Mikeserv Support Forum

Since my gaming machine is now over 6 years old (though I did upgrade the processor multiple times thanks to AMD sticking to the same socket for multiple generations) I had been thinking about upgrading from the 5000 series to the current 9000 series, but I was in no hurry. But then RAM prices started shooting up (because of AI), so I thought if I'm going to do this maybe I should do it before RAM becomes unaffordable (since I would need DDR5). I have parts gathered, I'll reuse my current video card and drives, and I already had a new EVGA 850 W power supply I got about two years ago.

The Gigabyte motherboard in my main machine may be the best motherboard I've ever had, so I got a Gigabyte board for this build.
It's a Gigabyte X870 Aorus Elite WIFI7.

I got Crucial Pro 64 GB DDR 5 5600MHz, not the fastest but I didn't want to pay $600 - $700 for the faster ones.

I went with a Noctua NH-U12S Chromax.Black cooler.

And the processor is the Ryzen 7 9800X3D (L1 Cache: 640 KB. L2 Cache: 8 MB. L3 Cache: 96 MB).

I wanted to get a Lian Li case 20 years ago but never did, until now. I debated reusing my old case, one of those cheap Fractal Focus G's, or getting something else. The vast majority of cases have glass side panels, I was looking for ones without glass but I didn't like any of them. I finally decided to just deal with it and get one I liked, since I could have a plexiglass replacement made (I'll get the measurements before the glass one shatters). I went with the Lian Li Lancool 217.

A new build! That's great. My next one is going to be a futhermucker Ryzen, though I'm not due for a few years probably. I tend to keep my hardware as long as I can.

That looks like a really nice case for the money. $124, I think I spent $400 on this big honking Corsair case.

That rotatable power supply mounting is a very nice feature. Unified motherfucker connectors too

I don't think I've ever seen a case with two power buttons.

Thanks Grogan

Super nice!

Thanks mlangdn

Successful bare bones boot test. I always test outside of the case with just the min needed to boot before moving to the next step. I learned that lesson years ago It's nice to install it in a case already knowing it runs.


They are back to enabling secure boot by default. And that motherboard utilities downloader always has to be disabled these days.

Hey, that's great. It's alive. Alive! (frankenstein lol)

Very colourful bios setup, but secure boot can eat a fat turd.

I don't think that downloader can actually do anything on Linux (though it still should be disabled of course). Those things are driver hooks in Windows.

I was searching around for the front panel leads before remembering it has a unified connector. First time I've ever used one of those, it's kind of weird concept to me. I can appreciate the convenience and all but I think the individual lead wires give me more confidence in things working. Guess I'm just old school after decades of doing it that way. I didn't get as far as I had wanted to, my back was acting up so it was time to call it quits. I'll pick up where I left off this coming Thursday (4-day weekend).

I hate those individual little connectors. Probably the thing I hate the very most on a computer. I'd welcome a unified connector, and if there was any doubt, verifying it with your motherboard manual and case manual would solve it (i.e. make sure those pins are the same for your board).

Sorry to hear about your back, I know what that's like trying to work on computers. It's the leaning and stances while fastening things etc.

Thanks Grogan. I think it's from too many years leaning over a desk, I've heard it's common with a lot of people in IT and those who just spend a lot of time at a keyboard.

This is the EVGA power supply.


I'm most of the way there, I have it up and running with most things connected. I removed the drive cages to make more room for the cables. I won't need them anyway, I'm primarily using NVME drives in my game machine and I have two to transfer over, though I have two sata SSD's I'll also be transferring over and this case has two sata SSD slots behind the back side panel they can go in. I cannibalized a few things from what used to be my "downstairs gaming machine", from when there was a downstairs, including a 2 TB WD NVME. This board has 4 NVME slots and I also pulled another NVME drive from the other machine that's in a PCI-e enclosure (I don't remember what drive is in it). I'm going to install CachyOS on the 2 TB drive. I installed a Noctua Industrial 3,000 RPM fan on the other side of the cooler tower in the standard push-pull configuration and plugged it into the primary CPU fan port. So when needed it can rev up to 3,000 RPM. There's a ton of airflow in the case now with all those fans

Those two cables hanging out are waiting to be plugged into my video card once I transfer it over (most AMD processors now have integrated video so no need for a card to test with).

I don't have any drive cages in my case either, and if I do want to mount a SATA SSD, I have places where they'll just screw onto the frame. In that first little red Fractal Focus case I tried to use, I HAD to remove the drive cages because there wasn't much room for the PSU cables and stuff. I still have the old computer if I need to connect stupid devices.

I always have to just put the thing together and make it work. It would save some screwing if the motherboard is faulty or something, but I don't have the patience for the way you do it. (especially stopping the build for work )

That has happened to me before, I used to wait until I finished the build before first trying to power it up, until one time when the motherboard was DOA and I had to tear it apart again. Hey gotta savor the moment while doing this stuff, like eating a rare dessert

CachyOS is installed, I think I'm ready to swap stuff over, first thing tomorrow

It's done! I still have to configure things in CachyOS but in the interim I have my old Arch install ready to go with Steam, data drives etc.

These fasteners make installing NVME drives a lot easier, just push the lever up, drop the drive in place, then release the lever securing it in place:

That sure is a nice case, with lots of useful features. That's a much nicer way to mount NVME drives. I hate the typical hinged slot and little screw.

That looks very nice, the finished product. Great job!

Thanks Grogan

Very nice! Makes me want to spend some money. But it is too close to Xmas.....

Thanks mlangdn

Nice build, Zema!
I have that exact Lian Li case myself. It's heavy, but it can be configured in so many different ways. The only real gripe I have with the case is how you're forced to thread that stupid USB cable through the GPU support bracket because most motherboards seem to put the connector in the same place. You can remove the GPU support bracket if you don't need it, however. You can also flip that whole panel it's mounted on if you want more clearance. I've never liked those huge and fragile USB connectors and the ugly split cable that plugs into them. Why can't we have a better idea than those things?

I really hope your new Gigabyte X870 is working well for you. I have the B850 that I paired with a Ryzen 7 7800X3D, and that Gigabyte motherboard has been a mess from almost day one for me. It fails to post about every other time I turn the computer on. I've updated the bios, but that issue persists. The diagnostic LEDS seem to hang on GPU. Right now I have the motherboard with the Ryzen CPU mounted just stashed in a drawer, and maybe I'll drag it out and mess with it some more.

Right now I'm running an Intel Core i7 11700K I still had sitting around that I bought in 2021. I no longer had a working LGA 1200 motherboard, so I searched for a decent one for quite a while. I didn't want one of the cheap no name ones on Amazon. I finally found a nice MSI Z590 motherboard new in box on ebay for a fair price, and I knew that chipset was compatible with the 11700K I had, so I grabbed that. It has been working very well so far. I'm glad I finally found a good LGA 1200 motherboard, because I really didn't want to end up having to sell the older CPU dirt cheap just to get rid of it.

Thanks GK, so far so good

I agree about having to route the USB3 cable through the support bracket, as well as the sata cables (only needed two of those).

Sorry to hear about your experience with the B850 board, was that with just the integrated video, or did you have a card installed? If it's with a card, make sure it's firmly seated. Does this only happen on cold boots? I had an issue with a previous machine where an initial cold boot would hang due to a video issue, but a reset from there and any other subsequent warm boots during that session would be trouble-free with no error codes. I once tried a low spec card in it (Radeon HD 5450) and it worked fine with that. But when I went back to the other card the problem returned. I ended up just living with the problem until I replaced it. Also, does this happen outside of the case with just the min needed to run?

Zema Bus wrote: Sun Nov 30, 2025 12:16 am
Sorry to hear about your experience with the B850 board, was that with just the integrated video, or did you have a card installed? If it's with a card, make sure it's firmly seated. Does this only happen on cold boots?
Also, does this happen outside of the case with just the min needed to run?

I set it up with just integrated video, and no case install. On cold boot it failed to post, and failed to post on every subsequent boot, cold or warm. It's always the VGA status LED that stays lit when it hangs. I'm pretty sure it isn't the 7800X3D integrated graphics at fault, because the very same CPU worked fine in a different system.

The board probably should have gone back on day one. Order from places with good return policies, and shoot from the hip from now on.

Agreed, Grogan. I wish I had returned it.

I put my old EVGA RTX 2060 Super in there, and it posted on the first try. Won't post with integrated graphics, but does with discrete GPU? WTF?

Check the BIOS settings for which graphics adapter is initialized?

I forget what the settings are called (it's been ages since I've been in there), but I have my onboard graphics all but disabled. It can't be completely, the i/o ranges etc. are still taken and it will still show up as something on the bus when probed, but it doesn't initialize. (I also don't compile support for it anywhere in my OS/libraries)

I'll double check that. Thanks Grogan.

I bought the Gigabyte motherboard in April this year, and there have been four BIOS updates released since then. I'm on the most recent update from November, and I've disabled integrated graphics and paired it with an RX 9060XT. It has posted reliably on every boot since the latest BIOS update, but it did have a weird freeze while I was in the BIOS. I think this board just needs an exorcism!