Now that I got the Audio-System of my dreams, the Bose Companion 50, built my own system status monitor / dashboard on a 7" screen and fully customized my Everest Max Keyboard, basically every aspect of my system is fully decked out. It is kind of a new and very strange feeling for me to be "done" with a system and not being able to upgrade it any further. Given, I COULD build a custom loop for watercooling my components, but as the current solutions for cooling suffice and make maintanance a lot esaier, this is something I will put on a backlog for a later build.

It all started when I was being made aware of the modular Everest Max keyboard. Being a sucker for stuff that can be customized, I ordered one and thought I was just gonan pick up some nice switches for it and be set. Looking into the kinds of switches made me slip and fall head-first into the rabbit-hole that is custom keyboards. To make a long story short, now I own the following keebs:

Everest Max (ISO-DE, Gunmetal Gray)
- Gateron Black Ink Switches (clipped, lubed with Krytox 205g0 and filmed with KBDfans Switch Foam)
- Everglide Panda Stabs (clipped, lubed with Krytox 205g0 and dielectric grease, Holee-Modded)
- A mix of Hyper-X Pudding keycaps ( german ABS and US PBT)

Drop Alt (Low Profile)
- Gateron Black Ink Switches (clipped, lubed with Krytox 205g0 and filmed with TX films)
- Durock Stabs (clipped, lubed with Krytox 205g0 and dielectric grease, Holee-Modded)
- Some weird PBT DE-Variant of a chinese clone of the Carbon keycap set that feels and sounds suprinigly great
- full Foam Mod by Stupidfish (Case, PCB and Spacebar)

There is also an upcoming, purple themed build that will feature a powder-coated KBDfans 5 degree case and Akko Neon Keycaps as well as one in a Sun68 once these ship.

Regarding the Everest I am not yet sure whether I will keep it configured like that or swap the switches and/or caps again to something different. I was so amazed by the sound and feeling of my Drop Alt (which I use in the Office) that I tried to replicate that configuration on the Everest, but sadly the result doesn't feel or sound nearly as buttery-smooth as my Drop Alt. I presume this is due to the different kind of keycaps I used on the Everest as well as the slimmer case it has. The problem with getting differnt keycaps is only the fact, that I need an ISO-DE layout, which is pretty hard to get in PBT.
Anotehr disadvantage of this configuration is the fact, that even on their brightest setting, the per-key LEDs of the Everest are not bright enough to shine through the Black Ink switches AND the Pudding keycaps, resulting in a faint glow that can only be seen if all other lights are out.

Today, after waiting for nearly six months, my new GPU finally arrived: A brand-new EVGA RTX3080 XC3 Ultra Gaming replaces the Gigabyte GTX 660 WindForce, which had done an amazing job as a stand-in.

Price-wise I used the current price it sells for in the shop where I bought it ( 1.590 € / 1.895 $ ), but since I ordered the card right on release, I got it for "only" 865 € / 1.031 $. Please let me know which number is the more appropiate here, and I'll change it

On 2021-03-05th, in preparation for the upcoming GPU-Upgrade, I swapped the two intake stock fans that came with my case for three Noctua NF-A12x25 and also used that opportunity to switch out the 24-Pin ATX and 8-Pin PCI Cables that came with my PSU for their sleeved counterparts by CableMod. And while I dislike the look of the fans, the clean and stylish look of the cables makes up for that a lot!

I also installed a GPU support bracket by uphere so I won't have to leave my new GPU hanging once it arrives.