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

What the PC is for
83Fit for the job

Enthusiast

$2,500 for heavy gaming

Tuned for the strongest graphics card the budget allows.

$2,497 for 8 parts, $3 under budget

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and the GeForce RTX 5080 are well matched at 4K.

PartScore for the jobTypical priceBuy
ProcessorAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D

Highest heavy gaming score near $400: 8 cores, boosts to 5.6 GHz.

3 swaps that still fit
95
$484
Buy on Amazon
MotherboardMSI MAG B850 Tomahawk Max WiFi

B850 board for the AM5 socket, DDR5, 3 M.2 slots, Wi-Fi.

4 swaps that still fit
80
$229
Buy on Amazon
MemoryG.Skill Trident Z5 Royal 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-8000 CL38

32 GB DDR5 at 8000 MT/s CL38; 32 GB or more is the floor for heavy gaming.

4 swaps that still fit
90
$199
Buy on Amazon
Graphics cardGeForce RTX 5080

16 GB of video memory, index 70 at 4K; tuned for the strongest graphics card the budget allows.

2 swaps that still fit
70
$1,049
Buy on Amazon
CPU coolerArctic Liquid Freezer III 360

Rated 330 W for a chip that turbos to 162 W.

4 swaps that still fit
96
$99
Buy on Amazon
Power supplySeasonic Focus GX-750 ATX 3.0

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

4 swaps that still fit
85
$109
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
StorageSamsung 9100 Pro

2 TB PCIe 5.0 NVMe, 14,700 MB/s reads, with cache.

4 swaps that still fit
97
$229
Buy on Amazon
Total, typical prices8 parts$2,497

Is another $500 worth it?

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

-$500$1,993 all in, fit 76 -7
  • ProcessorIntel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus instead of AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D
  • MotherboardASUS TUF Gaming B860-Plus WiFi instead of MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk Max WiFi
  • MemoryG.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 instead of G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-8000 CL38
  • Graphics cardRadeon RX 7900 XTX instead of GeForce RTX 5080
  • CPU coolerArctic Liquid Freezer III 240 instead of Arctic Liquid Freezer III 360
  • Power supplyCorsair RM850x (2024) instead of Seasonic Focus GX-750 ATX 3.0
  • CaseLian Li Lancool 207 instead of Lian Li Lancool 216
See the step down+$500$2,932 all in, fit 85 +2
  • ProcessorAMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D instead of AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D
  • MotherboardASUS ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming WiFi instead of MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk Max WiFi
  • MemoryG.Skill Trident Z5 Royal 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 instead of G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-8000 CL38
  • Power supplySeasonic Vertex GX-1000 instead of Seasonic Focus GX-750 ATX 3.0
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.