This machine will be used for software development including web dev simulating clustered scalable deployments (using containers and VMs), local AI dev, and Windows device driver dev, and so I'll be running many tools including Visual Studio 2022 (a memory and CPU hog) and building a lot of C/C++ code as well as hosting multiple test VMs concurrently.

ECC memory support is an absolute priority for me because I don't want to waste time chasing "bugs" in code that are actually system stability issues caused by bit flips from cosmic rays.

Initially I intended to do CPU RAID 0 with VROC for the primary drive on which the OS and apps reside. I thought this was possible because the product page for this motherboard includes a link to a RAID configuration doc, which describes options for setting up RAID managed by the CPU (VROC RAID) and alternately RAID managed by the chipset/PCH (RST RAID). However I later discovered that this is just a generic RAID configuration manual and that not everything in it is necessarily supported by any specific ASUS motherboard. So I am just going to put the OS and apps on the 4TB NVMe drive (not in any RAID mode) and I will stripe the other two as an RST RAID 0 array managed by the chipset/PCH for my secondary/backup drive.

The reason I won't use the PCH-managed RAID LUN as my primary drive is mostly due to latency. If the RAID was managed by the CPU directly then I'd have minimal latency and max bandwidth. With the RAID being managed by the PCH I'm limited by the DMI 4.0 x8 bus between the PCH and the CPU (16 GB/s) with the additional latency.

I'm not a fan of flashy lights, so this build is basically RGB-free. The predominant color scheme is black although that was essentially a coincidence.

Post-Build Notes

The build itself was remarkably easy and smooth. The only issue I ran into was that I didn't know that I needed to "Clear" the TPM in the BIOS settings in order for Windows 11 to be able to fully use it, particularly for Attestation (which is required for Windows 11 to host Win11 VMs). After "Clearing" the TPM in the BIOS, the Windows device security settings for the TPM showed it was fully functional (Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Security > Device security).

Also, I didn't end up using any of the silicon/rubber case-fan "screws" as they were basically impossible to insert, and the standard screws that came with the case/fans worked just fine.

I'm really impressed by this case. It's very well designed and spacious and that made it extremely easy to route all the cabling and to fit the various parts. Just make sure that you affix the motherboard's I/O plate before attaching the motherboard to the case (I did).

I also didn't end up needing or using the case fan hub as the motherboard had all of the headers I needed. As to fan configuration, I set up the front three fans to be intakes and the bottom fan to be an intake, as the case itself has a mesh filter for all of these locations. For the top AIO fans they are set to blow out of the case (through a filter which I suppose I could remove) and I left the back vent by the I/O panel, which can host a fan, without any fan installed, because I set all of my fan speeds in the BIOS so that there is a slight positive pressure in the case for all fan speed settings which means that air is always flowing out of that back vent and never into it. If I had installed a fan on that back vent, blowing inward, then it would be pulling dust into the case as that vent has no mesh filter. If I had installed a fan on the back vent, blowing outward, then it would have created a negative pressure situation within the case which over time would draw dust into the case. So no fan on the back vent is ideal in this case as long as the inner-case pressure is always positive (blowing air out). To ensure this is the case I dangled a very light fabric strand in front of the exterior surface of the back exhaust vent and watched the strand to ensure it was blown away from the case for all fan speed settings in the BIOS.

Another oddity with this motherboard is that XMP is not an option so you will need to override the default RAM MT/s yourself in the BIOS. It's simple to do. I simply set mine to 4800MT/s (although the BIOS calls this MB/s which is an intentional mislabeling by the BIOS manufacturer because so many apparently confuse these terms).

One of the pleasant surprises of this build was the very cheap but very well designed M.2 heatsink (2 pack). It was such a well thought out product for a cheap product that it surprised me. It came with extra thermal material, great instructions, a tiny screwdriver perfect for the tiny screws, extra screws for the actual mounting of the drive to the motherboard (because you know your mobo probably didn't include them, right?) and it's sized just perfectly. And the thermals during operation are really decent so they work too.