So, in the end, I chose Z370 i7 8700K. I am typing on it now...on a Gateway 2000 PS2 keyboard that's been shuffled around, unused since 2003
After all the research I did, I went to pcpartpicker and started config-ing. That took about a 2 weeks to decide between x299 and Z370 builds, weighing up the various options.
It took about a week to for me to put all the parts together and my main stumbling block was case fan knowledge. If I was gonna start again today, I could probably put it all together in about 5-6 hrs.
I went all Noctua NF-A14 PWM after first ordering and installing NF-P14 FLX and the vendor is fine to exchange them. I have to say, my set up is FAR from silent with these Noctua fans all on their lowest settings (~500 RPM). As much as I wanted to go Xeon, the power consumption is pretty high and my house power is iffy as of now.
Because of the iffy power, I also purchase an APC Back-UPS Pro 1500. I went waaaay overboard on Seasonic Prime Platinum 850 power supply. I bring this up because I wanted to build a SILENT computer and the last thing I wanted was a noisy UPS & APC Back-UPS Pro 1500 is absolutely silent as far as I can tell and I am very sensitive.
The rest:
ASRock Z370 Fatal1ty Pro Gaming
64 Corsair Vengeance LED 3000MHz (blue, it was the least expensive)
Palit GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Kalmx (passive/ no fans)
Noctua NH-D15s cpu cooler
Cooler Master Mastergel Maker thermal paste
Samsung 960 Pro 500GB system drive
Samsung EVO 850 500GB storage
Fractal Design R5 Black w/window
StarTech FW card (I have a bunch of FW stuff, particularly PreSonus FSM audio interface)
Win 10 Pro
Some notes about my green-ness.
The R5 case is really over kill, I could have gone with something much smaller. I suppose I was still in Xeon planning mode.
The case and PSU manufacturers have to have all the bases covered. Frankly, it is pretty amazing how the case manufacturer supplies that much well laid out tapped holes and fixings...more later...