WhatHardwareDoINeed answers one question without the runaround: what hardware do you actually need for what you want to do — within your budget, and with what's actually buyable where you live.
Why this site exists
For years, figuring out which parts were right for a task meant jumping between a YouTube video, three blog posts, a Reddit thread, and a forum — then still second-guessing whether any of it applied to your setup. PSU wattage, RAM compatibility, VRAM for a specific AI model, Windows quirks: the answers were scattered and rarely specific. As AI accelerates, the noise has only gotten worse. This site exists to cut through it and point you straight at the parts that fit your real needs.
Who's behind it
WhatHardwareDoINeed was created by Erick, a Digital Art & Animation graduate (Licenciado) from Tec de Monterrey (ITESM) and a lifelong gaming-hardware enthusiast. The frustration of stitching together hardware advice from a dozen sources is what motivated the project — a single place that maps real activities to real, buyable hardware. You can connect on LinkedIn.
How we make recommendations
Every recommendation is built on transparent, reproducible math rather than vibes. The Local AI calculator, for example, shows the full VRAM breakdown (model weights + KV cache + overhead) so you can see exactly why a number is what it is — the same methodology behind our VRAM guides. Where it helps, we link to the specific products that fit, and we're upfront that those may be affiliate links.
What you can do here
Three interactive tools cover the most common questions: a Local AI calculator for running LLMs and image models, a gaming build calculator, and a general-use calculator — backed by a library of plain-English guides.