Having been away from the team for long time I think it only fair that give an account of what has happened.

In 2012 I came in to a bit of money -- so I decided to build a good computer.

I started with 2 x Xeon E5 - 2687W CPU's 3.10 ghz ($4000.00)
2 x Kohler Water cooled heat sinks
An ASUS Twin CPU Motherboard ZPE 9 ($780.00)
4 x GTX 970 G1 GPU's
an ANTEC 1200w power supply
and lots of DDR3 RAM

Said beastie was constructed and began work on Prime Grid devouring work units. (See Swanp Gekko on my account)

Things went well for a few days the the ASUS motherboard clutched it's chest and fell dead in the middle of 32 tasks.

I have to say is was a bit put out - Nay- I was MIFTT!! (can't say what I really was)
I sulked for about a year & then bought another ASUS board (only one available for the CPU's)
THE 2014 rebuild worked great but I discovered that the MB is limited to 300W total power and the 2 x 2687's would require 330W if pushed. So no Prime Grid for me.

In 2017 I was using some high end CAD programs and the 1200W PS then decided to identify itself as a block of cheddar cheese rather than a working Power Supply.

Now I find that the older 2012 E5 2687W CPU's are out of date and not supported
(Latest is E5-2687 v4)-- I sulked for about 3 years expressing various ideas to anyone whoever would listen, about what souuld be done to INTEL, Bill Gates, ASUS and any one else causing me grief.

Skip forward to 2020 - I have discovered a supply of redundant INTEL MB's that support the older 2687's. Now I am in possession of an INTEL S2600IP Server Board. I fitted the MB and fired it all up useing the old 1200W PS and the MB beeped & squeeked a code that, when interpreted, indicates that the 1200 PS still thinks it is a block of cheese.
FINALLy!!! - I have something on my side that agrees with me.

I am currently working with my new found friend (S2600IP) via a lot of beeps & squeeks to construct a workable PC.

I will keep you posted.

PS

I have been looking in my spare part boxes --
I have 4 x GTX560's
4 x GTX 970 G1 GPU's
A various assortments od 9800 Gtx's

Are any of these GPU's still relevent today?

I will post a few photos of the beastie when I remember how to do it
(I think we had to post photos on FLIKER then bring them back?)

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____________
Member of AtP

Shown here is an Australian native rat (Ratus Kickarsus)

PS

I have been looking in my spare part boxes --
I have 4 x GTX560's
4 x GTX 970 G1 GPU's
A various assortments od 9800 Gtx's

Are any of these GPU's still relevent today?

I still reckon you were in prison.

I went through a similar heartache just last week when my i7 6700k went to heaven to meet its maker. Along with the CPU, the motherboard died as well.

I checked locally for a new board but no luck. I checked a very good supplier in Germany whom I have used in the past and again no luck. On to eBay and nothing new but some overpriced used boards. All of this in relation to the MSI H110M Pro-VD which I prefer since it allows me to clone disks from one system for use on another given the parity of the motherboard (aforementioned model) and CPU's (all SkyLakes).

For the price of a used mobo and i7 6700k, I can get a brand new i7 8700k. The system for it is totally built and available with the CPU being the only outstanding item. As a result, I am actively looking on eBay for a good deal on a new i7 8700k.

I cringe at the thought that my existing three SkyLake systems may have a problem in the future for the aforementioned reasons. I realize it is a reflection of progress being made but it really sucks not being able to get a new mobo which was readily available just 12-18 months ago.