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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. $2,500 is the least that buys every part a heavy gaming PC needs in white without rgb; 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

Every part white, and nothing in the box lights up. 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.

78Fit for the job

Enthusiast

$6,500 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

$5,541

Budget

$6,500

Under budget

$959

Parts

9

Everything past this costs far more than the speed it adds, so the build stops at $5,569 rather than spend the rest of the budget on a bigger number. $931 is left for a screen, a keyboard and a mouse.

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and the ASUS Prime Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB White OC 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 9 9950X3D

Highest heavy gaming score the budget allows next to this card: 16 cores, boosts to 5.7 GHz.

2 swaps that still fit
96
$624Amazon US, Oct 25
Buy on Amazon
MotherboardGigabyte B850M Eagle WiFi6E Ice

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

64
$149Amazon US, Oct 25
Buy on Amazon
MemoryKingston Fury Beast 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 White

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

2 swaps that still fit
80
$683Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
Graphics cardASUS Prime Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB White OC

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

59
$908Amazon US, Oct 25
Buy on Amazon
CPU coolerThermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE White

Rated 250 W for a chip that turbos to 230 W.

1 swap that still fit
84
$40Amazon US, Oct 25
Buy on Amazon
Power supplyLian Li Edge 1000W White

1000 W, 80 Plus platinum; this build draws about 750 W at full tilt, native 12V-2x6 cable.

2 swaps that still fit
90
$156Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
CaseFractal Design Torrent White

5 fans in the box, 3 is the least 534 W of parts needs behind a mesh front. Takes EATX/ATX/MATX/ITX boards and cards up to 461 mm.

2 swaps that still fit
92
$235Amazon US, Oct 25
Buy on Amazon
StorageSamsung 9100 Pro 2TB

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

4 swaps that still fit
97
$406Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
Second driveSamsung 9100 Pro 8TB

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

100
$2,341Amazon US, Oct 24
Buy on Amazon
Total9 parts, every price read on Amazon US$5,541

Is another $500 worth it?

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

-$500$5,569 all in, fit 78 same

The same parts. The difference is money kept in your pocket.

See the step down+$500$5,569 all in, fit 78 same

The same parts. The difference is money kept in your pocket.

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.