Having Computer Problems

Simon Maddison / December 2025 (1479 Words, 9 Minutes)

Table of contents
Fixing My PC: A Year of POST Problems and the Parts I Actually Bought
Diagnosis
Micro ATX Case – What I Chose
CPU – What I Chose
Motherboard – What I Chose
Parts List I Actually Ordered
Build Photos

Fixing My PC: A Year of POST Problems and the Parts I Actually Bought

I’ve been fighting random boot issues for over a year. At first it was just an occasional RAM POST error — moving a stick one slot over fixed it. Then around May this year the machine started throwing RAM and VGA errors together. The lazy fix? Keep smashing the reset button until it finally posted. Yeah, I know… but I had stuff to do and I’m cheap.

Fast-forward five months and the reset-button roulette stopped working reliably. Time to actually fix it.

Diagnosis

MemTest86 ran for hours → zero errors
PSU rails rock-solid at 12.31 V ±0.03 V
Swapped my brother’s known-good GTX 1070 and RAM → same problem
Cleared CMOS with the button-cell trick → no change

Conclusion: the motherboard was dying, CPU was fine.

I’m a tight-arse, so my first plan was just to grab the cheapest working AM4 board I could find. A mate talked me into upgrading the CPU while I was in there… and if I’m swapping CPU and mobo I might as well get a new case too.

Here are the trade studies I actually did and what I ended up buying.

Micro ATX Case – What I Chose

Case	Price	Volume	GPU Max	Fans / Rad	Side Panel	My Thoughts
Lian Li DAN-A3 Black (Mesh) ← I bought this	$70	26.3 L	415 mm	10 × 120 / 360 mm	Steel Mesh	Cheap, tiny, fully enclosed mesh, no RGB/glass nonsense. Perfect.
Lian Li DAN-A3 Wood (Mesh)	$85	26.3 L	415 mm	10 × 120 / 360 mm	Steel Mesh	Would have bought this if it was in stock
Lian Li DAN-A3 Wood (Glass)	$85	26.3 L	415 mm	10 × 120 / 360 mm	Glass	Glass ruins the enclosed look
Thermaltake Tower 300 (any colour)	$170	53 L	400 mm	8 / 420 mm	3× Glass	Way too big and expensive
DeepCool CH260 Black	$60	31 L	388 mm	6 / 360 mm	Glass	Cheap but full glass side
MONTECH Heritage PRO	$100	42 L	400 mm	9 / 360 mm	Leather+Mesh	Looks weird and bulky
InWin CS-F3 Black	~$80	~35 L	340 mm	Limited	Mixed	Meh specs
FSP CST130C	$55	27 L	300 mm	3 incl.	Glass	Too similar to my old case

I went with the Lian Li DAN-A3 Black Mesh because it’s the cheapest fully-enclosed mesh case that still swallows a 415 mm GPU and a 360 AIO. Simple, small, and no showy crap.

CPU – What I Chose

CPU	Price	Cores/Threads	Boost	L3 Cache	TDP	My Thoughts
Ryzen 7 5700X ← I bought this	$160	8/16	4.6 GHz	32 MB	65 W	Exactly the sweet spot for me — 8 real cores for not much money
Ryzen 5 5500	$76	6/12	4.2 GHz	16 MB	65 W	Tempted, but half the cache and noticeably slower
Ryzen 5 5600	$107	6/12	4.4 GHz	32 MB	65 W	Good, but I’d always wish I got the 8-core
Ryzen 7 5800X3D	$320	8/16	4.7 GHz	96 MB	105 W	Amazing for gaming, but overkill and hot

I decided on the Ryzen 7 5700X. For ~$80 more than the 5500 I get two extra cores and double the L3 cache — totally worth it for my mix of gaming and project work.

Motherboard – What I Chose

Motherboard	Chipset	Price	VRM	PCIe	M.2	WiFi	My Thoughts
ASRock B550M WiFi SE ← I bought this	B550	$95	8+2 50A	4.0	2 (1×Gen4)	WiFi 6E	PCIe 4.0, decent VRM, WiFi built-in — done
MSI B450M-A PRO MAX II	B450	$55	4+2 basic	3.0 only	1	None	Was my original “just make it work” plan
ASUS TUF B550M-PLUS WiFi	B550	$140	10+2 60A	4.0	2	WiFi 6	Overkill and overpriced for me
MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI	B550	$110	7+2+1	4.0	1	WiFi 6	Fine, but more expensive than the ASRock

I went with the ASRock B550M WiFi SE because for only $40 more than the dirt-cheap B450 it gives me PCIe 4.0, a proper VRM for the 5700X, two M.2 slots, and WiFi 6E so I don’t need a dongle. Felt like the no-brainer choice.