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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 Amazon US readings from ScoutPrices where one exists, typical where not: the Amazon page decides.

Budget, in US dollars

Steps of $500. $1,500 is the least that buys every part a gaming PC needs; past $10,000 the catalogue has nothing faster to add. A screen, keyboard and mouse come on top.

What the PC is for
How it should look

Whatever the budget buys best, in whatever colour it comes. 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.

Checked for fit before it reaches you.

Start from a build people pick

Live from the catalogue
  1. Office & everyday for $1,000Intel Core i3-14100FASRock Intel Arc B580 Challenger 12GB OC$1,000 all in, 8 parts, fit 56 of 10056fitOpen this build
  2. Gaming for $1,500Intel Core i3-14100FSapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB$1,497 all in, 8 parts, fit 62 of 10062fitOpen this build
  3. Content creation for $3,000Intel Core Ultra 7 270K PlusGeForce RTX 5070 Ti$2,979 all in, 8 parts, fit 82 of 10082fitOpen this build

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

62Fit for the job

Sweet spot

$1,500 for gaming

Tuned for 1440p frame rates, with a CPU that will not hold the card back.

Big titles at 1440p, high settings. Judged by the card's 1440p index, floor 40, at the job's own resolution.

This build

$1,742

Budget

$1,500

Over budget

$242

Parts

8

The Intel Core i3-14100F and the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB are well matched at 1440p.

A part marked Amazon US shows ScoutPrices' reading of the listing its button opens, with the day it was read; a part with no reading shows its typical price. The parts were chosen on typical prices, so a total can land a little over the budget when the shops move. Not a checkout total: an operating system, shipping and tax are not in it, and neither are a screen, a keyboard and a mouse.

PartScore for the jobPriceBuy
ProcessorIntel Core i3-14100F

Highest gaming score the budget allows next to this card: 4 cores, boosts to 4.7 GHz.

52
$104Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
MotherboardMSI PRO B760-P WiFi DDR4

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

1 swap that still fit
54
$140Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
MemoryG.Skill Trident Z RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-3600 CL18

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

2 swaps that still fit
53
$260Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
Graphics cardSapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB

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
70
$900Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
CPU coolerThermalright Assassin X 120 Refined SE

Rated 180 W for a chip that turbos to 110 W.

62
$18Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
Power supplyCorsair CX750

750 W, 80 Plus bronze; this build draws about 600 W at full tilt.

1 swap that still fit
58
$80Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
CaseNZXT H7 Flow (2024) White

3 fans in the box, 3 is the least 414 W of parts needs behind a mesh front. Takes EATX/ATX/MATX/ITX boards and cards up to 410 mm.

2 swaps that still fit
86
$83Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
StorageKingston NV3 1TB

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

58
$157Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
Total8 parts, every price read on Amazon US$1,742

Is another $500 worth it?

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

+$500$1,996 all in, fit 76 +14
  • ProcessorIntel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus instead of Intel Core i3-14100F
  • MotherboardASRock B860 Challenger WiFi White instead of MSI PRO B760-P WiFi DDR4
  • MemoryTeamGroup T-Force Delta RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 instead of G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-3600 CL18
  • CPU coolerThermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE instead of Thermalright Assassin X 120 Refined SE
  • Power supplybe quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W instead of Corsair CX750
  • 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.

Every ready build

The list this page works out, at every step of every job, each on a page of its own. Nothing here is a suggestion from a magazine: the parts are checked against each other and priced.

Office PC

Browsing, documents, video calls, streaming films.

PC for programming

IDEs, compilers, containers, a few virtual machines.

Budget gaming PC

Esports and indie titles at 1080p, high frame rates.

Gaming PC

Big titles at 1440p, high settings.

4K gaming PC

4K, ray tracing, or 240 Hz at 1440p.

Video editing PC

Video editing, photo work, motion graphics.

PC for 3D and rendering

Blender, CAD, simulation, long renders.

Streaming PC

Playing at 1440p while encoding a live stream.

PC for local AI models

Running language and image models on your own card.