This it a tale of just how wrong things can go when the cyber gods are angry!!

The Start - Nov 2012 --- In the land of Oz if your business makes a profit you can either give a big chunk to the tax man or re-invest it in your business (100% tax write off) -- I hunted around and came up with the 2 x xeon 2687w rig -- part beast - part server - part desk top - I think I even mentioned it in the Team message board.

The Components 2 x Xeon 2687w CPU's
2 x Antec Water cooling
Asus Z9PE-D8 MoBo
1200w Antec PS
64GB Corsair Vengence RAM
Box to put it in
(GPU's to come later)

The Build -- When the parts were delivered to my house - The delivery guy said " You are lucky your parts came up from Brisbane today - The previous (2 days ago) Brisbane truck rolled over - wrecked everything" I reply "Geez!! Lucky alright!!" -- (Hmmnn! remember this info)

Given there are over $6000 worth of bit here I checked everything very carefully -- All good no issues I could see - only thing I noticed was that the CPU socket guards on the MB were loose when I unwrapped it. All went smooth and fired up no probs -- installed Win 7 Ultimate - went through the usual upgrades & adding programs - hooked up to PG for stress testing - start crunching --

First Sign of Problems - The first issue I saw was some tasks error out then I started looking at the performance of the rig -- Hmmnn! would have expected better than that!! -- Then I get some screen lockups & glitches --
OK - I have some issues happening so I start diagnostics - you know -disconnect that - re-install this -- Nothing seems to make any difference.

Serious issues -- 1 day later I have regular BSOD's -- then during a full Win 7 re-install -- Black screen of oblivion!!!-- and then Noooootthhing!!!

Now I have no time to deal with it -- I have to go away to work--

Some time later When I finally get some time at home I decide to strip everything down and go over every component with a magnifying glass (I once had a minute piece of metal from the case manufacture fall into a MB and cause similar problems)-- I really had no explanation for what was happening--When I removed the CPU's and had a look - AHHA!!! Pin damage (very slight but noticeable under high magnification.)

Fights & Arguments I got hold of the freight company - Yes it seems some of my parcels might have been on the truck that rolled over-- But No to insurance as you had 30 days to make a claim. -- No joy here -- I try the supplier-- You WHAT!!! ha! ha! P@## OFF -- However, they did offer to have a look at the MB (at my cost) and see what might be done

All Fixed or No?? - Month later MB comes back -- "All good & tested - fixed pins" they say -- I put it all together -- NOTHING!!! GRRRR!!! -- much fighting & yelling ensues -- Supplier tech guys tell me the CPU's must be fried -- Nuclear Explosion!! -- when I come back from orbit I grudgingly admit it seems the only logical answer (I had used the 1200 PS elsewhere all good)

I sulk for a long while - It took me quite a time to come to grips with my $4000 worth of paper weights -- After a hell of a lot of thinking I came to wonder about how they tested the MB -- I came to the conclusion they would do it the same way as I would - chuck it on the bench and plug things in --

Your Kidding Me?? -- I do just that-- and yep!!!! - The whole bloody thing fires!!! --- After the initial shock (and relief) I start poking the MB and soon as you touch it -POOF!! all dead!! -- hands off - reboot -- its back again!!!
After a lot of prodding I work out that the slightest pressure or deflection of the MB kills it!!!!

What really Happened!!

The MB must have been stressed in the truck accident somehow-- as there was absolutely no package damage it must copped a hell of a shock but was tightly packed between other parcels. --

The only clue was the dislodged CPU socket guards - I think there are damaged circuits on the board itself.

When I first fired it up there was some contact of the paths on the MB but heat & use soon caused the loss of circuit continuity.

Finding the slight pin damage was I think a false or misleading step. I now believe it was never an issue -- or if it was then it only played a minor role in the series of events.

The one thing I never did until the very last was to test fire on it all the bench unassembled. (Might have saved a lot of bloody time if I did)

The MB must be stressed very slightly when bolted in to the case enough to open circuit pathways but sort of works when laying on the test bench.

Solution Got another MB (Air freighted this time -- I figure if it meets with an accident at least I will be able to tell) --

This tale just shows how things can conspire to really "pi## you off" but logic must win in the end -- I knew something was wrong with the MB -- I knew (despite what all were saying) that the CPU's were OK--

I sincerely hope that none of you ever have to go through a process like that though!! --

PS -- The beast is grumbling away beside me ATM 32 cores happily crunching Mega PPS - Next thing will be those GPU's I never did get around to -- got a couple of old 560's lighting up the screens -- tried a few sieve units but they overheated so I turned them off -- What's a good GPU these days????


Cheers

Jim (DoES)
____________
Member of AtP

Shown here is an Australian native rat (Ratus Kickarsus)

I have a real mix of 560's -- 1 Gigabyte - 1 Galaxy long form - 2 Galaxy short forms --- The Gigabyte is brilliant -- the Galaxy's are cheap & crap (one died 2 days ago) - I gave it a sieve and it had a heart attack,

Back a couple of years ago I had all 4 of the 560's in the i7 990x running on PG sieving and made it into the Top 20 Computers --- but I always had stability issues with the 3 Galaxys.

Now the new beast is looking ok (fingers crossed) I be pulling the 990x off line and giving it a good clean up as the fans & heat sinks are solid with gunk (living in the Tropics is very hard on computers) Once I get it tidied up I will probably replace the 560's and turn it loose crunching.

I had always (until disaster struck) planned to get some high end GPU's for the new beast. -- I might have a study of that 780ti

J
____________
Member of AtP

Shown here is an Australian native rat (Ratus Kickarsus)

For GPU sieving, stick with nvidia. I have a 770 (which is really a re-branded 680) and it screams along. Make sure cooling is good as it throws off a lot of heat... I have a EVGA branded card with the ACX cooling system. In my other box I have a 570 which is no slouch, but barely 1/2 as fast as the 770. No complaints though! The "Titan" is the fastest card out there no question, but they are hideously expensive.

For Genefer, ATI is on top now. Their top-shelf cards beat equivalent nvidia due to better double precision performance, at least at a given price level. The Titan may still rule the roost, but for crunching-per-dollar, ATI wins here.

Rick is correct with his caveat regarding the "fastest GPU" page data. It can be iffy for multiple reasons. If one were to look at it over a period of several days, it would likely give a reasonable view if averaged out.

--Gary