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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. $2,000 is the least that buys every part a light 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 that can light up does, 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.

What the PC is for
75Fit for the job

Enthusiast

$2,000 for light gaming

Tuned for 1080p frame rates per dollar.

$1,993 for 8 parts, $7 under budget

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and the Radeon RX 9070 XT are well matched at 1080p.

Phanteks XT Pro UltraRX 9070 XT750 W

Build order

Eight steps, the way a builder works through the case. $1,993 all in.

  1. Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX Ice on the tray
  2. Ryzen 5 9600X in the socket
  3. Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB on top
  4. 2 sticks of memory
  5. Kingston NV3 1TB on the board
  6. RX 9070 XT in the x16 slot
  7. 750 W supply in the basement
  8. Panel on, power on
PartScore for the jobTypical priceBuy
ProcessorAMD Ryzen 5 9600X

Highest light gaming score the budget allows next to this card: 6 cores, boosts to 5.4 GHz.

4 swaps that still fit
75
$175
Buy on Amazon
MotherboardGigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX Ice

B650 board for the AM5 socket, DDR5, 3 M.2 slots, Wi-Fi.

2 swaps that still fit
70
$150
Buy on Amazon
MemoryTeamGroup T-Force Delta RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000 CL30

32 GB DDR5 at 6000 MT/s CL30; 16 GB or more is the floor for light gaming.

2 swaps that still fit
80
$560
Buy on Amazon
Graphics cardRadeon RX 9070 XT

16 GB of video memory, index 77 at 1080p; tuned for 1080p frame rates per dollar.

4 swaps that still fit
77
$750
Buy on Amazon
CPU coolerThermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB

Rated 250 W for a chip that turbos to 88 W, with lit fans.

3 swaps that still fit
84
$55
Buy on Amazon
Power supplyCorsair CX750

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

3 swaps that still fit
58
$60
Buy on Amazon
CasePhanteks XT Pro Ultra

4 fans in the box, 4 of them lit, 3 is the least 392 W of parts needs behind a mesh front. Takes EATX/ATX/MATX/ITX boards and cards up to 415 mm.

2 swaps that still fit
78
$86
Buy on Amazon
StorageKingston NV3 1TB

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

3 swaps that still fit
58
$157
Buy on Amazon
Total, typical prices8 parts$1,993

Is another $500 worth it?

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

+$500$2,495 all in, fit 84 +9
  • ProcessorAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D instead of AMD Ryzen 5 9600X
  • MotherboardGigabyte X870 Aorus Elite WiFi7 instead of Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX Ice
  • 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.