HDCOLORS / 8K.ART / Open Studio
Hardware Shopping List
Amazon-linked, performance-first shopping list for the 8K/VR/CUDA studio and lab-grade home backbone.
Purpose
This is the public shopping list documented in the chat for a performance-first 8K/VR/CUDA home studio, recovery-safe storage server, and lab-grade network backbone.
Prices and availability are volatile. The prices below are not live quotes; they are the prices or status recorded in the conversation on 2026-05-28. Re-check the current Amazon seller, return policy, port wording, and compatibility before buying.
Shopping list
| Item | Role in the build | Recorded price/status | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intel NUC 13 Extreme / i7-13700K class workstation | Core server/workstation candidate: explicit Thunderbolt 4 + 10GbE + PCIe x16 expansion for Blackmagic DCI 8K capture, RTX 4070 reuse, file serving, and media encoding. | Availability/price uncertain in chat; use only if current seller is returnable | Amazon link |
| OWC ThunderBay 8 | Main 8-bay Thunderbolt DAS for SATA SSDs, 3.5-inch HDD migration, archive drives, and server-attached media storage. | Amazon price not cleanly visible in chat; rough market target mentioned: about $849.99 | Amazon link |
| Mediasonic 8-Bay USB-C SATA DAS | Lower-cost archive/migration DAS alternative for 3.5-inch HDDs and SATA SSDs. | $319.99 recorded in chat | Amazon link |
| CENMATE Aluminum 8-Bay SATA HDD/SSD Enclosure | Budget many-bay enclosure option for 2.5-inch/3.5-inch SATA drives. | $229.99 recorded in chat | Amazon link |
| MikroTik CRS504-4XQ-IN | Lab-grade 100GbE QSFP28 core switch for a high-performance home backbone. | $664.90 recorded in chat | Amazon link |
| Mellanox ConnectX-5 EN MCX516A-CCAT dual-port 100GbE NIC | Dual-port 100GbE QSFP28 PCIe NIC for the server/workstation. | from $550.00 recorded in chat | Amazon link |
| Mellanox ConnectX-5 alternate listing | Alternate 100GbE ConnectX-5 listing documented in the chat. | from $495.00 recorded in chat for renewed/alternate | Amazon link |
| Mellanox Technologies MCX516A-CCAT_FF alternate | Second alternate ConnectX-5 listing documented in the chat. | Check current Amazon price | Amazon link |
| 10Gtek 100G QSFP28 DAC Cable, 3m | Short-run 100GbE direct-attach cable for immediate testing before a permanent fiber run. | $38.99 recorded in chat | Amazon link |
| MINISFORUM MS-01 i9-13900H, 32GB/1TB | Strong 10G SFP+ / USB4 mini workstation option, but not the preferred Thunderbolt-DAS choice because the listing does not clearly say Thunderbolt 4. | $1,127.00 recorded in chat | Amazon link |
| MINISFORUM MS-01 i9-13900H Barebone | Cheaper 10G SFP+ / USB4 barebone alternative. Still not the first choice if explicit Thunderbolt 4 is required. | $623.90 recorded in chat | Amazon link |
| MINISFORUM MS-02 | More extreme network-oriented mini workstation candidate with higher-speed networking; included as future-looking option. | Check current Amazon price | Amazon link |
Performance-first purchase logic
- Do not build core infrastructure around toy gaming mini PCs. Prefer Thunderbolt 4, 10GbE, PCIe expansion, and cooling.
- Use the NUC 13 Extreme / compact workstation class if the goal is Thunderbolt 4, 10GbE RJ45, PCIe x16, RTX 4070 reuse, and Blackmagic DCI 8K capture.
- Use the OWC ThunderBay 8 as the main many-drive Thunderbolt DAS if the host has true Thunderbolt support.
- Use 100GbE QSFP28 as the lab-grade backbone when the goal is to remove network bottlenecks from huge recovery images, 8K media movement, and CUDA worker nodes.
- Keep damaged recovery drives separate. Image first; recover from the image; never make the damaged drive part of a permanent storage pool until recovery is complete.
Clean public architecture
Bedroom 8K / VR180 studio
→ 10GbE or 100GbE link
→ office server/workstation
→ Thunderbolt 4 DAS
→ OWC ThunderBay 8
→ shared storage:
- MomArchive mapped as S:
- Canon R5C / VR180 media
- AI training footage
- recovery images
- long-term family archive