In about mid-2020, I used sites like https://buildmypc.net/ https://buildmypc.net/ and https://pcpartpicker.com/ https://pcpartpicker.com/, read through some ot

In about mid-2020, I used sites like https://buildmypc.net/ https://buildmypc.net/ and https://pcpartpicker.com/ https://pcpartpicker.com/, read through some other people's builds around my price point (I was aiming for <$1000), and researched individual components. Ended up building around an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 + Asus Prime X570P, with 32GB of RAM and an Rx580 GPU. Example of a problem you'll have right now: I bought that Sapphire Pulse Rx 580 8GB for the GPU. Spent $190. Used ones of those are selling in the $400-$500 range right now, and $500-$600 new. And that seems about the baseline for most 8GB cards. Looks like some 4GB cards cost less, but still more than I paid for the one a year and a half ago. I think it's possible to jump on a local retailer when they finally get something in stock, but I'm not even positive on that. CPUs don't seem to be quite as bad, but have had a serious price jump too. I paid $175 for my 3600. Some are still selling used for around that price, and new for more (but still under the prices of the zen 3 CPUs after it).