Hot Chocolate - HAF XB 3950X Dual 2080 Ti F@H Build

Den-Fi -

I built this PC in service to science. Its main purpose is to fold proteins via its two powerful graphics cards for the Folding@Home project.

Parts:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3950X 16-Core Processor
Cooler: Noctua - NH-D15 SE-AM4
CPU Fan: 2x Noctua -NF-A15 140mm
Motherboard: Asus - ROG Crosshair VII Hero (Wi-Fi) ATX
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200
Storage: Samsung - 960 Pro 512 GB M.2-2280
Video Card: 2x Asus - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB Turbo
Case: Cooler Master - HAF XB (Black) ATX Desktop
Power Supply: Corsair - RMx 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX
Case Fan: 2x Noctua - NF-A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140mm, 1x Noctua - NF-F12 PWM 54.97
CableMod PRO ModMesh Black Extensions
Etc: Asus ROG Front Base Dual 2.5 Bay LCD Controller

Things I loved about the build:

  • I became intensely curious about the HAF XB Evo for seemingly no reason, but I’m certainly glad I bought it! The first thing of note is the build quality. I was afraid that this case would ding and scratch easily, but man… it’s solid and painted really well. I’ve rebuilt this system w /various mobos, PSU, GPUs, and CPUs and it looks like it did on day 1. There is also something to be said for cable management. This is an older case, but everything was very well thought out. There are soooo many tie down points that it was really easy to give cables a permanent home while allowing them to route in a way that keeps them in place while making a board swap easy.
  • There’s something to be said about the Noctua traditional aesthetic. I am glad they welcomed change and now have more current colors available, but their brand identity lies in the brown colors. It was the inspiration behind the name "Hot Chocolate." That and the 2080 Tis kept the house warm while folding.
  • Once again I went for a look that did not rely on RGBs to gain its identity. I wanted a simple and clean look given the fact that the parts in here will rotate.

Challenges:

  • So, the ROG Front Base goes under “Challenges” simply because I bought it for looks. I wanted something to break up the monotony the 2.5 bay covers brought to the front of the case. I knew going in that it was just going to be an information display given the lack of support for modern ROG_EXT equipped boards. Just adding this note here so that someone doesn’t buy it thinking it will work with the C7H. It merely shows rounded clock speed #s, temps, and fan speeds.

Conclusion:

I still can’t believe it took me this long to get around to building a test bench. I guess I really don’t mind running things on a cardboard box. Just looks a whole lot better now. I opted not to use the vast storage options in the HAF, but I have over 200 TB of NAS based storage in the house, so an OS drive is really all I need. The hot swap option in this case is awesome though. I might throw a drive in and keep test software on it, but… I really don’t need to.