sort out the PCs as they are mostly on every day sometimes all day (24 hours) and with my little Sophia, I really needed to give my main rig a clean out...  I'd done a couple of the crunching Ryzen PCs a week or two ago, but now it was my main rigs turn...  Wow did it bloody need it!! 

         

I decided to go with thumbnails this time, I could get a little picture happy otherwise  
So before and after temps as well - 

  

I think about a 10C reduction in temps and I've had a bit of folding as well going on the GPUs today, they seem to have dropped about 10C as well under full load..  Very happy with the results and I tried some of the MX-4 thermal paste as well, I hope the temps will settle down in a few days/weeks 

Don't forget guys that hardware abuse is real and is out there.  It's also unacceptable and I wish I had never let the kit get that bad but it's all much better now and it's much cooler   Hopefully with a few things turning up over the next few days, I should be able to have another update as well   I'm looking forward to it 

Then hopefully I might be able to get sorted and start on this project properly!!  I've a few cases that hardware must need to go into, so here's hoping I can make that happen!!   I'll get some more photo's for that... 
Also goes with a thread I started about some water cooling parts (clicky...) which I think basically ended up, pick a brand and off you go, so I'll look into that when I have some cash flow..  Christmas and children and the 'wife' I need to get sorted out, so hopefully some on call money can go towards some rads, pumps/res and so on...  I need some tubing more so, so I'll definitely have to get that sorted out as I'd love to get the hardware in a box!!   More to come


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## Space Lynx (Dec 4, 2019)

EarthDog said:


> That is ridiculous and called HOARDING .  I've been a review in the industry for over 10 years and never have I accumulated that much stuff... wow.
> 
> My OCD and need to be neat just makes me want to sit in the corner in the fetal position and rock back and forth until it is cleaned up.



I don't understand why he needs so many 1080 ti's... there is only one chair and one childs chair...   but hey if thats what you want to spend your money on its a free country. Personally, I'd rather have 1 1080 ti and travel with the other money. England is a beautiful country, get out and see it mate. I could spend ten years in England and still find places to see. My last trip to England I saw the Shropshire region, and a bit of the Devon area... Absolutely gorgeous, wish I was rich, I'd live there.


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## phill (Dec 4, 2019)

lynx29 said:


> I don't understand why he needs so many 1080 ti's... there is only one chair and one childs chair...   but hey if thats what you want to spend your money on its a free country. Personally, I'd rather have 1 1080 ti and travel with the other money. England is a beautiful country, get out and see it mate. I could spend ten years in England and still find places to see. My last trip to England I saw the Shropshire region, and a bit of the Devon area... Absolutely gorgeous, wish I was rich, I'd live there.


One was cheap and with water block so I couldn't say no  The other two just sit in my main rig for cancer folding and gaming  SLI may or may not work very well, but I'm a hardware lover and I enjoy it, having a system with a fair sized case and only one card seems like such a waste  I've had these cards for maybe a year or two and they've been great  
There's three chairs in the room for the moment  I would like a bigger place to put all this kit out so there's more space and more people can enjoy my hobby  

Travelling in England ain't cheap and certainly in some areas its horrendously expensive    I've lived here all my life and there's many places I've not been able to see.  Now with a 9 month old, it now makes it a little more difficult to do things..  But, I enjoy having my daughter and having all this hardware, so it doesn't matter to me    We all get our fun or enjoyment from so many different things in this world, so whatever anyone does, as long as they enjoy it and it's not hurting or pushing their wishes/wants on to others, what does it matter to anyone else??

Devon was definitely my favourite place to live, it was just a shame where I lived, you had to travel some horrible roads to get to any where big such as Exeter or Plymouth..  I was an hour from the motorway where I lived in Devon before moving here, I'm now about 5 to 10 minutes away...  But I'm not in such a nice area I don't think...  Oh well


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## Space Lynx (Dec 5, 2019)

If I lived in England I would try to buy a cheap used motorcycle, great gas mileage. Could get a camping backup that holds a one person tent and see everywhere I want. If cops catch me what they gonna do, arrest for me sleeping under some trees one night? Unlikely, tell me to bugger off is all. lol

Yeah good on you for folding at home. I used to do it, but I am just not sure anymore if its worth it or not. Progress is slow going last decade especially.

is your electricity a set price? so folding doesn't cost you extra each month?


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## jaggerwild (Dec 5, 2019)

You work on computers for a living right? My suggestion(this is only me)I do admire everything you have(and you have a shit load of it), get outside and find a new hobby. When you do that all day only to do it when you come home as well(that's nuts!). Even if its building them for charity, again I envy you!!! I even like your name, as far as building a new rig WHY? And if you really want to, I'm sure you'll find something..........


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## phill (Dec 5, 2019)

lynx29 said:


> If I lived in England I would try to buy a cheap used motorcycle, great gas mileage. Could get a camping backup that holds a one person tent and see everywhere I want. If cops catch me what they gonna do, arrest for me sleeping under some trees one night? Unlikely, tell me to bugger off is all. lol
> 
> Yeah good on you for folding at home. I used to do it, but I am just not sure anymore if its worth it or not. Progress is slow going last decade especially.
> 
> is your electricity a set price? so folding doesn't cost you extra each month?


England like most places has it's good and bad areas but I would say its no worse than anywhere else   Fuel prices are high here, always have been with the 80%+ tax rate on it but meh, way of life here 

My electric is a set price, but as I have solar panels, I tend to fold/crunch, just when the sun is out, so I'll only turn on a lot of PCs when the sun is shining brightly   Saves me a few quid in electric doing it that way and I'm helping as well.  With all the hardware, I may as well make the use of it  



jaggerwild said:


> You work on computers for a living right? My suggestion(this is only me)I do admire everything you have(and you have a shit load of it), get outside and find a new hobby. When you do that all day only to do it when you come home as well(that's nuts!). Even if its building them for charity, again I envy you!!! I even like your name, as far as building a new rig WHY? And if you really want to, I'm sure you'll find something..........


I do have a job in IT as well   I have other hobbies   Photography, mountain biking, basketball, music, films..  I would say car as I'm a petrol head fan but with no money it's not going to help me   I have my daughters, as they keep me busy and away from PCs for a while.  I tend to use mine for gaming and crunching and music, I try and listen to a few podcasts whilst I'm gaming (Dirt games with trance on in the background for me is great  ) 

I like keeping up with the latest tech as it's always fun to have mess around with and so on   But again my children come first so the cash flow is somewhat less than it used to be    I don't drink or smoke or do anything along those lines and I would prefer to have something to show for it rather than smoking it away or drinking it away  
Oh I'm doing a giveaway with some servers, so please do let me know if anyone is interested


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## Space Lynx (Dec 5, 2019)

phill said:


> England like most places has it's good and bad areas but I would say its no worse than anywhere else   Fuel prices are high here, always have been with the 80%+ tax rate on it but meh, way of life here
> 
> My electric is a set price, but as I have solar panels, I tend to fold/crunch, just when the sun is out, so I'll only turn on a lot of PCs when the sun is shining brightly   Saves me a few quid in electric doing it that way and I'm helping as well.  With all the hardware, I may as well make the use of it
> 
> ...



Sell the 1080 ti's and hardware while they still hold value. Save up a bit more, get a used motorcycle. A family or friend can babysit for you and your wife for an afternoon of riding and exploring, motorcycles get like 80 miles to the gallon and are cheaper to buy than cars to boot.


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## phill (Dec 5, 2019)

lynx29 said:


> Sell the 1080 ti's and hardware while they still hold value. Save up a bit more, get a used motorcycle. A family or friend can babysit for you and your wife for an afternoon of riding and exploring, motorcycles get like 80 miles to the gallon and are cheaper to buy than cars to boot.


I've no interest in motorbikes sadly mate   Some family members died on one when I was weeks old, never really been into them as such.  Much prefer a nice powerful car   I'm guessing the sort of bikes I'd like wouldn't get 80 mpg's either lol   Plus no where to put the baby seat and I'd need to do yet another driving licence... I ain't got time for that!!


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## Space Lynx (Dec 5, 2019)

phill said:


> I've no interest in motorbikes sadly mate   Some family members died on one when I was weeks old, never really been into them as such.  Much prefer a nice powerful car   I'm guessing the sort of bikes I'd like wouldn't get 80 mpg's either lol   Plus no where to put the baby seat and I'd need to do yet another driving licence... I ain't got time for that!!



I understand, I hope someday Tesla or someone makes a really cheap inexpensive electric motorbike with a 500-mile range or so. Would be awesome. Could see everything I ever dreamed of on a budget.


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## phill (Dec 5, 2019)

lynx29 said:


> I understand, I hope someday Tesla or someone makes a really cheap inexpensive electric motorbike with a 500-mile range or so. Would be awesome. Could see everything I ever dreamed of on a budget.


I think I'd miss the noise of an engine too much to drive a Tesla   Performance aside, I can understand electric cars but with their damage to the environment with the batteries, how to make and dispose of etc, I'm not a fan at all.  Some of the diesel cars around now are very good (not my personal preference but each to their own ) with fuel efficiency etc.  It makes more sense to me to have one than an electric car..  In the UK if a source was correct, the UK only produces 5% more electric than it uses so if everyone has one how are we getting the power??


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## Space Lynx (Dec 5, 2019)

phill said:


> I think I'd miss the noise of an engine too much to drive a Tesla   Performance aside, I can understand electric cars but with their damage to the environment with the batteries, how to make and dispose of etc, I'm not a fan at all.  Some of the diesel cars around now are very good (not my personal preference but each to their own ) with fuel efficiency etc.  It makes more sense to me to have one than an electric car..  In the UK if a source was correct, the UK only produces 5% more electric than it uses so if everyone has one how are we getting the power??



Bill Gates has already solved the problem of power, a nuclear energy fission prototype that has no radioactive waste, the waste is the fuel. It's a new and old design meshed together with some people he funded, it's 99% chance of working, but they have to wait until the trade war with China is over before they can build one, as a lot of the parts are on the tariff list (steel related I assume).


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## phill (Dec 5, 2019)

I'll wait and see if that ever comes to pass....


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## potato580+ (Dec 5, 2019)

phill said:


> Right, some update photo's for the few bits of kit around the house.....
> 
> View attachment 136045 View attachment 136046 View attachment 136047 View attachment 136048 View attachment 136049 View attachment 136050
> 
> ...


you need to expand your room, thats alr full rly hehe


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## Boatvan (Dec 5, 2019)

IDK why everyone is giving @phill a hard time. It is what he enjoys so why not let him share without telling him to get rid of stuff? Jeez.


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## Space Lynx (Dec 5, 2019)

Boatvan said:


> IDK why everyone is giving @phill a hard time. It is what he enjoys so why not let him share without telling him to get rid of stuff? Jeez.



Not giving him a hard time really, we were just having a conversation. Maybe you read into the words too much?


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## xtreemchaos (Dec 5, 2019)

you need to put a drool warning in the first post , that's my kind of heaven bro, so much to see and ive not enough eyes or room left in my brain to take it all in ill have to keep coming back for another look. well done.  charl.


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## potato580+ (Dec 5, 2019)

dgianstefani said:


> Why don't you sell that obsolete junk and get some current gen stuff.


 junk? seriosly, you got ordinary taste realy, as for me aint junk, i even willing to pay for i386, problems my friend charging it too expensive, yup expensive than curent gen


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## phill (Dec 5, 2019)

potato580+ said:


> you need to expand your room, thats alr full rly hehe



I am looking at another house   I'm actually thinking about trying to build or convert over a garge type unit and put everything in there...  We'll see 



Boatvan said:


> IDK why everyone is giving @phill a hard time. It is what he enjoys so why not let him share without telling him to get rid of stuff? Jeez.



It is good to see how others react to things like this.  Some call it crazy, some call it hoarding, some love it..  I think though if people don't like it, don't post   Why make such an effort replying to moan about something you don't like? Meh   I've got teflon shoulders, it's fine  



xtreemchaos said:


> you need to put a drool warning in the first post , that's my kind of heaven bro, so much to see and ive not enough eyes or room left in my brain to take it all in ill have to keep coming back for another look. well done.  charl.



Thanks for the post, I'm glad you like it   I have a few things more planned but it's a long haul type thing at the moment..  Low wages and Christmas coming in and a lot of hardware to buy, it's not a good thing to be hoping to get things and not being able to afford it but...  Meh   Just have to wait a little longer 



potato580+ said:


> junk? seriosly, you got ordinary taste realy, as for me aint junk, i even willing to pay for i386, problems my friend charging it too expensive, yup expensive than curent gen



@potato580+ an example of why post if you don't like it I think but I think we seem to have a lot more of that sort of thing around now...  It's less than ideal but I just take it in my stride and don't let it bother me   Everyone has an opinion, some voice it and others don't


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## Boatvan (Dec 5, 2019)

lynx29 said:


> Not giving him a hard time really, we were just having a conversation. Maybe you read into the words too much?



I am so tired of people on this forum making an argument out of literally anything. I have usually been relegated to the WCG section because it is the last civil place left here. I am just sticking up for a guy who likes hardware. Yes, I read into it. You all said he had a mental illness and suggested he get out more. If that was directed at me, I'd be pissed. That isn't the point of this thread. I've kept my nose clean since I've been here but come on man! Have some decency.


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## Vayra86 (Dec 5, 2019)

Boatvan said:


> IDK why everyone is giving @phill a hard time. It is what he enjoys so why not let him share without telling him to get rid of stuff? Jeez.



Is it such a hard time to tell people how you feel looking at what they do? Its not like anyone is bashing him, just stating observations, and its good to get that look in the mirror from time to time. You don't get a lot of that in the real world with random people. Adult conversation, about the things that might matter, yknow.

Also I think phill can take it. But, if he's done hearing about it... we should know and respect that. FWIW I think its fantastic and courageous when people feel they can be open like this.

My take... its not for me, but I can totally get the hobby of accumulating and collecting stuff you love to see and work with. Is it a bit crazy? Sure, but aren't we all? If this is what gives you joy and energy, go for it, no regrets. And... deep down I'd love to walk around in there for a day or two 



phill said:


> I am looking at another house  I'm actually thinking about trying to build or convert over a garge type unit and put everything in there... We'll see



You should find a nice, cold stone basement with one of those small windows up top. Put the hose & rad out @ winter and get them bench scores, and game on nice and cool in summer. And it gets better, you can put the music @ 11 and won't bother anyone


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## Splinterdog (Dec 5, 2019)

If I had the room, I'd have a cave like that, but my garage workshop, with my motorbike behind me, will have to do.
Each to his own, I say.


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## Space Lynx (Dec 5, 2019)

Boatvan said:


> I am so tired of people on this forum making an argument out of literally anything. I have usually been relegated to the WCG section because it is the last civil place left here. I am just sticking up for a guy who likes hardware. Yes, I read into it. You all said he had a mental illness and suggested he get out more. If that was directed at me, I'd be pissed. That isn't the point of this thread. I've kept my nose clean since I've been here but come on man! Have some decency.




I never said that. Quote me where I said that?


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## E-curbi (Dec 30, 2019)

Dearest Phill,

Your hardware man cave totally ROCKs! 

Don't change a thing. Congestion makes the mind find a way and grow more functional.

...maybe add a few dancing girls in the background. 

Best Regards,

Bullreegard


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## phill (Dec 30, 2019)

I'm not planning on changing much to be honest, but a few more bits of hardware if I'm honest is definitely on the cards and on route I believe also!!   

Which reminds me, one of those beautiful EVGA Z390 Dark boards..  I believe you know someone who has one??   I've sadly a few Intel CPUs I'd like to partner up with some motherboards I have here, build them into systems and then just go full AMD crazy if I'm honest.  That said, I'm trying to order a few more AMD boards rather soon if I'm honest...  I'm just wondering if I should go full mental and order that 3950X CPU or not...  

Dancing girls would possibly just get in the way of the hardware mate, I'm not sure I'd be thanked or hated for it....


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## E-curbi (Dec 30, 2019)

phill said:


> I'm not planning on changing much to be honest, but a few more bits of hardware if I'm honest is definitely on the cards and on route I believe also!!
> 
> Which reminds me, one of those beautiful EVGA Z390 Dark boards..  I believe you know someone who has one??   I've sadly a few Intel CPUs I'd like to partner up with some motherboards I have here, build them into systems and then just go full AMD crazy if I'm honest.  That said, I'm trying to order a few more AMD boards rather soon if I'm honest...  I'm just wondering if I should go full mental and order that 3950X CPU or not...
> 
> Dancing girls would possibly just get in the way of the hardware mate, I'm not sure I'd be thanked or hated for it....



I do have an extra (2nd) Z390 Dark board just laying around collecting dust in it's dust-proof bag.  

Unfortunately it has a bent socket pin.  We can all thank EVGA's unscrupulous a-hole RMA technician for that blunder that backfired on the company. I hope he/she was let go in the 30% EVGA employee layoff Spring of 2019. (sticking tongue out)

Anyhoo, If I could upright that pin and get the board 100% functional, I'd gladly send it to you at a greatly reduced price. lol

I uprighted (3) pins on my Maximus V Extreme from 2012 and it went on to live another 3years no issues at all, still works today, although it's mounted on the motherboard wall.


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## phill (Dec 30, 2019)

That would be extremely awesome of you, but I'd have to make sure it was complete in box with everything (my OCD would never let me buy something that's not now lol)  But if I did buy one, I'd definitely need a 9900k to go in it...  Well possibly a 9900ks but maybe just a decent older 9900k   Since they are cherry picking all the CPUs for the ks version....  Sucks 

Which reminds me, I really need to do a few pictures and tests since I have some new CPUs to put together in a rig..  That said, I need to grab two motherboards for them both too...  Most importantly tho, I need to get rid of some of the servers I have laying about here still..  One of my top 3 to do's for 2020.....


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## E-curbi (Dec 30, 2019)

Yep, its complete in box.  EVGA sent the replacement RMA board complete all accessories in a brand new box.

2boards complete in retail boxes (since that's all they had at the time) for $529 USD - don't ask how, I pleaded with them NOT to send the RMA'd board back to me. Instead, they intentionally bent a socket pin to deny the 3year warranty. 

Lawyers stepped in - thus the two boards at the cost of one board.

I didn't want to make any trouble, I only wanted one board that functioned properly for $499.99 plus tax. 

The EVGA technician had other plans.

I should just keep the 2nd Z390 Dark sent back to me and mount it on the motherboard wall as a victory trophy against bad people. lol

The money from selling it isn't as important as the reminder... 

That EVGA RMA technician who bent the socket pin to save his job:

Unscrupulous, thoroughly unscrupulous


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## phill (Dec 31, 2019)

In a little while I'll have another EVGA board to go in with my collection, I think I'm going to have to get a group shot    That said, I will then like to track down a Xeon for the other board..  That said as I promised my MSI X99 Gaming Titanium board can go in the bin 

I'm trying hard to find some AMD boards at the moment, it's hard work trying to spend some money....


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## phill (Jan 10, 2020)

Hi everyone, so with a few new bits and pieces of hardware turning up, I thought why not put something in the project thread 

So quick recap what's turned up...

          

So we have a Hero 7 and 8 board, along with a Ryzen 2700, 2700X and a 3900X.  I've ordered some Freezer 34 Duo heatsinks to test since they where fairly cheap and for the work loads that these will be cooling, I'm pretty sure I won't be maxing it out as such.  Hopefully they'll be quiet and nice and efficient    Special thanks to @biffzinker for the recommendations..  I'll hopefully get to see how well they perform with the testing I'm hoping to get done over the weekend...

I also grabbed some 32Gb kits of DDR4 3200Mhz spec'd RAM.  I can't say much that's bad about it at all...  At £100 a kit for 32Gb, 3200Mhz, CAS 16 I know it's not the fastest stuff out there, but for the quantity and the performance (timings too) I really can't moan.  What I can say though, is I'm so very glad I bought them when I did as they are up to a new crazy high price, so I'm rather pleased I ordered them when I did...

I'm going to grab with the above PCs (and as with all my Ryzen rigs) a RX 480 card I have from my mining days and use that for the GPU side of things.  I've a few spare SSDs so I'm going to get those installed and probably running Windows for my partner Rosie and my girls..  I know Sophia is a little young but the little monkey has just started standing up and walking now..  Where the heck that came from I've no idea!! So she's bound to want a PC sooner rather than later 

With the 3900X rig for the moment, I will be using some TridentZ I have here



B die stuff and cherry picked a bit..  These will do 4000Mhz at C14 I think??  It's been a long time since I've tweaked with these and since having the Ryzen rigs, I've needed to get some RAM so I used the two kits I have for my main rig.  That'll make 32Gb as they are all 8Gb sticks, but if I wanted to go nuts, I can always use two of the 32Gb kits and see if I get any problems that way..  I'm sure I needed 64Gb for Google and a few Excel spreadsheets to be open at once...

I'll be doing a bit of temp testing with the CPUs I have.  I'm going to water cool my main PC which when I do get building, will be the 3900X which I'm sure will be a nice upgrade from my 5960X.  At the moment I'll be using air cooling and I'll see how things go.  If it sucks royally then I've a few air cooler to try and we can go from there.
I would eventually like to get it full water cooled, so I'm going to be looking at replacement CPU and GPU blocks and also some lovely nice new rads and so on..  A few links below -

A possible 560mm rad GTR...
Another possible 560mm rad GTX...

I know I'm going to need pump/res combo, tubing, CPU and GPU blocks on top of that but if air cooling for the moment is about all I can manage cash wise, then that'll be fine with me 

I'll of course put up some more pictures when it's all completed and ready   I hope that it will be this weekend...

Also I'm hoping to get rid of some servers as well for our WCG group..  If anyone wants one then I'll willingly sort them out and let them go!!    Thanks for looking


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## biffzinker (Jan 10, 2020)

Nice pair of looking heatsinks you've got. What do you make of the heatsinks, and fans?


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## phill (Jan 10, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Nice pair of looking heatsinks you've got. What do you make of the heatsinks, and fans?


Sadly at the moment I can just go on what they look like out of the boxes    I'm waiting till the weekend to get to test the coolers and see what they are like.  From the brief look outside the box, they feel good quality and up to the job, so I'll be interested to see how they perform   I'll be of course testing the 1700X, 2700, 2700X and the 3900X with the cooler as I'm pretty sure I'll end up getting the same cooler for all the Ryzen rigs I have..  What's currently on the two 1700X's at the moment aren't in place and just sat on the CPU..  But still, it's doing pretty well cooling it, so I'm interested to see how they compare   I'll of course, do a small write up for everyone


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## phill (Jan 26, 2020)

I'm finally making a bit of progress with all of this.. 

So bit of a quick re-cap for the WCG side of things...  My quad setups have stopped and are retired from crunching now but in my crazy style, I have a 2700, 2700X and 3900X to bring in to the mix (not to mention a couple of servers, we'll get there with those in a mo...)
So the 2600k, the Xeon E3-1245 v3 and my 6700k will no longer be crunching, for the power drain and so on, we can do better so...  This is where the above Ryzen rigs will come in to play 

I've got the ok from the Mrs/wife to build her Ryzen into a spare case I have here (a R5 in white with a window) so I hope to be able to get that one at least started at some point...  I'll of course be putting up some pics of that and I hope to hear good and bad things about it 
I do plan the same build for my eldest daughter Isabelle, but I'm in need of another 2700X and a Hero 7 Wi-Fi board, so that might be a little longer.  In the mean time, I might get her hooked up with my 5960X and a few things (air cooler as well)..  To be honest for the girls, anything that would play The Sims and such would be plenty, so a 2700X will be massive overkill but I know no other way....

Since beginning testing with the 2700, the power draw has been massively impressive to me, so I'm very much considering something daft with that as a server back up or something, but a WCG and FAH cruncher and folder..  I've a 1080 Ti that I've had for a long time and not used it, so water blocked, it'll be perfect for some folding on   I might even have just the case for that as well....

With my other Ryzen 1700X rigs, I'm going to put them in the conservatory with the servers, since the servers are going and the two systems that where there are now removed, we'll have a bit more room and they can go on top of the server case rack and be lovely and cool out there   With some luck, I'll have spare room for systems to be setup and accessible, which has been such a long time coming...  As I mentioned earlier in the thread with EarthDog, it needs sorting out 

So, as it's getting later and I'm getting more tired, time to get some rest and get building and testing some more over the next few days.  Hopefully, I can see the desk space growing soon!!  

Also have some movement with the Server Giveaway I'm doing as well for TPUs WCG team...  I'll put something up about that too


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## Solaris17 (Jan 26, 2020)

moar server picssss


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## Lorec (Jan 26, 2020)

Dont overwork Yourself, Phil! But then again Im really looking forward to pics though!
What about that x99 calassified You got recently? Will You be using it or just keeping in box?
Also what do You think about 2700? is it new 1700?


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## phill (Jan 27, 2020)

Solaris17 said:


> moar server picssss



Just because it's you, of course there will be  



Lorec said:


> Dont overwork Yourself, Phil! But then again Im really looking forward to pics though!
> What about that x99 calassified You got recently? Will You be using it or just keeping in box?
> Also what do You think about 2700? is it new 1700?


I'm trying to get things sorted out, it's driving me mad how long the servers I'm trying to do a giveaway for has taken so long to get gone!!  But hopefully this time next week, I'd like to hope that the servers will be on their way to new owners... !!  

I'm not really so sure what I'm doing with the X99 Classified, but I think that MSI thing I have has to go..  So the 5960X will either go in the X99 OCF board or the Classified and then from there, well, it's anyone's guess! 

I have been toying with the idea of the 2700 becoming a cruncher/folder with a water cooled 1080 Ti in it, it uses so little power I'm dead impressed with it.  I might even consider making it into a secondary server or moving away from my Synology NAS I think..  I'm not sure.  Too much hardware and not enough time to actually get anything sorted out with Sophia running around after me   I wouldn't change it for the world tho  

I do however have two systems I need to build for my Mrs and Isabelle, so that will need to be done as well..   

Oh how I wish I only had a single PC sometimes but then I'd miss out on all the fun    Hopefully guys, some updates here soon


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## dgianstefani (Jan 27, 2020)

Z390 Dark is the shizz.

9900ks if you don't want to worry about the silicone lottery.


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## theonek (Jan 27, 2020)

all looks like a kinder garden for grown ups - so many toys to play with... and don't get me wrong - it is very nice to have ability to play and test with so many pc platforms and configurations.... I would feel myself like a child in a candy store though


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## phill (Jan 30, 2020)

Right guys, another busy damn night in which I have managed to get nothing done that I had hoped, but I've been testing my 3900X a little bit, after what I'd call some very positive 2700 testing, I've been somewhat taken back with the 3900X and my cooler...  I'll explain below -

   

So whilst I was testing my new cooler and my 2700, I was amazed at how quiet and cool the thing was.  Everything with stock settings, so just literally taken out the box and put together and turned on, I couldn't see more than 50C under a long heavy load..  To be fair, I don't believe it got even that high...  But still.....

So yesterday evening I tried the same cooler on my 3900X and with a quick CB R15 test (it's very quick considering 24 threads and whoosh there it's done!!) I hit a maximum of 85C which I thought was a tad higher than I prefer.  Considering my 5960X hits 55C on a warm day with little air flow, 85C I think was pushing my comfort zone.  Again this is literally tested out of the box, no settings changed at all..

I've tried it this evening with my 14D cooler and to be honest, with repeated CB R15 tests back to back, I'm still hitting 80C and a bit higher..  The house isn't warm as such but it's a little disappointing if I'm honest... 
So I've been thinking of doing something really stupid and that will be to replace it with a TR 3970X system instead..  Bigger surface area for the CPU and cooling, more cores, more crazy, more just like myself...  So I will keep hold of this setup for a while (Hero 8 and 3900X) as it's a monster and just wait and see.  I've got my case picked out I'm going to build it in to and everything I need (aside from a cooler and an AM4 bracket...  Might need to order one of those....) and I will get it built up.  I will also do the same for the Mrs's PC I've got her here and same goes for Isabelle's PC as well..  They are having the same one so, it'll be fine   Also the tested the cooler (cheaper Arctic Freezer one) on the 1700X and it seems to hit about 55C under WCG load, which I didn't think was bad.

When I have some more brain power and time, I'll put up the pics with the Arctic cooler as I was shocked at how small the base plate was for AMD CPUs..  Still, sleep is needed catch you soon guys I hope


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## phill (Feb 5, 2020)

Another small update for my project log....  Mrs's PC build....  Bit late for a mass of text, so I'll just put up some pics and call it a day 

          

I'll try and get a post together whilst I'm at work tomorrow just to explain and feedback on the cooler I used


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## Lorec (Feb 5, 2020)

That cable management... very clean build. wonder how it manages


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## phill (Feb 5, 2020)

I'm glad you like it sir   I tried my best to make the Mrs's build as simple and neat as possible, I hope that she will use it   Even if it's just for the SIMs or something, I'm fine with that 

What would you like me to test on it??   I've done a run through as I've never tested the 1700X's I had a year or so ago, so time to get testing    Overall I'm happy with the build I must say, I just need to copy over some data so I can put a storage drive in there with the two SSD's, one for OS and programs, the other for games and then one for storing whatever she wants on it


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## phill (Feb 13, 2020)

Well, I think it's time for me to have posted something else in here...  So here's something for a few people, maybe even @Solaris17 will appreciate this one as he requested more pics of servers...   So...  How does this grab anyone?? 


   

So what we are looking at here tis...  A R620 and a R730 server kitted out with 2 x 10C 20T CPUs (Intels Xeon E5-2658 V2s for the R620) and 2 x 12C 24T (Intel Xeon E5-2680 V3s for the R730)    Now of course I needed to grab a screen shot of task manager and a few quick benchmarks...  CineBench ok??   Both servers are equipped with 64Gb of RAM but the R730 will be upgraded to 128Gb simply because it's only got 4 sticks of RAM in it and quad channel and all.....  The other R730 will be getting at some point a pair of 12C again or 14C or higher with some luck and 128Gb of ram in it as well..  The CPUs can only really used upto 2400Mhz in them, so having anything faster is a complete waste of time and effort.  2133Mhz suits V3 CPUs and 2400Mhz suits the V4 CPUs.  I'd like to grab some 14C or faster V4's but I'm unsure how possible that will be considering the cost of them.....

First up, the 40 thread monster....

     

And next up, the other 48 thread monster....

    

Since CineBench R20 was being a twit and not working in Windows Server 2012 R2, I sadly don't have any R20 results, just yet, but I will add some in and make sure I upload them to here as quickly as possible   Same goes actually as the CPU-Z results as well..  I will upload both of those together as I've tried doing above  
(If it's ok with the MOD's, I'll see if I can get this one unlocked so I can update it as and when )

As it's getting later than I had planned being up, I'll pause it there for a moment...  If anyone wishes to make fun or laugh at me, feel free    More to come at some point I hope


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## Solaris17 (Feb 13, 2020)

phill said:


> Well, I think it's time for me to have posted something else in here...  So here's something for a few people, maybe even @Solaris17 will appreciate this one as he requested more pics of servers...   So...  How does this grab anyone??
> 
> View attachment 144690 View attachment 144691 View attachment 144692 View attachment 144693
> 
> ...



YESSSSSSSSSS I love it! I need to splurge and get myself a large core dual CPU machine. So far I have used all my machines for production at home and I need to free one up as a lab. I have a third chassis just hanging out, but I need everything for it.


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## phill (Feb 13, 2020)

I think if I'm honest @Solaris, I'd get yourself a Ryzen rig..  It would be more powerful and very much more efficient as well...  The two 12C 24T Xeon's are a little faster than the single Ryzen 3900X I have completely at stock for the moment but I'm sure a little tweaking that could switch places....  

I'm on the look out for some high core count V3 or V4 CPUs if I'm honest so I can get the other R730 up and running but I'm not in a rush..  Only problem is they would consume power at a rate of knots which isn't very helpful   Leaving these two servers on 24/7 isn't an option running WCG on both of them..  That's easily 600w just between the two of them...  That's a bit harsh!!  

What might you use them for if you had some setup?


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## Solaris17 (Feb 14, 2020)

phill said:


> I think if I'm honest @Solaris, I'd get yourself a Ryzen rig..  It would be more powerful and very much more efficient as well...  The two 12C 24T Xeon's are a little faster than the single Ryzen 3900X I have completely at stock for the moment but I'm sure a little tweaking that could switch places....
> 
> I'm on the look out for some high core count V3 or V4 CPUs if I'm honest so I can get the other R730 up and running but I'm not in a rush..  Only problem is they would consume power at a rate of knots which isn't very helpful   Leaving these two servers on 24/7 isn't an option running WCG on both of them..  That's easily 600w just between the two of them...  That's a bit harsh!!
> 
> What might you use them for if you had some setup?



I thought about maybe an epyc server, but I wont go consumer stuff. I need the instruction sets that server hardware provides. I also like things like IPMI. My E3 were fine until I threw so many VMs on them. Now I use both servers to spread the load. I want to move to a beefier unit to so I can continue expanding in one box. If I free up my second box or get around to building the third, I can continue my videos for one, because then I will have a lab machine again instead of a production server. Of course I have my own technologies I want to learn.

Biggest barrier isnt even the CPUs to be honest. Its the RAM consumption. I run haswell gen E3s which only support 32GB. Thats childsplay in VM land as im sure you've seen. Its less about CPU horse power and all about the RAM. Im just maxed out.


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## phill (Feb 16, 2020)

I do get the impression that the servers I have here, won't ever really be taxed to how you use them @Solaris17 but I do wish to try a few things on the go that's for sure  

I'm very glad actually that the R620 and R730's are quiet in operation compared to what I think I remember of the R710's but as I mentioned, having 64Gb in the V2 system and currently 64Gb in the V3 system which I need to grab some more sticks of RAM for since there's only 2 sticks for each CPU and it should have 4 and my OCD aside, I need to get them both up to scratch at some point     I'll try and let you know when I get that done 

What VM program do you use at home??  I'd like to get something up and running for domains, AD and a few other things just so I can have a play around and see what I have picked up from work and such like.  I want to expand my knowledge base because the server side of things is really what I'd love to get to know and expand what I know, which quite frankly, can't and won't be hard to do   I do have a 'spare' server (three I suppose) but one being the newer one and hopefully most efficient (I think it's a 6600 type CPU but Xeon based) so I'm wondering how that might work..  Without it's raid card not so well but I do have another I can try and plug into it    I was toying with the idea of adding in some basic ass GPU to get a 1080P res on the servers since they only manage 1600 x 1200 at the moment, so frustrating....  So you know #1stworldproblems and all  

If there's anything I can help with or you feel like having a student, I'm all ears    What would be a nice thing to try if I'm honest is a setup that would show me internet traffic and such, just for pure interest...  I know of a few programs that might help and show this but I've also seen someone setting up a PC to run as a router??  That seemed pretty impressive if I'm honest   Complete overkill for me, but you know, why the heck not


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## biffzinker (Feb 16, 2020)

phill said:


> I've also seen someone setting up a PC to run as a router??


Are you referring to something such as pfSense?




__





						pfSense® - World's Most Trusted Open Source Firewall
					

pfSense is a free and open source firewall and router that also features unified threat management, load balancing, multi WAN, and more




					www.pfsense.org


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## phill (Feb 16, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Are you referring to something such as pfSense?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The name escaped me but I do believe sir, that is correct   Looked very much over the top for my needs and my crappy internet speed but...  It did look very cool


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## Solaris17 (Feb 17, 2020)

phill said:


> I do get the impression that the servers I have here, won't ever really be taxed to how you use them @Solaris17 but I do wish to try a few things on the go that's for sure
> 
> I'm very glad actually that the R620 and R730's are quiet in operation compared to what I think I remember of the R710's but as I mentioned, having 64Gb in the V2 system and currently 64Gb in the V3 system which I need to grab some more sticks of RAM for since there's only 2 sticks for each CPU and it should have 4 and my OCD aside, I need to get them both up to scratch at some point     I'll try and let you know when I get that done
> 
> ...



I use windows server 2019 DC.  I run all my VMs in hyper-V id like to explore xpc-ng and proxmox on a spare server though. I already have ESXI experience. I have experience with the others as well just not alot. Just simple things.

If you want to try virtual routing thats always fun and you have a few options.

pfsense
opnsense
sophos XG
untangle

some others like vyatta but if you want pretty the above 4 are fun to learn. Best bet is to get a multi port NIC card that you can bond too.


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## phill (Feb 26, 2020)

I'm going to  need to find some funds and some licences!!  

If I'm correct, I believe we used to use Sophos at work..  Changed it now but I think that's correct.  I have some of the multi port cards here so I should be ok there as well


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## lorry (Feb 26, 2020)

Your first pictures of all the boxes that your parts came in rang home to me.
Somewhere up in my loft will be the original boxes for my first build back in '93 (1993, not 18 )
AMD DX-40 eventually upgraded to a DX4-100. I bought books from America on how to build your own PC etc. I remember my finger hovering over that 'on' button for a good 20 minutes the First time!
Also up there are old dedicated bulletin board machines that even worked last time I tried them! I also recall and Amstrad 286 that I tried to run windows on and it did! Mind you could actually watch the screen refresh a single line at a time  when trying to run Quicken I think it was
I Finally upgraded that to a Wopping 4MB of ram! (yep MB, Not GB) it had a 40 MB HDD and a 16-bit Intel 80286 CPU, 12.5 MHz 

Fun days


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## phill (Feb 26, 2020)

Yeah there's a fair bit in the loft and down in the PC room, I just wish I had more time to enjoy it 

Feel free to post some of the older hardware up in the retro thread  @Robert B will always enjoy seeing that


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## lorry (Feb 26, 2020)

phill said:


> Yeah there's a fair bit in the loft and down in the PC room, I just wish I had more time to enjoy it



Wish I had a PC room lol


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## phill (Feb 26, 2020)

lorry said:


> Wish I had a PC room lol


I wish I had a big enough room for my PCs   This could go on a while.... 

I'll see if I can get an update soon for the thread, my 3900X rig I think might require a little update in here


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## lorry (Feb 26, 2020)

I've no idea what is going on, but with my 3900x,if I leave it just sitting at the desktop for an hour or so, my 3 best cores gain 50HZ on their top speed according to HWinfo.
I end up with the top 2 cores at 4650 and the third best at 4625,but none of the other cores are affected in this way.


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## EarthDog (Feb 26, 2020)

lorry said:


> I've no idea what is going on, but with my 3900x,if I leave it just sitting at the desktop for an hour or so, my 3 best cores gain 50HZ on their top speed according to HWinfo.
> I end up with the top 2 cores at 4650 and the third best at 4625,but none of the other cores are affected in this way.


Welcome to AMD boost... 

IIRC, it boosts the 'best' cores, so, this makes senses.


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## jallenlabs (Feb 27, 2020)

Are all those boxes for hardware full?  Sure, its tech hoarding, but I don't see an issue with it.  I hoard tech stuff too (cases mostly) and if it makes ya happy, why not.  Besides old hardware can be more fun that playing with new hardware anyway.


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## phill (Feb 28, 2020)

jallenlabs said:


> Are all those boxes for hardware full?  Sure, its tech hoarding, but I don't see an issue with it.  I hoard tech stuff too (cases mostly) and if it makes ya happy, why not.  Besides old hardware can be more fun that playing with new hardware anyway.


Oh the boxes are mostly full of hardware, I tend to try and keep unused hardware in it's box..  I'd love to get a few bits out the boxes but sadly I've not enough to put a system together with what I have here (I'd need more hardware surprisingly!! lol) 

Still, I've a few things I've been thinking on in the background so to speak, so I'm going to have a bit more of a think and then see what happens   I'll post up my ideas when I have a bit of a better understanding


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## phill (Jun 15, 2020)

Well guys, I've been meaning to add some pics in this thread for ages and I've still yet to get around to it...  So....  Now here some are!! 

  

I was looking through a few bits and pieces a few weeks back and I thought I'd like to do something and make use of some more hardware so I'm hoping for a few suggestions from everyone really  

I was wondering about doing something with my 5960X and one of the X99 boards.  Well I'm not happy with the MSI so it was going to go into either the EVGA or Asrock board (suggestions??) but then I was wondering about grabbing a big Xeon as cheap as possible (not ES or QS stuff, just retail models) and then putting in the spare 1080 Ti card for some folding and crunching but I was wondering also about setting up possibly another file sharing PC (10Gb network etc.) but also consider as Isabelle seems to be Minecraft crazy at the moment, about setting up a server client on that....  It'll give me something to learn and if there's other ways I can learn to setup things, then I'm all for it 

As for the X79 kit, I was considering to stick with a 4930k I'd forgot was in the Rampage Black board and see what I can do with that...  Maybe a testing system or bit of fun to bench with or even a GPU testing rig...  Anyone have any ideas??  

The X299 seems to be a bit of an issue simply because the 7980/9980/10980XE CPUs all seem to have done a runner and are costing way to much with all the excitement going on over at camp AMD..  I'd love to get one to just add it as a cruncher and a bit of a comparison CPU setup to the Ryzen 3900/3950X I have..  If I can ever splash out on a 3970X as I would like to, then well I'd love to do that too  lol

A little more silliness, is that I've had a little sort out with the servers I've got left now   Nothing like being a little OCD and trying to help yourself but I'm not so sure   Here's a few pics of that....

      

I really do need to 'upgrade' the carpet out there...  
Anyways, I'm only ever planning to use the top 4 servers at once really, simply because the heat output and the fact that they are all a lot faster/more efficient, is the only real reason.  These things can suck juice from the socket without any issues  :sad:   Still, with all the plugs matching, with the ends and plugs labelled up, I now know which plug is doing what and so on..  Completely daft but thought it looked a little nicer  
Oh and with the heat of the summer days, I've come to air conditioning...  Well not really but it seems to help a little and even more so when I'm not at home or we don't have the conservatory door open to let the heat from the servers out (and now two more crunching machines!!) it can get a little toasty in there, so with the fan forcing and pushing a little more air through the servers, it does seem to help a little   Since all the electric is free providing the solar and sun are working in harmony, for the amount of power they take, I'll try and keep the servers cool as possible  

I'd done a little power test with the two servers I use and the two crunchers now sat on top of the server cabinet, with the 1070 folding away as well as all of them crunching WCG, it's pulling about 1100w ish...  Now aside from ouchy on the power bill, for the amount of threads etc. crunching away, I didn't think it was so bad considering the age of the hardware  

I'm hoping soon, I can grab myself some water cooling loop hardware for my 3900X..  I have the parts I'm looking at and all I need to do next is have the cash to buy them..  Man when did EK kit become so expensive??  I think it's currently £200 for a pump and res combo, along with £120 for a rad (560 mind...) and then £90 ish for the AM4 block I like the look of...   Ouch..  I have barbs and such here, but I do need some decent tubing.  The last lot I had gave me plastiser issues in the tubing and such, so I'm wishing to try better tube next...   Does anyone have any suggestions at all?

I've also been able and lucky enough to be able to feed some more network cables out to the conservatory so instead of having a single cable and then it's splitting into an 8 way switch, I've got 6 cables out there now connected to my 24 port 1Gb switch..  It's such a shame my internet speeds suck (30Mb down/5Mb up) but there we go    I won't bore you guys with pictures of that tho...

Now for a bit of a career update....
I've been applying or putting myself out for a change in job as well.  Since nothing is happening with regards to me learning more Infrastructure stuff (not that this COVID-19 has helped and I'm not trying to defend the place I work at all) I'm trying to move myself on and get somewhere that I'm valued and actually wanted to push further in my career.  
I think a few more years in 2nd line support/desktop support and with the jump into the Infrastructure side of things, I'd like to hope that when I hit my 5 years service, I might actually be able to jump up and on to some server based work supporting/setting up or something I think...  I think I'd like to be like a project designer or something that I have a bit of a niche in.  I do enjoy the putting together, building, configuring/learning and so on style of work and to be able to do that with large scale projects, meeting people/be in a team/maybe have a few people in a team I am responsible for and so on, I think that's where I'd like to be and end up to ultimately  

I'll keep you all posted on the job front    I'd like to think at some point I can move on and see what else is out there   I need to tax my brain before I loose what little knowledge I have up there!! 


Well as always guys and possibly gals, if you have read this far you need another medal!!  

I'm sure there where some other things I'd have liked to have mentioned but as it's gone 1am here and my girls woke me up this morning after about 5 hours sleep last night (much like tonight!!) I had best get some rest as I'm in 'work' tomorrow...  

See you guys and gals soon


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## steen (Jun 15, 2020)

phill said:


> As for the X79 kit, I was considering to stick with a 4930k I'd forgot was in the Rampage Black board and see what I can do with that...  Maybe a testing system or bit of fun to bench with or even a GPU testing rig...  Anyone have any ideas??



Yeah, send it to me - for the kids of course... 

Nice thread, BTW. All the best with career progression.


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## Space Lynx (Jun 15, 2020)

very awesome work Phil... and change that 5 years experience wait to 3-4 years instead! don't get relaxed!


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## lorry (Jun 15, 2020)

I'm hoping soon, I can grab myself some water cooling loop hardware for my 3900X..  I have the parts I'm looking at and all I need to do next is have the cash to buy them..  Man when did EK kit become so expensive??  I think it's currently £200 for a pump and res combo, along with £120 for a rad (560 mind...) and then £90 ish for the AM4 block I like the look of...   Ouch..  I have barbs and such here, but I do need some decent tubing.  The last lot I had gave me plastiser issues in the tubing and such, so I'm wishing to try better tube next...   Does anyone have any suggestions at all?

I went with EK-DuraClear, which they say is DEHP Free and also Phthalate Free


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## Solaris17 (Jun 15, 2020)

phill said:


> 10Gb network etc.



you know I’ll always cheer for 10gb internal networks but you know I’m bias


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## A Computer Guy (Jun 15, 2020)

phill said:


> Right, some update photo's for the few bits of kit around the house.....



In some strange way seeing all that makes me wish I kept my 386...


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## Space Lynx (Jun 15, 2020)

Solaris17 said:


> you know I’ll always cheer for 10gb internal networks but you know I’m bias



the new asus z490 $299 mobo comes with a 10gb pcie card (which usually retails for 100), so you get high end z490 board and a 10 gig card basically free, as the mobo itself is comparable in power stages, vrms to other 300 mobos. 

its a pretty solid deal


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## Solaris17 (Jun 15, 2020)

Better than the weird standards like 2.5 and 5g. I run all my stuff with SFP+ SMF modules though so 10g over copper isn’t something I’d step down too. For people building up it might be worth it though.


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## A Computer Guy (Jun 15, 2020)

lorry said:


> I'm hoping soon, I can grab myself some water cooling loop hardware for my 3900X..  I have the parts I'm looking at and all I need to do next is have the cash to buy them..  Man when did EK kit become so expensive??  I think it's currently £200 for a pump and res combo, along with £120 for a rad (560 mind...) and then £90 ish for the AM4 block I like the look of...   Ouch..  I have barbs and such here, but I do need some decent tubing.  The last lot I had gave me plastiser issues in the tubing and such, so I'm wishing to try better tube next...   Does anyone have any suggestions at all?
> 
> I went with EK-DuraClear, which they say is DEHP Free and also Phthalate Free



At first I was a bit put off by the cost of the EK pump/res combo but after dissembling/reassembling and running it, I was pretty satisfied with the quality for the price.  I do regret getting the EK-DuraClear.  It clouded almost immediately on me (plasticiser I guess) next time I'll try something else maybe the EK ZMT or hard line tubing.


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## lorry (Jun 15, 2020)

A Computer Guy said:


> At first I was a bit put off by the cost of the EK pump/res combo but after dissembling/reassembling and running it, I was pretty satisfied with the quality for the price.  I do regret getting the EK-DuraClear.  It clouded almost immediately on me (plasticiser I guess) next time I'll try something else maybe the EK ZMT or hard line tubing.



Not clouded for me at all so far


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## Lorec (Jun 15, 2020)

phill said:


> Well guys, I've been meaning to add some pics in this thread for ages and I've still yet to get around to it...  So....  Now here some are!!
> 
> View attachment 159063 View attachment 159064 View attachment 159065
> 
> ...


As always much appreciated pictures of Your mancave     Im really in love in Your server box, it looks awesome.
...that x79 Dark though... 
Work-wise, glad You have Your sights set in a direction! Keeping my fingers crossed!
btw: Make sure Your girls get enough exposure to PC parts, hopefully it will stay with them


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## phill (Jun 22, 2020)

Wow guys, many thanks for all the replies to the thread    I've bene trying to get some brain cells working to write out a reply and that's not worked, so now I'm just going to wing it   (Bat pun!  As he says in Lego Batman...)

Still 

So, aside from the 10G network I'd like to build up and such for the moment, I'd like to focus a little on the hardware I'm on the eye out for..  As there's always something that I'd like to get my grubby little hands on, trouble is, there's so much I could buy and get in debt over, I'm trying to be good and just do things piece by piece..  I'm sure it won't work that way or end up that way, but I'll do my best 

I have a list in my head of things that I'd like to get, firstly and I guess to be honest most importantly, lets start with my 3900X build...

Ryzen 3950X...  I'd like to replace the 3900X I have and grab a 16C 32T Ryzen..  Most likely a big waste of cash but, for crunching and my OCD, well enough said! 
Custom water again - Some parts are - 
EK Velocity Water block - Not for the RGB by any means but the sleek clean look of the metal 
I'm considering some EK Vardar 140mm white fans for the case fans, not so much the radiator fans..  Looking to try a bit of contrast between black case and what fans.  If I could have got white rads, that would have been awesome...  I was also looking into the Black Ice Nemesis GTR line of rads but I think even from the reviews I've seen, they are king of the hill but if I can get the CE560 rads for a little over £100, then the GTR's are nearer £200, they aren't going to be twice the performance I'm sad to say...  Do love the naming of them tho, GTR..  Favourite car and all... still, moving on 
I'm looking at a EK 560mm Coolstream CE rad, two I think, one for the CPU and the other for the GPUs (eventually)  And a bit of overkill cooling never hurt anyone...
Two EK Plexi Quantum D5 pumps and res combos, possibly 300mm res... I think these must be one of the best combo's out there surely??

There's probably more at the point when I have the kit in front of me for how to get it fitted into the case and such like, but for the hardware side of things right now, that'll be what I'm after for that rig...

For the rest of the rigs and some for my collection of kit -

Isabelle's 1700X rig, I'd like to get a tower for that one.  Isabelle likes the one the Mrs's has, the Fractical R5 in white..  I'm not sure how lucky I'll be to find another but...

My EVGA X299 Dark board... As I literally just have the motherboard (and it's as yet, never been opened!!) I'd like to fit it was a crazy ass CPU but at the moment, there's nothing really around which is kinda frustrating but not the end of the world.  I'm looking for the 7980/9980/10980XE models in particular.  I guess I need a little Intel crunching going on aside from the servers, so I'd like to pick one of those.  I'm kinda leaning towards the 10980XE as it was a £1000 to buy new, so hopefully it could be a fair bit cheaper, especially with all the new AMD releases with the 3 series and the 4 series whenever they drop..  I live in hope   Also with this on, I'd need the rest of the system, so that'll be a big ask and big money I'm not doubting to get sorted out.  I do however have a spare 1080 TI with water block and I think some G Skill 3600 C16 RAM, so I suppose I could use that   It's kinda on the back burner that one...

Next up is my Ryzen 2700 CPU..  I'm unsure quite what to do with this one.  I would love to get it crunching as well and since I already have the Hero 7 non wifi, I'd like to try and grab the hero 7 wifi model.  Now sadly from what I've been seeing the prices of these boards are still very high but I guess it is still something you can use with the 3 series CPUs and so on, so maybe that's why it's holding it's price so well?  I was toying with the idea of a Asrock Tachci model, I believe the Ultimate model does have a 10G network port.  I'm with @Solaris17 in that I can't get the idea behind these 2.5G and 5G wired network ports.  Must be trying to keep the price of 10G higher for a while and then release 10G on everything as these others didn't catch on...  I dunno  
I've been toying with this to use the 1080 Ti I have spare also and use it as a Media type streamer since I can imagine having a beefy GPU to help with the 4k encoding and a good 8C 16T CPU as well would also make light work of that sort of thing..  I'm still not so sure tho...  Suggestions anyone??  
If I can find a Hero 7 Wi-Fi board, this will go in the collection with the other Crosshair Hero boards I have.  I might MIGHT grab another Hero 8 with Wi-fi but I hate Wi-Fi lol  But then if I do go stupid crazy, I could like to consider keeping the 3900X as a full time cruncher and then using the 3950X as a daily machine...

I do have some storage requirements which are for replacement drives in my Synology system.   As mentioned a lot of times before, I have 6 x 4TB WD Reds in there (limited by 1Gb network which hence I'd like to change it for a 10Gb network...) but they aren't the fastest of drives (never really bought for speed considering the network bottleneck I have) but for the price at the time I bought all 6, best price to size ratio I could find..  I can fit a total of 10 drives in the case I have (Fractical Node 804) so there's space for more capacity if I need it 
I'm looking to do the same again basically.  I'd like to go for as big a drive as possible which gives me the best GB/TB per £ quite simply.  I've looked into the Seagate Ironwolf drives but also noticed the Exos drives which I think have a better price, better warranty and are rated for longer and more writes etc.  Now I'd never hit those usage figures for love or money but I am again thinking of best price/size performance here..  I'd like to I think, grab at least 4 to 6 drives to start with.  Two to four in Raid 1 possibly (two pairs - might consider Raid 5) and then another two for backups as currently I have 6 drives which total the 12TB size I'm currently backing up.  Sadly there's more data on the R730 I have, which I'd like to get pulled off and consolidated in the Synology rig..  It's been so stable and brilliant, I've really had nothing to complain about.  Its a custom put together one but it's been so stable, just can't fault it.

On top of that lot, I wouldn't mind trying to grab some new coolers for more of the Ryzen CPUs I have here.  The AMD Coolers are a load better than Intel stock coolers but nothing can best a fairly well priced (under £40 for example) aftermarket heatsink/fan combo..  Crunching machines here need to be kept as cool as possible and quiet..  That's the plan anyways!!   The Arctic Freezer 34's I have aren't too bad but I believe the size of the base on them doesn't give them the best start possible.  They don't quite cover the CPU for me which is a bit of a disappointment.  They do however work fairly well  

Apologies any/everyone if you have got this far (which is awesome cos you've not fallen asleep with all these rambling I'm doing!!) lots of text but so much rattling around in my little mind, I need to get it down and out there so new stuff can go in and I can hear back from people who are a lot more intelligent than me   (Shouldn't be too hard to find that at all!! )

Any feedback, suggestions, slaps around the face, feel free to reply!!


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## lorry (Jun 23, 2020)

And i thought that I could ramble !


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## phill (Jun 23, 2020)

Too much in my little head and it all needed to come out lol That lot will surely keep me going but it's not everything   Still, I do want to finish my projects, I hate things unfinished


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## tabascosauz (Jun 23, 2020)

phill said:


> On top of that lot, I wouldn't mind trying to grab some new coolers for more of the Ryzen CPUs I have here.  The AMD Coolers are a load better than Intel stock coolers but nothing can best a fairly well priced (under £40 for example) aftermarket heatsink/fan combo..  Crunching machines here need to be kept as cool as possible and quiet..  That's the plan anyways!!  The Arctic Freezer 34's I have aren't too bad but I believe the size of the base on them doesn't give them the best start possible. They don't quite cover the CPU for me which is a bit of a disappointment. They do however work fairly well



NOCTUA NOCTUA NOCTUA 

 Seriously though, you need to step up to a higher segment to get a baseplate on your air cooler as opposed to the inconsistent direct heatpipe contact. Any Noctua, or any Be Quiet Dark Rock family cooler.

The noise and thermal headroom is why I've always been a firm believer in getting a quality cooler (or even just a 212 Black) even when it's not strictly necessary. Stock coolers really aren't on the same level, regardless of how people seem to be in love with the Wraith Prism.


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## lorry (Jun 23, 2020)

phill said:


> Too much in my little head and it all needed to come out lol That lot will surely keep me going but it's not everything  Still, I do want to finish my projects, I hate things unfinished



Yeah I hear you there, sure most of us are like that. My own modest setup took 9 - 10 months to complete because I was Having to get it virtually piece by piece.


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## lorry (Jun 23, 2020)

tabascosauz said:


> NOCTUA NOCTUA NOCTUA
> 
> Seriously though, you need to step up to a higher segment to get a baseplate on your air cooler as opposed to the inconsistent direct heatpipe contact. Any Noctua, or any Be Quiet Dark Rock family cooler.
> 
> The noise and thermal headroom is why I've always been a firm believer in getting a quality cooler (or even just a 212 Black) even when it's not strictly necessary. Stock coolers really aren't on the same level, regardless of how people seem to be in love with the Wraith Prism.



Until I swapped from air to water cooling the CPU, I didn't really believe the difference in noise, and I have two extra fans and the pump noise to compare to the air cooled.


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## xtreemchaos (Jun 23, 2020)

thats my type of room and de-core, id never want to go out, ive one just like it but with a little less compute kit but i make up for it by having about 15 to 20 telescopes "some ive built for folk and some i use" and imaging kit. well done and thanks for the view.


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## YoRick (Jun 23, 2020)

phill said:


> So now all the boring text is out the way, I'd just like to ask about the forum to see if anyone else 'bothers' with this sort of thing at their home, whatever the scale.


Old thread, long thread, sorry did not read it all as I am headed to bed--but I also just found this site joined it and wanted to check out at least one article first; and I am glad it was yours.  My 'short answer' is "no".  The long answer is: "I'm about to be.  And I started pricing things out more seriously today.  Windows Server is a bit expensive to be adding on top of the price of a test bed and all, so I started looking at Server Essentials to avoid the cost of CALs.  Well... I stumbled across something in my research that made me go hmmm.... and rekindled an old desire.  LINUX!  Build a bare-bones test bed, download Ubuntu server, and learn how to install, configure and run a Linux based PDC, SDC, DNS, DHCP, and I saw something about using OpenLDAP for an AD DS linux based emulation.  I could then put a $115 virtual Windows 10 Pro and network that with my home PC (which I refuse to use for a test bed for these purposes--I don't want to crash this thing), and then play around with it.  I've been Service Desk for a while, but I am fed up with our upper tier support; and I know more about their jobs than they do, so it is time for me to step out of this realm and look for an engineering position--but first I have some learning to do!  (Real learning--not "college learning" where you "mesmorize" things for a semester then do a data dump...)"  I look forward to delving more into this thread tomorrow afternoon!


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## trparky (Jul 22, 2020)

I just had to stop in this thread and say... Damn, I've not seen DFI LanParty motherboards in a long time. I used to own one way back in the nForce 4 days.


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## phill (Aug 2, 2020)

Well everyone, I thought it's been a little while since I posted in here so I thought what a better day to do something as I was having a sort out and generally thinking about the project, things are moving on, slowly, but there are moving on!!  

So what to start with first...  Lets go for the job side of things...

Works been getting me down a little for a few weeks/months, so I'm off work now for a week as it's my birthday today and I have my eldest daughter with me (I hope!!) later on in the day..  I'm going to have a serious look around for work as I really need to move on to get myself back in touch, so to speak.  Bringing stress and unhappiness home with me is not what I wish for, so that needs to change and change for the right reasons and for the right job too   I'm hoping to find something that's going to push me forward and make me start thinking again as at the moment it's very hum drum and dull for me.  I'm very grateful for being in work make no mistake but it has to change because I'm not moving on as I wish and wanted to be. 

So as that bit is out the way, next on the agenda  
The 3900X rig...  It seems to be causing a bit of a stir around with whatever it's doing boosting and such with the vcore I'm using but still, I've progressed the plans on for it now so, I've got some things to share with you just waiting for the last few bits and pieces to show up 

Now, I'm sure as everyone who has at least looked at the pictures in this thread  can tell I'm a bit of a loon when it comes to liking my hardware..  Then hopefully these few pics, should speak 1000 words and yadda  

    

     

Now some say, he might be crazy, some say he probably is, some say he might know a thing about overkill, but all we know, he's called Phill  

All jokes aside I hope that you enjoy the pics and that hopefully with a few more parts turning up soon, you'll enjoy the build log a bit more   If there's anything you'd like to ask for question my craziness or madness, then please do   I'd like to hear from you


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## lorry (Aug 2, 2020)

Enjoy!


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## Lorec (Aug 2, 2020)

phill said:


> Well everyone, I thought it's been a little while since I posted in here so I thought what a better day to do something as I was having a sort out and generally thinking about the project, things are moving on, slowly, but there are moving on!!
> 
> So what to start with first...  Lets go for the job side of things...
> 
> ...


Its always a massive pleasure to see pictures of Your attic!     
Im a little concerned that the ceiling might drop on You one day from the weight of all that hardware! 

I hope Your work situation clears out, money is important but being proud of what You do is a mandatory!
Also im kinda late but HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATE! Hope You had a great day @phill


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## phill (Aug 3, 2020)

Lorec said:


> Its always a massive pleasure to see pictures of Your attic!
> Im a little concerned that the ceiling might drop on You one day from the weight of all that hardware!
> 
> I hope Your work situation clears out, money is important but being proud of what You do is a mandatory!
> Also im kinda late but HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATE! Hope You had a great day @phill


I hope you're doing well mate? 
Well many thanks @Lorec for the reply back    I realise I might have one or two issues with the weight of the loft, but I think that's generally down to me putting on a few pounds   Where you offering your services about hardware placement to protect the weight of the loft??    

Today has been a good day, managed to get a few things tested I needed too (found another CPU that needed a quick, does it work test LOL and a board I'd bought that didn't work that today has done..  Must have been my lucky day!!    Good job I entered into the competition...  We'll see...  )  

I've had my two girls around with me, a lovely tasty BBQ setup by my Mrs and all of the family was there.  Happy days  

Will see if I can find some other work tomorrow, or at least put out some interest searches to see what comes back


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## Arjai (Aug 3, 2020)

HB @phill !!

Hope the Job search goes well!


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## phill (Aug 3, 2020)

Thanks @Arjai   It's time I moved on, wages aside I've just not got the love anymore so I need to go.  

How are you getting on with the job front?  I've not seen anymore updates on your profile just yet?


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## Robert B (Aug 3, 2020)

Happy Birthday phill!   Sorry I was late to the party. 

Your attic makes me want to build my own man cave with all my stuff. 

I hope you find the job that suits your needs. 

Looking forward for more posts from you.  That 3900x seems tasty or toasty?


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## Arjai (Aug 3, 2020)

Got the Security Job but, have not started yet. I think I am waiting on the Uniforms, got some, but not all of the stuff. Not sure that is what is happening. I just got the email address of my site Manager so, gonna hit him up and see why I have not been scheduled for anything.


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## phill (Aug 3, 2020)

Robert B said:


> Happy Birthday phill!   Sorry I was late to the party.
> 
> Your attic makes me want to build my own man cave with all my stuff.
> 
> ...


Your never to late to join one of my parties sir!!   

You should do it!!  I bet you have 10 times the hardware I do    I'm sadly running out of room in the loft to be honest, there's only so many times you can touch the roof before you start to worry about "What would I do if the roof caved in......"    

Whenever the rads arrive, I hope to get the 3900X system in the case, how pretty it'll look I'm not sure and if it has a chance of looking pretty but I'd so love it off the side of my desk!! LOL  



Arjai said:


> Got the Security Job but, have not started yet. I think I am waiting on the Uniforms, got some, but not all of the stuff. Not sure that is what is happening. I just got the email address of my site Manager so, gonna hit him up and see why I have not been scheduled for anything.


I'm glad to hear it @Arjai !!    No start date as yet then or just waiting for go go go email??

So production will be back up and running 24/7 soon enough then??


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## biffzinker (Aug 3, 2020)

Happy 40th Belated Birthday @phill! Sorry I missed it yesterday.


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## phill (Aug 4, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Happy 40th Belated Birthday @phill! Sorry I missed it yesterday.


No need to apologise but many thanks for the best wishes


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## phill (Aug 31, 2020)

So I have a bit of catching up to do now so, best get too it...

A few new editions to my collection and a few developments.....  So without further ado.....  Two more Crosshair Hero boards to add to the completed list  


      
    


Then along came a mass random box, I had no idea what I was getting through!!
          

Followed by a HP microserver as well, for free   I think it might be little out of date but I'm sure it'll do for the for the girls when I get some bigger drives to fit inside of it 

   

 And then as mentioned in another thread, 

   

I had hoped to be grabbing a 3850 AGP card as well but for some reason, I was outbid and I've not been very happy since   It was a lovely boxed GPU, looked in fairly decent condition just needed a bit of a clean from the looks of it...  Gutted I missed it, instead I end up with something else, that I wasn't really looking out for!!   Still never mind..

I think for the moment, that's sorted out the hardware I've bought in for the most part...  Now on to something a little more exciting but in a new post as I've used up all of my images for this one!! 

I hope you'll enjoy it


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## phill (Aug 31, 2020)

Oh and didn't someone say something about Coolermaster Stacker cases??  Here's a couple I still am holding on too......

     

Both are the 810 model but the blue model is the version one, where you could have PSUs top or bottom and the V2 which is obviously the black model, that just has the one placement for the PSU but two 120mm fan spaces at the top of the back of the case.
If I'm honest I prefer the version one but not sure how many would agree with me there... lol    Now I've remember that, I can get on with the main bit for the update....


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## phill (Aug 31, 2020)

Now, this next post might take me a while and might have to cover a coupe posts due to the amount of pictures I may or may not put up...  (I thought I'd warn you first off!! ) 

So, bit of a background for this next update..  I'll try and cut too it as I'm feeling tired, it's 1am and it's not a good time for being an emotional wreck!   So, back in 2015, it was a pretty crap year..  In March after I'd come home from work one night, my ex had took my little lady (Isabelle) and I was heart broken and things wheren't so great.  Thankfully about the worst thing I was doing was spending a literal crap ton on hardware as I just dived into benchmarking like a loon.
After a year or so, I had kinda of sorted things out, still an absolute shite pit in some regards, but I got/get to see my daughter and we make sure we have an amazing time when she is with me..  Back in 2016, it was just me and her as I was on my own.

As I was getting a little more sorted out with money and such like, I decided as I had my rig left on the side, I needed a case and I had been looking around and saw a massive behemoth that took my fancy as I thought as I'd given up benching at this point, something to work on and something that would give me a decent project to build in it.  I'd come across the ThermalTake WP100, a Caselabs knock off and this thing at the time wasn't badly priced I guess, but £350 was certainly a lot.  But then I remember looking over to my Danger Den cases thinking, well,  oh well 

So I'd got that ordered and thought, I'll need a few things for it and get building..  Here's a few pics...

         

As it was my year to have Isabelle on her birthday, I'd built it and thought, well that's a bit bigger than I was expecting or thinking it might be...  Still, looked cool to me   So after getting home with Isabelle, she'd noticed the case and was, well, intrigued to say the least...  

    

Isabelle was 4 in these pictures....  So, it could fit my daughter in??  Right...  I think we might be able to get a PC in there then....

Time flew by as it tends to and after all that, the case just sat on the desk and it became a rather heavy paperweight...  Until 2020 when it was my 40th on the 2nd August...  I had decided that I needed to get my PC off the desk in a case, without any fans showing so Sophia my youngest who is 18 nearly 19 months old, can't put her hands in them.... So that's exactly what I did....  I ordered a few fans, a couple new radiators, some pump/res combo's, along with some CPU blocks to try out and then it was official...  The build was starting....

          

But then I thought, I wonder...  Would Isabelle still fit in the case, 4 years on??  Well in the name of science, I got her to see if he could fit in and well...  

   

So even after 4 years and even with Sophia in there as well (to a degree) I figured whatever I was going to try and do, I'm pretty sure would work, so I got to it....


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## phill (Aug 31, 2020)

So with a few fans attached the case and rad I was putting in the top of the case for the CPU loop, it was now official, this was actually going to happen and actually finish with some luck!!

       

So after some fun with the EK fans, I'd been having issues with them getting installed on the radiator properly, it seemed that some of the screen holes for the fans, weren't 100% accurate and I was a few mm's out from the radiator screw holes and I wasn't able to the fans installed with ease.
I found a way around it which was to put a slightly larger screw driver down the screw hole of the fan, and just grind it out, so it was ever so slightly bigger so that the screw could move and I could get it attached to the rad...  That was not fun trying to figure that at at 2am....

I'd ordered a pump mount that would fit on a 140mm fan, so I could mount the pump and res to one and when I got it installed, I thought, it's not a bad place to get it installed...

   

The only slight draw back I had and again around 1am this time, was that the provided screws for the pump fitting, where too small...

 

Unless 6mm is the new 10mm, I wasn't getting much luck in screwing it together with a washer in there as well, so without the washer it has attached fine but I will when I have 5 minutes, get a mail off to where I got it through and say is there any chance of getting some replacement 10mm long cap screws as only 6mm were included in the packaging....

I thought since I had 3 rads and two pumps I wished to see the difference between the air cooler (Noctua 14D) and the water loop whilst I was still messing about with things.  So I setup a loop in the way I always do and got it leak testing...  The in tube from the CPU block to the res on the right was not cut to the right length and whilst it wasn't the best, it did it's job as you can see below -

         

The system was a mess and thank god it needed to come apart anyways...  Wow...  Only problem with open test benches, the dust and the mess they can make!! 

Whilst it was on the test bench, I found the rather dodgy Asus Aura software and was trying out some lighting effects.

  

I was aiming and hoping for a white and black theme, I had hoped to find white tubing but couldn't find any decent stuff so I went with clear instead.

After a few days of testing just to get an idea on the temps I was getting with the same settings as the air cooling was doing, I decided to get it on to the next and stop wasting more time...  So with my brain in a kind of forward thinking gear, I set to clearing everything off the desk so it have a decent clean and polish, I could get on with the next step, getting everything into it's new home.....

 

Oh the small cube on the left hand side holding the door open, that's the HP Microsever I put up in the tech purchased thread....  This case is massive and even then, that's kind of an understatement!!  Since another 30 pictures uploaded in this post, hopefully I can get the last post covered with the rest of the little journey....


----------



## phill (Aug 31, 2020)

Now whilst it was fast approaching 230am again and it was Friday, I was so very close to having everything under wraps and ready to be quickly leak tested and then left together properly...  Well this morning it wasn't mean to be...

 

I found that the pump and res combo had slightly come apart and it had leaked water into the molex plug, and all the way down its cables...  I was soooo not amused...  So I drained the loop, checked over what I thought it was, and then found that the pump and res had slightly come apart so, I got it all done up and then before I went to bed about 245am, I put a little liquid in there and made sure by the time I'd finished work that day and such, it was all the same so I could then get the system finally and I do mean finally finished....

Work flew by and boy was I glad it did  

I was off out with the Mrs as Sophia was off spending the night with Nanny, so when I got home I made sure before we left for the meal, the system was up running and working!!  

   

Please excuse my former heavy self and my leak testing methods, but after about 10 minutes of it, I had at this point hoped that it was all working well enough so I made sure everything was connected to the PSU that needed to be, then it was literally crunch time....  

   

It turned out, it was working fine..  I think the best thing for it was a constant heavy load on it for as long as possible...  Well what do you know, I crunch for WCG for TPU so......    It's been on now for about 2 days and it's been working fine so far  

I wasn't sure at the layout I was hoping for with the monster case.  I did wish for it to be showing off to the room so I hope that now how it is in the third photo, is how I've finally got the system and monitors setup like 

   

As I went with the all Nickel block, there wasn't as much light as there was with the acetal and nickel block as with the later, there was a strip of LEDs around the base of it rather than just the EK lighting up on the front of the block.  

 

I for one, am finally and I mean finally so pleased its now in the case, you wouldn't imagine!!  
The setup is far from finished, I have the cabling to do on the other side and possibly get some white cables in for the 8 pin CPU plugs, the motherboard 24 pin and then the GPUs as well.  I do really love the white light but that Asus software it terrible to use..  No presents of any colour and so on..  Utterly crazy....  Still...  I love the light in the case, the pump and the CPU block and even the motherboard I've changed to white which inside the black case, I think looks awesome  

Possibly upgrades for it would be a 3950X or 4950X, along with two new GPUs with water blocks on them which will be coolers by the other 560mm rad in the base of the case...  I'm going to try and cover over the silver on the optical drive and as it's nearly 3am here now, I can't think of anything else at the moment so I'll call it there!!  

Feel free to make a comment, let me know of anything you'd change and why I should consider it and so on....  Night guys


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 1, 2020)

phill said:


> Feel free to make a comment, let me know of anything you'd change and why I should consider it and so on.... Night guys


Looks like you, and me could benefit from a exercise workout plan to get in shape. After turning 40 my high metabolism rate for burning or not gaining body fat has taken a noise dive. It hasn't gotten any better going on 42 for me. At least you look healthy.


----------



## phill (Sep 1, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> Looks like you, and me could benefit from a exercise workout plan to get in shape. After turning 40 my high metabolism rate for burning or not gaining body fat has taken a noise dive. It hasn't gotten any better going on 42 for me.


I know it well..   Although that said, lost 1 kg this last week, so pretty happy with that..  I need to get my ass back in a routine of the gym 5 times a week but with things going on, I'm not sure how possible it will be..  Have a feeling I'll be doing more cardio than weights as I used to.  That said, just miss all the aspects of the gym!!   I think lockdown hasn't been kind to anyone.  This last month or so, has definitely not helped me and with the Mrs being nice and buying me beer, one a night wasn't helping!!  (like 1/2 pint bottles each night...)   I think that's helping now as I don't drink at all! 

Roll on a few weeks/months maybe, things will be back where I want them to be or at least on the road to recovery!


----------



## Solaris17 (Sep 1, 2020)

Man im super jealous. I run a black and white build myself but it looks like we are inverted! I should have gotten a white rad and fans.


----------



## The Foldinator (Sep 1, 2020)

Nice and clean work, love it


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 1, 2020)

Love the black to white color scheme you got going @phill. Case still seems kind of empty even with all the hardware inside.


----------



## phill (Sep 1, 2020)

Solaris17 said:


> Man im super jealous. I run a black and white build myself but it looks like we are inverted! I should have gotten a white rad and fans.





The Foldinator said:


> Nice and clean work, love it





biffzinker said:


> Love the black to white color scheme you got going @phill. Case still seems kind of empty even with all the hardware inside.


Thanks guys for the lovely comments  
I do love the look of the build, surprisingly I seem to be doing ok with getting them ok and tidy ish in side!  

I know it looks a little empty now @biffzinker but I'm thinking when I change the GPUs and water cool them, I'll put another loop in so there will be something more there as well.  I've got another rad down the bottom of the case which you might be able to see, hopefully another 560 rad will be good enough for a couple more Nvidia or AMD cards when they are released    I'm not sure what I'd be going for, but these 1080 Ti's are beasts and I love them   They'll go to the Mrs and Isabelle.  Sophia will have to have something else but I think at 18 months old, she might not be quite ready for a PC just yet  

I'm having a bit of an issue if I'm honest to decide where to put some drives in, at the moment, there's literally just one SSD installed which is on the back side of the case!!  I'll have to get you guys a pic of that, it's a little untidy if I'm honest, I just wanted the build ready to crunch and use since it's taken me nearly 4 years to get to this point!! lol  I was also hoping to not have any mechnical drives installed in this build but I think I might have to at some point but we'll see  

I'm glad someone other than myself likes this!!   My best mate says I need to go hard tubing but I couldn't be bothered with spending even more money than I already have done, so I'm sticking put for now!


----------



## Robert B (Sep 1, 2020)

I'm speechless phill !!!    

I need a few hours to chew all the pics and assess all the HW pr0n.

Damn son! You knocked it out of the planet! (The park is way too small)


----------



## tabascosauz (Sep 1, 2020)

@phill at this point, you're just reminding me to hate myself for not getting a Caselabs Mercury S3 or Nova X2M before they closed up shop. Really rubbing it in huh lol

Entire setup looks really good mate, clean and understated. Could've easily fooled me from here if you didn't show us the Thermaltake logo on the front  hope everything's been smooth over yonder


----------



## phill (Sep 2, 2020)

Robert B said:


> I'm speechless phill !!!
> 
> I need a few hours to chew all the pics and assess all the HW pr0n.
> 
> Damn son! You knocked it out of the planet! (The park is way too small)


Coming from you sir @Robert B I feel honored!!  Thank you sir!!           I do try my best when trying to put things together nice and tidily and neat as possible, I know I need some more time with this build but right now, I'm just too busy enjoying it lol

There's quite a few things on my list to change or that I'd like to change and swap out I think, all jokes aside with regards to the cables, I'm wondering whether or not some white PSU cables would make it look better and then possibly some white SATA cables as I still run those types of drives...   There's a few software tweaks I'd like to make with regards to the fans and the spinning up/down as it's driving me nuts with how it's spinning up and down every so often..  The fan controller at the front I'm not sure is perhaps working so well with the fans being 4 pin and I've modded some cables to make them fit 4 pin plugs, as they only have two pins in all but one which has 3 pins...  
I had even wondered about swapping the rad 180 degrees and then moving it slightly nearer to the back of the case, so that the top fan wouldn't get in the way of the barbs/tubing but I'm not sure about that one just yet... 
The GPU loop I'll put in, will have a pump mounted around half way in the case, but hopefully the tubing will aline to the bottom card, in then out straight down to the base of the case where the rad is, so that should hopefully be a very neat run with some luck....   Suggestions from anyone would appreciated and gratefully received 



tabascosauz said:


> @phill at this point, you're just reminding me to hate myself for not getting a Caselabs Mercury S3 or Nova X2M before they closed up shop. Really rubbing it in huh lol
> 
> Entire setup looks really good mate, clean and understated. Could've easily fooled me from here if you didn't show us the Thermaltake logo on the front  hope everything's been smooth over yonder


I think I might have a chance at owning a Caselabs case but when I bought this one 4 years ago, I was very fixated on the price, and being nearly 3 times as much for what was near enough for me, the same case, I couldn't be bothered with the extra outlay...  I would have rather put it towards some new GPUs, storage or something    I'm sure you could find them on Ebay or something @tabascosauz ??  I half wondered if selling off my Danger Den cases would be worth it but they home my X58 rigs I have, I can't get rid of those, ever!!  

I love how you've described it since it's meant to be exactly that, just clean and understated.  Kinda reminds me of seeing these amazing builds with the beige cases of yesteryear and them having £5000 worth of kit inside them..  It's just freaking awesome 

4 years has been a long time, but I'm looking at it now and thinking, yeah, I think I know what I'm kinda doing  

Thank you all for the replies, very touched


----------



## stinger608 (Sep 5, 2020)

Well hell @phill finally put a face to your name bro!!!!!!!!! About dang time.


----------



## biffzinker (Sep 5, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Well hell @phill finally put a face to your name bro!!!!!!!!! About dang time.


He’s also blonde so cut him some slack if he forgets anything here on the TPU forums.


----------



## tabascosauz (Sep 6, 2020)

phill said:


> I think I might have a chance at owning a Caselabs case but when I bought this one 4 years ago, I was very fixated on the price, and being nearly 3 times as much for what was near enough for me, the same case, I couldn't be bothered with the extra outlay...  I would have rather put it towards some new GPUs, storage or something  I'm sure you could find them on Ebay or something @tabascosauz ?? I half wondered if selling off my Danger Den cases would be worth it but they home my X58 rigs I have, I can't get rid of those, ever!!



You'd think that would be the case but the S3/S5 owners are smart. The ones that still have their cases are hanging onto them for dear life. I see one occasional listing every few months, but the sellers know exactly what they can get for them. There's an S3 advertised for $1999 right now, whereas the case used to sell new for about $400USD in that configuration. Granted, the paint is a custom color (or more accurately, the metallic flakes in it are custom), but that's pretty much the state of looking for Caselabs cases now. And finding a X2M is literally impossible, given how much less popular it was compared to even the S3 during the Nova's short run.

That, and there were only so many S3s around in CL's heyday. The future desirability of those cases is a little uncertain without anyone continuing to manufacture accessories and brackets for them.

I have a Cerberus now and the quality of the aluminium and powercoating on it is enough to satisfy my Caselabs cravings. You should really hang on to Danger Den and Mountain Mods cases. Even considering comical price tags like the used Caselabs cases nowadays, sometimes, no amount of money will recoup the loss of a case like that.


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## phill (Sep 6, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Well hell @phill finally put a face to your name bro!!!!!!!!! About dang time.


I don't wish to give people nightmares, so I stay in the shadows as much as possible!!    Thanks for spending a little time here @stinger608 !! 



biffzinker said:


> He’s also blonde so cut him some slack if he forgets anything here on the TPU forums.


You forgot to add what's left of the blonde hair...  Cos there ain't bloody much!! 



tabascosauz said:


> You'd think that would be the case but the S3/S5 owners are smart. The ones that still have their cases are hanging onto them for dear life. I see one occasional listing every few months, but the sellers know exactly what they can get for them. There's an S3 advertised for $1999 right now, whereas the case used to sell new for about $400USD in that configuration. Granted, the paint is a custom color (or more accurately, the metallic flakes in it are custom), but that's pretty much the state of looking for Caselabs cases now. And finding a X2M is literally impossible, given how much less popular it was compared to even the S3 during the Nova's short run.
> 
> That, and there were only so many S3s around in CL's heyday. The future desirability of those cases is a little uncertain without anyone continuing to manufacture accessories and brackets for them.
> 
> I have a Cerberus now and the quality of the aluminium and powercoating on it is enough to satisfy my Caselabs cravings. You should really hang on to Danger Den and Mountain Mods cases. Even considering comical price tags like the used Caselabs cases nowadays, sometimes, no amount of money will recoup the loss of a case like that.


Yeah that's the funny thing people can sell them off for whatever price but if after a awhile they think, ummm I should have kept it and it was an awesome case or whatever, they'd be definitely peeved when they can't buy another case at all or for even double the money from what they sold it....  
It's a reason I keep hold of things I really like..  It'll just go south when you have sold it or whatever, it's never worth the hassle.  I've done it with so many bits and pieces of hardware, I'm just not keeping all I buy regardless....  It's just bloody easier!!


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## stinger608 (Sep 6, 2020)

phill said:


> Thanks for spending a little time here @stinger608 !!



Na, it's just nice to see real people bro!!!!!! You never know what folks look like and it's great to see a face to the people that post here.


----------



## basco (Sep 6, 2020)

Phill if ya still want a 3850 agp card.
good place to look is:
at the moment just this dude





						Grafikkarten - PC-Komponenten | willhaben
					

3.668 Angebote in Grafikkarten - PC-Komponenten. Günstig kaufen und gratis inserieren auf willhaben - der größte Marktplatz Österreichs.




					www.willhaben.at
				



he has 2x dustfree + very good condition in his words- price little bit high i think but retro is not so my cup of tea.
if ya want i could talk to him.


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## phill (Sep 7, 2020)

stinger608 said:


> Na, it's just nice to see real people bro!!!!!! You never know what folks look like and it's great to see a face to the people that post here.


Oh mate, I wouldn't wish that on anyone!!  This is a face meant for radio!!  



basco said:


> Phill if ya still want a 3850 agp card.
> good place to look is:
> at the moment just this dude
> 
> ...


I believe I have managed to find one thank you @basco   I'll find out when it arrives......


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## phill (Sep 25, 2020)

As its been a while, I think it's time for a small update....

Since my mate gave me the PS4 Pro and a few other bits and pieces, I had been wondering what the heck could I do for him in return...  
Whilst Sophia was inspecting the case and making sure I had all the relevent tubing for the build, I managed to grab some hardware and get started....  The case I had had for ages and didn't really know what to do with it, so I grabbed that and picked that up for the build...

   

I tore down the case and cleaned it inside and out, it really did need a clean!!

So after cleaning it through and starting to put things inside the case, I knew I had a few bits I'd need, so I ordered another Xeon CPU for it since the one I had with the board was a hex core and 1.9GHz, so that had to go..  I went with an Xeon E5-2658 V2....  I also needed another PSU as I didn't have one currently spare then, so I managed to grab a decent buy on a Seasonic Focus 650w model 
Here's a few more bios and setup pictures of the case 


            

So now I'm just waiting for a time I can drop it off to him, hopefully it'll do all he wishes for much faster and without any issues at all    I'm hoping to take it around to him today...
I've got it on a few SSDs and it seems to be screaming along  

I hope it makes up for the PS4 Pro and the other bits and pieces he's helped me with  

As it's getting later here than I would like, I'm going to head off everyone, but I'll post back tomorrow what he thinks and such   I hope he's impressed  

Thanks for taking a look everyone !


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## biffzinker (Sep 25, 2020)

phill said:


> Thanks for taking a look everyone !


Thank you for the update.


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 25, 2020)

@phill  Are you going to OC that Xeon a bit?


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## Rob94hawk (Sep 25, 2020)

Awesome!! That's all I have to say.

And I thought I was hoarding saving all my stuff from the 440BX days to now. If you want ancient hardware to tinker with let me know. I feel guilty letting this sit in my closet collecting dust.


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 25, 2020)

Rob94hawk said:


> Awesome!! That's all I have to say.
> 
> And I thought I was hoarding saving all my stuff from the 440BX days to now. If you want ancient hardware to tinker with let me know. I feel guilty letting this sit in my closet collecting dust.
> View attachment 169741


That is a board from what was a very solid Dell system. No OC features, but rock solid. Upto 768MB of RAM too.


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## phill (Sep 25, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> @phill  Are you going to OC that Xeon a bit?


No real need   The PC will be mainly for ripping and converting, so we've given it a test today as I've managed to get it over to him..

His old PC for a blu ray conversion took 2.5 hours.  Same film, 6 minutes 20 seconds 

I'd say that's a bit of an improvement wouldn't you?


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 26, 2020)

phill said:


> His old PC for a blu ray conversion took 2.5 hours. Same film, 6 minutes 20 seconds
> 
> I'd say that's a bit of an improvement wouldn't you?


Oh yeah! Hell yeah!


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## phill (Sep 26, 2020)

He needed it plus with what he's going through and what he helps me out with, it's the least I can do for him   Plus the hardware was laying about doing nothing so...  Job done!!  

Said to him, we'll see if we can grab some newer Ryzen stuff and get them all working the same   I think he was a little excited with that!


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## Mr Bill (Oct 5, 2020)

phill said:


> Right, some update photo's for the few bits of kit around the house.....
> 
> View attachment 136045 View attachment 136046 View attachment 136047 View attachment 136048 View attachment 136049 View attachment 136050
> 
> ...


I love your setup. My dad was into CB and Ham radios back in the 50's and 60's, as a child of around 8-10 years old, I was fascinated by his little shop, he threw nothing away, especially back then when these radios run on tubes, and most used some of the same tubes. I picked up his torch with computers, and have been building them since the middle 80's. My problem is, I've run out of space now, so I looking at maybe buying either a 20' or 40' shipping container and moving my PC shop into one of those, I have a lot of property, but a very small home.


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## lexluthermiester (Oct 5, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> My problem is, I've run out of space now, so I looking at maybe buying either a 20' or 40' shipping container and moving my PC shop into one of those, I have a lot of property, but a very small home.


An older mobile home might work better. They can be had for cheap and would be much easier to get power to.


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## phill (Oct 5, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> I love your setup. My dad was into CB and Ham radios back in the 50's and 60's, as a child of around 8-10 years old, I was fascinated by his little shop, he threw nothing away, especially back then when these radios run on tubes, and most used some of the same tubes. I picked up his torch with computers, and have been building them since the middle 80's. My problem is, I've run out of space now, so I looking at maybe buying either a 20' or 40' shipping container and moving my PC shop into one of those, I have a lot of property, but a very small home.


Thank you @Mr Bill    Sometimes people can see either end of the spectrum, some appreciate it, some disapprove.  It's the internet so there's always going to be someone that's bigger and better or that hates whatever you do, but I always say that if people don't like what they see in the thread, they can always go else where 

I've a few more things to upload and lots to try and do, so whenever I can I will make sure this thread stays up to date  

I enjoy my time at TPU and enjoy sharing my hobby and passion with like minded people, so have a check in here every once in a while, I'll try and make sure everything is as up to date as possible


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## Mr Bill (Oct 5, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> An older mobile home might work better. They can be had for cheap and would be much easier to get power to.


I thought about that, but we have a lot of storms/hurricanes on the coast here in Texas, I was thinking a shipping container might be pretty much storm proof. As for as power, I'm in the A/C and Heating business, and installed my own 200 amp service on the property, so getting air and heat and electrical into the container would be a breeze for me.


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## Mr Bill (Oct 5, 2020)

phill said:


> Thank you @Mr Bill    I enjoy my time at TPU and enjoy sharing my hobby and passion with like minded people.


This right here is what makes joining any forum really enjoyable. I like this one because folks post threads on everything from the  Apple IIe, to the very latest hardware out today, it's like reading a book on the history of PC's where the book never ends.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 5, 2020)

Mr Bill said:


> I thought about that, but we have a lot of storms/hurricanes on the coast here in Texas, I was thinking a shipping container might be pretty much storm proof. As for as power, I'm in the A/C and Heating business, and installed my own 200 amp service on the property, so getting air and heat and electrical into the container would be a breeze for me.


Fair enough. It was only a thought.


----------



## cine.chris (Jan 12, 2021)

I wouldn't bother w/ Net-App. Not my favorite gear... don't expect to find much under the hood.
No Supermicro?  
I'd build some ZFS pools if you want to store data.
Looks like you're doing some interesting work, with an active group.
I'm not familiar with WCG, so I need to look around.


----------



## biffzinker (Jan 12, 2021)

cine.chris said:


> I'm not familiar with WCG, so I need to look around.


There's a sub section here on the forums for WCG.








						World Community Grid (WCG)
					

Forum dedicated to the distributed computing application WCG and our forum's team.




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## RealKGB (May 6, 2021)

Kinda curious - do you have any Kepler cards?
I can't make out individual model numbers.


----------



## phill (May 6, 2021)

Not yet no...  I need to update the thread to be honest, but I think 6 and 7 series of cards I don't have.  I know I've got some 780's coming to me but I need to go pick them up at some point...


----------



## Lorec (May 8, 2021)

phill said:


> I need to update the thread to be honest


about time!  some people are waiting for an update here!


----------



## fma67 (May 8, 2021)

Nice mixture of colectable, enthusiast and daily use )


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## phill (May 9, 2021)

Lorec said:


> about time!  some people are waiting for an update here!


Damn!  I never thought people actually looked at this thread!!     I'll see what I can do


----------



## phill (May 18, 2021)

Well guys and gals, I've been trying to put this post together now for a while and thought since it's my 10,000th post, I thought I'd try and make it point full and a decent one (since I've no chance of that, I'm screwed  )  So we'll just make it up as I go along 

I've a few thoughts that I was wondering on a few people's opinions and I have also been looking at sorting out my home server box that is my Synology or Xpenology as the case might be   I'm a little bit tired so this might not be my best post of the day but... I'll do my best 

So I have a couple of X370 boards that I use for crunching/folding/mining on (as they run WCG/FAH/Rosetta on etc.) and I'm just wondering about switching out a CPU or so for them...  I've two Hreo 6 boards with 1700X's in them, they are crunching away pretty well, no issues whatsoever..  The thing was, I was considering a swap out with one of two CPUs...  a 3900X or a 3950X since the Hero 6 board can't take the later 5 series CPUs....  The thing is, I already have a 3900X, I'm aiming to either put in a cruncher or do something with maybe a beefed up server. 
So what might anyone do?  Buy another 3900X and use that as a cruncher and use something else for a server or buy a pair of 3950X's for the two X370 boards??.....  Penny for your thoughts guys.... 

I do have a Ryzen 2700 that I can swap out for the server, then I'd just need to buy another board and a few bits to get it all up and running....  Thoughts??  Depending on the OS etc. used for the server, I will consider running WCG or something on there to assist with my current support for the teams of TPU 

I'll try and add up some new photos' as well to make it a little more pretty    Apologies guys and gals, very tired it seems not going to make much more sense than normal; so I'll post here and do another update as soon as possible 

Also regarding the change in job role I've had a few  jobs show up, one I'm waiting for an email/phone call to go in for an interview...  Hopefully soon   WCG/FAH/Rosetta updates I'll do in the morning when I'm a little more awake lol
Thanks for reading guys, hopefully some more sleep and such in the morning, I might be able to string a sentence or two together a little better


----------



## FreedomEclipse (May 18, 2021)

I dont suppose you have any 4GB DDR2 SO-DIMMS in your Aladdin's cave do you?


----------



## A Computer Guy (May 18, 2021)

phill said:


> Well guys and gals, I've been trying to put this post together now for a while and thought since it's my 10,000th post, I thought I'd try and make it point full and a decent one (since I've no chance of that, I'm screwed  ) So we'll just make it up as I go along
> 
> I've a few thoughts that I was wondering on a few people's opinions and I have also been looking at sorting out my home server box that is my Synology or Xpenology as the case might be  I'm a little bit tired so this might not be my best post of the day but... I'll do my best
> 
> ...


3950X's just because you might as well tap it out to the max for that generation of motherboard.


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## Lorec (May 18, 2021)

Definitely a 3950x in the fray would be nice, even though 1700 is a great low TDP cpu there that sips power.
PPD wise its a no brainer, but power wise...especially when the sun is gone for You every year when season ends


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## phill (May 18, 2021)

FreedomEclipse said:


> I dont suppose you have any 4GB DDR2 SO-DIMMS in your Aladdin's cave do you?


I don't think I do, I think the biggest I might have is a couple 2GB sticks if that...  I'll see if I can find out for you 


A Computer Guy said:


> 3950X's just because you might as well tap it out to the max for that generation of motherboard.





Lorec said:


> Definitely a 3950x in the fray would be nice, even though 1700 is a great low TDP cpu there that sips power.
> PPD wise its a no brainer, but power wise...especially when the sun is gone for You every year when season ends


I can see were you both are coming from, the only problem is paying for two more CPUs and then still 'having' to upgrade the other 4 or 5 motherboards I have when they get tipped for being end of life although I'm very impressed with the AM4 socket and AMD for keeping it around so long, it's been another 775 socket I think! 

I'm toying with the idea of grabbing another 3900X and throwing those in the two X370 boards (helps keep my costs down!!  ) besides I can then try and get myself a few 5950X's to put in my X470/X570 boards..   I can always make use of the 2700 I have with a server project and then I'm not sure what I'd do with the pair of 1700X's I have and the 2700X I have but I'll come to that bridge when I come to it 

I'm hoping to get a few bits of hardware sent over by my mate in the US soon and I have another mate who has some bits in the UK he would like to get rid of, so I'll have a day trip to go and pick that up...  There might be a few more setups going on (WCG and hopefully FAH if I have enough spare GPUs!!) and hopefully some good news when it comes to a job too....  Just waiting on an interview date there...  

Definitely need to start thinking/planning about a HomeServer upgrade for home...  I'm even considering to use one of my Coolermaster Stacker cases, since those two beasts can fit in 16 hard drives, I have a feeling that should give me enough space for expansion and they are well, quite big (I think there's a few pics in the thread of them thinking about it!) so that'll be great to get them up and running again...  Or one of them at least  
Anyone got any thoughts on what they'd use for a server/storage type OS?  I'm wondering about trying something new...  the Synology has been great and it's a brilliant setup but I think it's time for something a little different I think    It'll be nice to get it working with the phones in the house so it can backup to them as I have now, that's a really big plus for me   Any suggestions?


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## FreedomEclipse (May 18, 2021)

phill said:


> I don't think I do, I think the biggest I might have is a couple 2GB sticks if that...  I'll see if I can find out for you



Dont worry about it. I already have 2x2GB sticks. Was hoping you might of hoarded more  

8GB kits cost stupid money and you cant really find pre-owned kits or single modules either so you have to pay the silly price that people ask for which is between £80-110.

I mean, f**k that, I could buy a pre-owned/refurbed Dell E6410 or E4310 for £135 and I already have enough ram in my possession to make an 8 or 16 GB set.


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## phill (May 18, 2021)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Dont worry about it. I already have 2x2GB sticks. Was hoping you might of hoarded more
> 
> 8GB kits cost stupid money and you cant really find pre-owned kits or single modules either so you have to pay the silly price that people ask for which is between £80-110.
> 
> I mean, f**k that, I could buy a pre-owned/refurbed Dell E6410 or E4310 for £135 and I already have enough ram in my possession to make an 8 or 16 GB set.


I did look at the prices of them and I was stunned!!    Some people really know how to take the piss!!


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## Hugis (Jul 13, 2021)

Great thread @phill , your collection is super impressive and to say I'm quite jealous would be an under statement !
More updates !!


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## phill (Jul 13, 2021)

Well I can't believe people look at this thread and think, impressive or the word jealous about it    Still, I'm hoping to put up an update soon, a few things have been going on behind the scenes that I'd like to share with everyone, so I can update and put up some pictures etc. 

I think I should update the thread more often but never works  Try to do it when everyone is in bed but get too tired and then I can't type properly     I hope with what is coming over from the US, that people will enjoy the builds and hardware..  It should be interesting but customs is taking ages to do anything    Frustrating...  Must stop buying things I guess


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## Robert B (Jul 13, 2021)

BRING IT ON EARTHLING!!! 

NO EXCUSES!!!  

If needed just swim the distance!


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## phill (Jul 14, 2021)

I think swimming the distance would take less time than having it shipped over to be honest!!     I believe my mate sent it to me on the 12th June....  It's been stuck in UK customs for about a week..  Could it be really that difficult to pick something up?  Put in in a plane or whatever, deliver it to customs, get them to check over it, then send me a bill and then I call pay and they deliver it??   I really must be missing something....

Still, as soon as I can guys I'll put up an update, promise


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## phill (Aug 1, 2021)

Well guys and gals, I thought since it had been a little while and well, I've been a little busy the last few days, I thought I'd give you a bit of an update on a few things that have been happening 

First thing, job wise...  The hunt is still very much continuing, but we are making progress.  I'm trying to stick close to home as I can not be bothered with the driving of late and more so for work, if I can cycle to work and back, then I'll be happy and fine doing that...   Whilst I'm not rushing to find something, I'm waiting for something that comes up that is close by and that's at least paying more and has some sort of progression involved because where I am currently, I have nothing at the moment and that is just really frustrating me and is not helping any sort of progression or in more cases, me learning at all...  For the last 2 years its not changed and since the change over in ownership, well, that's helped even less so a move is definitely needed.  When you get to the point of not wanting to be at work, you know you need to move....  So a few more emails and calls back to a few various agencies, I hope to have some sort of progression on the job front at some point....

Second, well...  As at least some of you (maybe most of you....????) know I have a habit for collecting and having a few bits of hardware my loft was becoming a nightmare to get in and about in simply because we had so much up there with all the girls toy boxes and such that we keep when we have the packaging for when we sell it on...  Sadly also the amount of hardware in there as well was also starting to give me a few issues so we had a move around and tidy up and I've been adding a few things too...  So rather than bore you too much with the details you don't care about, we'll just get going to the money shots I guess 
So here we go....
We have the before hand......


  

So the area that was emptied was in need of the work, so after moving everything away from that and getting down what I could (the Mrs's would have killed me if I had taken everything out the loft to make way for the boards etc. that needed to go up there...  So it took longer than planned but I think I have got it where I want it to be......  More picture time.....



Some of the tools for the job....  I won't be doing selfies in this lot of pictures, it was soooooooo hot up in that loft, I think I might have insulated it a little too much!!     But I digress, time to move on....


     

So we ripped up the little board that was put down, finding two taller supports that had been put there when they first built the house I presume, there was a water tank up in the loft, which I had removed when I moved in and had a combi gas boiler put in and had the old oil boiler taken away..  Had to have gas piped to the house as well since there was just the oil tanker out the back but no real importance there I suppose, so I'll just shut up and move on 
The 4th shot was when I had cut the boards and made sure they all fit in, which surprisingly as yours truly was doing it, they all did...   I grabbed a new roll of insulation, managed to use the full roll pretty much as I put three layers down in between each of the rafters (I was even more so lucky since I never put my foot through the roof at all!!) and then I put on the 22mm thick P5 boards to cover that over and then give us a flat floor in the loft..  Actually went pretty darn well to be honest...  



Then the fun started as I had to sort my way through all of this lot, to get done what I had in mind...  Which was basically.....



Putting up shelves properly along the rafters and making sure they where supported and decent enough for what was being put up on them...  As you can see I had a few large shelves, I believe the 15ft one turned into nearly 20 foot total and the one on the other side was more or less the same as I missed out a little bit near to the hatch...  So...  Here's what that looked like....



So after all the sweating, swearing and such was completed, not to mention the horrible dust from the insulation had settled somewhat (thank god for proper breathing face masks!!) I was on my way to sort out the whole of the roof and sort out the important things.......  So now I will shut up because these next few pics might be a lot nicer than anything I can say......




So there we go....  I seem to have got a little more than I thought I had surprisingly but I was so glad when I could actually see the floor and have everything on show at the same time...  There's a few things not up on show up there, such as RAM and maybe a few GPU blocks and a box of GPUs I've got but I think we all get the idea 

I think it turned out rather well and I'm very happy that the Mrs's although had her moany moments, gave me enough time to get it finished off.   I'm not sure I'm quite so set on the way of the GPUs being laid out but with a few more coming from the US and I'm sure I'll end up buying more here and there (when the prices become more stable anyways)

As I've attached the limit of the photo's in this post, I'll just get on and post again


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## phill (Aug 1, 2021)

I have got everything more or less finished off, bar the other side which is looking like this at the moment....



And a money pair of shots just for the last little bit to finish off the above post....

 

I'll have to put up another post for some purchases I've done recently, so I'll see you there hopefully!!


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## Audioave10 (Aug 1, 2021)

With all of that hardware, I think that's a beautiful attic! I checked the whole thread and really love your hardware choices. 
That's also a lot of Hard Work!


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## phill (Aug 1, 2021)

So with a few more catch ups on some hardware and some other things I've bought recently, here we go 

Firstly, I thought as I'd been chasing an upgrade for the Mrs's ultimately, I was keeping an eye around and found this.....

   

Well aside from the awesome packaging, well, this CPU is a beast!!    I love it....  What more could you say about a 3950X?   Not sure what the performance is like compared to my 2950X but still....  We'll just have to find out for another day I think....

    

And so the fun began....  I don't think this is as good a CPU as my previous 3900X for the voltages as such but still, its still a 12C 24T beast and it's going very nicely in my X370 board, in fact both of them are    WCG and Folding at Home, here we come!!    A bit more on those later....  Oh, glorified pic first....

 

So, as I had a spare CPU around as well, I began testing two other boards I have laying about waiting for that special CPU to sit in and get it running    I had a X570 for a mate and he wishes to use a 5950X in there, so that's what I'll be getting him    With testing the boards for the first time, I found out that the board was of an older bios version (I think I'd had it a good 6 months or more....) so by installing the 64GB of RAM I have for both boards I found it was only picking up on 32GB of that, so bios update and test was required...  I believe these few pictures are of his motherboard, the non WiFi board, I had the WiFi board as I'd previously got the non WiFi board...  (I hope that makes sense !  )  So enough of my rubbish, here's the pics 

   

So a quick power on test and make sure it shows all the RAM and boots, always a good start    I have a new Seasonic 850W for him and he's having my MSI 3090 card to go in it just because    So I'm happy as I've been able to be completely stupid and grab another...  Crazy you say?  Yes, yes I am  

Over the last few weeks here in the UK, its become damn hot, so I thought to myself and chatted to a few mates in the US..........

     

AC was needed....  So I decided that rather than buying something not quite as powerful and something that might not handle the heat and help with some of the house, I went with a slightly bigger unit....  I've not really any regrets to be honest but I do wish I was able to get a bit more powerful unit so it would have done the whole house rather than 3/4 of it (I kid not!    The bathroom, 3 bedrooms (incuding the PC room), landing, hallway downstairs, utility room and downstairs loo, is all a much nicer temp than without this unit...  Only the kitchen, dining room and living room are left a bit warmer but I think they are cooler as they don't have 6 PCs in one of them kicking out masses of heat! )  Very pleased 
Oh and a little comparison in temp recorded by my carbon monoxide alarm...

 

The only real sad thing is that when you turn it off before you go to bed, the heat comes back in massively until the temp drops enough outside to cool the rest of the house down again...   It's definitely worth the 1200w it pulls from the wall to help keep us cool 

The only other updates that I have for now are the WCG and Folding upgrades I've done, but I'll stick a link in to the Cruncher thread and that'll do for now  Another update for a little later...  Hope it's been worth it everyone, thank you very much for stopping by 

EDIT -   As promised a link to the WCG Cruncher thread for reference with the new setups and power usage etc. 

Click me if you dare!! with some more pictures and me trying to sound like I know what I'm doing.....


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## Solaris17 (Aug 1, 2021)

nice phill! Get that lab setup and start doing some cool shit!

I finally migrated all my VMs to my dual socket. finished this AM.


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## phill (Aug 2, 2021)

Solaris17 said:


> nice phill! Get that lab setup and start doing some cool shit!
> 
> I finally migrated all my VMs to my dual socket. finished this AM.


Thank you @Solaris17 !!     I have another server to get in the rack at some point soon, so my plans are to watch some of your homelab videos and see if I can actually get some time and start learning some shit!  Needing to get into DNS, DHCP, Domains and all that jazz because I'd like to see if I could set that up on one of the servers I have here and just play with it. I figure if I can put things into practice at home, I shouldn't be too stumped at work if they ask can I and I can....

How is the new beast going mate?  All working well and you've not maxed out the RAM just yet??   They are taking ages to get anything sorted out about getting rid of a few older servers at work, it's like it's going backwards there not bloody forwards!!  

I had almost forgot to put up a pic for you just whilst I was doing the work on the loft....



I figure you might like a pic of my baby clamps.....   

I'm hoping to get some more pictures up and a bit of a write up with what I'm doing and how I'm getting on learning from your Homelab vids    I have a feeling it'll be bloody good!!    

I would have replied sooner but it seemed that by updating my current setups motherboard bios that it didn't want to boot for a while, so after some basic troubleshooting, we are back in business lol    Now time to go and update the WCG and FAH stats for the day, then bed...  Apparently today it's a special day for me...  Might have to get up early and since I have the day off of work, I can't imagine what is going to be so damn important!!


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## Solaris17 (Aug 2, 2021)

My big build is going well!






I got everything from my other 3 nodes moved over. Now I can wipe my smaller nodes and do more complex videos with clustering etc when the time comes. Was hard to do previously when your cluster is your production and test environment.

Still plans for the big guy. Expanding my data array a little later and going to source some bigger CPUs soon.


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## phill (Aug 4, 2021)

It's very impressive @Solaris17, I wish I had at least some of your insight to understand what it all does!!     Too Youtube later to find out what HomeLab videos you have there, I think I'm going to be busy!!  

Have you got enough spare power now or are you still after some more??  With the CPUs, I might be interested in them as I'm looking to find a pair of E5-2682-V4's I think they are for my other Dell R730 I have, my mate in the US is hopefully tracking down some DDR4 Server RAM for me, so I'm hoping to upgrade them both to 128GB, not that they need it but meh, if it's not overkill, it's not a Phill's server!!  

What do you have in store (pardon the crap pun!!) for the storage setup??  Got a few things I believe I'm going to be needing some help with soon, it's going to get interesting and fun I'm very sure of!!


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## phill (Aug 20, 2021)

Well as it's not all that late, I thought I'd just do a quick update on my little HomeServer that I had bought the Noctua fans for..  So, let the picture feast commence!!  

So here we go, 5 120mm fans and a 1 140mm......   A Fractical Design Node 804......

 

And a setup in there that's not really changed for the last 4 years or more...  

   

Basic Xeon V3, 4C 8T, 16GB, 6 x 4TB WD Reds, setup as 3 Raid 1's so a total usable space of 12TB or just about..  It was dusty in there!!  

      

So a few pictures of the 'old' fans that were in the system, I had swapped out a few times a couple of fans on the front but as these were seeming to start making a noise and so on, I decided after a bit of a chat with a few friends, Noctua's where the way forward..  So we went with the slightly more expensive models to make sure if we where doing it right, we did it very much right 

So with getting things installed and sorted out, I was able to route the fan cables around a little better and I removed the built in fan controller at the back of the case, as it was no longer needed.....  

    


Managed to get all the 4 front fans on one header and as these fans used less power but where more powerful and pushed more air when running than the previous ones, I was very happy with the outcome after I was in the bios trying to suss out the controls for the fan speeds and well, we are doing very well indeed  
The case is very much silent and considering its in a bedroom upstairs the lack of RGB and noise just makes it even better....  

This is something that I'd like to upgrade.  The issue I'm having with the upgrade path is that, I'm looking for something that will do all this does (it's a Synology based solution, based on 6.2 DSM I believe??) but what will also allows me to add in things like Plex (or something else like it) I love having the ability to have my phone connected to it so I can upload photos/videos and all the like to it if really needed but what could I replace it with??

I've been taking a look at the Synology based systems and what sort of drives I could use.  
I'm very much settled on the Seagate Exos range, I'm considering something at least 12TB each simply because its completely overkill for what I need right now but it will also give me a decent amount of extra storage over and above whatever I will use.   I wonder if @seagate_surfer is about and could recommend me some.....
The downside is that I'd like to try and get the case filled with the drives, which on the back side, where the WD Reds are currently, I can fit 8 drives there and another two on the front under the CPU heatsink....  I think for the moment, that the 8 will be more than enough but then depending on how I can raid them up (maybe another 1 or possibly 10??.....) I'd like to make sure I have enough space for backup for whatever size drives I buy just in case.  

But then I got thinking if I was to try something else and have it setup in another case etc.........  Oh the list goes on   

If anyone has any ideas on what I could try and what I'd need to change and do or whichever, please do let me know  

There's a first little update/post for you @Tomgang     Stay tuned, there should be a few more !!


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## phill (Sep 6, 2021)

Well, here we are for a bit of a PC clean up for my Mum's PC that she asked me to build for my sister.....
I think I should have taken a few pics of this thing as it wasn't the nicest thing I've had to work on but I'll share a few quick snaps I took of the state of it....

 

It wasn't in a nice state, sat on the floor with cats sometimes in the house as they have three, it's not the worst thing I've worked on so far but when I took everything to pieces, I had a little bit of help with the cleaning of the case and then I had a bit of a surprise for it afterwards...  Here's a few more pics....

   

So my handy helper was getting involved as well, doing well with the fans as well so handy    The Mrs was useless....  Not one cuppa made during the whole process, I had to make my own and then hers too!!   

So as I had ordered two B450 Strix Gaming 2 motherboards as they where about £100, but had free mice with them (was mouse mats, but they didn't have any in stock, so I got £50+ worth of ROG Mice, hopefully they'll be decent!!) I thought I'd have an utter bargain....  I'm sure not...
Well since I had a spare Ryzen 1700X laying about as it was taken out one of my Cruncher PCs as I'd upgraded both of my X370 boards to 3900X's, I thought well here we go then, dual core to an eight core, sixteen thread CPU instead   They originally had a RX 480 from me, but I had been mining on them a little while before hand, so after they had been re-flashed to a stock 480 Strix bios, I got that installed and working again too.  I had previously tested all 5 of the RX 480s I had, couldn't find any issues with any of them    Bargain!   So below is mostly pictures of the finished product 

         


Case not the best for hiding cables in and the RM450 PSU as well, not the best with the flat cables either but still  
Was surprised to find that the PSUs fan didn't turn on until the PC was running both WCG crunching and Heaven (pulling about 320w I think according to the watt meter) and I was impressed with the temps and the noise from it, so happy days  
After a good clean and sort out, back up, it was up and running again.  They had Windows 7 so I've got 10 installed on there for them and a bigger booting OS SSD (120GB to 250GB I believe) so pretty much bargain there... Mum said to me, how much was it?   Ah was free Mum...........   

I hope that's agreeable with some!!   I bet I'll have missed something in there!!  

Now, its been a busy one, so how about we go on to the next build I've done...........


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 6, 2021)

phill said:


> I bet I'll have missed something in there!!


Looks great! I can't see anything you might have missed.


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## eidairaman1 (Sep 6, 2021)

It be nice if TR and E were merged into the exact same platform, Id like a 32-64 core CPU if the SC was much higher than Ryzen.


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## phill (Sep 6, 2021)

Thanks guys, I'll hopefully get 5 minutes to get a few other things up and running as well since I've had some small little projects to work on  

@eidairaman1 I'd like that too but they'd need to make the CPU TR size, so we could stand a chance at cooling the damn thing!!


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 6, 2021)

eidairaman1 said:


> It be nice if TR and E were merged into the exact same platform, Id like a 32-64 core CPU if the SC was much higher than Ryzen.


I don't see AMD doing that.


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## phill (Sep 7, 2021)

Well not only did I have a few builds to do, I had a bit of a switch around in the room so everything came out for a day and a bit and I had a bit of a shuffle about the room...  So I'll get the before and after pics, I think that might help 

So the before...  After I had cleared out a bit...

   

I had a bit of a try another way around, I was hoping to get the corner desk as it is there in the first pic below and then one of the normal desks by the side of it but there's a slight issue of space and it was literally about 20mm too small, so that went out the window lol    I also tried the corner desk with the 90 degree part sticking out into the room where the white small desk is in the photo, but that never worked as the cables for the monitors didn't reach and I'm not buying more cables for screens I'm not looking to stay with....

  

So after a few moves about the room with the desks, always the fun part, I kinda settled on the setup below for the moment.....

    

The two long 'normal' desks by the window as they have been before (they are 1.6m long and 800mm deep each, so it's 3.2m long there..  Then with a small desk/stand, however you wish to call it, in between of the corner desk and the straight by the window, I have one of my Danger Den cases and then in the corner the 900D that holds my EVGA SR-2 setup and then another Danger Den case (same model, DD21 I believe it was called) and then at the moment, I've a load of spares there with the Mrs's PC setup in the corner and looking fairly clear for the moment lol  

The big case with my Hero 8, 3950X etc. is on the white desk for the moment and all the cables reach so I'm quids in there    I've been trying to slowly take things out of the room I don't need or use in it, so they have gone up in to the loft..  Near empty case and some spare cables/fans and a few bits.  Thankfully, I just need to find some time to tidy away a few extra things and I'll be good to go...  

So far I'm liking the new layout, I would love without doubt to get some better screens, but recently my MSI Gaming X 3090 went to my best mate, so I'm back on one of my EVGA 1080 TI SC cards, always worth saving and holding on to GPUs at the moment I think!!  
As for another day now, my best mates build I will put up hopefully later on tomorrow   Then I have my newer build to put up and then update the cruncher PC setups as well, so hopefully this thread will be a little busy!  

Been trying to track down hard drives as well for the moment, for the servers downstairs but also to upgrade my Synology box as I recently found out that all of the partitions in that are running low on space...  Not so ideal if I'm honest    Still, we'll make it work somehow!!  

I hope that you're enjoying the updates of late    I hope the next one will be good as well     I've also found a few more of my Mum's build I did for her, so I'll try and update the post a bit in there as well    Until the next time


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## Audioave10 (Sep 7, 2021)

I like big cases and those Danger Den monsters are awesome! Plenty of room to work. I see you have a little helper too.


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## eidairaman1 (Sep 7, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> I don't see AMD doing that.



Yeah i just remember the Skt A days, all cpus were on it lol


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## phill (Sep 7, 2021)

Audioave10 said:


> I like big cases and those Danger Den monsters are awesome! Plenty of room to work. I see you have a little helper too.


I had them custom made as they hold 2 480 rads, plus a 360 and 10 3.5" drives plus 2 optical drives as well    They are a beast but bloody hell do they weigh a lot when everything is in the system and filled up!!  Crikey, trying to move them with 8 SAS drives in them, 2 GPUs, water and all the rest of it I think I felt like I needed a forklift!!   

Sophia was hiding when I did all of this, the kit that was in her bedroom and everything that was in ours it was a little messy.... lol   Just glad I had time to sort it all out    That said, I believe I've still two more little updates to do, so I'm hoping I can get one at least done tonight, then the other might be a little while as I have to build the system and I've got my eldest daughter with some luck this weekend, here's hoping at least!


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## phill (Sep 9, 2021)

Right, another little build log with a little twist as this one isn't for me...   Little bit of a back story... 

When I started my role in IT, there was a guy that had been there for years and his name was Jacob.   He went on sick for nearly a year due to a few issues and when he came back, the guy that started to help me and teach me whilst helping support the business got him talking and doing a little more around people..  Jake was a shy and quiet guy (maybe some might say a typical IT guy?!?) but either ways he was made redundant about 2 years ago and the last 6 months I think he came out of his shell a lot more than he had done but never the less, we had become good friends and when he left, he stayed in touch.  Not being one for chatting much eventually he got a phone sorted, so we started chatting through WhatsApp..   Was a load better than the odd email every so often as he never had the internet at home but we got that sorted out as well.  

He's needing a new kidney basically now, so especially over this last 6 months maybe a bit more, friendship got better and so on but we chat every day and whatever its about, we both have a good laugh and enjoy each others company.
Very helpful and giving guy to those that he actually knows and lets them get to know him.  

That'll do I think for the back ground story...  until a little later on..

So, back a little bit in this project log ( Found it!! Click here to find the first build I did for him ) I made up a rig I had a few spares with and that was a 10C Xeon, E5 2658 V2 I think(!?!) 32GB DDR3 RAM, Gigabyte motherboard X79 but can't remember the exact model, plus a fully water blocked 1080 TI and whatever else was in there 
It was a massive upgrade from his original CPU specs of i3's/i5's and possibly some early i7's and for some of the video encoding he was doing, instead of the 2.5 hours it took to complete, we had it down to about 10 minutes say for argument 
I hope and believe he was although taken back by it, it was a great system for him to have and use and he still does to the day for some particular jobs.

A little bit after wards, I was trying to get an upgrade as the 5th Ryzen series had just released and I was like, I would love one of those!!   So I got started and started grabbing some parts for him and me.  Motherboards, the same, RAM same and you can see where it's going.   Basically in the end, he wished to have the same rig as I did...  So even though it's massively overkill for anything he will do with it (hopefully some crunching and folding maybe!!) that's what he wished for, so that's what we went for...

Up till a little while ago, we had been trying to find a particular case/tower as he'd had a Thermaltake X9 in black.  As I do, I was looking through Ebay and came across this instead for him....

      

Well yep, you've guessed it, I found him a white X9 case..  Whilst I was cleaning and not really thinking, I took things apart and forgot a couple pics that would have been helpful but never mind!!  

Reason he liked this case was that the GPU card was not hanging on the PCIE slot and was just sat down on it instead..  Much nicer I thought as well, since we measured the MSI card I'd sold him, it was around 1.6kgs (about 4 lbs I think give or take) which is crazy...  So still he was very happy and was excited for getting it.
A day or so after it arrived, I said to him, pop over and we'll get it all installed and up and running for you....  So with all the parts and all that he'd wished for at the moment, here's a few snap shots of the hardware we had for his build....

 

Like I said, complete overkill    5950X, 64GB RAM 3600MHz, RTX 3090, hopefully the Seasonic 850w PSU will be enough, a triple AIO and a couple of drives - Crucial 2TB SSD, Crucial 1TB P5 NVME drive and a couple of BD drives, one 4k enabled too 

So I got to working on the build and making sure as far as I could, that everything was going to fit, work and basically do what we needed 

Along the way, I was perplexed with the AIO as trying to get it to fit as the tubing isn't the longest considering the size of this case is well, huge!!   We eventually got it fitted in thankfully and it was starting to make the system take shape....  

            

It was finished in the evening he'd popped over which we'd ordered a take away and had been having a good film feast on during the day as well.  Great stuff


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## Audioave10 (Sep 9, 2021)

I like that case with the horizontal motherboard install. Very nice work!  Looks like cool temps for the hardware too.


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 9, 2021)

phill said:


> Right, another little build log with a little twist as this one isn't for me...   Little bit of a back story...
> 
> When I started my role in IT, there was a guy that had been there for years and his name was Jacob.   He went on sick for nearly a year due to a few issues and when he came back, the guy that started to help me and teach me whilst helping support the business got him talking and doing a little more around people..  Jake was a shy and quiet guy (maybe some might say a typical IT guy?!?) but either ways he was made redundant about 2 years ago and the last 6 months I think he came out of his shell a lot more than he had done but never the less, we had become good friends and when he left, he stayed in touch.  Not being one for chatting much eventually he got a phone sorted, so we started chatting through WhatsApp..   Was a load better than the odd email every so often as he never had the internet at home but we got that sorted out as well.
> 
> ...


Now THIS is a Beast Case!


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## phill (Sep 9, 2021)

But as I believe I was running out of space in that post, we'll progress to post 2 

In the morning after a night's sleep, after I'd finished having some help make pancakes for breakfast with the help of "Little Chef" 



I was just going over the system to tidy up some cables and as there was a few places where fans weren't, I decided to get that finished off properly....  well, as good as I could    A few more pics....   

       

I was trying to wire and hold the cables where they'd be least seen and boy was that not such fun but I think it went pretty well   The case was also in pretty great condition to be honest, no really issues apart from a good clean was needed before we started putting the hardware in there...   It was also surprising that it came with 5 Corsair fans which seemed pretty decent as well.  Bonus!! 
I had a message about 130pm ish last Sunday to say that he was free and so if its possible we'd get it taken over, so the last few complete shots of the setup....



And so it's little journey in the car over to Jake's place where it met his brother from another mother   




I'm glad we found it and grabbed it, I think the build and setups for him will be out of this world in comparison so I'm really glad he'll be able to enjoy them both 

Going back to the above post about why I fell this is sad is that he's already said since the lack of kidney about, the fact if you get one, he was saying there's a chance of cancer afterwards and well, we all know how the rest of it....  But he said he was leaving all of his PC stuff and films to me whenever anything happened to me..  
I was utterly blown away with it since I'd rather just have my friend here than a bunch of stuff but at least I'd be able to remember him and think back to these builds and little Sophia saying "Jake, Jake!!"      It brings and gives good memories which I feel are so important.  

I decided if anything does happen, then I'd most likely keep the PCs of his that we've built up together for him and use them as crunchers and folders.  I'm still in disbelief of it all now but as I've learnt over the years, make each moment count you can and try not to think bad of anything, always try for a positive  

Well this is the positive for me, my mates up to date PC is now done and I hope he's going to be very happy with it    I believe he'll be looking at some storage server/NAS soon, so watch this space  

To my best mate, I hope you enjoyed watching and helping put this system together and especially laughed at me when I couldn't figure out how to install the AIO easily    Jake your one of a kind and I'll always remember ya, especially for your company and time...  Best thing ever, not hardware, money or anything like that (Phill what are you saying!!!!!......) but making memories and helping each other out  Company for each other is also totally brilliant   

Well guys and gals, this has taken me a little longer than I thought but still, glad I got the update done     Until next time then I guess??........

I hope I haven't screwed anything up in these two posts, its a little late in the day for lots of text and things making sense!!


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 9, 2021)

phill said:


> But as I believe I was running out of space in that post, we'll progress to post 2
> 
> In the morning after a night's sleep, after I'd finished having some help make pancakes for breakfast with the help of "Little Chef"
> 
> ...


Love that case! Beautiful build. Liking the white more and I would personally throw in some red LED lighting. Fans + LED strips, maybe just fans if the light get a little OP... Oh yeah.


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## phill (Sep 9, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Love that case! Beautiful build. Liking the white more and I would personally throw in some red LED lighting. Fans + LED strips, maybe just fans if the light get a little OP... Oh yeah.


Well I'll leave that too my mate, but I think he's pretty happy with it    I wouldn't have minded a strip or something maybe just to give it a little more light but as you can see where it is, it's not going to get a massive amount of attention I guess..  

Just glad he's finally got all the hardware and the system to use!!  I don't like him not using it!  

Might have an update or two in the next couple weeks, we'll see how things progress!!


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## Quigly (Dec 5, 2021)

Love the thread Phill. Really cool projects! Keep the updates coming. 

I'm glad I discovered this thread soon after I finished the classic hardware thread and the case mods thread. Too bad it's so short though. Now I am fast running out of cool stuff to look at. 

The latest bits on the office tidy and the loft organization are right up my alley. I don't have a tonne of space and have a small collection of bits as well and organizing to both keep on top of what you've got and having it be accessible when you need it without ripping everything apart is always a challenge. 

I admire your dedication to the hobby, though as well I know, it hardly feels like work when you're having fun. 

Off to tinker. Catch you elsewhere in the forum


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## phill (Dec 7, 2021)

Sorry guys, kinda working at the moment and I forget my head if it wasn't screwed on!  

Still, I've a few updates I need to get sorted out and done, loads more to do but there's a few more things to update here 

Still job hunting and applying but sadly nothing much coming through this close to Christmas I guess...  Might have to hold on for a bit....


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## mechtech (Mar 13, 2022)

wow

please tell me  all those boxes in your attic are empty and just kept them from old builds and they are not full of the original hardware!?!?


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## phill (Mar 14, 2022)

mechtech said:


> wow
> 
> please tell me  all those boxes in your attic are empty and just kept them from old builds and they are not full of the original hardware!?!?


Ok, I won't tell you that I have all the original hardware in the boxes and that they are in fact, empty......

 

Gotta update this thread, been too long!!  Apologies for anyone actually following this thread!!...


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## mechtech (Mar 14, 2022)

phill said:


> Ok, I won't tell you that I have all the original hardware in the boxes and that they are in fact, empty......
> 
> 
> 
> Gotta update this thread, been too long!!  Apologies for anyone actually following this thread!!...


Oh

I was hoping you’d have an RX480 for a good price lol.


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## phill (Mar 15, 2022)

Well I did have 6 of them from back in 2017, but sold one and another has gone to a build that my Mum paid for, for my sisters girls that they for some reason no longer want...

One thing I'm down on is GPUs but when my mate finishes up with the few over in the States, I may sell a few off but postage costs for then will probably be more than the cards!  Will be definitely keeping the newer ones I have mind...  

I'm hoping to be able to update this tomorrow...  Hopefully with a nice update too


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 15, 2022)

phill said:


> another has gone to a build that my Mum paid for, for my sisters girls that they for some reason no longer want...


A lot of kids want phones. Some just don't see the utility of actual PCs.. Can't blame them too much. Phones are quick and easy, they just aren't very powerful and have no versatility.


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## trparky (Mar 15, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Phones are quick and easy, they just aren't very powerful


Tell that to my iPhone 13 Pro, it might disagree with you.


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 15, 2022)

trparky said:


> Tell that to my iPhone 13 Pro, it might disagree with you.


It can disagree all it wants, in comparison to a even a *lower* mid-range PC, it can't hold a candle.

EDIT:
Just looked up comparative benchmarks out of curiosity, edit applied..


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## Splinterdog (Mar 21, 2022)

First time I've ever seen an actual child in a PC case. Amazing!
Perhaps inspired by the Tardis.


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## phill (Mar 21, 2022)

Splinterdog said:


> First time I've ever seen an actual child in a PC case. Amazing!
> Perhaps inspired by the Tardis.


I would have kept her in there but sadly, I couldn't fit the hardware   

That said, I do wonder if I could fit another rig in there as well....  It would have a bit more space in there..   I need to go case shopping    With no Microcenter over here in the UK, its so hard to find what your after without buying a ton of rubbish first    Makes me sad


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## phill (Mar 26, 2022)

Well, a bit longer than planned but here we go for a bit of an update 

Well what an up and down few months for applying for jobs is all I can say!    I've had a number of applications put in for various positions, some of which I've actually wanted more than not but sadly none of them have come to pass.  The closest one I was hoping to get my notice period seemed to be the issue as they had another applicant that could start in a weeks time, sadly I don't think they wished to wait a couple of months for me which was a shame.

There's not really been much out that I have been wanting to apply for.  The sad fact of the matter of the distance for travelling and the time away from home, I haven't got the interest in, which is why trying to apply for some roles has been difficult due to the distance for me to travel.  I'm trying to limit travelling to about 30 minutes each way, most of the jobs I've had offers are an hour or more away and I just don't wish to travel that far even more so with my young daughters.

As recently I've not really had the 2022 I have been hoping for..  With the bad back about a month ago and now the broken leg..  A week ago I was in hospital over night for blood clots in my lungs, which wasn't quite the plan I had either...    Hopefully tomorrow I should find out whether or not I need some surgery with my leg..  The likelihood is small but here's hoping  

Well, time to go do some more updates


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## phill (Mar 26, 2022)

Well projects update...  Well there's a few things that I'd like to get done and focused but I think mainly its going to be the home server and probably the home network that I need to work on more so..  

Currently I have my 'Synology' with now upgraded drives - I've gone from 6 4TB WD Reds, to 8 Seagate EXOS 16TB drives.  I've moved everything about and just created some simple Raid 1 volumes which has never failed since I first started with the Synology box.
The only real problem is I believe is that since the fact I'm storing more data on it, I'm wondering if there's a 'better' way to host the majority of the data.  For example, I'm curious is using something like FreeNAS or even Windows or possibly Windows Server to host maybe my videos for example that I share via a media tool in Synology so that my Xbox can view the videos and play them for the girls.  Saves having to use the BR's or 4k's and I can just run it from the server.

Currently storage isn't too much of an issue, so I'm not so worried on that side of things either.  But an issue I do have is the ethernet bandwidth.  1Gb has been fine for a lot of the time, but sometimes transferring maybe a TB at a time or a good few hundred GB across, I'm wondering if its time to start thinking of updating my switch and ethernet.   
Also with the internet upgrade to the 1Gb connection, I'm thinking that downloading and trying to transfer to the server via any PC in the network, will also limit the transfer speeds.   I think that's something that I've got in my head of doing on only the main machines and the server its self.  

What are anyone's thoughts on that??

Also with the faster connection for the server, I would have to reconsider a different RAID setup I currently have would be limiting the performance because it wouldn't be getting anywhere near to say 10Gb network performance.   Guesstimating that 1Gb network is 110MB/sec transfer rates, I think that 10Gb would roughly be about 1200MB/sec speeds?   So, there's the question of what sort of RAID and drive setup would you use for a 10Gb network??   Not that I could use NVME drives currently for my Z97 board which is possibly why I'm considering separating up the home server into two.  Maybe considering one for just data for the family and then the other, a feed for the media - films, music sort of thing  

I'd like some input on that if anyone has any ideas or how they have even managed it.  Obviously with the costs of electric now in the UK, efficiency is high up on the list.  I'm not sure that I'd need to do any transcoding for the films etc. but might it be worth putting a basic GPU in a server just in case?  PCs that connect to the server to play films would have fairly OK GPUs in them, say at least a RX 480, so I can't imagine I'd have any play back errors if that was what was required...

I think I need to put in a few updates with some pics of what I've been up to with the hardware side of things    Pictures and a few words often help more than anything    Thanks for reading in advance!


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## phill (Mar 26, 2022)

Well, here goes for less text, more pictures     Some hardware texting pics 
From my mate in the US, my Dell R730 upgrades...  I've added in the RAM upgrade as well just in case 


  

And now for the CPU upgrade...... 

     

In case the pics aren't that clear, I've gone from a pair of E5-2637 V3's to a pair of £5-2683 V4's   I was hoping for some WCG crunching with these as both of my R730s are decked out with the same setup, but unless the weather is good I'm not sure they are going to be on much  
I noticed also the slight bend in one of the CPUs my mate sent me, I showed it too him and he was not sure how that happened... lol  But it works, and its been in the server ever since... 

Now, on to another 

So we went from a 3950X and a 1080 TI and a MSI 3090, to the 5950X and my Asus 3090 Strix....

   

After figuring out which way around the loop needed to go for the full cover block on the Strix, it was all plumbed in and ready to go.  Temps have been brilliant and boost clocks seen most of the time around the 2000MHz mark, which is great  

Here we are for another little tester build 
So quick run through...... 

 

My Asrock Z170M OCF with 8086k installed   Hoping to get a bit of time with that setup.....
Then.....

  

My EVGA X79 Dark with a E5-1680 V2 CPU, which appears to be up and running rather nicely  
And .....

  

One of my X299 motherboard setups and my 7980XE, there's more to come with that one...  Well, when I get to finally move again!! 

I've a few more I'd like to put up, so I'll do that after some sleep I think      I hope this is a bit of an OK starter......


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 26, 2022)

What with all the detail-less updates?


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## phill (Mar 26, 2022)

Reserved posts, just reminding me what I need to add in them!!


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 26, 2022)

phill said:


> Reserved posts, just reminding me what I need to add in them!!


Fair enough, shutting up...


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## jboydgolfer (Apr 1, 2022)

the problem is worse than id previously thought


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## lexluthermiester (Apr 1, 2022)

jboydgolfer said:


> the problem is worse than id previously thought


What is?


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## phill (May 11, 2022)

Finally, here we have some updated posts as promised a long time ago...  A few more to get put up in the morning    I hope that's not a bad starter everyone     I hope you are all well and ok!!


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## phill (May 12, 2022)

Well, as I'd been a little busy with some basic testing going on with some hardware, I've got some more pictures and thought I'd share them out too    Was done a little while ago, but still 


   

Well My little Z170M OCF and the 8086k was up for some testing as I'd never used either much before.  Its a lovely little system, works very well    Was also testing the NVME drive I had floating about which I had from my MSI X99 Titanium board, and I was testing the heat that came from it without a heatsink, just under the GPU and with the heatsink and so on...  Results where quite surprising considering those little Akasa heatsinks were definitely not the best but where cheap... 

   


I think the best temp with the heatsink and the fan from the GPU was about 32C from memory, it was a little bit down from the 60C+ I was hitting without anything on it and such which I thought was pretty impressive   I'm hoping to be able to do something more with this little rig, maybe do a first for me and put it in a small case with a custom loop or something..  Not sure yet but I do have a 9900k to play around with which this board will work with, as my EVGA Z390 Dark will too 


      

Finally, I've been able to test and get working my X299 Dark board I've had for probably 2 years without a CPU in it at all..  I suppose the 7980XE was an ok choice, I did wonder if I should have tried for a 9980 or a 10980XE instead but I'm not going to try going down that road now 
Did find the board a bit strange to get working and such but when its booted its worked and been working fine, so, I'm not complaining    Probably going to have to knock up a water loop for the 7980 I think, not sure my make shift air cooler is going to take much judging by the CPU-Z bench score     Hopefully it'll be a nice crunching beasty if I can ever make it upstairs to progress it !!

Right well, here we are after another build I need more time with as well...  I'll just shut up and get the pics going....

      

I'm really not sure what is with the Threadrippers but I love them.  This 2950X is not bad at all with what I've been able to test and I've been turning down Threadripper systems, which I really wish I hadn't lol  Sadly trying to find the right motherboard and the right CPU is damn hard work and being fussy helps even less.  Might have to wait until the next bunch of Threadrippers that come out but I have a feeling weren't they meant to be just for OEMs now??  I dunno, I think they are amazing CPUs   Speaking of which....

  

A Threadripper 2990WX    Note the 16GB of RAM installed and then the placements of the RAM in the slots, yes I know, I'm a dunce....  So I thought, after I had the 32GB installed correctly, the only way is to make sure all 8 slots work so thankfully I found another two dual channel kits the same and installed and well the rest is history 


   

Was impressed with the CPU and happy that it was working so I can sell that on as intended and get me cash back lol    Will try and get a few more tests done before I send it on, but I'll only bother with stock clocks, whatever I throw at it is going to be mentally quick for anything multi core that the program can use it all...  Hats off to AMD for creating a monster.  I just wished I'd tried that 3970X or the 3990X system that I could have bought but sadly would have been broke over buying    Worth it though I think!! 

I think that's all of me caught up for the hardware buying but I'll add in some pictures for the HomeServer upgrade because, well why not 

Thanks for looking anyone who gets this far, appreciate it!


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## phill (May 12, 2022)

Well, here we go with the HomeServer upgrade I mentioned..  Since I was kind of running out of space in my server, I thought about the size of the drives and what it would actually work with.  My mate who I used to work with from work asked for a few to start with which started all this off in the first place.    We bought 7 to start with, he had 3 and he pulled my arm and I had the 4 remaining.  Thankfully moving all the data around from the 3 4TB RAID arrays gave me no problems and it all thankfully fitted on one of the new RAID 1 setups.
The 3 RAID 1 arrays I'd created where getting close to the mark with how much space I had left, so I needed to do something...





   

So there we where. 4 drives for me and 3 for him.  Firstly, these Seagate Exos drives are very nice drives indeed, I really do like them    I'd also managed to find 9 8TB Ironwolf Pro drives as well, so my mate wanted those as well.  Sadly during testing 3 of those weren't good, so they went back and I was happy enough with that.  The seller was genuine and easy to deal with, thank god!!

After setting up the simple Raid 1 array again, we where back in business.  A few screen grabs 





And after a fair bit of data moving, here we are with some drive pics and setup 

 





Ah what a lovely sight to see     8 16TB drives, sadly in RAID 1 but still.. 
    

So there we are, 8 drives in the case; Fractal Design Node 804 I believe it's called.  If only it was made about 10mm higher, it would be much better due to the cables and placement of the PSU.  With standard cables and such, as you can see they are quite, erm, tight??   I do love the case and the size etc. but I don't like the closeness of the drives to the PSU, that's a big shame for me.   I'd also switched out the PSU due to the Corsair RM750 I had in there previously for a long time, thought it might better for a better unit    So far since its all been switched about and such, I've not had any major problems.  The only issue I do have is that I hear sometimes a high pitch noise coming from what I believe is the PSU in the server. Not sure what is going on there....

I have found that in PSUs in order to get a few more SATA power connectors than normal (so say 6 to 10 SATA Power connectors) you need to be careful with the PSUs you use as some don't allow for as many SATA connections as you would like and you end up needing to buy a 1000w unit.  I prefer since its a server of sorts, that I don't have to use it with adaptors and such.  I just feel that's adding an issue when you don't need to add one....  Call me crazy....

So, as you can see, the server is in a good place but now I feel like I need to change it for something else now due to the volume of space and more so, the network speed.   I believe the aim of 10Gb is going in the right direction.  I don't believe a 2.5Gb or 5Gb is a good way to go simply because, I'd end up upgrading it even more to eventually get it to 10Gb.  I guess its time to go hunting for a 10Gb network card or two and then possibly another server setup...    Best get my thinking cap on I think......  Thanks for looking as always everyone    Appreciate it


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## phill (May 14, 2022)

Well everyone, it seems that updates are like buses....  Don't see one for ages and then you get a fleet of them!....

Just for info too, I've update posts 189, 190 and 191 as they where posts I'd put in for editing when I was going to update the thread...  I hope that's not confused the issue..  Hopefully anyone looking through this mess has seen them 

Anyways. I've been looking into a few things for the 'new' server I'm considering to make and networking.  I do believe, 10Gb is the way to go, so I've been adding up my ports one by one and I'm kind of thinking, all out is the right approach.

So what do I mean?  Well, I think I'm meaning, a 24 port or even a 48 port 10Gb managed switch for the house.   I did think about possibly running two switches for essential and non essential hardware.  Maybe things like the crunchers would go on the non essential likewise possibly any camera's should I decide to run a security system (it might not be a bad idea considering...  but I digress)....
I don't think this is a good option just because, more power needed, more configuration and more hassle I think, so I believe a single switch is best.  The number of ports is a bit of a sticking point since I've currently 24 and they are all 'used' without any room for expansion and this is where I hate it because I could always find more ports to use but as I can't physically put anymore in, well.....   So this is why I'm currently considering 48 ports..  The downside is the cost for the 48 port 10Gb switch, its not going to be anything but cheap....   Might have to consider a cheap 8 port possibly to test with and go from there...  I suppose I could feed it from within the PC room with a current 1Gb connection which would be fine for the internet..  I just need to find a decent 10Gb network card......  Might add up a few quid quickly for that...

With looking at 48 port switches, prices go sky high as I guess its too be expected.  I guess I might have to go for less, then have another switch that just works on 1Gb.  I'm not sure that will be a massive issue though.......

Does anyone have any recommendations for a particular switch brand? Model possibly?
Mostly used Netgear before but with being at work, I've been using HP and I've had very limited experience with Avaya.  I've seen a few with two 10Gb ports, but I'm definitely after more than that...  Maybe something like this??

TP 8 port 10Gb Switch
Netgear 10Gb 8 port switch

10Gb Network adaptor??

Now just to figure out what to buy I guess??  Time for reading and reviews on kit...  

The other thing that I would like to replace is the modem/router that came with my fibre package simply because it doesn't allow me to do any port forwarding or find any information on anything connected to it..  So that has to go.  Question I will have to put towards my ISP, is simply, would I need a fibre router/switch so I can configure it to how I'd like it to be.

Oh there's a lot to consider.....  Then the hardware to use for the server/media server....    Oh dear......


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## phill (May 19, 2022)

I thought as well and whilst I remember, since there are a few audio people around us, I thought I'd upload a few pics of the front room change that's gone on over the last month or so too     Aside from the massive amount of my daughter toys that needed to go elsewhere and for a lot to be removed cos we could barely see the front room floor (thanks to Sophia and the Mrs's for that..... not!!  ) we can hopefully see a bit more...   Although it seems to be a thing that we want less room in the living room and no spare floor space...  Umm.....  Not sure there's logic there at all but hey.....

Here's a few shots of the after, the before pictures for me are just too depressing     Here's some carefully taken before pics lol  We had a move around in the front room was we had a couple more famous Ikea bookshelves put together and such, so we had some more spaces for our films and for the girls books 


  

And here we go with a few during shots of what was going on....

     

I was attempting to make the cables and the many that there are, as neat and tidy as possible.  I think for staying up till about 230am it was as good as it was going to get lol   So here's a few 'finished' shots 


  

All I need to really do now is upgrade the Linn pre/power system and the Yamaha processor for he surround sound side of things and we should be good to go!  I think its amazing that the kit has survived 20 years and I can't imagine how many moves I've made all over the country with various relationships not working out but I'm just so happy it works   True testament to buying good kit and it lasting I think    The main rush now for the upgrade would be the new Xbox Series X, it doesn't have a simple optical out on it, so everything is HDMI (so frustrating...) so as and when I can find what I'm after to replace the kit and probably grab a 4k TV to go with (still rocking my Samsung 3D 1080P Plasma TV!! bought I think in late 2010/very early 2011 can't remember 100%) its possibly due a change    The only problem I have is that its very much still working and working well, so...  Not yet 

Well think that's it for the moment, nothing yet to update everyone on...........    Thank you all for stopping by


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## lexluthermiester (May 19, 2022)

phill said:


> I thought as well and whilst I remember, since there are a few audio people around us, I thought I'd upload a few pics of the front room change that's gone on over the last month or so too  Aside from the massive amount of my daughter toys that needed to go elsewhere and for a lot to be removed cos we could barely see the front room floor (thanks to Sophia and the Mrs's for that..... not!!  ) we can hopefully see a bit more...   Although it seems to be a thing that we want less room in the living room and no spare floor space...  Umm.....  Not sure there's logic there at all but hey.....
> 
> Here's a few shots of the after, the before pictures for me are just too depressing   Here's some carefully taken before pics lol We had a move around in the front room was we had a couple more famous Ikea bookshelves put together and such, so we had some more spaces for our films and for the girls books
> 
> ...


That is an impressive audio system!


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## Audioave10 (May 19, 2022)

You know I'm all about the "Audio". Very nice set-up! 
These days I only have a Yamaha big receiver(2008) and a nice set of Paradigm Monitor 3 speakers.


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## jallenlabs (May 24, 2022)

I spy a Yamaha receiver, I have one powering my subwoofers in my listening room.  Not ideal, I know. but you gotta do what ya gotta do.  At my workstation I have a Schiit DaC, Adcom amp powering some Kef q150s and a 10" Kef subwoofer.  I listen there the most, hence the better equipment.  Love this thread.  Its full of hardware pron!


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## phill (May 24, 2022)

jallenlabs said:


> I spy a Yamaha receiver, I have one powering my subwoofers in my listening room.  Not ideal, I know. but you gotta do what ya gotta do.  At my workstation I have a Schiit DaC, Adcom amp powering some Kef q150s and a 10" Kef subwoofer.  I listen there the most, hence the better equipment.  Love this thread.  Its full of hardware pron!


Thanks for the comments everyone, appreciated 

The setup is a little older in the tooth than I'd like it to be but I'd love to get it upgraded.  I'm pretty sure the Pre/Power Linn would go, the Yamaha would go and I'd probably go for an AV Amp over a setup like I have now, trying to get less cables and all the jazz would be amazing    Needing 7 or 8 power plugs to have a TV on to watch something, possibly a little tooo much like overkill   

I'm glad I'm doing something right @jallenlabs !!


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## phill (Jun 1, 2022)

Well since I'm not having to get up for work in the morning and its a little late, I thought I'd put out a little update, more for the career side of things to be honest and a bit of how I'm doing as is   (So to speak!)

As I'm still off with my broken leg issue, I've been pushing out a little more and trying to find another job to avoid having to go back to my current role.   All this time off and not being able to do much aside from sit and sort through my server (which has been a great help!!) I've been wondering about things and thinking about how I feel and all that jazz.   
The conclusion has been really that I've been that unhappy with my role where I'm currently too for too long and I've needed to get my butt in gear and to find something else.  Currently the issue I've had more of a problem with is having to travel around the county to get to something that isn't really going to help when it comes to pay and time wasted in the car every day.    

My reasoning for wishing to stay closer to home is so that I don't have to travel or being travelling for 2 to 3 hours a day plus being at work 8 till 5pm for example.  Currently the 15 minutes I do travel when I cycle (aside from when breaking a leg, kinda slowed me down going home cycling with my broken leg lol) or drive which could take longer, I have been spoilt with.  Having been at the company for nearly 12 years now, I've definitely become used to being in the car 10 minutes to get to and from work (well when I was on shift at least but still...)   With my children as well, I don't wish to waste so much time in the car because its wasted time, I'm not paid for it and it means I spend so much less time with my girls.

I'm finding the more I think about my job, I just feel so unhappy with it and since the change when we 'merged' with another company, the whole company has gone down in 'a good place to work'.  With all the changes and lack of direction/interest in staff and goodness knows else, I guess I'm just tired of it and I do honestly believe that my desire and want and passion as been, well, sucked out of me.  With this, I'm really hoping I don't have to step back in the doors to it because I do feel and believe it'll just drag me down and I don't wish for that to be pushed on to my family either.  I don't wish to ever be working in a place that makes me unhappy since you spend so much time at work, the last thing in the world you should ever be is unhappy about being there.  I feel that goes for anyone, not just me.

I enjoyed being at work and wanted to be there before COVID and before the change, but with it all going on as it is right now its just become a place that I'd rather not be at.  For the knowledge and experience I have had whilst working there, its been great and more so in the first 18 months of my role there, but after that, it's all just been such a disappointment to me.
I've applied for a few positions over the last week or so, so I'm hoping to hear something back that's positive that could hopefully start me on my new journey forward into my next position and step in my IT career..  I really do hope that I can move away from there.


On a slightly less depressing side of things, my home server...  Upgrade or complete change...  Thread linked to my project for reference as I'll get it spec'd up and then put a little build log together in this project thread  Storage but how?? 

Thanks for reading


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## maxfly (Jun 1, 2022)

This is a great time to go looking. I know all to well that there's nothing worse than your career turning into a job. Best of luck finding something more fulfilling! 
Keep the updates coming!


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## phill (Aug 1, 2022)

Well this thread definitely needs updating but not at 2am, so, I'll hopefully get some time tomorrow to update everyone on a few changes that have recently happened.......................


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## phill (Aug 2, 2022)

Well today seems a good day to update everyone a little bit....

Being that I have been with my company for nearly 12 years in October (I was with an agency for the first 14/15 months when I was first there) and I have now, managed to find another role that I have accepted and I'm very much looking forward to starting..  

It's a bit of a step up, money is better, the rest of it will be hopefully better too.  My last day for my current role is the 31st August and my start date for the new one is the 5th September.  Very happy but a little nervous at the same time as I explained to the guys I was speaking with for the interviews, it would be a big change as being so long with one place, never been like it before.  So...  Here's hoping that we can get through the next few weeks without much stress or hassle and away we go  

Feeling relieved with the new job, now just have to believe in myself and start the push for going even further..  Wonder what might be waiting for me, further down the line.....


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## lexluthermiester (Aug 2, 2022)

phill said:


> Well today seems a good day to update everyone a little bit....
> 
> Being that I have been with my company for nearly 12 years in October (I was with an agency for the first 14/15 months when I was first there) and I have now, managed to find another role that I have accepted and I'm very much looking forward to starting..
> 
> ...


Changing jobs can be nerve-wracking. I've changed careers twice and it is never easy. Coming up on another in 19months. I feel you Phill!


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## HammerON (Aug 2, 2022)

Congrats @phill


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## Lorec (Aug 2, 2022)

congrats! @phill  a change every now and then might be crucial in life!
I hope you will keep on truckin' like you always do, sir!


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## jallenlabs (Aug 2, 2022)

Change is hard but necessary.  I started out as a teacher for 14 years, owned my own tech business for 10 years after that.  Now I have been in IT at a University for a year.  I love it and think it was the right move for me.  Good luck in your new adventure!


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## phill (Aug 2, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Changing jobs can be nerve-wracking. I've changed careers twice and it is never easy. Coming up on another in 19months. I feel you Phill!





HammerON said:


> Congrats @phill





Lorec said:


> congrats! @phill  a change every now and then might be crucial in life!
> I hope you will keep on truckin' like you always do, sir!





jallenlabs said:


> Change is hard but necessary.  I started out as a teacher for 14 years, owned my own tech business for 10 years after that.  Now I have been in IT at a University for a year.  I love it and think it was the right move for me.  Good luck in your new adventure!


Thank you all for the mention and comments, very nice of you 

@Lorec how have you been man!?!?!  Everything going well??  

@jallenlabs I definitely believe that I needed a change.  I've been in the same IT position for the last near 5 years and nothing has really changed in that role for the last 3 years.  I guess this is the problems with small teams, unless people leave or the unthinkable happens, nothing can really change.  

Since the change in business I dunno, about 2019 or early 2020, its not gone well and with that in mind and I had my 2 years experience and I was looking.  Now, I have been stuck and unable to get anywhere really.  Until this position came up, I just thought, I need to try and limit my travelling and such and there's not masses around where I live so its been difficult to find something within the range I wished to try and stick with..  But, we have made that change, managed to cross that bridge and now is the time I try my little socks off to get myself further forward and hopefully pushed onwards with the company.  

I've a few things I'd like to do with my IT career, getting a bigger house and a newer car are just a couple things but mostly, I just wish to be happy in my job and more so, pushing the limits of what I know and can do     So hopefully, a few more updates for the thread are coming along, one happened today which is a good start... 

Hope to see you back again soon for some more Phill craziness and madness!!


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## phill (Sep 2, 2022)

Well its not so much craziness, but just before I head to bed, new job starts when I wake up tomorrow....  Gonna be interesting!!     Oh and I do have some crazy to show you all, so I hope I can get around to that as well tomorrow


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## Quigly (Sep 2, 2022)

Good luck on your first day!


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## HammerON (Sep 2, 2022)

Have fun on your first day!!!


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## xtreemchaos (Sep 2, 2022)

all the best of luck bud.


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## phill (Sep 2, 2022)

Thanks everyone for the replies, apologies for not getting back online sooner, Sophia decided she wanted to head butt a concrete slab at my Mrs's Mum's so just as a precaution, I took her to A&E to get checked over but all is fine..  Wonder if she will not act like a donut again so quickly next time.... 

Still!  First day went OK, more of an introduction to the business and such, same goes for Monday, after that, I've no idea whatsoever what I will be doing or when I will be heading towards going on site...  Then it will be the bit of settling in and getting to grips with everything I think...  Hopefully a month or so and I should be fine.  Maybe it will have something to do with payday??.........  

Hope everyone is doing well and is OK??   Was hoping to get a few more pictures up with the builds and such going on but when does anything ever go to plan??    Hopefully I'll be back updating soon enough!!


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## caroline! (Oct 20, 2022)

Nice thread.

Moral of the story is that an IT job in the UK gives you a bigger house and a new car while my IT job gives me 10 food stamps and a Chinese smartphone I tossed in a storm drain.


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## phill (Oct 20, 2022)

caroline! said:


> Nice thread.
> 
> Moral of the story is that an IT job in the UK gives you a bigger house and a new car while my IT job gives me 10 food stamps and a Chinese smartphone I tossed in a storm drain.
> View attachment 266377


Well I've not moved so this is the same house I had since 2010 and my car is the same one I've had since 2012, nothing really changed in that area just yet but with everything going on over here and I'm sure everyone else in the world, its just going to get harder for everyone to afford to move and such with all the hikes in interest rates that are currently happening.  I've been given a good life and I've got lucky in some area's and not so lucky in others.  All the hardware is just money I should have considered putting towards another house, might have got one a little sooner if I hadn't spent so much.

Live and learn and all that jazz, but here's where I am trying to learn from mistakes and do something good    I hope that trying to help others is not a bad thing.


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## dgianstefani (Oct 20, 2022)

phill said:


> Well I've not moved so this is the same house I had since 2010 and my car is the same one I've had since 2012, nothing really changed in that area just yet but with everything going on over here and I'm sure everyone else in the world, its just going to get harder for everyone to afford to move and such with all the hikes in interest rates that are currently happening.  I've been given a good life and I've got lucky in some area's and not so lucky in others.  All the hardware is just money I should have considered putting towards another house, might have got one a little sooner if I hadn't spent so much.
> 
> Live and learn and all that jazz, but here's where I am trying to learn from mistakes and do something good    I hope that trying to help others is not a bad thing.


I like the "not so complete or overkill" name in your specs


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## phill (Oct 20, 2022)

dgianstefani said:


> I like the "not so complete or overkill" name in your specs


Holy heck that's out of date!    I'm not sure its complete still but it is a little more overkill I think!!   Will have to update that too!!


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## caroline! (Oct 20, 2022)

dgianstefani said:


> I like the "not so complete or overkill" name in your specs


And why a sad face in air cooling @phill? air cooling best cooling


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## phill (Oct 20, 2022)

caroline! said:


> And why a sad face in air cooling @phill? air cooling best cooling


I'm a water cooling boy to be honest and that's miles out of date lol   Crap I've had about 6 systems since then!!   Damn it for being crap    
Air is great in places like servers and such like that...  With my 3900X, 3950X, 5950X, 3970X etc., water was definitely the way to go    I'm going to update that now before I forget even more !


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## caroline! (Oct 21, 2022)

phill said:


> I'm a water cooling boy to be honest and that's miles out of date lol   Crap I've had about 6 systems since then!!  Damn it for being crap
> Air is great in places like servers and such like that...  With my 3900X, 3950X, 5950X, 3970X etc., water was definitely the way to go  I'm going to update that now before I forget even more !


Bought an used Corsair case a while ago, and instead of trying to resurrect an ancient Core 2 Quad build to make a NAS out of it I'll just put my current parts in, more than enough room for all the parts + a dozen HDDs + extra PSU (not enough connectors for all the drives in the main one) and some more Delta fans.

I could throw another graphics card in it but not sure if the PSU will be up to the task.

PPE required if all the fans run at 100% speed /s


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