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Physical Hardware

Basic Components

Processor

Intel Core i7-8700k - This is the processor I had been using in this PC prior to converting it into a "home server" and there is nothing particularly special about it other than it was very fast when I bought it. It is a great consumer CPU even to this day but it is starting to feel more limiting as a server CPU due to its lack of ECC support, lower cores/thread count, and limited PCI lanes that it provides.

  • 3.7GHz base, 4.7GHz turbo
  • 6-cores / 12-threads
  • UHD Graphics 630

Motherboard

Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 (rev. 1.0) - Similarly this motherboard was bought with the intent of building a powerful PC instead of a more server oriented box. It reflects a lot of the same constraints as the processor.

  • CPU
    • Support for 8th Generation Intel Core i7 / i5 / i3 processors in the LGA1151 package
  • Chipset
  • Memory
    • 4x DDR4 DIMM sockets supporting up to 64 GB of system memory
    • Dual channel memory architecture
  • Video
    • 1x HDMI 1.4
    • 1x DisplayPort 1.2
  • LAN
    • 1x Intel 1GbE
    • 1x Rivet Networks Killer E2500
  • PCI
    • 2x PCIe x16
    • 1x PCIe x4
    • 3x PCIe x1
  • Storage
    • 3x M.2 PCIe x4/x2
    • 6x SATA3
  • USB
    • 2x USB C 3.1 Gen 2
    • 1x USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Type-A)
    • 7x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (Type-A)
    • 4x USB 2.0

Memory

  • 64GB CORSAIR Vengeance LPX DDR4 2666 (4x16GB)

    • timing 16-18-18-35
    • CAS Latency 16
    • voltage 1.2V

Case

Fractal Design - Define R6 USB C (Blackout) - A fantastic case with an attractive minimalistic design that holds a lot of hard drives and excellent sound dampening.

  • Features
    • 10x HDD, 2x SSD
    • Sound dampening panels
    • Excellent build quality

Storage

  • 6x 10TB SATA HDD Western Digital (WD1000WMAZ)
  • 4x 4TB SATA HDD Seagate (ST4000DM004)
  • 1x 512GB SATA SSD (Samsung EVO)
  • 1x 1TB NVMe SSD (Eluktronics Eluktro Pro-X G2 1TB PCIe 3.0 x4)
  • 2x 1TB NVMe SSD (Inland Professional PCIe 3.0 x2)
  • 2x 256GB NVMe SSD (Inland Professional PCIe 3.0 x2)
  • 1x 128GB NVMe SSD (Inland Professional PCIe 3.0 x2)
  • 1x 256GB NVMe SSD (Western Digital Black PCIe 3.0 x2)

Cooling

Power Supply

EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G+ 850W

  • Features
    • Fully modular

UPS

APC Back UPS PRO BN-M2 1500VA

  • Features
    • 900Watts / 1.5kVA
    • 6x Battery backed outlets
    • 4x Surge outlets

Add-On Cards

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