OK lemme preface this by saying I've been researching my ass off, but there is a lot to take in here. One of my biggest struggles getting into this hobby so far is the gigantic range in pricing. Trying not to fall into the trap of either buying a $1K mobo or a $100 r720 and being like "OK, done, I'm a homelabber now". Ideally I want to build something and piece it together at a good price, but understand why and what Im buying as I do. Been looking at options from Asrock which while awesome are pretty fn pricey. What does keep coming up are a variety of x99 boards for dirt cheap. Some from random Chinese sellers, some not. Not looking to have me hand held here, I am fully willing to grind out my own research, but could definitely use an option on whether either of those options would be a waste lf my hard earned cash.

As context, I want to run a Nas and plex off the bat, In addition to some.self hosting (vaultwarden, git, AD, etc.) Also coming into some cheap nvidia tesla p40s So ultimately deep learning is a big goal. That being said my main concern is having room to grow and learn and try new stuff withoutt being restricted by the hardware, and I'm a bit paralyzed by in indecision here.

Anyways, like I said not looking to be spoonfed, just trying to wrap my head around what i should/can get started with (and what I have no fn clue about and need to read up on)

Thanks evweeryone. .