Before I knew it whilst looking at 'the next' Lian Li case to use I saw this thing....

That's when it all got.....

....expensive...

The design concept intrigued me.  It seemed so 'logical' in so many ways - separation of components meant separation of heat issues [mostly], and for the very first time ever [for me] I was almost confident I could do some tidy wiring....

Now, it's bloody huge...and weighed 50 pounds empty, but the styling was such it deserved to be left on a bench, not under [which is good because it'd never fit].

The entire animal is 3mm 'sheet' aluminium so it's its own heat-sink and sound insulator.

The biggest issue was/is its price.

If you're going to fill this thing with 'bits' it can't be a 486 .... it's gotta be something 'cutting edge'....

....so fingers [wallet] were bloodied....

[doing this in 'bits' because the ISP is flaky] ...

What I ended up getting, less what I might add [matching mouse and a Blueray burner]-------------->

Prices are in AUD so [these days] multiply by 80% for USD.

************************************************

Thermaltake Level 10 VL300A9N1N Titanium Limited Edition Case   $1299   

Corsair ASX 1200I Platinum Certified 1200w Modular PSU    $  439   

ASUS X99 Deluxe LGA2011v3 MotherBoard      $  529   

Intel i7 5960 3.00Ghz @3.50Ghz LGA2011v3 CPU     $1279   

Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 LGA2011 CPU Cooler     $    88   

32G Corsair Dominator Platinum [4x8G] 2666MHz DDR4 Ram   $1020   

ASUS Strix GTX980 4GB GPU       $  869   

512G Samsung XP941 M.2 PCIe x4 SSD [C]=Win7 Ultimate [H]=Games $  611 

240G Corsair Neutron GTX SSD [E]=[Office + Proggies]  [hotswap] $  279

240G Corsair Neutron GTX SSD [F]=[Games 2]   [hotswap] $  279

3TB Western Digital Caviar Green Sata2 HD [G + D]  [hotswap]  $  128

2TB Western Digital Caviar Green Sata2 HD [I]   [hotswap]  $    99

2TB Western Digital Caviar Green Sata2 HD [J]   [hotswap] $    99

LG Sata DVD-RW [M] [black]        $    19

3X SATA 3 Cables         $      9   

Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit.        $ Technet    

MS Office 2007 Ultimate 64bit       $ Technet    

          $7037    TOTAL

This has been the first machine I've done with a UEFI boot, and definitely the first with the OS loaded onto a M.2 'card' that's about the size of a Wrigleys Spearmint gum stick.

It seems Windows just scratches its head when it encounters DDR4 so a WEI test fails every time.

The ASUS board has some 'tweaks' with the CPU pins [there are more] which enables a bit more get up and go from the i7-5960 and the desktop CPU 'gadget' showing 16 'cores' looks impressive.

This is a fourth generation build [for me].... the earliest were shop-built but I'd never go back to 'off the rack' except for laptops of course...

I'd say that's more of an "awesome" build.

Now, if anyone is contemplating a similar build...into such a case there's a few things to note...

The case is strictly ATX ...no oversize MoBos...

If you use the cooler I chose you need to cut out a few fins near the outer bottom to allow the case to close...I think the X99 layout has the CPU lower down than other socket types.

And if you plan to populate the other 4 Ram slots for something kewl like 64gig you'll have to chuck out the cooler entirely and find something narrower/more compact.  As it was it came with an extra fan which cannot be mounted due to the RAM proximity, however one's more than enough anyway. [it's a good cooler].

Thermaltake goes to great pains to specify max GPU card length, etc...but forgets about width.  The 980 only just fits....

Wow forget it on this end.

I agree with ID. The thing is it's like skinning. If you like it that is all that matters. Wish you the best using it.

  VERYYY NICE!!!!! 

 I have an Asus Maximus V Formula motherboard that features a PCIe combo connection. Essentially I have a  Samsung 250GB PM830 SSD  mSATA card connection for extra cache and faster boot times.

 "Hook up immediate extra connectivity to the ROG motherboard and say so long to physical limitations. The unique Combo attaches to the motherboard near the rear I/O , and comes with one mSATA port supporting Intel® Smart Response Technology hybrid storage acceleration with compatible mSATA SSDs, and a dual band 2.4/5 GHz Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth v4.0 card bundled into its mini PCI Express 2.0/USB 2.0 combo port on the opposite side. This way, you can connect extra devices without taking up valuable space on the motherboard, and get the best of both worlds: for better connectivity and expandability without sacrificing essential features."

Windows doesn't recognize it as a regular SSD, it seems to think of it as an external hard drive. Maybe that's why your M.2 isn't recognized either. Even Samsung's Maintenance program for SSD's doesn't recognize it as a SSD. Check your COMPUTER MANAGEMENT /Storage to see if that is the possibility.

 Again A big WOW on that build.

The OS is on the M.2 OK... however I think I'm waiting for a 'Bios' upgrade to get past the 2 or 3 cold boots needed before the thing actually fires up.  Typically the Windows 'load' stalls halfway through the 'flag' animation and you just restart it again [with normal settings].

Since I rarely turn my computer off it's really only a pain with windows updates that 'demand' a reboot.

I expect once I've moved on to Windows 10 Microsoft will have caught up with 'modern' hardware...

There is no contemplating a similar build in 'such' a case.  I have inquired about both the titanium and black versions and neither are available anymore.  For the Titanium version, only 5000 were ever manufactured, and according to what I'm hearing, all have been sold.  As for the Black version, the one I originally wanted, it is no longer in production and most likely unavailable unless some obscure PC stores here or there have one.

BUGGER!!!!!!

... cos I really, really, really wanted one.

As for the innards, well I'm saving like buggery for very similar parts and have plans to build later in 2015, probably around mid to late August.

However, I will go for the CoolerMaster Cosmos II case for my next 'beastie'

Intel i7 5960 3.00Ghz @3.50Ghz LGA2011v3 CPU     $1279   

there is no such thing- U must have missed the mighty X behind it (Intel i7 5960X)
good choice for it`s cooling 
I also need to upgrade soon but i wait for the next gen i still have some puffer i can run the I72600k on 5Ghz with air cooling  
Thought of upgrading to a 8Pack Supernova I75960X Extreme OC but that would blow my wallet hehe
About the system stalling try changing the PCI-e SSD on a diff slot or take a look at the mainboard description should be working on every x99 board
As far as i know the x99 bios should have the bootcode for the m2 

Hi,

Hope that your pc remains also that fast for the next years ( its indeed  very vaery and very  very fast for  today, but how will it be in some years? ).However the case seems really nice.

B.t.w: Are western digitals hd gotten better nowadays?.Did see about 5  of them with broken file systems some years ago.

regards bluedxca93

 Went to check on some useful reviews of this M.2 Card. faster than a speeding bullet. The reviewers who bought this seem to have a handle on how to make it bootable and recognized. hope this is helpful!!

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-XP941-512GB-80mm-PCIe/product-reviews/B00JOSM3TK