Build a PC / gaming
$3,000 gaming PC, part by part
An AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D with the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB, and the 6 parts around them that fit it: $3,299 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 AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB are well matched at 1440p.
Enthusiast
$3,299 of $3,000
Highest gaming score the budget allows next to this card: 16 cores, boosts to 5.7 GHz.
2 swaps that still fit
- AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D-$115, -9 ptsBuy on Amazon
- AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D+$66, -11 ptsBuy on Amazon
X870E board for the AM5 socket, DDR5, 5 M.2 slots, Wi-Fi.
2 swaps that still fit
- ASUS ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi-$75, -18 ptsBuy on Amazon
- MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi-$10, -4 ptsBuy on Amazon
32 GB DDR5 at 6400 MT/s CL32; 32 GB or more is the floor for gaming.
3 swaps that still fit
16 GB of video memory, index 70 at 1440p; tuned for 1440p frame rates, with a CPU that will not hold the card back.
2 swaps that still fit
- Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB-$371, -30 ptsBuy on Amazon
- Radeon RX 9070-$200, -8 ptsBuy on Amazon
Rated 330 W for a chip that turbos to 230 W.
4 swaps that still fit
- Thermalright Frozen Notte 360 White-$16, -18 ptsBuy on Amazon
- Thermalright Frozen Notte 360-$23, -18 ptsBuy on Amazon
- Corsair Nautilus 360 RS+$39, -12 ptsBuy on Amazon
- NZXT Kraken 240 (2024) White+$20, -14 ptsBuy on Amazon
1000 W, 80 Plus gold; this build draws about 750 W at full tilt, native 12V-2x6 cable.
4 swaps that still fit
- Corsair RM1000e White-$5, -6 ptsBuy on Amazon
- Corsair RM1000e-$35, -6 ptsBuy on Amazon
- Lian Li Edge 1000W+$15, -2 ptsBuy on Amazon
- Lian Li Edge 1000W White+$16, -2 ptsBuy on Amazon
7 fans in the box, 7 of them lit, 4 is the least 534 W of parts needs behind a closed front. Takes EATX/ATX/MATX/ITX boards and cards up to 422 mm.
3 swaps that still fit
- Lian Li Lancool 207-$169, -5 ptsBuy on Amazon
- Montech King 95 Pro White-$125, -5 ptsBuy on Amazon
- Lian Li O11 Dynamic Evo RGB White-$122, same scoreBuy on Amazon
1 TB PCIe 5.0 NVMe, 13,600 MB/s reads, with cache.
4 swaps that still fit
- Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB-$43, -16 ptsBuy on Amazon
- Samsung 990 Pro 1TB-$20, -6 ptsBuy on Amazon
- Kingston NV3 2TB-$2, -32 ptsBuy on Amazon
- Crucial T500 1TB+$19, -10 ptsBuy on Amazon
The same list, more or less money
$3,000 spent on a different job
The same money buys a different machine when the work changes.