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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 3d & rendering PC needs; a screen, keyboard and mouse come on top.

What the PC is for
70Fit for the job

Sweet spot

$1,500 for 3d & rendering

Tuned for all-core throughput and render speed.

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

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus has headroom to spare. The GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB sets the frame rate at 1440p, so a faster card is the upgrade that shows.

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

Highest 3d & rendering score near $420: 24 cores, boosts to 5.5 GHz.

3 swaps that still fit
96
$290
Buy on Amazon
MotherboardASRock B860M Pro RS WiFi

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

2 swaps that still fit
62
$149
Buy on Amazon
MemoryG.Skill Ripjaws S5 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5-6000 CL30

64 GB DDR5 at 6000 MT/s CL30; 64 GB or more is the floor for 3d & rendering.

2 swaps that still fit
88
$179
Buy on Amazon
Graphics cardGeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB

16 GB of video memory, index 44 at 1440p; tuned for all-core throughput and render speed.

4 swaps that still fit
44
$449
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 supplybe quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W

750 W, 80 Plus gold; this build draws about 600 W at full tilt, native 12V-2x6 cable.

4 swaps that still fit
82
$99
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
StorageWD Black SN850X

2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe, 7,300 MB/s reads, with cache.

4 swaps that still fit
88
$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$1,000 all in, fit 52 -18
  • ProcessorIntel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus instead of Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
  • Graphics cardIntel Arc B570 instead of GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB
  • CPU coolerThermalright Assassin X 120 Refined SE instead of be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5
  • Power supplyCorsair CX650 instead of be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W
  • CaseThermaltake Versa H18 instead of Lian Li Lancool 207
  • StorageKingston NV3 instead of WD Black SN850X
See the step down+$500$1,992 all in, fit 77 +7
  • ProcessorIntel Core Ultra 9 285K instead of Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
  • MotherboardGigabyte B860 Aorus Elite WiFi7 instead of ASRock B860M Pro RS WiFi
  • Graphics cardRadeon RX 9070 XT instead of GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB
  • CPU coolerArctic Liquid Freezer III 360 instead of be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5
  • Power supplySeasonic Focus GX-750 ATX 3.0 instead of be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W
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.