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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. $3,000 is the least that buys every part a 3D & rendering PC needs; past $9,000 the catalogue has nothing faster to add. A screen, keyboard and mouse come on top.

How it should look

Every part white, and everything that can light up does. 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
87Fit for the job

Enthusiast

$7,000 for 3D & rendering

Tuned for all-core throughput and render speed.

$5,617 for 9 parts, $1,383 under budget

Everything past this costs far more than the speed it adds, so the build stops at $5,617 rather than spend the rest of the budget on a bigger number. $1,383 is left for a screen, a keyboard and a mouse.

The Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and the GeForce RTX 5080 are well matched at 1440p.

Lian Li O11 Dynamic Evo RGBRTX 50801000 W

Build order

Eight steps, the way a builder works through the case. $5,617 all in.

  1. ASUS ROG Strix Z890-A Gaming WiFi on the tray
  2. Core Ultra 9 285K in the socket
  3. NZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB on top
  4. 2 sticks of memory
  5. Two drives on the board
  6. RTX 5080 in the x16 slot
  7. 1000 W supply in the basement
  8. Panel on, power on
PartScore for the jobTypical priceBuy
ProcessorIntel Core Ultra 9 285K

Highest 3D & rendering score the budget allows next to this card: 24 cores, boosts to 5.7 GHz.

2 swaps that still fit
97
$530
Buy on Amazon
MotherboardASUS ROG Strix Z890-A Gaming WiFi

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

1 swap that still fit
92
$290
Buy on Amazon
MemoryG.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5-6000 CL30

64 GB DDR5 at 6000 MT/s CL30; 64 GB or more is the floor for 3D & rendering.

90
$1,400
Buy on Amazon
Graphics cardGeForce RTX 5080

16 GB of video memory, index 77 at 1440p; tuned for all-core throughput and render speed.

2 swaps that still fit
75
$1,600
Buy on Amazon
CPU coolerNZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB (2024)

Rated 330 W for a chip that turbos to 250 W, with lit fans.

2 swaps that still fit
94
$300
Buy on Amazon
Power supplyCorsair RM1000x (2024)

1000 W, 80 Plus gold; this build draws about 800 W at full tilt, native 12V-2x6 cable.

2 swaps that still fit
93
$167
Buy on Amazon
CaseLian Li O11 Dynamic Evo RGB

7 fans in the box, 7 of them lit, 5 is the least 610 W of parts needs behind a closed front. Takes EATX/ATX/MATX/ITX boards and cards up to 422 mm.

3 swaps that still fit
93
$270
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
Second driveWD Black SN8100 4TB

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

99
$660
Buy on Amazon
Total, typical prices9 parts$5,617

Is another $500 worth it?

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

-$500$5,617 all in, fit 87 same

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

See the step down+$500$7,495 all in, fit 91 +4
  • ProcessorAMD Ryzen 9 9900X instead of Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
  • MotherboardASUS ROG Strix B850-A Gaming WiFi instead of ASUS ROG Strix Z890-A Gaming WiFi
  • Graphics cardGeForce RTX 5090 instead of GeForce RTX 5080
  • CPU coolerThermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB instead of NZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB (2024)
  • Power supplyCorsair RM1000e instead of Corsair RM1000x (2024)
  • CaseMontech Air 903 Max 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.