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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 gaming PC needs; a screen, keyboard and mouse come on top.

What the PC is for
80Fit for the job

Enthusiast

$2,000 for gaming

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

$1,973 for 8 parts, $27 under budget

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and the Radeon RX 7900 XTX are well matched at 1440p.

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

Highest gaming score near $360: 24 cores, boosts to 5.5 GHz.

3 swaps that still fit
84
$290
Buy on Amazon
MotherboardGigabyte B860 Aorus Elite WiFi7

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

4 swaps that still fit
76
$219
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 gaming.

4 swaps that still fit
85
$129
Buy on Amazon
Graphics cardRadeon RX 7900 XTX

24 GB of video memory, index 73 at 1440p; tuned for 1440p frame rates, with a CPU that will not hold the card back.

3 swaps that still fit
73
$849
Buy on Amazon
CPU coolerArctic Liquid Freezer III 360

Rated 330 W for a chip that turbos to 250 W.

4 swaps that still fit
96
$99
Buy on Amazon
Power supplyCorsair RM850x (2024)

850 W, 80 Plus gold; this build draws about 800 W at full tilt, native 12V-2x6 cable.

4 swaps that still fit
90
$139
Buy on Amazon
CaseLian Li Lancool 216

Takes EATX/ATX/MATX/ITX boards and cards up to 392 mm, 3 fans included.

4 swaps that still fit
90
$99
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$1,973

Is another $500 worth it?

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

-$500$1,490 all in, fit 76 -4
  • ProcessorIntel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus instead of Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
  • MotherboardASUS TUF Gaming B860-Plus WiFi instead of Gigabyte B860 Aorus Elite WiFi7
  • Graphics cardRadeon RX 9070 XT instead of Radeon RX 7900 XTX
  • CPU coolerThermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE instead of Arctic Liquid Freezer III 360
  • Power supplybe quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W instead of Corsair RM850x (2024)
  • CaseLian Li Lancool 207 instead of Lian Li Lancool 216
  • StorageWD Black SN850X instead of Crucial T705
See the step down+$500$2,492 all in, fit 86 +6
  • ProcessorAMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D instead of Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
  • MotherboardGigabyte X870 Aorus Elite WiFi7 instead of Gigabyte B860 Aorus Elite WiFi7
  • Graphics cardGeForce RTX 5080 instead of Radeon RX 7900 XTX
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.