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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
86Fit for the job

Enthusiast

$2,500 for gaming

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

$2,492 for 8 parts, $8 under budget

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and the GeForce RTX 5080 are well matched at 1440p.

PartScore for the jobTypical priceBuy
ProcessorAMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D

Highest gaming score near $450: 16 cores, boosts to 5.7 GHz.

4 swaps that still fit
96
$569
Buy on Amazon
MotherboardGigabyte X870 Aorus Elite WiFi7

X870 board for the AM5 socket, DDR5, 3 M.2 slots, Wi-Fi.

4 swaps that still fit
84
$259
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 cardGeForce RTX 5080

16 GB of video memory, index 77 at 1440p; tuned for 1440p frame rates, with a CPU that will not hold the card back.

2 swaps that still fit
77
$1,049
Buy on Amazon
CPU coolerArctic Liquid Freezer III 360

Rated 330 W for a chip that turbos to 230 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$2,492

Is another $500 worth it?

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

-$500$1,973 all in, fit 80 -6
  • ProcessorIntel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus instead of AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
  • MotherboardGigabyte B860 Aorus Elite WiFi7 instead of Gigabyte X870 Aorus Elite WiFi7
  • Graphics cardRadeon RX 7900 XTX instead of GeForce RTX 5080
See the step down+$500$2,932 all in, fit 88 +2
  • MotherboardASUS ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming WiFi instead of Gigabyte X870 Aorus Elite WiFi7
  • MemoryG.Skill Trident Z5 Royal 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 instead of G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6400 CL32
  • Power supplySeasonic Vertex GX-1000 instead of Corsair RM850x (2024)
  • StorageSamsung 9100 Pro instead of Crucial T705
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.