Considering X370 Taichi, few questions

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   I've been looking for an good quality motherboard for an 1700X with nice memory speeds. Not really into OC-ing, but I just love overkill and durability. My main goal is to do some lighter/indy gaming, lots of firefox, maybe start running a VM and an older random server. I do plan to leaving the pc on 24/7, and I usually get 7-10 years of usage from new bought hardware. (mobo/CPU/memory and PSU)

At first I didn't even consider the Taichi, because of the brand. (I considered it a sub top brand) But after seeing many different reviews on youtube, it has become my number one choice. It seems this board is overkill, and it "should" be good for OC-ing. With lots of headroom and durable components. This is something I really like. But I do have some questions...

I am considering building a custom computer case "from scratch". Might salvage some minor mounting brackets, but I am going to build the frame out of copper and brass water pipes. As pannels, I am considering real thick leather/hide. You might even call it Steampunk inspired. And there this motherboards really shines me thinks. But...
When mounting any kind of GPU, the most detailed parts of them gears on the Taichi will be covered. This makes me really be like: 

On page 25 of the manual (http://asrock.nl/downloadsite/Manual/X370%20Taichi.pdf) it tells us to put the primary GPU in PCIE slot 2, and an optional SLI/Crossfire card in slot 3. (considering an GTX 1060, 6 gb card, which will be replaced in ~4 years with a then current gen mid ranged GPU)
TLDR/1: will the X370 Taichi work with a single GPU in slot 3, and how much would it impact on performance.

"They" have lots of nice pictures of the motherboard on their website. I get that, marketing people want to feel usefull. But this does get me wondering.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X370%20Taichi/
Scroll down a fair bit, and you will notice some info about "Nichicon 12K Black Caps". They have a lifespan of at least 12.000 hours, 20% moar then is normal. But after getting my calc.exe out, it's only 500 days... While I usually got between 7 and 10 years (24/7) from new bought, non-OC-ed motherboards before getting some issues.
TLDR/2: can I expect (not guaranteed) ~7 years of 24/7use (without OC and good airflow + every 6 months a good cleaning) out of an Taichi motherboard? Is it expected?

Getting fast memory to run fast on Ryzen, has been difficult at best. I've also seen some guy (affiliated to gamers nexus?) hit some really nice high speeds on his Taichi motherboard. But it took alot of time, and I'm not that kind of a guy. It needs to ~work out of the box.
TLDR/3: If I buy validated high speed memory, how difficult will it be to get it to run at specified (or at least very nice) speeds?

I usually don't reboot at all. In fact, my current pc doesn't even have an on/off switch. (PSU switch off/on, and it will boot as if there was an random power loss) And I'm always a bit paranoid that there will be issues after an reboot. It's just who I am.
TLDR/4: Are current drivers and BIOS updates good enough to get very nice performance out of the X370 Taichi?

If I am really carefull and if I would tape off all soldering spots, would it be possible to paint the current white graphics? (orange/copper, to fit the case)

Thanks for reading, looking forward to them replies. It will infuence my discisions.