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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 $1,000Intel Core Ultra 5 250K PlusGeForce RTX 5050$996 all in, 8 parts, fit 61 of 10061fitOpen this build
  2. Gaming for $1,500Intel Core Ultra 5 250K PlusRadeon RX 9070 XT$1,490 all in, 8 parts, fit 76 of 10076fitOpen this build
  3. Content creation for $3,000AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3DGeForce RTX 5080$2,932 all in, 8 parts, fit 87 of 10087fitOpen this build

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

  1. 1Pick a budget from the rail
  2. 2Pick what the PC is for
  3. 3Every part appears, checked for fit
  4. 4Buy each part, or pay less through ScoutPrices

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; a screen, keyboard and mouse come on top.

What the PC is for
72Fit 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.

$1,493 for 8 parts, $7 under budget

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and the Radeon RX 7800 XT are well matched at 1440p.

PartScore for the jobTypical priceBuy
ProcessorIntel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus

Highest coding & development score near $360: 24 cores, boosts to 5.5 GHz.

3 swaps that still fit
97
$290
Buy on Amazon
MotherboardMSI PRO B860-P WiFi

B860 board for the LGA1851 socket, DDR5, 3 M.2 slots, Wi-Fi.

3 swaps that still fit
66
$169
Buy on Amazon
MemoryG.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6400 CL32

32 GB DDR5 at 6400 MT/s CL32; 32 GB or more is the floor for coding & development.

4 swaps that still fit
85
$129
Buy on Amazon
Graphics cardRadeon RX 7800 XT

16 GB of video memory, index 51 at 1440p; tuned for cores for builds and containers, plenty of memory, fast storage, and a card for several screens or a local model.

4 swaps that still fit
46
$469
Buy on Amazon
CPU coolerbe quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5

Rated 270 W for a chip that turbos to 250 W.

4 swaps that still fit
92
$89
Buy on Amazon
Power supplySeasonic Focus GX-750 ATX 3.0

750 W, 80 Plus gold; this build draws about 700 W at full tilt, native 12V-2x6 cable.

4 swaps that still fit
85
$109
Buy on Amazon
CaseLian Li Lancool 207

Takes ATX/MATX/ITX boards and cards up to 395 mm, 4 fans included.

4 swaps that still fit
88
$89
Buy on Amazon
StorageCrucial T705

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

4 swaps that still fit
92
$149
Buy on Amazon
Total, typical prices8 parts$1,493

Is another $500 worth it?

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

-$500$996 all in, fit 58 -14
  • ProcessorIntel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus instead of Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
  • MotherboardASRock B860M Pro RS WiFi instead of MSI PRO B860-P WiFi
  • MemoryG.Skill Flare X5 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 instead of G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6400 CL32
  • Graphics cardGeForce RTX 5050 instead of Radeon RX 7800 XT
  • CPU coolerThermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE instead of be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5
  • Power supplyMSI MAG A750GL PCIE5 instead of Seasonic Focus GX-750 ATX 3.0
  • CaseMontech Air 903 Max instead of Lian Li Lancool 207
  • StorageWD Black SN850X instead of Crucial T705
See the step down+$500$1,973 all in, fit 82 +10
  • MotherboardGigabyte B860 Aorus Elite WiFi7 instead of MSI PRO B860-P WiFi
  • MemoryG.Skill Trident Z5 Royal 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-8000 CL38 instead of G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6400 CL32
  • Graphics cardGeForce RTX 5070 Ti instead of Radeon RX 7800 XT
  • CPU coolerArctic Liquid Freezer III 360 instead of be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5
  • Power supplyCorsair RM850x (2024) instead of Seasonic Focus GX-750 ATX 3.0
  • CaseLian Li Lancool 216 instead of Lian Li Lancool 207
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.