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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 Amazon US readings from ScoutPrices where one exists, typical where not: the Amazon page decides.

Budget, in US dollars

Steps of $500. $2,000 is the least that buys every part a heavy gaming PC needs; past $8,500 the catalogue has nothing faster to add. A screen, keyboard and mouse come on top.

What the PC is for
How it should look

Whatever the budget buys best, in whatever colour it comes. 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.

Checked for fit before it reaches you.

Start from a build people pick

Live from the catalogue
  1. Office & everyday for $1,000Intel Core i3-14100FASRock Intel Arc B580 Challenger 12GB OC$1,000 all in, 8 parts, fit 56 of 10056fitOpen this build
  2. Gaming for $1,500Intel Core i3-14100FSapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB$1,497 all in, 8 parts, fit 62 of 10062fitOpen this build
  3. Content creation for $3,000Intel Core Ultra 7 270K PlusGeForce RTX 5070 Ti$2,979 all in, 8 parts, fit 82 of 10082fitOpen this build

Every row is worked out from today's catalogue. Open one, then change anything.

80Fit for the job

Enthusiast

$3,000 for heavy gaming

Tuned for the strongest graphics card the budget allows.

One of the three heavy targets at a time, and the result says which: 4K high settings by default, with ray tracing or 240 Hz at 1440p as the alternatives the same class of card serves. Judged by the card's 4K index, floor 50, plus 16 GB of video memory; upscaling and frame generation are not counted towards it.

This build

$3,334

Budget

$3,000

Over budget

$334

Parts

8

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB are well matched at 4K.

A part marked Amazon US shows ScoutPrices' reading of the listing its button opens, with the day it was read; a part with no reading shows its typical price. The parts were chosen on typical prices, so a total can land a little over the budget when the shops move. Not a checkout total: an operating system, shipping and tax are not in it, and neither are a screen, a keyboard and a mouse.

PartScore for the jobPriceBuy
ProcessorAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D

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

4 swaps that still fit
95
$475Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
MotherboardASUS ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming WiFi

X870E board for the AM5 socket, DDR5, 5 M.2 slots, Wi-Fi.

2 swaps that still fit
96
$388Amazon US, Oct 24
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 heavy gaming.

4 swaps that still fit
85
$660Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
Graphics cardSapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB

16 GB of video memory, index 59 at 4K; tuned for the strongest graphics card the budget allows.

3 swaps that still fit
59
$900Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
CPU coolerArctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360

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

4 swaps that still fit
96
$70Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
Power supplySuper Flower Leadex VII XG 1000W

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

4 swaps that still fit
92
$140Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
CaseLian Li O11 Dynamic Evo RGB

7 fans in the box, 7 of them lit, 4 is the least 466 W of parts needs behind a closed front. Takes EATX/ATX/MATX/ITX boards and cards up to 422 mm.

4 swaps that still fit
93
$295Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
StorageSamsung 9100 Pro 2TB

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

3 swaps that still fit
97
$406Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
Total8 parts, every price read on Amazon US$3,334

Is another $500 worth it?

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

-$500$2,493 all in, fit 78 -2
  • MotherboardASUS ROG Strix B850-A Gaming WiFi instead of ASUS ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming WiFi
  • MemoryTeamGroup T-Force Delta RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 instead of G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6400 CL32
  • CPU coolerThermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE instead of Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360
  • Power supplybe quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W instead of Super Flower Leadex VII XG 1000W
  • CaseNZXT H7 Flow (2024) White instead of Lian Li O11 Dynamic Evo RGB
See the step down+$500$3,491 all in, fit 83 +3
  • MotherboardASUS ROG Strix B850-A Gaming WiFi instead of ASUS ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming WiFi
  • MemoryTeamGroup T-Force Delta RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 instead of G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6400 CL32
  • Graphics cardGeForce RTX 5080 instead of Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB
  • CaseNZXT H7 Flow RGB (2024) White instead of Lian Li O11 Dynamic Evo RGB
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.

Every ready build

The list this page works out, at every step of every job, each on a page of its own. Nothing here is a suggestion from a magazine: the parts are checked against each other and priced.

Office PC

Browsing, documents, video calls, streaming films.

PC for programming

IDEs, compilers, containers, a few virtual machines.

Budget gaming PC

Esports and indie titles at 1080p, high frame rates.

Gaming PC

Big titles at 1440p, high settings.

4K gaming PC

4K, ray tracing, or 240 Hz at 1440p.

Video editing PC

Video editing, photo work, motion graphics.

PC for 3D and rendering

Blender, CAD, simulation, long renders.

Streaming PC

Playing at 1440p while encoding a live stream.

PC for local AI models

Running language and image models on your own card.