Building a "Build Suggestion" Program

[JefferyD90]

So I'm going to be building a program that will suggest the appropriate pricing of all of your components based on the "total cost" that you put in.

 

For example, if you said "I want to get a build for $600 total" it would calculate that 14% of your cost should go to a CPU, and 13% should go to a motherboard... and so on and so on (the actual math I haven't worked out fully yet).

 

This way people can see where they should be building their computers.

 

I'm going to run a lot of algorithms through this so as you increase the price it will change the percentages accordingly so you don't end up with a $500 build with a $10 case or a $2000 build with a $400 case.

 

How useful do you guys think this will actually be for the community?

 

Are there any suggestions for version 1.0 or 2.0 of the program that anyone can think of?  (I'm very specifically not looking for it to search the web and give you a price on Amazon or anything, that's something the user should do in my eyes)

[Djole123]

I don't think so, because the community (like us) exists and we can pick sweetspot parts for the price. We already know that you can't put an i5 in a 200$ rig, but you can in a 500$ rig.

If such a program exists, then the community will be pointless and vice versa.

[JefferyD90]

2 minutes ago, Djole123 said:

I don't think so, because the community (like us) exists and we can pick sweetspot parts for the price. We already know that you can't put an i5 in a 200$ rig, but you can in a 500$ rig.

If such a program exists, then the community will be pointless and vice versa.

The community is still VERY important in deciding specific components.  This is where the community will actually be able to help people.  Someone would be able to say "I got $50 to spend on RAM, whats the best option you guys know of" and then everyone can offer suggestions to fit that part.  It additionally, can be a huge help to community members in picking out system components so you don't forget a storage drive (how many times have I suggested a build just to find out I forgot a component), and so you keep it in check.

 

Additionally, the kinds of people that come on the form asking for help, I don't think will even run across this program so they wont use it.  I was suggesting it for people that help others with builds to help guide them along.

[Charcoal_]

I think it would be OK, but still think it's kinda pointless. There are enough tech forums and communities to help already.

[Djole123]

3 minutes ago, JefferyD90 said:

The community is still VERY important in deciding specific components.  This is where the community will actually be able to help people.  Someone would be able to say "I got $50 to spend on RAM, whats the best option you guys know of" and then everyone can offer suggestions to fit that part.  It additionally, can be a huge help to community members in picking out system components so you don't forget a storage drive (how many times have I suggested a build just to find out I forgot a component), and so you keep it in check.

 

Additionally, the kinds of people that come on the form asking for help, I don't think will even run across this program so they wont use it.  I was suggesting it for people that help others with builds to help guide them along.

I'm thinking about something a bit more useful for ones that have no idea what they are looking for. You can have a program that will show categories. For example, you can have two categories at start: desktops or laptops. Then, for example, in desktops you can have prebuilts and customs. Then they can choose a use case scenario, like office, BitCoin mining, gaming etc. Then a community picked partlist or a specific computer will pop out with a total price, so they can choose and buy the PC. I think that would be waay more useful.

[JefferyD90]

3 minutes ago, Djole123 said:

I'm thinking about something a bit more useful for ones that have no idea what they are looking for. You can have a program that will show categories. For example, you can have two categories at start: desktops or laptops. Then, for example, in desktops you can have prebuilts and customs. Then they can choose a use case scenario, like office, BitCoin mining, gaming etc. Then a community picked partlist or a specific computer will pop out with a total price, so they can choose and buy the PC. I think that would be waay more useful.

That's a good idea.  I thought about giving "check boxes" for what you plan on using your system for.  If you "check" something like "gaming" then it will push 8% more of the build to the GPU or something like that.

[JefferyD90]

1 minute ago, gFrenken97 said:

I suggest something like a wizard where it asks the user a number of questions like "what will you be using it for?", "Do you already own peripherals?", "Will you be reusing any parts from a previous build?", and depending on the answer it has a number of follow up questions and of course the total budget, and it gives you a rough estimate of how much you should spend on a certain part to get the best value, maybe based on the assigned budget for a certain part you could give recommend specific components, of course yo would have to make sure that everything would be compatible.

I don't dislike the idea of asking a user questions, but I HATE wizards.  I want EVERYTHING on one page so there is no "hidden" menus or anything.

 

This should be fairly quick.  But, the idea of questions versus check boxes sounds better even.  Because maybe someone doesn't want headphones, but does want speakers...  That's something that a checkbox would be hard to demonstrate.

 

And that's why I say the community is just as important as ever, it tells you what you should be spending, not what to get.  Compatibility is still a very real issue.

[JefferyD90]

19 minutes ago, gFrenken97 said:

Most people that aren't tech savvy prefer wizards because they get intimidated by big pages of content, that's why you get all these ridiculous "material design" websites with fullscreen images and like 3 words all in caps and you have to scroll for 10 miles to get to the footer for some actual information 

I guess... that just sounds awful though...  "Here let me make it easier by making you click through 10 pages of bullshit before you can get to your content" - Comcast 2014

[Djole123]

7 minutes ago, JefferyD90 said:

That's a good idea.  I thought about giving "check boxes" for what you plan on using your system for.  If you "check" something like "gaming" then it will push 8% more of the build to the GPU or something like that.

Well I'm a bit concerned that the application might cheap out on a power suplly or the CPU which we don't want.

[JefferyD90]

4 minutes ago, Djole123 said:

Well I'm a bit concerned that the application might cheap out on a power suplly or the CPU which we don't want.

Well its not like its buying the components for you.  The idea is when you put $600 in for a gaming machine it will tell you to look for a video card in the $200 range.

 

Now if you, as the user, want to go after a $220 video card DOET!

 

I'm working on a spreadsheet right now that details out the min/max for components in a certain range.  I'm separating things out that cant/wont increase/decrease like the OS cost.  So that way it dynamically figures it out.

[JefferyD90]

	Min	%	Low	%	Medium	%	Med-High	%	High	%
Total:	$  445.96	100.00%	$  651.56	100.00%	$  1,116.66	100.00%	$  1,534.21	100.00%	$  2,036.75	100.00%
Motherboard:	$    49.99	11.21%	$    54.99	8.44%	$        83.99	7.52%	$     116.39	7.59%	$     149.99	7.36%
CPU:	$    51.95	11.65%	$  104.99	16.11%	$     149.99	13.43%	$     149.99	9.78%	$     149.99	7.36%
Memory:	$    16.99	3.81%	$    33.98	5.22%	$        33.98	3.04%	$        99.48	6.48%	$        99.48	4.88%
Storage1:	$    42.30	9.49%	$    42.30	6.49%	$        84.00	7.52%	$     132.00	8.60%	$     132.00	6.48%
Storage2:	$           -	0.00%	$           -	0.00%	$               -	0.00%	$        49.99	3.26%	$        77.11	3.79%
GPU:	$           -	0.00%	$    99.99	15.35%	$     204.99	18.36%	$     289.99	18.90%	$     509.99	25.04%
Cooling:	$           -	0.00%	$           -	0.00%	$               -	0.00%	$        59.99	3.91%	$     104.20	5.12%
Case:	$    39.99	8.97%	$    39.99	6.14%	$        99.99	8.95%	$        99.99	6.52%	$     149.97	7.36%
Power Supply:	$    49.99	11.21%	$    49.99	7.67%	$        89.99	8.06%	$        89.99	5.87%	$        99.99	4.91%
Keyboard:	$    18.97	4.25%	$    24.49	3.76%	$        48.82	4.37%	$        48.82	3.18%	$     105.00	5.16%
Mouse:	$           -	0.00%	$           -	0.00%	$        29.99	2.69%	$        44.60	2.91%	$        44.60	2.19%
Headset:	$           -	0.00%	$    24.90	3.82%	$        37.99	3.40%	$        59.99	3.91%	$        59.99	2.95%
Monitor:	$    69.99	15.69%	$    89.99	13.81%	$     131.99	11.82%	$     149.00	9.71%	$     210.45	10.33%
Speaker:	$    19.84	4.45%	$           -	0.00%	$        34.99	3.13%	$        34.99	2.28%	$        34.99	1.72%
Windows:	$    85.95	19.27%	$    85.95	13.19%	$        85.95	7.70%	$     109.00	7.10%	$     109.00	5.35%
Total:	$  458.80	100.00%	$  703.82	100.00%	$  1,264.64	100.00%	$  1,635.50	100.00%	$  2,327.69	100.00%
Motherboard:	$    49.99	10.90%	$    82.95	11.79%	$        95.99	7.59%	$     152.29	9.31%	$     188.42	8.09%
CPU:	$    59.99	13.08%	$  119.69	17.01%	$     246.88	19.52%	$     246.88	15.10%	$     351.99	15.12%
Memory:	$    21.79	4.75%	$    43.58	6.19%	$        43.58	3.45%	$        67.98	4.16%	$     149.99	6.44%
Storage1:	$    42.30	9.22%	$    42.30	6.01%	$        84.00	6.64%	$     132.00	8.07%	$     132.00	5.67%
Storage2:	$           -	0.00%	$           -	0.00%	$               -	0.00%	$        49.99	3.06%	$        77.11	3.31%
GPU:	$           -	0.00%	$    99.99	14.21%	$     204.99	16.21%	$     289.99	17.73%	$     509.99	21.91%
Cooling:	$           -	0.00%	$           -	0.00%	$        29.49	2.33%	$        59.99	3.67%	$     104.20	4.48%
Case:	$    39.99	8.72%	$    39.99	5.68%	$        99.99	7.91%	$        99.99	6.11%	$     149.97	6.44%
Power Supply:	$    49.99	10.90%	$    49.99	7.10%	$        89.99	7.12%	$        89.99	5.50%	$        99.99	4.30%
Keyboard:	$    18.97	4.13%	$    24.49	3.48%	$        48.82	3.86%	$        48.82	2.99%	$     105.00	4.51%
Mouse:	$           -	0.00%	$           -	0.00%	$        29.99	2.37%	$        44.60	2.73%	$        44.60	1.92%
Headset:	$           -	0.00%	$    24.90	3.54%	$        37.99	3.00%	$        59.99	3.67%	$        59.99	2.58%
Monitor:	$    69.99	15.26%	$    89.99	12.79%	$     131.99	10.44%	$     149.00	9.11%	$     210.45	9.04%
Speaker:	$    19.84	4.32%	$           -	0.00%	$        34.99	2.77%	$        34.99	2.14%	$        34.99	1.50%
Windows:	$    85.95	18.73%	$    85.95	12.21%	$        85.95	6.80%	$     109.00	6.66%	$     109.00	4.68%

[JefferyD90]

So I know the post I just made isn't 100% readable... especially on the internet.  But it is a simple spreadsheet I have made with the dollar amounts for different levels of systems. 

 

I also included the spreadsheet where someone can actually look at it.  It includes the dollar amounts for individual components, the total amount for a whole system, as well as the name of the component commented in each cell.  All prices were pulled from Amazon and ALL parts were common parts, not a obscure part found at a insane price.  I want this program to be realistic.  The spreadsheet breaks down the percentage of the builds total price per part so I have a baseline for building my math to reverse engineer this thing.  The top segment is a AMD based build and the bottom segment is a Intel based build.

Computer Build.xlsx

 

My next step is building the rules for the builds.  For example, one rule is going to be "Storage 1 >= 300" meaning that it will never allocate more than $300 for that single drive, which I think is reasonable, you can easily get a 512GB M.2 drive for that price.

 

I also figured out that I need to "checkbox" each component.  That way someone can use this for "upgrades" as well as new builds.  It will also make the whole "I don't need a monitor, but I need a keyboard" thing a breeze.