The most important part of building your own PC is choosing the right components. Most people choose with both their budget and use case in mind. To help our readers, we maintain a list of the best PC builds that offer recommended parts lists for gaming-focused computers with prices ranging from $500 to over $3,000.
Now Newegg is using AI to help you create a parts list for your next build. According to the company, his AI PC building assistant is based on his ChatGPT and is in beta. Based on our testing, the proposal is not very good in its current state and definitely needs improvement.
Newegg has PC builder (opens in new tab) For a while I was able to select all the components I wanted by category and create a custom parts list. New is a free-text “Build with AI” box that allows you to enter a single prompt, such as “Build a gaming PC with the RTX 3060”, with up to three recommended builds. That is.
However, the builder doesn’t seem to follow the instructions well or provide reliable advice. When asked for the “best gaming PC under $1,000,” over $1,000 he was recommended three builds, with the cheapest he had at $1,165.
Also, Newegg’s suggested $1,000 build sticks to older hardware. The most expensive of the three builds had his slower RTX 3050 GPU, and all three used previous generation AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs. I think there are also some options that we see in modern silicon.
Part of the problem is that every build recommends something you don’t actually need. For example, all of the CPUs bot recommends (2 Ryzen 5 5600Xes and 1 Ryzen 7 5800X3D) come with a competent air cooler in the box, but on these cost-conscious build lists , from $29.99 to $139.99. For example, the parts list for the Ryzen 7 5800X3D recommends the cooler’s Master Hyper 212 Evo V2 air cooler, while one build with the 5600X suggests going with the $139 AIO cooler. But this is overkill.
The parts list also spends a lot of money on power supplies, motherboards, and cases. If you’re shooting on a $1,000 budget, you don’t need an 80+ Gold certified 850W power supply, and a decent 600W he can get for under $70, which costs $149. Also motherboards under $100 or at least $125 and he should buy 1TB, not 2TB SSD. Most people recommend investing more in graphics cards and CPUs.
It also asked Newegg’s AI PC builder to create a “budget PC capable of playing games at 1080p with ray tracing.” A $1,221 system was shown with a Core i7-12700K CPU and an RTX 3050 card.
Most people know that the RTX 3050 is one of the lowest cards capable of doing ray tracing (see GPU tier) and is pretty weak. The 12700K, on the other hand, is not only a generation-old CPU, but it is unnecessary for ray tracing purposes. You’d be much better off spending less on a Core i5 and a better graphics card.
Note that the results you get are also fairly random. Hitting the Build with AI button multiple times at the same prompt will result in significantly different build recommendations.
You can also get the recommended build that comes with your monitor, but most don’t. Most people looking for a recommended PC build expect a component list without peripherals.
And you might be missing an important component. Managing editor Matt Safford asked for a compact PC and was given a parts list without a case.
We recommend that you continue to consult a professional and use your own judgment when creating your parts list. As with many examples of companies adding AI, it may improve in the future, but it is far from perfect.
