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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. $1,500 is the least that buys every part a coding & development PC needs; past $9,500 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
94Fit for the job

Flagship

$7,000 for coding & development

Tuned for cores for builds and containers, plenty of memory, fast storage, and a card for several screens or a local model.

$6,961 for 8 parts, $39 under budget

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and the GeForce RTX 5090 are well matched at 1440p.

Montech King 95 ProRTX 50901200 W

Build order

Eight steps, the way a builder works through the case. $6,961 all in.

  1. ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero on the tray
  2. Core Ultra 7 270K Plus in the socket
  3. Thermalright Frozen Notte 360 on top
  4. 2 sticks of memory
  5. Samsung 9100 Pro 2TB on the board
  6. RTX 5090 in the x16 slot
  7. 1200 W supply in the basement
  8. Panel on, power on
PartScore for the jobTypical priceBuy
ProcessorIntel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus

Highest coding & development score the budget allows next to this card: 24 cores, boosts to 5.5 GHz.

4 swaps that still fit
97
$324
Buy on Amazon
MotherboardASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero

Z890 board for the LGA1851 socket, DDR5, 5 M.2 slots, Wi-Fi.

2 swaps that still fit
98
$429
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 coding & development.

4 swaps that still fit
85
$615
Buy on Amazon
Graphics cardGeForce RTX 5090

32 GB of video memory, index 100 at 1440p; tuned for cores for builds and containers, plenty of memory, fast storage, and a card for several screens or a local model.

2 swaps that still fit
100
$4,830
Buy on Amazon
CPU coolerThermalright Frozen Notte 360

Rated 300 W for a chip that turbos to 250 W, with lit fans.

2 swaps that still fit
78
$55
Buy on Amazon
Power supplyThermaltake Toughpower GF3 1200W

1200 W, 80 Plus gold; this build draws about 1100 W at full tilt, native 12V-2x6 cable.

2 swaps that still fit
92
$159
Buy on Amazon
CaseMontech King 95 Pro

6 fans in the box, 6 of them lit, 5 is the least 825 W of parts needs behind a closed front. Takes ATX/MATX/ITX boards and cards up to 420 mm.

3 swaps that still fit
88
$149
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
$400
Buy on Amazon
Total, typical prices8 parts$6,961

Is another $500 worth it?

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

-$500$5,650 all in, fit 91 -3
  • MemoryG.Skill Trident Z5 Royal 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 instead of G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6400 CL32
  • Graphics cardGeForce RTX 5080 instead of GeForce RTX 5090
  • CPU coolerNZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB (2024) instead of Thermalright Frozen Notte 360
  • Power supplyCorsair RM1000x (2024) instead of Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1200W
  • CaseLian Li O11 Dynamic Evo RGB instead of Montech King 95 Pro
See the step down+$500$7,431 all in, fit 95 +1
  • CPU coolerNZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB (2024) instead of Thermalright Frozen Notte 360
  • CaseLian Li O11 Dynamic Evo RGB instead of Montech King 95 Pro
  • StorageCrucial T705 4TB instead of Samsung 9100 Pro 2TB
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.