Quick reply while I have a sec! Are you leaning toward Intel or AMD? It really changes the board choice. Check out the ASUS Prime B760M-A WIFI D5 for something solid.

Ugh, blue screens are the worst. I remember back in the day dealing with faulty caps, nightmare fuel. Honestly, if you want something stable for DDR5 without blowing the budget, I have been using the MSI PRO B760-P WIFI DDR5 for a few builds lately and it just works. It is no-frills, but the vrm cooling is surprisingly decent for the price. Another solid contender if you are leaning towards team red is the ASRock B650M Pro RS WiFi AM5 DDR5. I put this in my cousin's rig last month and it has been rock solid.

• MSI PRO B760-P: great for Intel, simple bios, handles mid-range i5 chips easily.
• ASRock B650M Pro RS: killer value, 3 m.2 slots, handles am5 chips like a champ. Dont overthink it, just grab one of those and get back to gaming.

Jumping in here because this whole motherboard search is giving me major flashbacks. My buddy Dave once tried to build a budget rig to save some cash, but he ended up buying some random board off a shady site. It basically turned into a three month saga where he replaced literally every other component before realizing the board was fried straight from the factory. He spent more on shipping returns than if he had just bought a decent one in the first place.

• it was a total disaster
• he lost all his save files
• the smell of burnt electronics still haunts him Honestly, I spent like four hours just looking at specs yesterday and my head is spinning. It is kinda wild how much these prices fluctuate lately. Im just sitting here hoping my own rig survives until payday...