This is a refresh of my original FaceRipper Build here: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/DMXPxr

Update - 12/08/2018: I wanted to improve the aesthetics of the build so I picked up a Chromax Heat sink cover and a couple of gold EK heatsinks to improve the look of the NHU12 and the M.2 drives. I experimented with different colors for the Chromax cover, including Noctua brown to match the corners of the industrial fans, however I wanted it to pop a little more, so I got a couple of white LED back light modules and hooked them up to a couple of LED headers on the motherboard. Other than that, the RTX 2080 Ti has been performing well, running games, everything seems to run over 144hz at 2k on Ultra settings. I also got tired of the clicky MX blue style mechanical keyboard so picked up a Logitech G513 with the tactile switches.

CPU

I sold my 1950x and upgraded the CPU to the Threadripper 2950x which probably wasn't necessary, but I liked the idea of higher clock speeds on the new cpu. So far the existing NH-U12s cooler seems to be doing a good job keeping temps low.

Fans

Since I did not need to worry about supplying 2 GPUs with cold air - I swapped out the default NF-F12 fan with the 2000RPM Noctua Industrial Fan I was using as an intake fan. I took off the top case fan at the front and left the 2 remaining fans to exhaust the hot air from the rear and top. This seems to provide improved air flow, and my idle temps remain below 40 degrees when the cooler fan is running at about 800 rpm. I'll continue to experiment, and may even get rid of the top exhaust fan since I suspect this may disrupt the flow of air through the CPU cooler heat sink.

Memory

I had some issues sourcing RAM for Threadripper and went through several brands to find a kit that worked at advertised speeds on the X399-M. My original GSkill Trident wouldn't get up to the advertised 3000MHz any more, and I could only get up to 2400MHz after upgrading the bios to support the new CPU. I donated the kit to my father in law for his i7 build and tried several other kits.

First I ordered a Corsair Vengeance RGB kit which was on the manufacturer supported list, but it wouldn't run faster than 2133MHz! I returned that and ordered a HyperX Predator kit running at 3600 MHz. This was the first kit to work at the advertised speeds out of the box, and was very nice aesthetically, with a coveted Samsung B-Die, however it was rated at CL17, and even though I squeezed this down to CL16, I was interested in trying the CL14 3200 Flare X kits by G. Skill also.

The Flare X kit ran at CL14 and 3200Mhz out of the box on the XMP profile and I managed to get this kit up to 3600Mhz also by loosening the timings to CL15 - the performance difference between this and the HyperX Predator kit was negligible, but I decided on this kit because of the Seiko thermal sensors installed on the chip.

GPU

I managed to get an EVGA 2080Ti on pre-order which replaced the 1070 Ti pair I was running in SLI previously. The EVGA XC Ultra RTX 2080 TI is an absolute beast of a card, it takes up 3 slots and the heat sink is massive. With an EVGA power link, the cables span the length of the Meshify C. Out of the box I did a quick benchmark in TimeSpy and got a solid 13041 which surpassed my previous score of 12972 on the overclocked 1070Ti pair. This was in line with my expectations after watching the various benchmarks that came out the week before release, and after running the OC Scanner tool, I was getting over 14000 consistently. Using the single card with an Oculus Rift, I can have super-sampling cranked up to 2.0 on maximum settings which completely transforms the experience! I thought about pre-ordering one of the custom PCB cards, but for the additional cost, I wasn't sure if the already ridiculous prices were justified for some additional power-phases, cooling or RGB.