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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 $10,000 the catalogue has nothing faster to add. A screen, keyboard and mouse come on top.

How it should look

Every part white, and everything that can light up does. 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
85Fit for the job

Enthusiast

$3,000 for light gaming

Tuned for 1080p frame rates per dollar.

$3,000 for 9 parts, $0 under budget

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and the Radeon RX 9070 XT are well matched at 1080p.

Montech King 95 ProRX 9070 XT1000 W

Build order

Eight steps, the way a builder works through the case. $3,000 all in.

  1. ASUS ROG Strix B850-A Gaming WiFi on the tray
  2. Ryzen 7 9850X3D in the socket
  3. Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB on top
  4. 2 sticks of memory
  5. Two drives on the board
  6. RX 9070 XT in the x16 slot
  7. 1000 W supply in the basement
  8. Panel on, power on
PartScore for the jobTypical priceBuy
ProcessorAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D

Highest light gaming score the budget allows next to this card: 8 cores, boosts to 5.6 GHz.

4 swaps that still fit
94
$484
Buy on Amazon
MotherboardASUS ROG Strix B850-A Gaming WiFi

B850 board for the AM5 socket, DDR5, 4 M.2 slots, Wi-Fi.

2 swaps that still fit
83
$230
Buy on Amazon
MemoryG.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6400 CL32

32 GB DDR5 at 6400 MT/s CL32; 16 GB or more is the floor for light gaming.

3 swaps that still fit
85
$615
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 162 W, with lit fans.

3 swaps that still fit
84
$55
Buy on Amazon
Power supplyCorsair RM1000x (2024)

1000 W, 80 Plus gold; this build draws about 650 W at full tilt, native 12V-2x6 cable.

2 swaps that still fit
93
$167
Buy on Amazon
CaseMontech King 95 Pro

6 fans in the box, 6 of them lit, 4 is the least 466 W of parts needs behind a closed front. Takes ATX/MATX/ITX boards and cards up to 420 mm.

4 swaps that still fit
88
$149
Buy on Amazon
StorageCrucial T705 1TB

1 TB PCIe 5.0 NVMe, 13,600 MB/s reads, with cache.

4 swaps that still fit
92
$250
Buy on Amazon
Second driveLexar NM790 2TB

2 TB for games, footage or models; the budget had room once every other slot was at its best.

76
$300
Buy on Amazon
Total, typical prices9 parts$3,000

Is another $500 worth it?

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

-$500$2,499 all in, fit 84 -1
  • MotherboardGigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX Ice instead of ASUS ROG Strix B850-A Gaming WiFi
  • Power supplyCorsair RM750e instead of Corsair RM1000x (2024)
  • CaseCorsair 4000D RS ARGB instead of Montech King 95 Pro
See the step down+$500$3,475 all in, fit 86 +1
  • CaseLian Li O11 Dynamic Evo RGB instead of Montech King 95 Pro
  • StorageSamsung 9100 Pro 2TB instead of Crucial T705 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.