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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. $1,500 is the least that buys every part a gaming PC needs; past $9,000 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
73Fit for the job

Sweet spot

$2,000 for gaming

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

$1,878 for 8 parts, $122 under budget

The Intel Core i5-14600KF and the Radeon RX 9070 XT are well matched at 1440p.

Lian Li Lancool 216RX 9070 XT1000 W

Build order

Eight steps, the way a builder works through the case. $1,878 all in.

  1. MSI PRO B760-P WiFi DDR4 on the tray
  2. Core i5-14600KF 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 9070 XT in the x16 slot
  7. 1000 W supply in the basement
  8. Panel on, power on
PartScore for the jobTypical priceBuy
ProcessorIntel Core i5-14600KF

Highest gaming score the budget allows next to this card: 14 cores, boosts to 5.3 GHz.

4 swaps that still fit
74
$210
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 gaming.

2 swaps that still fit
52
$220
Buy on Amazon
Graphics cardRadeon RX 9070 XT

16 GB of video memory, index 70 at 1440p; tuned for 1440p frame rates, with a CPU that will not hold the card back.

4 swaps that still fit
70
$750
Buy on Amazon
CPU coolerArctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360

Rated 330 W for a chip that turbos to 181 W.

4 swaps that still fit
96
$70
Buy on Amazon
Power supplySuper Flower Leadex VII XG 1000W

1000 W, 80 Plus gold; this build draws about 700 W at full tilt, native 12V-2x6 cable.

4 swaps that still fit
92
$140
Buy on Amazon
CaseLian Li Lancool 216

3 fans in the box, 3 is the least 485 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$1,878

Is another $500 worth it?

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

-$500$1,498 all in, fit 62 -11
  • Graphics cardRadeon RX 7700 XT instead of Radeon RX 9070 XT
  • Power supplybe quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W instead of Super Flower Leadex VII XG 1000W
See the step down+$500$2,493 all in, fit 82 +9
  • ProcessorAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D instead of Intel Core i5-14600KF
  • MotherboardMSI MAG B850 Tomahawk Max 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
  • Power supplybe quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W instead of Super Flower Leadex VII XG 1000W
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.