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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 light gaming 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
48Fit for the job

Capable

$1,000 for light gaming

Tuned for 1080p frame rates per dollar.

$994 for 8 parts, $6 under budget

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and the Radeon RX 7600 are well matched at 1080p.

Lian Li Lancool 216RX 7600750 W

Build order

Eight steps, the way a builder works through the case. $994 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 7600 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 light gaming score the budget allows next to this card: 6 cores, boosts to 4.2 GHz.

3 swaps that still fit
49
$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 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3600 CL18

16 GB DDR4 at 3600 MT/s CL18; 16 GB or more is the floor for light gaming.

2 swaps that still fit
44
$120
Buy on Amazon
Graphics cardRadeon RX 7600

8 GB of video memory, index 34 at 1080p; tuned for 1080p frame rates per dollar.

2 swaps that still fit
34
$330
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 supplybe quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W

750 W, 80 Plus gold; this build draws about 400 W at full tilt, native 12V-2x6 cable.

4 swaps that still fit
82
$80
Buy on Amazon
CaseLian Li Lancool 216

3 fans in the box, 3 is the least 253 W of parts needs behind a mesh front. Takes EATX/ATX/MATX/ITX boards and cards up to 392 mm.

4 swaps that still fit
90
$99
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$994

Is another $500 worth it?

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

+$500$1,492 all in, fit 68 +20
  • ProcessorIntel Core i5-14600KF instead of AMD Ryzen 5 5500
  • MotherboardMSI PRO B760-P WiFi DDR4 instead of ASRock B550M Pro4
  • Graphics cardRadeon RX 9070 instead of Radeon RX 7600
  • Power supplyCorsair CX750 instead of be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W
  • CaseMontech XR instead of Lian Li Lancool 216
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.