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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 i3-14100FRadeon RX 6600$999 all in, 8 parts, fit 52 of 10052fitOpen this build
  2. Gaming for $1,500Intel Core i5-14600KFRadeon RX 7700 XT$1,482 all in, 8 parts, fit 61 of 10061fitOpen this build
  3. Content creation for $3,000Intel Core Ultra 7 270K PlusGeForce RTX 5070 Ti$2,994 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
  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. $2,000 is the least that buys every part a heavy gaming PC needs; past $10,000 the catalogue has nothing faster to add. A screen, keyboard and mouse come on top.

What the PC is for
98Fit for the job

Flagship

$9,000 for heavy gaming

Tuned for the strongest graphics card the budget allows.

$8,945 for 8 parts, $55 under budget

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

Lian Li O11 Dynamic EvoRTX 50901500 W

Build order

Eight steps, the way a builder works through the case. $8,945 all in.

  1. ASUS ROG Crosshair X870E Hero on the tray
  2. Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 in the socket
  3. Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 on top
  4. 2 sticks of memory
  5. WD Black SN8100 4TB on the board
  6. RTX 5090 in the x16 slot
  7. 1500 W supply in the basement
  8. Panel on, power on
PartScore for the jobTypical priceBuy
ProcessorAMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2

Highest heavy gaming score the budget allows next to this card: 16 cores, boosts to 5.6 GHz.

2 swaps that still fit
97
$899
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
$563
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.

3 swaps that still fit
92
$1,500
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
$4,830
Buy on Amazon
CPU coolerArctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360

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

4 swaps that still fit
96
$70
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.

2 swaps that still fit
98
$350
Buy on Amazon
CaseLian Li O11 Dynamic Evo

Takes EATX/ATX/MATX/ITX boards and cards up to 422 mm, 0 fans included.

4 swaps that still fit
90
$73
Buy on Amazon
StorageWD Black SN8100 4TB

4 TB PCIe 5.0 NVMe, 14,900 MB/s reads, with cache.

4 swaps that still fit
99
$660
Buy on Amazon
Total, typical prices8 parts$8,945

Is another $500 worth it?

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

-$500$8,396 all in, fit 97 -1
  • MemoryG.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 instead of G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5-6400 CL32
  • CPU coolerCorsair iCUE Link Titan 360 RX LCD instead of Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360
  • CaseLian Li O11 Dynamic Evo XL instead of Lian Li O11 Dynamic Evo
See the step down+$500$9,281 all in, fit 98 same
  • CPU coolerCorsair iCUE Link Titan 360 RX LCD instead of Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360
  • CaseLian Li O11 Dynamic Evo XL instead of Lian Li O11 Dynamic Evo
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.