 Okay, secrets out. We know that the vast majority of the people watching our build guides are not at home, surrounded by piles of new computer parts, screwdriver in hand, following along step by step assembling the exact machine that we're building on screen. No, most of you are just here for, well, hardware porn. And that's okay. It's nothing to be ashamed of. And today is all about giving the people what they want. A workstation slash gaming build so high end that few people will ever have a genuine use for it, let alone enough spare cash to justify buying it. This is the drink spitter. I mean, thread ripper. All right, you guys know the drill. Just kidding. We won't need one of those. All you need is a clean workstation, an ESD strap, a screwdriver, a magnetic parts tray, a pair of side cutters, and I like to have a pair of pliers on hand just in case you got to, you know, tighten your nuts. I also recommend testing the system on top of the motherboard box to make sure that it works before you begin the final assembly. All AMD Threadripper CPUs have a lot in common. Because of cash, up to 40 megs and 64 PCI Express lanes. So it mostly came down to picking how many cores we wanted. Well, we wanted all of them. So we chose the 1950X 16 core 32 thread processor. Now I could lie and say, I'm going to use it to live stream myself playing games while encoding 4K video in the background, but we all know it's just for Facebook and streaming web video. On the subject of which, let's insert the processor. Now normally I just copy paste these instructions from another build guide using a similar socket. But this time our big new chip has a big new socket, AMD's TR4. And it's a little different. To start, we'll use the fancy Threadripper branded size 20 Torx screwdriver that actually comes in the CPU box. Loosen the screws labeled 3, 2, 1 in that order until the load plate lifts itself up. Next, lift the rail frame by gently pulling on these blue handles. And then slide out the external cap sled. We're going to replace it with our Threadripper CPU and its carrier frame. Carefully slide the carrier frame into the rail frame, making sure it slides all the way to the end of the rails and remove the PNP cap that's been protecting the socket's 4094 pins. Now gently close the carrier frame so that the CPU makes contact with the pins, pushing down on the blue handles to fix the carrier frame in place, then close the load plate and fasten screws 1, 2, and 3 in that order with a recommended torque value of 12 pounds per inch of force. Finally, take a moment to bask in the glory of the cow tipper, the Threadripper. AMD's Threadripper CPUs support up to 1 terabyte of... wait a minute, actually, yes, 1 terabyte of RAM if you populate all 8 DIMM slots with 128GB LR or load reduced DIMMs. Those aren't even out yet, they'll be super expensive, and would be total overkill. So we're using 8 16GB sticks of Trident Z RGB RAM from G.Skill, because, you know, we didn't want to be overkill and 128GB seemed pretty reasonable. Obviously, though, you could go with 64 or 32 to save a buck. To install your DIMMs, pull back the tabs on the memory slots, align each module according to the key in the socket, and press firmly on both sides until the latch closes. If you're using just 4 sticks, then use the lighter gray slots. For other configurations, refer to your motherboard's user guide. You'll probably notice that there's one more slightly different looking slot that's been left unoccupied. Leave this one alone for now, but get excited, because we will be coming back to it later. We're basically using the pant splitter, I mean, thread ripper of cases. It's Cooler Master's latest addition to their hallowed Cosmo series, the C700P. It's got many of the characteristics that these cases have become known for, like the suicide doors and the aluminum skids to make hauling its 49 pound heft around just a little easier, and it is 2017 after all, it's got integrated RGB lighting and a curved tempered glass side panel. Now as cool as these doors are, we start by taking them off. Simply open them, and while gripping near the hinge, pull upward. Stash the panels, particularly the glass one, back in the box they came from. This is also a good time to give ourselves more room to work by taking out these screws and sliding the internal panels free. We're going to replace the cases included fans with Cooler Master Master Fan Pro 140s, placing three in the front for intake and one for exhaust at the back. Remove the cases front covers by tilting and then pulling up on layer one, and then simply pushing out layer two. Then it's just a matter of screwing the fans onto the 140mm rails with the fan leads pointing towards the motherboard tray. Next pull to remove the cases magnetic rear fairing so you can access the fan screws here, and mount your new RGB fan with the sticker towards the back. Next check this out, one of these SSD sleds is actually an integrated fan hub in disguise, this is where all of our fan leads will go. As for the RGB leads, we'll connect those to the RGB hub that came with the fans. It's magnetic so we can just stick it any old place and leave the internal USB connector dangling for now. Our motherboard choice, the ASUS ROG Zenith Extreme is full of badass features like 802.11 AD WiFi and their LiveDash OLED screen for measuring vitals. It also has what's called DimDot 2, a riser that adds space for two more M.2 slots, and a 10 gigabit PCI Express network card, which is actually a pretty good value if you wanted one anyway. If you don't care about that stuff, you can still totally follow this guide and save about $200 with the ASUS Prime X399A. So our I.O. shield is pre-attached, that's cool, meaning that we can jump right to installing the standoffs that came with the case in all of the points labeled A for EATX. Set the board in place over the middle standoff post, then use these screws to fasten the board to the rest. You can plug in the two 8-pin CPU power connectors now to do your future self a solid, and since we still have easy access to the motherboard, we'll also show you guys how to plug in the rest of the annoying tiny things. The front panel connectors for the power LED, hard drive LED, reset switch, and power switch, the fancy front USB 3.1 Gen 2 connector here, and the USB 3.1 Gen 1 case RGB and system audio along the bottom. So to keep our rig chilling out, maxing, relaxing, all cool, we're going to be using the Cooler Master Master Liquid 240 All-in-One Liquid Cooler. High-end cooling is basically a requirement if you are overclocking Threadripper. This one comes with a lot of hardware for all the different sockets it supports, but we'll be using the socket TR4 mount, which at the time of filming is sold separately and available only from Cooler Master's website. Now normally, this is the part of the build where I freak out and realize that I've installed my motherboard without first mounting the cooler bracket on the back, but today I don't have to worry about that because the TR4 socket is sturdy AF and the pump actually mounts directly to it like a little baby monkey. Start by fastening your fans, we're using RGB ones to match the rest of the case, with the stickers against the radiator using these long screws, letting the fan leads hang towards the motherboard tray. Next, mount the radiator to the top of the case by popping off the case's dust filter and fastening the rad to the mounting rails using these eight screws. Connect the fan headers to the included Y adapter and plug the other end into the CPU fan header here. We'll connect the RGB leads to the included hub like we did earlier. But right now we've actually got a problem. We have two RGB hubs, each requiring a USB 2.0 header, and our motherboard only has one such header. You know what? That's it you guys, I'm done. If I can't have all my RGB working, I'm leaving. Just have dinner sent to my trailer. Oh, okay. So apparently this is a pretty simple problem to solve. What's 25 bucks for one of these internal USB hubs on a $7000 build? So we're gonna mount it here, connect up all the USB cables, then wire up its Molex power cable. Now it's time to mount the block to the CPU. We'll start by peeling off this warning label and placing two rice grain sized dabs of the included thermal compound on the center of the CPU. Now arrange the two TR4 mounting brackets like this and start tightening them down. If you think it looks weird that the cooler doesn't cover the entire chip, don't worry. On Threadripper, the CPU dies, the parts that actually produce heat are in the center anyway. So all that's left is plugging in the pump header way down here, and then using this handy extension cable to route it behind the motherboard tray. Using a power supply calculator might suggest that a 600 watt PSU would be sufficient. So naturally we went with a power supply that Cooler Master says will be completely silent up to 600 watts and is capable of double that with efficiency in excess of 80 plus titanium. Now we're not here to mislead you. The MasterWatt Maker 1200MIJ with its all made in Japan components and 10 year warranty, not to mention $1000 price tag, was a because we can move. And the V750 at a tenth of the price will do you just fine for this build. Just make sure that whatever power supply you go with, you grab something with two 8-pin EPS connectors. Threadripper can run with a single connector, but you'll be losing the ability to overclock and risking instability as well as issues with higher end memory. Start by connecting all the cables to the power supply while it's still accessible. You'll need the 24-pin connector to power the motherboard, two 6 plus 2-pin PCI Express connectors for the graphics card, two SATA chains, one Molex cable, and the two 8-pin CPU cables that you managed earlier. Unfortunately the cables that came with this power supply aren't sleeved and Cable Mod doesn't make a kit for it, but they do make cable extenders. So we'll connect these to the ends of our cables, hiding the excess slack in the basement. First gently flex the power supply cover so you can finagle it onto the little pedestal in the basement, or you could just take off these four screws and not be lazy. Place it fan side down, install the four screws in the back like so, then wipe a tear from your eye when you realize that no one's ever gonna see your ball air power supply. Now we could put normal storage in here. A single M.2 drive would be blazing fast on its own, but before the end of this year AMD is planning to release a driver update that will enable bootable NVMe RAID on X399. So how could we not be F-word future-proof with a few of Corsair's high-speed MP500 SSDs? We begin by removing the M.2 heat spreader by unscrewing these three fasteners, being careful not to slip and scratch this nice plate here. Next we'll grab the small baggie from the motherboard box that contains the M.2 standoff and cap, and install the standoff in the nut that matches the length of our M.2 drive. This one happens to be an 80mm stick, so we're using the nut marked 2280. All that's left then is to insert the SSD at an angle, press it down, fasten it on the opposite end, and replace the fancy heat spreader. And you're done! Or are you? We're going to use that same mounting procedure as before, except this time, instead of going directly on the board our two additional SSDs, we'll go on this nifty little add-in card, one on each side. We then slot the card into our last remaining DIMM slot, such that this little gap pops over the DIMM.2 signpost, press firmly until the open tab closes itself, et voila! For a terabyte of wicked fast storage. Now you might wonder at this point why our build doesn't contain a hard drive, we clearly have the budget for it. And that last bit is exactly why we figure anyone spending this kind of money on their workstation, especially one with 10gig networking, should probably just have a separate storage box elsewhere on their network. For our graphics card, we considered a Quadro, but from our recent findings, they're not actually better in many applications than consumer cards. So if your use case specifically benefits from Quadro, go with that. But we chose the GTX 1080 Ti Amp Extreme Edition from Zotac. Remove these three PCI slot covers. Two of them are for the graphics card, and one is actually for our 10 gigabit network card. Remove the protective cover from the card edge, and align the card carefully with the motherboard's PCIe slot and the openings at the back of the case. Push the card in firmly until the slot tab snaps shut, then put the case screws back in. Finally, plug in the two 8-pin PCI Express power connectors that we attached to the power supply earlier. Now this technically isn't a graphics card, but you can throw your network card in at this point too. This slot's a good choice, but thanks to Threadripper's 64 PCI Express lanes, you really don't have to think about it too much. Just throw it in there and put the screw in. Our case's deep, covered basement and the wide gap between the motherboard tray and the door make cable management a piece of cake, especially if you're not the perfectionist type, since most of the mess, not including our RGB Hub Spaghetti Monster, will be hidden behind the internal panels that we removed earlier. So once we replace all the doors, she ain't lookin' too shabby. For peripherals, we're using Cooler Master's Master Keys Pro-L RGB keyboard, their Master Mouse Pro-L mouse, and a SwiftRx XL mouse pad. Now let's put it all together. Now I promise we're getting to the sizzle reel soon, but first a couple quick tweaks in the BIOS. We're gonna configure our RAM by going to the Extreme Tweaker tab and changing the AI Overclock tuner from Auto to DOCP. Then we're going to do a basic overclock using the Easy Tuning Wizard. In our case, we got an easy 8% performance boost. Now this is also a good time to configure your M.2 RAID. Unfortunately we can't show you this now because the feature won't be supported for a couple more weeks, meaning that we save and we're done. Now we've covered installing your operating system pretty thoroughly on the past, so just check out this guide on the forum that we'll have linked below. As for drivers, your motherboard actually comes with a flash drive with the latest ones for audio, your network card, your chipset, etc., meaning you just gotta go over to Nvidia.com and get the latest for your graphics card. Leaving us with nothing left to do but admire our creation. Is it a great value? Well, in its current state it's the most expensive build we've ever done, but with some tweaks that wouldn't affect performance noticeably for most people, compared to what you'd have spent for a 16-core bed sh** thing, I mean, thread-ripping PC even a year ago, it actually ends up looking pretty compelling. So long live competition in the CPU industry, and long live Cooler Master for sponsoring this build guide. Time for the sexy glam now.