Info HammerBot Feedback Round 2!

[MKnott]

Welcome back folks, this thread is for our second round of feedback on HammerBot - the Tom's Hardware AI Chatbot. You can find out details about it HERE.

To always see the HammerBot on the home page, visit this link.

Please keep it concise, civil and on topic. If you encounter any issues, we'd find it valuable for you to describe exactly what you did with screenshots if necessary.

Since the first thread we've altered the layout and we're continuing to see improvements to chat with each iteration. With the push to the homepage we're hoping more eyes will allow us to gather feedback at a faster rate. The main use of this thread is for gathering feedback on issues and what improvements can be made.

Known Issues​

We know you’ll find ways that the output of HammerBot could be better. Here are some you may encounter:

• Answers sometimes out of date: occasionally recommends last-gen products
• Answers not always the top link: The top link in the search result may not be the one most directly related to the chat answer (ex: the answer mentions Ryzen 5 5600X but the top result isn’t the Ryzen 5 5600X review).
• Recommended offers: section may not have a product that matches the chat.
• Fairly short answers: Most of the answers are a bit terse right now.
• May express opinions that aren’t necessarily those of Tom’s Hardware.

More and Better Coming Soon​

Aside from just working out some of the known (and unknown issues), we want to make HammerBot a much more powerful tool by adding new capabilities including access to structured data: benchmarks, product specs and up-to-date pricing. Right now the model gets some of this data from article texts, but it’s not as organized in that format.

We want you to be able to ask our bot to compare two specific CPUs and be shown a chart with both of them in it and a side-by-side table with the specs of each. We also want the bot to be able to help you build a PC shopping list, but we’re not there just yet.

Thank you so much for taking the time to help us enhance this feature.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

Not bad but since it's based on GPT3 that can be a bit of an issue if it can't find data to scrape from tomshardware.

Obviously once it's fully ready I'd assume the page will be cleaned up? Right now the chat box blends right into the site, I found myself looking for it after looking at the results it sometimes provided.

 

[SHaines]

Not bad but since it's based on GPT3 that can be a bit of an issue if it can't find data to scrape from tomshardware.

Obviously once it's fully ready I'd assume the page will be cleaned up? Right now the chat box blends right into the site, I found myself looking for it after looking at the results it sometimes provided.

I'd say the focus now is on making it more helpful and UI/UX will be cleaned up a bit later.

 

[Persister]

Have never used GPT for anything & maybe I'm easily impressed. Not for black & white answer. Rather what to try first to minimize spend on new items & work. Simpler and maybe better than forum question.

Only issue was link to other prices was dead and then original page could not be retrieved.
*****
FWIW:
"Me: Built new pc with mobo msi B550-VC. Loaded and registered windows 10. Shut down. Now start mobo post aborts. Mobo debug led light for cpu. Power supply older. CPU is new Ryzen 9 3900x. Do you think fail is cpu or something else?

HammerBot: It sounds like you may have a power supply issue. The Ryzen 9 3900x is a powerful processor and requires a lot of power to run. It's possible that your older power supply is not providing enough power to the CPU, which is causing the POST to abort. We recommend that you upgrade to a power supply that is rated for at least 650W to ensure that your system has enough power to run the Ryzen 9 3900x."

 

[olofssonjoakim01]

Such a fantastic approach of tom's hardware. Really really smart move.

 

[USAFRet]

Is there a character limit?

 

[jaged]

told me i need a new power cable or bring it to a repair shop. lol. not impressed with my first ai interaction anywhere

 

[Amdlova]

Not working can't do a joke.

 

[Colif]

You: How do I set up secure boot on a Gigabyte X570 motherboard

HammerBot: To set up secure boot on a Gigabyte X570 motherboard, you will need to enable the secure boot option in the BIOS. To do this, enter the BIOS and navigate to the Security tab. From there, you can enable the secure boot option and save your changes. You may also need to install the latest firmware update from Gigabyte's website to ensure that your motherboard is up to date and secure.

that could lead to some fun blank screens since it doesn't get you to check if you are booting as UEFI or MBR - refer https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...t-on-amd-based-gigabyte-motherboards.3753105/

it might be most common answer on web but its not right.

 

[ArgesTartarean]

Needs a greater depth of data resources.
My conversation:

HammerBot: Ask me your PC hardware questions. I'm here to help.

You: What is the airspeed velocity of a swallow laden with an Intel Core i9-13900K?

HammerBot: Sorry, I cannot answer that

 

[kep55]

Welcome back folks, this thread is for our second round of feedback on HammerBot - the Tom's Hardware AI Chatbot. You can find out details about it HERE.

To always see the HammerBot on the home page, visit this link.

Please keep it concise, civil and on topic. If you encounter any issues, we'd find it valuable for you to describe exactly what you did with screenshots if necessary.

Since the first thread we've altered the layout and we're continuing to see improvements to chat with each iteration. With the push to the homepage we're hoping more eyes will allow us to gather feedback at a faster rate. The main use of this thread is for gathering feedback on issues and what improvements can be made.

Known Issues​

We know you’ll find ways that the output of HammerBot could be better. Here are some you may encounter:

• Answers sometimes out of date: occasionally recommends last-gen products
• Answers not always the top link: The top link in the search result may not be the one most directly related to the chat answer (ex: the answer mentions Ryzen 5 5600X but the top result isn’t the Ryzen 5 5600X review).
• Recommended offers: section may not have a product that matches the chat.
• Fairly short answers: Most of the answers are a bit terse right now.
• May express opinions that aren’t necessarily those of Tom’s Hardware.

More and Better Coming Soon​

Aside from just working out some of the known (and unknown issues), we want to make HammerBot a much more powerful tool by adding new capabilities including access to structured data: benchmarks, product specs and up-to-date pricing. Right now the model gets some of this data from article texts, but it’s not as organized in that format.

We want you to be able to ask our bot to compare two specific CPUs and be shown a chart with both of them in it and a side-by-side table with the specs of each. We also want the bot to be able to help you build a PC shopping list, but we’re not there just yet.

Thank you so much for taking the time to help us enhance this feature.

Q: How do I remove the OneDrive overlay icons?
A: Sorry, I cannot answer that.
'Nuff said.

 

[bit_user]

I retried my earlier test.

You: What is memory latency?

HammerBot: Memory latency is the time it takes for data to be transferred between the processing system and its memory. It is a key factor in determining the overall performance of a computer system.

Relevant Articles:

New Memory Research Teases 100x Density Jump, Merged Compute and Memory

A 10 to 100 times storage density jump? We'll take that as soon as possible, please.

www.tomshardware.com

You: How important is latency, when selecting memory?

HammerBot: Memory latency is an important factor to consider when selecting memory for a computer system. Memory latency is the time it takes for the processor to access data from the memory. Lower latency memory can improve system performance, as it reduces the amount of time the processor has to wait for data. It is important to select memory with the right latency for your system, as higher latency memory can slow down system performance.

Relevant Articles:

RAM Benchmark Hierarchy: DDR5, DDR4 for AMD, Intel CPUs

Our RAM benchmark hierarchy includes DDR5 and DDR4 memory kits that we've tested on modern AMD and Intel platforms.

www.tomshardware.com

So, the first answer was actually pretty good. In the initial version, it was unable to provide any answer.

The answer to the second question would've been better if I hadn't thought to ask the first one. It really didn't give good guidance about how important it is, though. It did provide a relevant link, so I guess that's good enough (and maybe the point?).

 

[bit_user]

I don't know if I'd use HammerBot, or similar. However, I'm already somewhat of an expert on most aspects of computer hardware and software, so any questions I have are usually very specific and so far probably not the kind of thing it would be of much help with.

For less knowledgable folks, particularly the younger demographic that seems to be embracing AI chatbots a lot more enthusiastically, I think it could be a valuable tool for drawing engagement.

 

[bit_user]

told me i need a new power cable or bring it to a repair shop. lol. not impressed with my first ai interaction anywhere

What was the exact question you asked it?

 

[Hotrod2go]

I don't know if I'd use HammerBot, or similar. However, I'm already somewhat of an expert on most aspects of computer hardware and software, so any questions I have are usually very specific and so far probably not the kind of thing it would be of much help with.

For less knowledgable folks, particularly the younger demographic that seems to be embracing AI chatbots a lot more enthusiastically, I think it could be a valuable tool for drawing engagement.

This is a bit like when pocket calculators became popular decades ago. Outsourcing the human brain thinking skills may appear to be a positive thing in the short term, but in the long term I think it degrades human intelligence overall. The flynn effect is no longer a thing in the world population these days & relying on technology to do the thinking for you is one of the culprits imo.

 

[Persister]

Needs a greater depth of data resources.
My conversation:

HammerBot: Ask me your PC hardware questions. I'm here to help.

You: What is the airspeed velocity of a swallow laden with an Intel Core i9-13900K?

HammerBot: Sorry, I cannot answer that

My understanding was the "data base" is the TH site. This is much smaller than all the so-called "information" everywhere in the web. Because of higher quality & other knowns, would make the bot's task easier. For now I would not complain bc a supposed answer is somewhere but not here. Also no-sense-of-humor is not a neg imo.

 

[TheOtherOne]

Here's my feedback. This is NOT a real AI Bot with any knowledge whatsoever! 🤦‍♂️

 

[abufrejoval]

I was going to say this feels like an entry level Llama optimized for a smartphone, but after reading your description it's actually below that in terms of capabilites.

Quite honestly it's quite a large waste of space on your home page and it hasn't given me a useful anwer in around 20 attempts. 80% was "Sorry, I can't answer that", the rest was substance abuse.

Please don't get me wrong: it's good (and hopefully fun) to try, but in its current state it is wasting too much of your most valuable home screen real-estate, which I believe you cannot afford.

Move it somewhere less prominent and make sure to evaluate its usfulness.

 

[abufrejoval]

I was going to say this feels like an entry level Llama optimized for a smartphone, but after reading your description it's actually below that in terms of capabilites.

Quite honestly it's quite a large waste of space on your home page and it hasn't given me a useful anwer in around 20 attempts. 80% was "Sorry, I can't answer that", the rest was substance abuse.

Please don't get me wrong: it's good (and hopefully fun) to try, but in its current state it is wasting too much of your most valuable home screen real-estate, which I believe you cannot afford.

Move it somewhere less prominent and make sure to evaluate its usfulness.

Ok, after trying some more, I'll have to eat some of those words...

capitalization makes a huge difference between an apu and an APU, evidently.

And it helped to understand what it was trained on.

Too bad it still doesn't know about a UPS, UPS or a ups, but there are probalby far too many acronyms for any AI to manage.

But I'll now have to agree, that you can get useful answers, albeit not the most relevant references, especially with some of the more fundamental questions, which should really reach back deeply into your archives where you explained the concepts.

I still don't like it sitting in my face every time I return to your home page!

 

[Colif]

capitalization makes a huge difference between an apu and an APU, evidently.

it needs to be trained to not see a difference. It should search for upper and lower case results as humans aren't perfect. We don't always use right capitalisation. (Or even same spellings for same words depending on where we from. )

Hate to use AI to look after questions on a games forum as the number of games that use same acronyms is just silly. Good luck getting right ones

 

[bit_user]

there are probalby far too many acronyms for any AI to manage.

That depends on the sophistication of the model and the amount of training data. LLMs generally model knowledge at conceptual level, so having multiple words (or abbreviations) for the same thing shouldn't really be a problem for them.

There was a story about Google's LLM learning Bengali from a tiny amount of it that was unintentionally included in its training data. From this, it was able to do translations, which was cited as an "emergent capability", since no one specifically sought to teach it Bengali.

Hate to use AI to look after questions on a games forum as the number of games that use same acronyms is just silly. Good luck getting right ones

I think a sufficiently good LLM would probably have an easier time reading gamer speak than I would. I find abbreviation-littered posts, devoid of capitalization and punctuation, virtually inscrutable.

In fact, I might appreciate such a bot to do translations for me!
; )

 

[Mattzun]

There is a new 5201 update for my Asus rog strix B450f-gaming motherboard to address the recent AMD security flaw that tom's reported on.

I asked about the latest upgrade for my Asus ROG B450 motherboard and got info about an unrelated product marked as info for my motherboard. I could understand needing a clarification, but it came out and said it had the (wrong) answer. The related articles had nothing to do with my motherboard.

If I rephrase it to: What is the latest bios for the ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING
It tells me it doesn't know the answer and lists articles for Intel motherboards as related articles

 

[bit_user]

If I rephrase it to: What is the latest bios for the ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING
It tells me it doesn't know the answer and lists articles for Intel motherboards as related articles

What you want is an intelligent agent that can go search the internet for solutions and answers, for you.

That's not what this is. It won't tend to have such detailed, up-to-date information as that. It only knows what it was trained to know. It's intended to give you more general guidance, advice, background info, and links to relevant articles.

 

[flashflood101]

How about not taking-up the whole screen with your unwanted "feature".

 

[kep55]

I don't know if I'd use HammerBot, or similar. However, I'm already somewhat of an expert on most aspects of computer hardware and software, so any questions I have are usually very specific and so far probably not the kind of thing it would be of much help with.

For less knowledgable folks, particularly the younger demographic that seems to be embracing AI chatbots a lot more enthusiastically, I think it could be a valuable tool for drawing engagement.

AI chatbot are still quite immature. They're akin to asking a 5 year old how to build a computer.