TheOtherWhiteGuy

Reseated the CPU several times and no dice. Think the motherboard just may be bad, unfortunately.

Nope, nothing from MSI at all. It seems to be running an American Megatrends BIOS and the three-beep code says it points to bad RAM, but I'm still not convinced the actual dimms are bad

Here's exactly what it sounds like when being powered on Snapchat-1024007623.mp4

Yup, I reseated the chip and even cleaned the contacts on the bottom of the chip with an alcohol wipe (and waited for it to dry before reinstalling, of course.) Did the same with the contacts on the RAM dimms and didn't make a difference.

So I bought an MSI H67MA-E35 (B3) to use as the base of a home NAS I'm building. But when trying to power it up, it gives me two low pitched beeps with one high pitched, for a total of three beeps. I've looked around and the consensus seems to be bad RAM, but I'm skeptical of that. I've tried five different sticks of memory and it seems unlikely that all of them would be bad. I'm convinced the motherboard is bad, but I figured I'd come here to see if y'all have any ideas that I didn't think of before I return it to the eBay seller I bought it from. It has an i5 2500S as the processor. Any suggestions?

So something strange is happening with my system. I was in the bios adjusting fan curves and whatnot and decided to run a Cinebench benchmark, because why not. My score was in the mid 500's, and I was confused, for a good reason. So I went back to the bios and reset the clocks back to stock, and it was at 1369, which is normal. But another thing I noticed was that was the same score I had before I even poked around in the bios, so it was like my system was never overclocked, to begin with. So, as it stands, my system is currently running at stock speeds. But when I attempted my normal overclock (3.75GHz @1.35v) again, CPUZ reports the processor running at 1.5GHz. It says the multiplier is x15 and the bus speed is ~88MHz(The screenshot shows 99MHz, but it usually hovers around the 88 mark). No matter what overclock I try, it just won't get past this. Any suggestions?

After months of saving up money and sending back parts that didn't work (Ryzen is super picky about memory, I've learned the hard way, as explained below), my baby is finally done. CPU - AMD Ryzen 1700 @ 3.7GHz, 1.35v CPU Cooler - Cooler Master 120 MasterLiquid Lite Motherboard - Asrock X370 Gaming ITX/AC GPU - MSI GTX 1070 Ti Titanium 8G Memory - 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 3000MHz (Running at 2800MHz, more on that down below) Storage - Primary: Western Digital Black 256GB PCIe SSD, Secondary/Mass Storage: Seagate 2TB ST2000DM006 Power Supply - EVGA SuperNova 550W G2 Case - In Win 301 RGB Lighting - Corsair Lighting Node Pro Peripherals: Keyboard - Corsair K55 Mouse - Corsair M65 Pro Monitors - Two Acer 1080p Displays (The model numbers escape me at the moment, and I don't want to crane my neck to check them) So as the title states, this is a powerhouse stuffed into a rather small case. Now, it's not a Cooler Master Elite 110, but it's still a rather small space for all that power (and heat). I'll give my thoughts about each part below and the rationale for buying each one. But, if you're just here for the pictures and benchmarks, I totally understand, I like to talk a lot. Plus, pictures are nice to look at. Disclaimer: I am not sponsored by any of the vendors/reviewers in this post. Anything and everything you read is purely my opinion and these parts just happen to be the ones I bought and I ended up being happy with. Also, I don't touch on the peripherals, since they weren't my main concern. I included them anyway in case any of you were curious. CPU - Yes, yes, the Ryzen 7 1700 isn't the best CPU for gaming. "You should've gone with an R5 1600, or even better, an 8600K!" When I purchased the Ryzen 7 1700 (about two months ago), there wasn't an i5 8600K in sight. If it was, it was way overpriced on some eBay scalper's store, and I wasn't about to pay him/her $400 for it. So, I went for the 1700, confident in its ability to do the heavy lifting and some gaming tasks. I went with a 1700 because I wanted the extra power to be there if I wanted to; I occasionally edit a video here and there for friends (school projects and whatnot) and I love having a beefy processor there when needed. Sure, I'll lose a few FPS here and there in games compared to a Ryzen 5 1600 or an 8600K, but it honestly doesn't bother me too much. The Cooler Master 120 MasterLiquid Lite performs well within expectations, temperatures never got over 55 degrees while playing GTA V. I overclocked only to 3.7 GHz because I was running into stability issues. 3.8 GHz was working for a while, but when restarting my system, it failed to post and I had to clear CMOS, so dialing it back seemed to fix it. Regardless, it performs fantastically, as you'll see in the benchmark screenshots later on. Not to mention, it's an eight-core processor, and we all know the more cores you have, the bigger your penis. *Laughs nervously* GPU - The MSI GTX 1070 Ti is indeed a monster and rivals the 1080 when overclocked, and that's why I sprung for it. Why not a 1080? Well, when I bought my GPU a few months ago, prices were inconsistent (and still are thanks to cryptocurrency, I bought it just in time), so a 1080 cost around $550-600 on Amazon and the 1070 Ti cost around $475, so I figured I'd buy the 1070 Ti and overclock the stuffing out of it to get 1080 performance, and it's worked out pretty well, if you ask me. I have stock 1080 performance at around a $100 savings, and I'm rather pleased. It's overclocked with a +200MHz offset on the core and a +150 offset on the memory using MSI Afterburner. I went for the MSI variant of this card for a few reasons, but mostly because it has a beefy cooler and it looks really good, IMO. Temperatures stay well within check; they capped out at 72 degrees while benchmarking in Firestrike, and rarely reach that during actual gameplay. It's a good deal for a powerful graphics card, but I'd wait for the cryptocurrency hype to die down before buying any graphics card (assuming it does die down anytime soon). Motherboard - The Asrock X370 Gaming ITX/AC motherboard was the first part I bought for this build a few months back and was really what set the whole small form factor train in motion for me. It overclocks well and is a pretty good looking board in general. The M.2 slot on the back of the board really came in handy in my case (heh, get it, case?), due to the limited amount of real estate I have for drives. In fact, that slot was the reason why I got an M.2 SSD in the first place. If it sounds like I based most of my decisions of this motherboard, well, yes, I did. Remember, it was the first part I bought, so a lot of decisions had to be made with this board in mind. One of those decisions I should've kept in mind is the memory, as I'll explain below. Memory - "Ryzen is very picky about memory, and you need to check your motherboard's QVL before selecting memory." *Sigh* This is what I get for not listening. Now in my defense, the Corsair Vengeance 3200MHz RAM I was going to use came from my old build, so I figured why would I buy new memory if I had 16GB of perfectly good RAM right here? Not to mention, I bought this memory when it was insanely cheap, around $90 for the 16GB kit. It didn't work. For one reason or another, the system wouldn't post with the Vengeance memory. So, as you might imagine, I was deeply disappointed when I had all my parts and found out that Ryzen was all "meh" with my memory. Well, whatever, I guess, I'll get some new memory. *A few weeks later, after selling the Vengeance Memory and buying the Dominator Platinum kit* The Corsair Dominator Platinum 3000MHz 16GB kit looks amazing and performs amazing, for the most part. For some reason, my memory won't go past 2800MHz (or at least, I couldn't be bothered at the moment to push it past that speed). Pushing it to 2993MHz causes instability, from what I could tell. Back when I mentioned the system not posting with the 3.8 GHz CPU overclock, I also dialed back the memory speed, just in case. I probably could push it back to 2993MHz, but for now, I'm content with its current speed. So remember kids, check your motherboard's QVL before buying memory, or prepare to be sorely disappointed on the day you go to build your system. Storage - This is my first time with a PCIe SSD, and it's a lovely experience, to say the least. Fast load times, snappy response times, all that good stuff. Crystal disk mark shows its read speeds going over 1500MB/s and write speeds peaking at about 700MB/s. No, it's not the fastest PCIe SSD out there, but it's faster than my old RAID 0 setup with two 128GB SATA SSDs, so I'm happy. I got it off Amazon for about $95, so the lower price was also a factor in choosing this part. It's not big enough to store any games (well, maybe one, but it'll take up a good chunk of space), but it's plenty big enough for Windows and a few other programs. I plan on getting a 1TB SATA SSD for speedier storage, but for now, it does the job and does it well. Seagate 2TB ST2000DM006 - Well, there's not too much to say about an old-fashioned spinning platter disk these days, huh? I mean, it performs as you would expect for a 7200RPM disk: slow. And of course, that's what it's meant to do: be slow, but hold a whack-ton of games and whatnot, and that's exactly what it does. It doesn't show off or anything like that, no RGB (although, that would be pretty cool. Get on it, Linus). It punches in, does its job, and punches out. Simple, reliable, and huge. Hard drives aren't too complicated to choose, just pick a reliable brand, such as Western Digital or Seagate, and you're golden. Power Supply - The rationale for a hard drive is more or less the same for me when it comes to a power supply: pick a reliable brand that has enough wattage for your system. With that logic in mind, we come to the EVGA SuperNova 550W G2. There's not too much I can say about it since I'm not an expert on power supplies, but it does the job. It has more than enough power for my system and it's a reliable brand with a lengthy warranty, so I have nothing to worry about. Jonny Guru gave it a stellar review, and that was one of the key factors in my decision; it earned a perfect score, so I bought it with confidence. Not to mention, it being modular made it so fewer cables had to be shoved back into the case, so cable management was a little bit less of a hassle. Case - Now, I'll be honest. The In Win 301 wasn't my first choice in case. I originally went with a Corsair Carbide Series Air 240, since I liked the look, and it was designed for airflow, which is problematic in smaller cases. But, there was a problem. The MSI GTX 1070 Ti Titanium is a large card, but I was confident it would fit in the case. It didn't. So, some "modifications" weren't enough to coax the graphics card into fitting into the case, and even if it did, the PCIe supplementary power cables wouldn't let the front panel shut with them plugged in any way. So, I gave up and bought the In Win. Now, that's not to say the In Win 301 is by any means a compromise, because it certainly isn't. For $70, it's a stellar case, with its tempered glass side panel and rigid construction. In fact, I'm glad I went with it over the Corsair. The Corsair case feels considerably more cheap than the In Win, with its plastic panels and plexiglass window, despite costing more than the In Win. With airflow, temps did stay in check, as previously mentioned, so it ended up not being too much of a concern for me. But, if you're rocking more powerful hardware than me, airflow is definitely something to strongly consider. Speaking of hardware, if you plan on building a NAS in here, well, look elsewhere. The In Win 301 only has one 3.5 inch hard drive bay, and two mounting spots for 2.5-inch SSDs. And that's it. Of course, you could always throw a 10Gb networking card in a spare PCIe slot and connect to a NAS, but that's not exactly cost effective for most people, as you could imagine. I highly recommend getting a motherboard with an M.2 slot and utilizing that in order to save a precious hard drive slot for later upgrades. With it being a small case, cable management was a chore, as expected. Personally, I only make it look pretty if people are gonna see it; the back of the case is currently a rat's nest. I know, I know, it's a computer building sin, but time is a precious thing, and work/school is what usually consumes it (I wrote this entire thing over the span of a few days, thanks to those factors). HardwareCanucks has a great review of this case and pretty much was the deciding factor in me buying this case and is definitely worth a watch. Overall, it's a great little case and it sits nicely on the table next to my desk. This system is a good balance of gaming prowess and workstation heavy lifting. The Ryzen 7 1700 can plow through just about any workload with ease, and the MSI GTX 1070 Ti 8G can throw frames out faster than a pissed off artist. The Corsair Dominator Platinum memory is rock solid stable (I'll update this if I do get it back to 2993 MHz), not to mention is works with Ryzen, which is a plus. PCIe storage is snappy and uber responsive, and the 2TB hard drive can hold just about anything for my needs. The Asrock X370 Gaming ITX/AC was the perfect motherboard, being reliable, and a great little overclocker. The EVGA SuperNova 550W G2 will keep powering this beast of a little system for years to come, and will probably be used even after the rest of the system reaches its expiration date. And last, but certainly not least, the In Win 301 houses the hardware and looks good doing it. Sure, it's on the small side, but for its stellar looks, the $70 price tag is well worth it. This system will serve me well for the next few years and will grow along the way. It's a fantastic system and I can't wait to see what I can do with it.