Build a PC / gaming

$2,000 gaming PC, part by part

An Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus with the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB, and the 6 parts around them that fit it: $2,215 all in.

Big titles at 1440p, high settings. Every part here was checked against every other for fit, and picked for 1440p frame rates, with a CPU that will not hold the card back. A price marked Amazon US is ScoutPrices' reading of the listing its button opens, dated; the rest are typical prices. Not a checkout total: no operating system, shipping, tax, screen, keyboard or mouse.

The Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus and the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB are well matched at 1440p.

Change the budget or the job

Fit for the job

Enthusiast

$2,215 of $2,000

The ASRock B860 Challenger WiFi White goes onto the NZXT H7 Flow (2024) White's tray: ATX, B860, nine standoffs.

The Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus drops into the LGA1851 socket, lever down: 18 cores, up to 5.3 GHz.

The Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE clamps onto the chip: a tower rated 260 W against the 159 W the chip can pull.

Two sticks of TeamGroup T-Force Delta RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 click into the second and fourth slots: 32 GB at 6000 MT/s.

The Crucial T705 1TB screws into the first M.2 slot under the card.

The Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB slides into the x16 slot and latches: 320 mm in a case that takes 410 mm, 16 GB of memory.

The be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W goes into the basement, 750 W for a build that draws about 650 W flat out.

Side panel on, three case fans spinning. Fit for the job: 76 of 100.

Build order

Eight steps, the way a builder works through the case. $1,996 all in.

ASRock B860 Challenger WiFi White on the tray
Core Ultra 5 250K Plus in the socket
Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE on top
2 sticks of memory
Crucial T705 1TB on the board
Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB in the x16 slot
750 W supply in the basement
Panel on, power on

Illustration built from this build's parts: the case's card and cooler clearances, the board's size, the card's length, the cooler, the memory sticks, the supply. Shapes are generic, not the products' own.

PartScore for the jobPrice

ProcessorIntel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus

Highest gaming score the budget allows next to this card: 18 cores, boosts to 5.3 GHz.

2 swaps that still fit