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ScoutSpecs

Build a PC

A budget and a purpose. Every part is chosen for the job, checked against every other part for fit, and explained. Prices are typical, not live: the Amazon page decides.

Start from a build people pick

Live from the catalogue
  1. Office & everyday for $1,000AMD Ryzen 5 5500Radeon RX 6600$993 all in, 8 parts, fit 53 of 10053fitOpen this build
  2. Gaming for $1,500Intel Core i5-14600KFRadeon RX 7700 XT$1,498 all in, 8 parts, fit 62 of 10062fitOpen this build
  3. Content creation for $3,000Intel Core Ultra 7 270K PlusGeForce RTX 5070 Ti$2,989 all in, 8 parts, fit 82 of 10082fitOpen this build

Every row is worked out from today's catalogue. Open one, then change anything.

  1. 1Pick a budget from the rail, in steps of $500
  2. 2Say how it should look: black or white, with RGB or without
  3. 3Say what the PC is for; a processor or graphics brand is optional
  4. 4A whole PC appears, the case with its fans; open the swaps or buy each part

A demonstration with example parts. Hover to pause.

Budget, in US dollars

Steps of $500. $1,000 is the least that buys every part a coding & development PC needs; past $8,500 the catalogue has nothing faster to add. A screen, keyboard and mouse come on top.

How it should look

Every part black, and nothing in the box lights up. The case, the cooler, the board, the card, the supply and the memory follow the colour; the case's fans, the cooler, the board and the memory follow the lighting. A drive has no colour and a supply does not glow, so neither is asked to match. A look costs money, so the budget rail moves with it.

What the PC is for
45Fit for the job

Capable

$1,000 for coding & development

Tuned for cores for builds and containers, plenty of memory, fast storage, and a card for several screens or a local model.

$990 for 8 parts, $10 under budget

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 has headroom to spare. The Radeon RX 6600 sets the frame rate at 1440p, so a faster card is the upgrade that shows.

NZXT H5 Flow (2024)RX 6600750 W

Build order

Eight steps, the way a builder works through the case. $990 all in.

  1. ASRock B550M Pro4 on the tray
  2. Ryzen 5 5500 in the socket
  3. Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE on top
  4. 2 sticks of memory
  5. Kingston NV3 1TB on the board
  6. RX 6600 in the x16 slot
  7. 750 W supply in the basement
  8. Panel on, power on
PartScore for the jobTypical priceBuy
ProcessorAMD Ryzen 5 5500

Highest coding & development score the budget allows next to this card: 6 cores, boosts to 4.2 GHz.

3 swaps that still fit
43
$82
Buy on Amazon
MotherboardASRock B550M Pro4

B550 board for the AM4 socket, DDR4, 2 M.2 slots.

2 swaps that still fit
42
$90
Buy on Amazon
MemoryG.Skill Ripjaws V 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-3600 CL18

32 GB DDR4 at 3600 MT/s CL18; 32 GB or more is the floor for coding & development.

2 swaps that still fit
52
$220
Buy on Amazon
Graphics cardRadeon RX 6600

8 GB of video memory, index 20 at 1440p; tuned for cores for builds and containers, plenty of memory, fast storage, and a card for several screens or a local model.

2 swaps that still fit
19
$275
Buy on Amazon
CPU coolerThermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE

Rated 260 W for a chip that turbos to 88 W.

3 swaps that still fit
88
$36
Buy on Amazon
Power supplyCorsair CX750

750 W, 80 Plus bronze; this build draws about 400 W at full tilt.

3 swaps that still fit
58
$60
Buy on Amazon
CaseNZXT H5 Flow (2024)

2 fans in the box, 2 is the least 220 W of parts needs behind a mesh front. Takes ATX/MATX/ITX boards and cards up to 410 mm.

3 swaps that still fit
78
$70
Buy on Amazon
StorageKingston NV3 1TB

1 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe, 6,000 MB/s reads.

3 swaps that still fit
58
$157
Buy on Amazon
Total, typical prices8 parts$990

Is another $500 worth it?

Same job, same brand choices, only the budget moves one step. These are the parts that change.

+$500$1,499 all in, fit 66 +21
  • ProcessorIntel Core i7-14700K instead of AMD Ryzen 5 5500
  • MotherboardMSI PRO B760-P WiFi DDR4 instead of ASRock B550M Pro4
  • CPU coolerArctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 instead of Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE
  • Power supplybe quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W instead of Corsair CX750
  • CaseLian Li Lancool 216 instead of NZXT H5 Flow (2024)
  • StorageCrucial T705 1TB instead of Kingston NV3 1TB
See what the step up buys
Already own some of these?Take this build's processor and board into the matcher and fill only the gaps.Upgrading instead of starting over?Check the PC you have first; the one part holding it back may be the only one worth buying.