[Hardware] MSI's new AI-powered PC building assistant recommends the 9800X3D as a budget CPU — EZ PC Builder spec'd out over $1,700 of parts for a $1,000 build

[King_of_dark]

Yesterday, MSI unveiled its new AI assistant called "EZ PC Builder," which is a tool designed to guide beginners to build and spec out their computers. MSI partnered with MaiAgent, utilizing LLMs available as part of Amazon's Bedrock service to provide answers through a chatbot. It's available for free around the world, and PC Gamer has already tested it. Their findings revealed that the AI suggests a Ryzen 9 9800X3D processor when asked for budget recommendations — questionable advice that it also dished out to us.

When we talked to the little dragon mascot representing EZ PC Builder, it also brought up the 9800X3D as a budget component, corroborating that it wasn't a one-time fluke; the AI genuinely wants you to buy. It also really wants you to buy MSI products, which makes sense considering it's literally made by MSI. It would be weird if it didn't suggest the company's stuff, but sometimes the recommendations become a little egregious. For instance, as part of the aforementioned budget build suggestion, it recommends the CoreLiquid A13 360mm AIO.

On one hand, it makes sense that a 360mm AIO would be ideal to cool a 9800X3D, but we've already established that's not the right choice. So, by proxy, the cooler is also a bad pick. We also only gave it 3 stars in our review, despite the $99 price tag, which, funnily enough, does meet the budget designation. It's quite an interesting dilemma. Moving on, we were recommended a B650 motherboard, an RTX 5060 GPU, a Gen4 NVMe SSD, an 850W power supply, and a full-size ATX case — all from MSI. Only the 5600 MT/s Kingston memory it mentioned wasn't in-house.

Also, 5600 MT/s isn't exactly great for a 9800X3D. If you're spending close to $500 on a CPU, you would surely get better RAM — but, then again, it fits our original budget requirement. It's like the AI is trying its best to fight back against a lobotomized version of itself. We even started a new chat and asked it if a 9800X3D was a good budget CPU, and EZ PC Builder, to its credit, said, "it depends on your perspective." As you can see above, the AI clarified it's a "mid-to-high tier" gaming CPU, and that we should consider the 7800X3D to save a buck but still get similar performance. That's solid advice, and something we also suggest in our own roundup.

When seeking build advice, the chatbot asks whether you prefer AMD or Intel for your processor, which is something a beginner would definitely not know. Interestingly, it doesn't make the same distinction for GPUs; asking wherever we prefer Nvidia or AMD, or even Intel, for that matter. Lastly, the biggest caveat is that EZ PC Builder doesn't have any idea about pricing, like at all. It's not connected to the internet to check for updated prices, but it also just seems entirely disconnected from reality in general.

 

As evident from the screenshot above, it suggested a 9800X3D (again) and RTX 5060 Ti as part of a $1,000 build, which is certainly impossible, unless you choose to abandon nearly every other component. That combo alone would run you almost $900, so you'll be left with $100 to scavenge RAM, storage, cooling, case, and the motherboard — which should be a B850 Tomahawk, according to the AI. Great value-oriented board, but it's over $200. In fact, this entire build would easily run you over $1,700, and that's with updated street pricing that always fluctuates.

It's clear that EZ PC Builder needs some work; it's in beta after all. MSI is a big name in the PC hardware market, and we suspect a lot of people may try this AI assistant for advice, so it needs to be sharper than its current state. The website for the chatbot is also a bit bloated, because at first glance, you might think it's interactive and a lot more ambitious than just a chatbot in the corner. Not to mention the fact that it only suggests MSI products, when you should always try to find the best deal, instead of being solely brand-conscious.

Link: https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/pc-building/msis-new-ai-powered-pc-building-assistant-recommends-the-9800x3d-as-a-budget-cpu-ez-pc-builder-specd-out-over-usd1-700-of-parts-for-a-usd1-000-build