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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
66Fit for the job

Sweet spot

$1,500 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.

$1,499 for 8 parts, $1 under budget

The Intel Core i7-14700K has headroom to spare. The Radeon RX 6600 sets the frame rate at 1440p, so a faster card is the upgrade that shows.

Lian Li Lancool 216RX 6600750 W

Build order

Eight steps, the way a builder works through the case. $1,499 all in.

  1. MSI PRO B760-P WiFi DDR4 on the tray
  2. Core i7-14700K in the socket
  3. Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 on top
  4. 2 sticks of memory
  5. Crucial T705 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
ProcessorIntel Core i7-14700K

Highest coding & development score the budget allows next to this card: 20 cores, boosts to 5.6 GHz.

4 swaps that still fit
87
$366
Buy on Amazon
MotherboardMSI PRO B760-P WiFi DDR4

B760 board for the LGA1700 socket, DDR4, 3 M.2 slots, Wi-Fi.

2 swaps that still fit
54
$139
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 coolerArctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360

Rated 330 W for a chip that turbos to 253 W.

3 swaps that still fit
96
$70
Buy on Amazon
Power supplybe quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W

750 W, 80 Plus gold; this build draws about 550 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 385 W of parts needs behind a mesh front. Takes EATX/ATX/MATX/ITX boards and cards up to 392 mm.

3 swaps that still fit
90
$99
Buy on Amazon
StorageCrucial T705 1TB

1 TB PCIe 5.0 NVMe, 13,600 MB/s reads, with cache.

4 swaps that still fit
92
$250
Buy on Amazon
Total, typical prices8 parts$1,499

Is another $500 worth it?

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

-$500$990 all in, fit 45 -21
  • ProcessorAMD Ryzen 5 5500 instead of Intel Core i7-14700K
  • MotherboardASRock B550M Pro4 instead of MSI PRO B760-P WiFi DDR4
  • CPU coolerThermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE instead of Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360
  • Power supplyCorsair CX750 instead of be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W
  • CaseNZXT H5 Flow (2024) instead of Lian Li Lancool 216
  • StorageKingston NV3 1TB instead of Crucial T705 1TB
See the step down+$500$1,998 all in, fit 79 +13
  • ProcessorIntel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus instead of Intel Core i7-14700K
  • MotherboardMSI MAG Z890 Tomahawk WiFi instead of MSI PRO B760-P WiFi DDR4
  • MemoryCorsair Vengeance 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 instead of G.Skill Ripjaws V 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-3600 CL18
  • Graphics cardRadeon RX 7700 XT instead of Radeon RX 6600
  • CPU coolerArctic Liquid Freezer III 240 instead of Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360
  • StorageWD Black SN850X 1TB instead of Crucial T705 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.