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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 gaming PC needs; past $8,500 the catalogue has nothing faster to add. A screen, keyboard and mouse come on top.

How it should look

Every part that can light up does, 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.

What the PC is for
91Fit for the job

Flagship

$6,500 for gaming

Tuned for 1440p frame rates, with a CPU that will not hold the card back.

$6,490 for 8 parts, $10 under budget

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and the GeForce RTX 5090 are well matched at 1440p.

Phanteks XT Pro UltraRTX 50901000 W

Build order

Eight steps, the way a builder works through the case. $6,490 all in.

  1. Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX Ice on the tray
  2. Ryzen 7 9800X3D in the socket
  3. Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB on top
  4. 2 sticks of memory
  5. WD Black SN850X 1TB on the board
  6. RTX 5090 in the x16 slot
  7. 1000 W supply in the basement
  8. Panel on, power on
PartScore for the jobTypical priceBuy
ProcessorAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D

Highest gaming score the budget allows next to this card: 8 cores, boosts to 5.2 GHz.

4 swaps that still fit
91
$449
Buy on Amazon
MotherboardGigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX Ice

B650 board for the AM5 socket, DDR5, 3 M.2 slots, Wi-Fi.

2 swaps that still fit
70
$150
Buy on Amazon
MemoryTeamGroup T-Force Delta RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000 CL30

32 GB DDR5 at 6000 MT/s CL30; 32 GB or more is the floor for gaming.

2 swaps that still fit
80
$560
Buy on Amazon
Graphics cardGeForce RTX 5090

32 GB of video memory, index 100 at 1440p; tuned for 1440p frame rates, with a CPU that will not hold the card back.

2 swaps that still fit
100
$4,830
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 supplySuper Flower Leadex VII XG 1000W

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

3 swaps that still fit
92
$140
Buy on Amazon
CasePhanteks XT Pro Ultra

4 fans in the box, 4 of them lit, 4 is the least 737 W of parts needs behind a mesh front. Takes EATX/ATX/MATX/ITX boards and cards up to 415 mm.

2 swaps that still fit
78
$86
Buy on Amazon
StorageWD Black SN850X 1TB

1 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe, 7,300 MB/s reads, with cache.

4 swaps that still fit
86
$220
Buy on Amazon
Total, typical prices8 parts$6,490

Is another $500 worth it?

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

-$500$4,827 all in, fit 87 -4
  • ProcessorAMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D instead of AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
  • MotherboardASUS ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming WiFi instead of Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX Ice
  • MemoryG.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 instead of TeamGroup T-Force Delta RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000 CL30
  • Graphics cardGeForce RTX 5080 instead of GeForce RTX 5090
  • Power supplyCorsair RM1000x (2024) instead of Super Flower Leadex VII XG 1000W
  • CaseLian Li O11 Dynamic Evo RGB instead of Phanteks XT Pro Ultra
  • StorageSamsung 9100 Pro 2TB instead of WD Black SN850X 1TB
See the step down+$500$6,941 all in, fit 95 +4
  • ProcessorAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D instead of AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
  • MotherboardASUS ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming WiFi instead of Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX Ice
  • MemoryG.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 instead of TeamGroup T-Force Delta RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000 CL30
  • Power supplyCorsair RM1000x (2024) instead of Super Flower Leadex VII XG 1000W
  • CaseMontech King 95 Pro instead of Phanteks XT Pro Ultra
  • StorageCrucial T705 1TB instead of WD Black SN850X 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.