I did a similar build. I had no clue other people were thinking the same. The entire build I was super nervous. I kept worry I was buying components for a system that wouldn't be worth it. "How can this be so cheap?" I kept wondering. Admittedly, I went for used E5-2687Ws from ebay. Which increased the risk IMO.

My experience mirrors the article and your experience. Fantastic value for a really great workstation! I happily run several VMs for dev work, the usual IDEs and switch between games with zero issues. I picked Noctua coolers, same as the article, and the noise level is also excellent.