The Beginning — My First PC

My interest in technology began when my father brought home a Celeron-based computer. It was the first time I experienced using a personal computer, and it inspired my curiosity about computer hardware.

Hardware Exploration & Operating Systems

This period marked my early hands-on exploration of PC hardware, system upgrades and operating systems.

• Intel Pentium III 733MHz and 933MHz
• 256MB PC133 RAM
• Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows Me
• BIOS updates using 3.5-inch floppy disks
• Volunteered at a local computer retail shop, helping install operating systems on multiple computers.

Performance PC Building

I built a performance-oriented desktop around the ASUS P4T533-C platform. This was an important stage in exploring high-performance components and system configurations.

• Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz Engineering Sample
• Rambus memory configuration
• NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra AGP 8x
• Windows XP SP1 32-bit

I also worked behind the scenes at a 3C retail shop, assisting with product returns and customer service.

My First Enterprise Server

I purchased my first tower server, the Dell PowerEdge 2600. This introduced me to enterprise server hardware and multi-drive storage configurations.

• Intel Xeon 3040 Dual-Core 1.86GHz
• Dual power supply configuration
• Six 320GB Seagate Ultra SCSI drives
• RAID 5 storage configuration
• Windows 2000

Custom Workstations & Compact Engineering

After experiencing the size and complexity of traditional server infrastructure, I became interested in building powerful systems in smaller cases. I experimented with hardware modification, cooling and custom configurations.

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 and modified Xeon E5450 platform
• ASUS P5K3 Deluxe motherboard
• 16GB DDR3 memory
• Dual-GPU Radeon HD 3870 X2 CrossFire setup
• Gigabye i-ram x6 ICH10 RAID 5 24GB DDR 400(1GB X24)
• Custom water cooling and adjustable PWM fans

High-Performance Compact Workstation Engineering

Built a high-performance compact workstation using the SilverStone Sugo SG08 platform. This project focused on enthusiast-level CPU overclocking, direct-die cooling modifications, high-speed memory, GPU performance and compact system engineering.

• SilverStone Sugo Series SST-SG08B — Black Aluminum
• ASRock Z87-M8 Motherboard
• Intel Core i7-4790K — 4.8GHz @ 1.45V, Delidded
• Copper HIS + Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra
• Corsair 2133MHz OC — 16GB SO-DIMM (8GB × 2)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti — 8GB
• 600W ATX Non-Modular Power Supply
• 802.11ac Mini PCI-E Wireless Card
• CROSSOVER 289K — 28-inch UHD 4K (3840 × 2160) @ 60Hz
• 3 × 128GB mSATA SSD — Intel RST RAID 0
• Noctua NH-D9L with 3 High-Performance PWM Fans

Hardware Vision & Platform Engineering

This project began with a vision beyond a conventional workstation. By exploring the potential of the Shuttle SX79R5 platform, I focused on hardware flexibility, high-performance computing, and the possibility of evolving a compact system into a much more capable infrastructure platform.

• Shuttle XPC Smart SX79R5
• Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2 — 12 cores
• OC 1866 32GB DDR3 4ch
• NVIDIA GTX 1070 Katana
• LSI MegaRAID 9361-16i storage controllers
• Ultrastar DC SA620 SATA SSD 1.6TB x13 RAID 6
• Intel X540 10Gb NIC

High-Density Computing & Compact Xeon Engineering

Building on my earlier workstation experiments, I pushed compact computing further by integrating a 20-core Intel Xeon E5 v4 processor, 128GB of ECC memory and high-performance graphics into a compact workstation platform. This project focused on maximizing computational capability, memory capacity and hardware performance within a space-constrained design.

• ASRock EPC612D4I motherboard
• Intel Xeon E5-2679 v4 — 20 cores
• 2400 ECC PC4 SO-DIMM 128GB
• Compact SilverStone Sugo case
• Gigabyte GTX 1080 Ti OC Gaming Black — 11GB
• RST RAID 0 NGFF M.2 128GB x3 SSD adapter
• Noctua NF-A9 D9DX i4 3U + 3 PWM FANS Customizing

Project 01 — ASRock Rack EPC612D8-8R

A major dual-processor ATX home server project. This build explored server-class computing, high-capacity memory, dedicated storage controllers and enterprise-grade SAS storage architecture.

• Motherboard: ASRock Rack EPC612D8-8R
• CPU: To be added
• Memory: To be added
• HBA Controller: To be added
• SAS Storage: To be added
• GPU / Expansion: To be added
• Chassis and Cooling: To be added

Project 02 — Supermicro X10DAL-i

Another major dual-processor ATX home server project, focusing on server platform integration, dedicated storage controllers and high-capacity SAS infrastructure.

• Motherboard: Supermicro X10DAL-i
• CPU: To be added
• Memory: To be added
• HBA Controller: To be added
• SAS Storage: To be added
• GPU / Expansion: To be added
• Chassis and Cooling: To be added

Project 03 — 24/7 Home Data Center Engineering

This project marked a transition from high-performance workstation experimentation toward building a dedicated, always-on home data center. Using a server-grade Xeon E3 platform, 64GB of ECC memory and enterprise SAS RAID storage, I designed a compact system intended for continuous operation, reliable data storage and centralized computing services. The focus shifted from peak desktop performance to system reliability, storage integrity, thermal management and long-term operational stability.

• ASRock WSI4-85 C236 Motherboard
• Intel Xeon E3-1585 v5 — 4 Cores / 3.7GHz (BGA)
• 64GB DDR4-2133 ECC SO-DIMM (16GB × 4)
• LSI MegaRAID 9361-8i — 12Gb/s SAS, 2GB Cache
• Seagate ST1800MM0008 — 1.8TB 10K SAS 2.5-inch 4Kn × 7
• RAID 6 Storage Array
• Custom Thermal Configuration and Cooling Optimization

I also worked with system recovery, operating system installation, virtualization, CCTV/NVR configuration and hardware troubleshooting.

Extreme High-Density Workstation Engineering

This was one of the most challenging workstation builds I had ever undertaken. The goal was to integrate an 18-core Intel Core i9 HEDT platform, dual-GPU SLI graphics and a four-drive NVMe RAID 0 array into an exceptionally compact 14.4L aluminium chassis.

The project required careful planning and extensive hardware integration, combining a delidded CPU, custom liquid cooling, high-density graphics configuration and specialized storage expansion within severe space constraints.

• ZZAW B3 — 14.4L Aluminium Micro-ATX Case
• MSI X299M Gaming Pro Carbon AC Motherboard
• Intel Core i9-7980XE — 18 Cores / 36 Threads
• Delidded CPU — Integrated Heat Spreader Removed
• Kingston HyperX DDR4-3200 128GB (32GB × 4)
• GALAX GTX 1070 Katana 8GB × 2 — NVIDIA SLI
• HighPoint SSD7103 NVMe RAID Controller
• Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2TB × 4 — RAID 0 (~7.6TB)
• Asetek 645LT 92mm Liquid AIO CPU Cooler
• Corsair SF750 750W SFX Power Supply
• ID-COOLING NO-12015-XT RGB Fans × 4
• 5V RGB Synchronization System

Completing this build was a major personal engineering milestone. Integrating an 18-core HEDT processor, dual-GPU graphics and high-speed NVMe storage into a 14.4L chassis pushed my hardware integration experience to a new level.

The project demonstrated how careful component selection, thermal planning and mechanical optimization could overcome the limitations of an extremely compact form factor.