Altcoin Mining Rig Setup

Hey all -

I am new to mining cryptocurrency, but have about 12+ years under my belt with sysadmin/hardware. I am not interested in mining BTC/ETH directly at this time as I am more concerned with altcoins. I am currently looking to construct one setup in my lab that I can tweak and play with to get to optimal settings, then replicate and move to a more suitable location from there. I have done some research on the sub forum regarding setups for altcoin mining, but haven't found all the answers I am looking for. Budget isn't a major concern as much as reliability and availability of hardware to get it to my door.

1) I have noticed some people stick to buying multiples of the same card, while others will mix and match their rigs. Is there any benefit to one vs the other?

2) Right now for my altcoin rig - I am looking at a rig with 8 of the ASUS ROG GeForce GTX 1080 Ti cards. It seems to be a fan favorite on the forum, ASUS has a pretty reliable track record in the hardware space, 3 cooling fans, and the warranty is 3 years. If anyone has any other suggestions for better cards, I am open to hearing.

3) Veddha V3C 8-GPU Aluminum Stackable Mining Rig - I am looking at this wire frame for compiling my rig. Has anyone used Veddha/Bleev.in ? Would anyone recommend anything else that is in stock and readily available?

4) I am open to any suggestions or recommendations on motherboards and power supplies as well. I am really looking for best in class (warranty/reliability wise).

Cheers!