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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
98Fit for the job

Flagship

$5,000 for heavy gaming

Tuned for the strongest graphics card the budget allows.

$4,972 for 8 parts, $28 under budget

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 and the GeForce RTX 5090 are well matched at 4K.

PartScore for the jobTypical priceBuy
ProcessorAMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2

Highest heavy gaming score near $800: 16 cores, boosts to 5.6 GHz.

2 swaps that still fit
97
$699
Buy on Amazon
MotherboardASUS ROG Crosshair X870E Hero

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

3 swaps that still fit
98
$699
Buy on Amazon
MemoryG.Skill Trident Z5 Royal 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5-6400 CL32

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

4 swaps that still fit
92
$249
Buy on Amazon
Graphics cardGeForce RTX 5090

32 GB of video memory, index 100 at 4K; tuned for the strongest graphics card the budget allows.

2 swaps that still fit
100
$2,199
Buy on Amazon
CPU coolerArctic Liquid Freezer III 360

Rated 330 W for a chip that turbos to 270 W.

4 swaps that still fit
96
$99
Buy on Amazon
Power supplyCorsair HX1500i (2023)

1500 W, 80 Plus platinum; this build draws about 1100 W at full tilt, native 12V-2x6 cable.

4 swaps that still fit
98
$329
Buy on Amazon
CaseLian Li O11 Dynamic Evo XL

Takes EATX/ATX/MATX/ITX boards and cards up to 460 mm, 0 fans included.

4 swaps that still fit
93
$249
Buy on Amazon
StorageSamsung 9100 Pro

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

4 swaps that still fit
99
$449
Buy on Amazon
Total, typical prices8 parts$4,972

Is another $500 worth it?

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

-$500$4,372 all in, fit 98 same
  • MotherboardASUS ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming WiFi instead of ASUS ROG Crosshair X870E Hero
  • Power supplyCorsair RM1200x Shift instead of Corsair HX1500i (2023)
  • CaseFractal Design Torrent instead of Lian Li O11 Dynamic Evo XL
  • StorageSamsung 9100 Pro instead of Samsung 9100 Pro
See the step down+$500$5,492 all in, fit 98 same
  • Power supplyCorsair AX1600i instead of Corsair HX1500i (2023)
  • CaseCorsair 9000D RGB Airflow instead of Lian Li O11 Dynamic Evo XL
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.