Is Anyone Else Noticing This?

neves said:

Would rather build my own - than spend 300$ on a PC Case. That scamming price sounds so "American (like being charged 5x - 10x the price of same medicine and such - compared to EU)".

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You would build your own case?

Winuser said:

It stopped powering up. I was using the computer and it made a noise and shut off. When I tried restarting it the only things that powered on was the case lights and the fans. I tried trouble shooting by making sure all connections were good, re-inserting the ram and using another power supply. Nothing I tried worked so I replaced it with a PowerSpec G156 desktop. Even though I was using a surge protector I suspect it was a power surge that caused it.

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Do you still have the system board? If so, I have a few questions for you if you don't mind my asking.

If it made a beeping sound before it shut down that's a good thing. If the system board has an indicator light and the light turns on when you plug it in that's a good thing. The board is protecting itself. What I would have done is change out the CMOS battery first (when the board was unplugged from power) and then disconnect everything. All fans except CPU fan, remove graphics card if it had one, re-seat the RAM only using the minimum amount as per manual, remove all USB cables connected to the headers, and all cards in the PCIe slots. Then I'd plug it in with the bare butt minimum amount of connectivity. No mouse, no keyboard, just the board with one stick of RAM plus PSU and see what happens. IF I got beeping I'd listen to the beeps and look them up.

Scannerman said:

Do you still have the system board? If so, I have a few questions for you if you don't mind my asking.

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The motherboard is still installed but it doesn't have any memory and a CPU cooling fan. I used the fan to replace the one on the G156.

bought a Cooler Master 932 case a long time ago,, still using it... if anyone that want's a good case, clean used or new at a good price get one..

Winuser said:

The motherboard is still installed but it doesn't have any memory and a CPU cooling fan. I used the fan to replace the one on the G156.

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Oh, that's easy enough to remedy. I've been going over the manual and this is a fairly easy board to work with. If you want we can walk through some of the steps to verify if the board is really dead or just in limbo. One stick of DDR3 RAM should be easy enough to acquire and a simple heat sink with a fan shouldn't be much of a problem either. People are tossing these in dumpsters and recycling bins all over the place. You could probably snag one at a garage sale for a song. No worries. Should you decide to look deeper into this ASRock mystery I would be happy to assist you. My next steps after the beeping would be to plug in the monitor after shutting down the system (if it hasn't done so already) and jumpering the CMOS in order to ensure a complete reset. In cases like this jumpering often fixes the issue. In fact, it's in your manual.

Scannerman said:

People are tossing these in dumpsters and recycling bins all over the place.

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I work in public works and I get to see it first hand. Most computers that come in are very old OEM desktops. I have see cases that would have been worth saving only I wasn't interested in them at the time. I'll look around and see if I can find the memory. I think I took them out to put away in case I ever needed them. I still have the CPU heat sink. I just need to find a fan. I had to use the fan in the G156 desktop. I was going to buy a fan from the local Radio Shack/Electronics Store but the only fans they had didn't have the extra wire the old fan had. The tech was off and the sales person wasn't sure if it would work or not.

Winuser said:

I work in public works and I get to see it first hand. Most computers that come in are very old OEM desktops. I have see cases that would have been worth saving only I wasn't interested in them at the time. I'll look around and see if I can find the memory. I think I took them out to put away in case I ever needed them. I still have the CPU heat sink. I just need to find a fan. I had to use the fan in the G156 desktop. I was going to buy a fan from the local Radio Shack/Electronics Store but the only fans they had didn't have the extra wire the old fan had. The tech was off and the sales person wasn't sure if it would work or not.

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Yes. You want that 3 terminal fan that comes with the standard CPU heat sink. You could even cannibalize one of those old desk top office PCs to get one. In fact, it doesn't even have to firmly attach to the heat sink for testing purposes if you just lay the case its side and plop the fan on top the heat sink after you connect it to the CPU fan header. I have a sneaky suspicion that if you jumper this board less the peripherals it will leap back to life. I've done that so many times with older style system boards.

retiredat44 said:

bought a Cooler Master 932 case a long time ago,, still using it... if anyone that want's a good case, clean used or new at a good price get one..

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Hang onto that case, my friend. I remember when that HAF first came out. Today they're worth their weight in gold.

I haven't built a pc for about 2 years, but finding a case with front 5.25 bays was difficult even then. I still like a DVD burner and hard drive caddies, and the one I am using at the moment has an Akasa caddy for 2.5 and 3.5 drives plud two USB3 ports.
As for cooling, there are still two 120 or 140 fan places below the three 5.25 slots in the Coolermaster Silencio 650 case.
And now using a Ryzen 5700G, the TDP is only 65W for an eight core sixteen thread APU which has plenty of graphics power for my uses. No more giant CPU fans and graphics cards with three fans heating the room.

tinmar49 said:

I haven't built a pc for about 2 years, but finding a case with front 5.25 bays was difficult even then. I still like a DVD burner and hard drive caddies, and the one I am using at the moment has an Akasa caddy for 2.5 and 3.5 drives plud two USB3 ports.

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You can get the Phanteks Enthoo Pro Series PH-ES614P from Newegg for $120 bucks. The case is an upgrade to the older Enthoo Lux which I still have. Both feature 3 front drive bays for CD drives or whatever else you need. I have two CD writers in my case as I use that system to rip my CD collection.

It supports EATX boards, which is what I have in mine. The main difference between my Enthoo Lux, and the new Enthoo Pro, is the Pro has an open front face for better cooling, where mine is closed off.

If you want a good case, and need front bays, that's where I'd go. In fact, given the price, and it has an open front, I might pick one up myself to replace the Lux.

Good luck.

Dru2 said:

You can get the Phanteks Enthoo Pro Series PH-ES614P from Newegg for $120 bucks. The case is an upgrade to the older Enthoo Lux which I still have. Both feature 3 front drive bays for CD drives or whatever else you need. I have two CD writers in my case as I use that system to rip my CD collection.

It supports EATX boards, which is what I have in mine. The main difference between my Enthoo Lux, and the new Enthoo Pro, is the Pro has an open front face for better cooling, where mine is closed off.

If you want a good case, and need front bays, that's where I'd go. In fact, given the price, and it has an open front, I might pick one up myself to replace the Lux.

Good luck.

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I have this case. Plenty of inside room and bays. I'm quite happy with it.

kelper said:

I have not owned a desktop PC in decades but I loved the one I had. No tools were needed to open the case or add things and I think at one stage it had two floppy disks, a tape drive and CD-DVD writer all added by me. I was mightily pleased when I found out that extras from any company were compatible.
But now I like to sit in the lounge with the laptop so I can be with my wife, not stuck nerding in a man cave. I don't think I would ever buy a computer that wasn't silent (no wife models are silent).

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Ditto. However, I sometimes sit at the kitchen table when playing Bridge online

Dru2 said:

You can get the Phanteks Enthoo Pro Series PH-ES614P from Newegg for $120 bucks. The case is an upgrade to the older Enthoo Lux which I still have. Both feature 3 front drive bays for CD drives or whatever else you need. I have two CD writers in my case as I use that system to rip my CD collection.

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Can't say how many times I circled back to look at this case. In Canada, with shipping & taxes etc. it pushes around the 300 dollar mark. I likely would have purchased it if I lived in USA. I believe someone on this thread pointed out that the quality of this model leaves much to be desired and that the newer versions are quite flimsy with misaligned screw holes. Perhaps they just got a bad one. Phanteks used to be known for quality, but these days one never knows. I know this much, however: They don't make 'em like they used to.

Back in the day I used to do a lot of CD ripping myself. This stopped when we moved and I started building PCs for people and rescuing old PCs from recycling stations. Now I have to stop rescuing PCs from recycling stations or risk getting arrested.

There is a myriad of things that can be done with a PC sporting multiple front bays. Personally, I equate the term "Work Station" with utility. When the number of front bays is decreased utility is also limited. For me, having 5 to ten front bays is not unusual. Call me old school. The days of mesmerization via RGB FANS and intense flashing LEDS strong enough to put a healthy brain into epileptic shock never quite cut it for me. Perhaps for some they are reminiscent of the old gaming arcades but that was never really my thing. Again, user preference prevails. To each their own.

That aside, some kind soul in this forum has located me a solid, reliable case for my SAGE X299. It'll be crossing the pond so there will be taxes and duty and shipping to think of, but the case is a collectible, likely a museum model, one for the Smithsonian, shouldn't wonder. It will be my Mercury Monarch of a sleeper and when I'm finished with it I suspect it will run like greased lightning.

I should put all my old tower PC cases up for sale, I had no idea they were worth real money!

gunrunnerjohn said:

I should put all my old tower PC cases up for sale, I had no idea they were worth real money!

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Go check EBAY. People are selling them there for more than what their modern brand new counterparts cost because the new cases are cheap garbage.

IF you use an ASRock H110M-HDV system board.


You might want to put in a "bipper". What's a bipper, you say?

A: It's a little piezoelectric speaker that attaches to your system board


When you get signal to your board it goes *BIP!*

When your RAM is misconfigured it will notify you with a series of beeps.

When your CMOS battery is starting to go it will notify you with slow, occasional beeping.

And it's cheap.

Get a bipper if you don't have one. Very handy to have.