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I must admit that I am not an expert in building servers and what I would try to do here is to provide some background why I chose to do my server this way and I have been quite satisfied with the end result. Most of what I chose are not something new but has been well described in the experts' threads like those of Nenon, StreamFidelity and jabbr under the same category of music servers. My requirements My purpose is to build a high power computer capable of using embedded HQplayer with their EC modulators like ASDM7EC in DSD256. To me these modulators are getting the best of both worlds. Traditional DSD is usually musical but giving a relatively too thick sound whereas EC modulators put them back to perspective and giving enough transparency yet maintaining the musicality. These EC modulators are well known to be power hungry and will need CPU clock frequency of more than 4GHz in several cores before they work. And experience from Romaz and Austinpop also are in favour of higher CPU power will give you better dynamics.(I have also tried the Asrock H370M with i78700T and also Asrock z390 phantom-itx with i7 8700K and the latter is obviously better and after upgrading to i9 9900K the SQ is even better) But high power CPU will cause harsh digital noise, heat dissipating issues, mechanical and electrical noises of fan and also harsh noises from power supplies. My second requirement is to run HQplayer embedded which is only available in Linux. But being headless it is going to further cut down resources required and the SQ is in a different league compared with desktop HQplayer4. And not all motherboards are compatible with Linux and the Linux support is not always available for newer motherboards. My choices(total 3 sets were done) (1) Chassis-- HDplex H5 fanless (2) CPU-- i9 9900K and 10700K (3) mobo-- Asus z390 ROG STRIX-E gaming, Asus z390 ROG Strix-H gaming, Asus z490 Maximus XII Hero (4) Apacer ECC Ram 8Gb x2 for each mobo (5) HDplex 400W and 800W DC-ATX, HDplex 400W LPS HDplex 200W LPS (6) DIY linear power supply project with friend (7) UKAS Linux OS from buddy (8) nvme storage Samsung 970 EVO (9) DIY cables 24 pin and CPU cable AWG18 silver plated hook up wire Chassis & CPU My plan is to go for fanless chassis in order to minimize problems from fan and HDplex H5 is the best available fanless case around. i9 9900K is 95W TDP and H5 is just adequate spec wise. I am not using any graphic cards for cuda offload( I am not interested in the heavy demand filters) so the overall utilization is not as high as expected. Besides the core temperatures are not persistently high they fluctuates from higher to lower temperature. With my trial case I found no problem with overheat so I am confident with its use. I then experimented with 10700K although said to 125WTDP but can be tuned down to 95W if necessary so I decided to have a go and it works fine with the H5 without need to tune down to 95W. And SQ wise 10700K is superior to 9900K. One comment is that since I am not using graphic card one side of the heatsink is cold and the other side is hot and it would be much better if there are longer heatpipes available so that both hetasinks can be utilised and the temperature control should be even better Mobo It was an unluckty time for me to search for mobos because of launch of 10th generation CPU and all 9th generation mobos are locked up by Asus not for sale in order to promote 10th generation mobo. My original plan is go for top ROG Maximus mobo for its presumably better power build but ended up with ROG Strix series and the result is still good Ram Apacer ECC Ram is well known to be good and I can testify that yes they are well worth it compared to my Kingston HyperX Ram. But need wait for 2 months. If I picked the 4G pieces it needs to be 3 or 4 months. Power supply Actually I have a joint project with my friends trying to build our dream linear power supply. It's been running intermittently since last year. My initial plan is to use linear power supply 3 rails to supply mobo. At the same time I also explored the HDplex 400W and 800W DC-ATX. Finally got the 400W and tried with the mobo and the sound is actually very good provided the 19V supply to it is of good quality. We have a prototype DIY LPS 19V and another branded LPS also 19V and tried and the result is really great. And changing to 800W DC-ATX the improvement is really astonishing so w gave up the original plan of 3 rails 12v,5v3.3v going to the mobo and avoiding the small possible risk of burnt mobo in case irregularities come up. Besides the drop in voltage from 12v to 5v and 3.3 v is going to generate a significant amount of heat. OS UKAS is a linux OS created by my buddy with self compiled kernel and still under development for some final touches. And it is only for private use at the moment. nvme storage Samsung 970EVO is chosen is just a balance between speed and price. Because my chief purpose is to play files from my own library so nvme storage becomes necessary and mobo with PCIe going straight to CPU is necessary. 24 pin and CPU cables Considered Mundorf but it is really too expensive so only using AWG 18 silver plated hook up wire I have also 3 more NAA computers built mainly using left overs from previous computers like the i7 8700T i7 9700K and 10700. And it is a big surprise that even for NAA computer a higher powered CPU like 10700 still gives better sound than say 8700T. I have used Jcat USB XE card and Jcat femto network card in the NAA computers and with 5v external power supply. The result is much better than onboard USB and onboard Lan. And the final result is that the 10700K HQ player computer coupled with 10700 NA computer that gives the best sound. Given the best power supply to this pair the SQ can match the extreme. I would say it betters the extreme in dynamics and detail and liveliness. Extreme tend to be more warm and a little more musical. This is just a brief introduction of how I built my high power computer server for HQplayer to kcik off the discussion. Comments are welcome.