I was hoping it was the PSU that broke, it wasn't. The entire motherboard is fried. Good news: the new one got here yesterday, and even better news, I know how to install it myself! Worse news, every motherboard of a reasonable price was full size for the old ass socket of my cpu, and the case was only big enough for micro atx.

My dumbass thought that the other case I had was big enough, but it isn't. Oops.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Worse news, I just gained a brand new anxiety while writing this. I know for a fact that it's my motherboard that's the issue, but I don't know for a fact that my CPU is fine, which is worrying. I don't know why I didn't consider that it could also be broken.

We're, you and me, going to go ahead and hope for the best on that front, because I can maybe stretch a new full size case, but a new CPU is probably out of my price range for a while.

Hoping for the best

-KvS