Show HN: I built a tool that prices a pre-built PC part by part | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: I built a tool that prices a pre-built PC part by part

pcdealcheck.com

117 pointsadlep83 comments

I've missed out on an awesome computer that I could use for a project because figuring out value took too long. Users paste a listing and receive a value grade, dated component estimates and a shareable report. AI reads the listing but my custom built price engine determines the grade (updated every day). Self financed and working now. Looking for feedback re: scoring, interface, and if its helpful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpft--x3WlI

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Is this similar to https://pcpartpicker.com ?

I was actually wondering this. Is it the same as pc part picker or used in addition to it?

Seems like the inverse? Select a prebuilt PC from Origin, Alienware, Cyberpower, etc and it independently prices each part of the build so you can see if you are getting ripped off(you are).

Exactly. Thank you! 100% the intent to come across

Thanks, that makes sense.

Well, whether or not its a "good deal" depends on how much you value the OEMs efforts to select, test, assemble, and support the parts. I say this as some one who has been building computers for myself and others since I was like 17, and working on them longer- and I have charged a fair amount of money for these services. I think what I charged was fair, too.

there is a difference between a "gourmet" service and mass assembled PCs for sure. We now focus on scoring the run of the mill computers sold by big e-tailers.

Well test an example for yourself. I did and around 25% of the total price was for their "efforts". I doubt you would have charged as much to plug components into a Mobo...

I certainly feel that I wasn't ripped off when in Feb this year, HP sold me this Omen desktop (https://www.hp.com/gb-en/shop/products/desktops/omen-35l-gam...) with a 9800x3d, rtx5080, 2TB SSD and 128GB?! of Kingston fury ram for £2700... with four years interest free credit...

it's now selling for £2300 more than when I bought it...

I didn't even want 128GB of ram... it just came with the pre-built spec I chose... I feel like they sold me the GPU and half the ram, and then threw in the rest for free! it's my deal of the decade...

half wish I'd stretched for the one with the 5090 now... :)

not just you, all of us. the thing is that there will be more demand on what is available on the market: make sure to check and have at least some reference. Seems that hardware pricing will become more so like commodity/stock market.

Not sure this demonstrates that HP gave you a deal so much as RAM and GPU prices have skyrocketed since then...

GPU and ram prices have certainly gone up since then, but they were also were high even then. I put that spec into pcpartpicker the day I bought it and was was over £3800... I think they'd set the prices the year before when they built the PCs and didn't update them...

PCPartPicker is awesome but more manual work, at least for me, and that takes time. This is a quick “paste the link” that then gets read to identify the components. Those get priced, and the deal also gets a score. So it’s almost like them but in reverse, and designed for a quick decision reference.

Thank you for nice comments. This is just a self financed prototype that will get better with use! I appreciate your time with testing/using the site. Lets not get ripped off! I expect the supply to get even tighter and prices going higher unfortunately. Local AI models, GIS/digital twins uses, robot training, VR, of course gamers, content creators, casual users, and of course people overseas all will be competing for similar hardware.

I suggest to add mini PCs. You can buy motherboards and other parts, but some have soldered cpus. They are cheaper, so it may be a good deal anyways.

noted!

if you add mini PCs, this will blow up on r/homelab and become a bookmark link, i would use it a bunch too!

last i checked, there was a google doc that inventoried the mini PCs available but it’s difficult to read tbh

Noted!

Not OP but I've been working on something similar to that: https://minihomelabs.com/hwdb

I use mini pcs for homelabbing and was getting frustrated trying to figure out how they all compare.

kind of cool. lots and lots of models to pick from

Self-promo plug - I've been working on https://MiniPCs.zip for the last few months, which is a kinda inverse concept - build a price model for Mini PCs based on their parts, and find the best possible deals - since these are like commodity items and prices change every day

Are there plans to support prices in other places like Europe?

right now we are limited with daily api calls. One way to support additional markets is to add data sources but that requires a monthly fee. This will be our next step.

First A- rated deal went out! https://app.pcdealcheck.com/r/a7f91506-b928-4637-b9a7-7f4a37... still in stock!

Small milestone tonight: PDC sent its first deal alert to 17 subscribers who requested A/B deals. A real B+ deal, reviewed before sending, with the component breakdown and direct retailer link included. The feedback here is helping turn this into something useful—thank you! We also recommend users to sign up for both A and B rated deals. This one seats exactly at "B+". Thank you for submitting and checking it, also thank you for signing up and giving it a try: Microcenter deal still in stock at my local Microcenter - better hurry! https://app.pcdealcheck.com/r/4a151189-53be-435c-819c-1ca18e...

I like the idea, I tried using it, however it gave me the following error: New photo and listing checks are currently available in the United States. More regions coming soon. You can still view saved reports.

At first I tried with a Canadian website, so I tried with a US url (the message confused me), but it still gave me the error, I checked the response and got the following:

{ "error": "New photo and listing checks are currently available in the United States. More regions coming soon. You can still view saved reports.", "code": "read_region_unavailable", "recovery": "region" }

I figur it checks the requester's ip location.

Forgot to specify: US market only: Canadian market will come next. Basically up to 20 biggest retailers will be supported - the usual suspects.

Laptop support would be nice, even if it's just a desktop comparison. Australia support too please! I would like to send this to a school who are about to waste a lot of money buying garbage.

It would be nice but it will be difficult to figure out the value of components other than RAM and SSD - CPU and GPU if present are "built in". Also: what is the value of RTX 5070 mobile vs desktop? I know that there is a big diff in performance due to physics (cooling/wattage). Canada and Australia coming next. I will need to get some traction going first and other markets will be opened for sure. Thank you for your thoughts.

Rather than just purchase cost you could project total lifetime value based on average lifespan plus replace-ability per component.

this is possible but with data points. I'd have to have access to internal metrics of PC manufactures since they track those.

Perfect is the enemy of done!

I have to be stingy on usage/bots. But we will open it up to Canada and Euro markets next. But it will require some traction and use and feedback. I am limited with api calls for pricing data.

> I am limited with api calls for pricing data.

You'd only need to make one request per component per week or something, how limited are you here? Sounds like a harsh limit.

Harsh limit. And other api sources are like $299.00 plus a month so we have to work around what access we have. Results are noisy and have to be filtered the right way.

Cool idea. Promising, but failed for me on https://www.amazon.com/Dell-XPS-8950-Desktop-i7-1TB/dp/B0BR9...

I got pretty good results when I asked an agent to put components to build an equivalent PC in a cart for me.

I think it works now. I am upping my daily usage quotas and will give it a shot in a bit.

I think for that money you can do better. https://app.pcdealcheck.com/r/2a594e9b-dbf5-4b19-939d-140c6f... and add $50.00 for the hdd. not very good deal and the included parts are getting old.

Hey, cool project. Whenever I've seen a deal on a pre-built PC I've always wondered, hey, how much would this cost if I built it myself from parts.

Some feedback on your website. I would suggest moving the "try it" from the bottom of the page towards the top of the page so that visitors don't have to look for it.

Cool beans! Thanks for your comment and pointers. Ill move it down a bit to make it easier to "try"... And btw: please, try it yourself and keep on checking deals! Let me know what you think. The price engine/scoring will change most likely as this is just a prototype that I want to have discussion about. And I hope the service will be helpful! Lets not get ripped off! I check prices every day at around 8:00am

Super useful. I think everyone is swimming in the overpriced PC era due to the memory shortages and desire to run local AI when possible. Is this something you want to support long-term?

This is the intent. I have a plan for this project to become a viable business. Discord plus additional features coming soon. If you like the project, stick around and refer others. Thank you very much for such nice comments!

would love to see support for B&H as a store, integrated graphics as a gpu option, and the intel wildcat lake series of chips

Great suggestion. We will test today!

amazing! edited parent comment with chip and gpu requests too :)

I've scooped domain: gpudealcheck.com and cpudealcheck.com as well. it will be coming with use and user support.

B&H support added

i now fully understand your comment lmao. I think integrated gpu based PC support will be easy to add. I will give it a shot and test this week.

What would be cool is a delegate to agent to use your own browser to find parts on eBay. Every time I build a new rig I always save a couple hundred with used gear.

Believe it or not this is one of the goals. An agent finding actual offers, with condition and shipping taken into account, could save a lot of manual searching. Right now PDC starts with a complete computer listing and checks its asking price. Helping someone source the parts for their own build would be a useful next step, especially with used gear. I’d want the buyer to be able to inspect the listings and sellers before purchasing.

Site open internationally. Check supported US retailer links from anywhere. Photos and pasted text require a US connection. Estimates use US market prices.

Btw, some components will not be in the database on occasion but you can suggest them to be added. First priority for us was to add "current" PC hardware classes.

> New checks currently require a US connection.

I can't seem to get any further. You're requiring my ip address itself to be based in the US?

We’ve added a note on the homepage clarifying that new checks are currently available to US visitors and use US retailer listings and market prices

I thought about building this a long time ago. Can you add used prices as well - perhaps source from ebay, craigslist, facebook marketplace.

Would love to add FB marketplace but it won't happen without serious discussions about api access. Price checks have to stay automated. I'd love to reach out someone at Meta about access.

It doesn’t work, I put some specs and a price and I get error

> New photo and listing checks are currently available in the United States.

Sorry - if you're outside US: we will get to you soon. Where are you located at? The pricing api has limits - for now. With use I will be able to afford in more credits.

is there a way to find good deals other people have checked? seems like a nice data play if so and you could do affiliate links to monetize on some. I don't think people would mind you sharing the deals they found (could be a "share with community" checkbox too).

Your bio looks exactly as I imagined.

Thank you. I have been around tech/IT for quite some time.

People can share individual reports today; there isn’t a searchable community feed yet. We are are considering a feed of recent good-value listings, with dates and availability checks so it stays useful (so a next step). Affiliate links are our next step possible revenue source. The thing is that I'll have to see use and start working with more data in order to plan next steps. We will have discord soon.

Respectfully, taking a URL and pasting that into chatgpt and asking it whether this is a good deal gives an excellent response and much faster. It also works in multiple regions. If this is a just a fun side project, then very cool but if you are looking to monetize this, I don't think you should be investing in it.

Fair point. The difference I’m aiming for is an answer backed by concrete, current market data, especially when your wallet is involved. PDC checks component prices daily, uses AI to read the listing, then applies consistent pricing rules to produce the grade. You can see the component estimates, when they were checked, and verify them yourself. For example, Gemini recently gave me SSD prices well below what Micro Center was actually charging. When I pushed back, it apologized and simply agreed with my number instead. An answer that changes when you push isn’t one I’d trust with my money. AI combined with current market data is a powerful combination, and that’s what we’re building into a quick, repeatable service. The estimates aren’t perfect, but every issue we identify and fix helps us improve it. t’s like asking AI to pick stocks versus giving it live market data: one is guessing and estimating, the other is working from facts.

Quick update on the “why not just ask a chatbot” point: alerts are now live. The first one went out today: A verified B+ deal with the part-by-part breakdown and a link to the retailer. That’s the part a chat can’t do for you while you’re not asking.

there were a few firefox pluggins I though that direction was easier because then I didn't had to switch tabs, but this is great.

Thank you, this is a start. The service will get much better with feedback and use cases. I appreciate your support.

Apologies in advance for any usage quota messages. I have set a daily $$$ limit.

Very cool... appreciate the work put into this!

Thank you, feel free to bookmark and use as at least some point of reference.

I really appreciate the lightweight website!

Thank you please bookmark and use. Drop us a line in case of any issues!

This is one of the most vibeslopped looking websites I've ever seen. Could be created in 5 seconds by claude. I have doubts about the rest of the website if it chooses to present itself like this

The vibeslopped HN reply spam is a nice touch as well. What a terrible time to know how to read.

- make a product that is global and not USA centric and you ll win half the planet

i think you have the potential

Thank you very much. The site can get better with use. I can only check for so many things and now its up to users to tell me what needs improvement. I hope the service will be useful for your applications.

Great site! Nicely laid out, clear results.

I was disappointed to see Costco selling high margin PCs.

One more thought, as you build up links and get an idea of who is selling lower margin PCs, you could recommend those sites. Perhaps even earning a small commission. Doing a service and making a little cash, win win.

that is the intent as well as paid for deal alerts for B and A rated offers. Please use the site and let me know if youll get any problems! We will get much better with use and feedback! Lets not get ripped off! I expect more demand as local llm users buy out more.

lmaoo good work fuck the people who will overcharge their clients without any reason, i agree labour cost is there but add that straight up rather than ripping off money via parts too

I think it will get worst. The demand is insane and regular people tend to be not educated on the value proposition so this is our little niche. Even tech users can use pricing reference because who has time to track ever changing prices...

Neat, except power supply (a very important part) is being ignored.

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