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

What the PC is for
87Fit for the job

Enthusiast

$2,500 for light gaming

Tuned for 1080p frame rates per dollar.

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

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and the Radeon RX 7900 XTX are well matched at 1080p.

PartScore for the jobTypical priceBuy
ProcessorAMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D

Highest light gaming score near $500: 16 cores, boosts to 5.7 GHz.

4 swaps that still fit
95
$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 Royal 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-8000 CL38

32 GB DDR5 at 8000 MT/s CL38; 16 GB or more is the floor for light gaming.

4 swaps that still fit
90
$199
Buy on Amazon
Graphics cardRadeon RX 7900 XTX

24 GB of video memory, index 79 at 1080p; tuned for 1080p frame rates per dollar.

3 swaps that still fit
79
$849
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 supplySeasonic Vertex GX-1000

1000 W, 80 Plus gold; this build draws about 800 W at full tilt, native 12V-2x6 cable.

4 swaps that still fit
94
$189
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$2,492

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 84 -3
  • ProcessorIntel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus instead of AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
  • MotherboardASUS ROG Strix Z890-A Gaming WiFi instead of Gigabyte X870 Aorus Elite WiFi7
  • Graphics cardRadeon RX 9070 XT instead of Radeon RX 7900 XTX
  • Power supplyCorsair RM850x (2024) instead of Seasonic Vertex GX-1000
  • StorageCrucial T705 instead of Samsung 9100 Pro
See the step down+$500$2,982 all in, fit 89 +2
  • MotherboardASUS ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming WiFi instead of Gigabyte X870 Aorus Elite WiFi7
  • Graphics cardGeForce RTX 5080 instead of Radeon RX 7900 XTX
  • CaseFractal Design Torrent instead of Lian Li Lancool 216
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.