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AMD Ryzen AI Halo – $4k AI Dev Kit

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Re: AMD Ryzen AI Halo – $4k AI Dev Kit

#21

Post by url00 »

glimshe wrote: post #7

How much are we going to pay for "AI kits" once the DRAM shortage is over? Will we be able to run a local model equivalent to the current AI frontier in sub $1000 hardware, even if dedicated, in 5 years?

Yeeeeep. There is no moat at the moment. AI companies are trying to dig one as fast as they possibly can. Either through passing laws to prevent local inference ("It's too dangerous! We need to control it") or by creating/limiting possible integrations (locking down OS/hardware, APIs/MCPs that only work with Claude/ChatGPT, etc).

Re: AMD Ryzen AI Halo – $4k AI Dev Kit

#22

Post by Schiendelman »

jtbaker wrote: post #9
Schiendelman wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the Spark's memory bandwidth?

273 GB/s. Same ballpark as M4 Pro and Strix Halo.

Ah yeah, bummer. It's fine for building something that you know needs to run faster in the next generation.

Re: AMD Ryzen AI Halo – $4k AI Dev Kit

#23

Post by Catloafdev »

These devices were great when they were cheaper than the DGX Spark.

But when they cost the same price (unless the Spark has shot up too), there's no reason to buy this over a Spark.

The Spark is literally a faster version of this, with better software support.

Edit: And I say that as an owner of a Ryzen AI Max 395 device.

Re: AMD Ryzen AI Halo – $4k AI Dev Kit

#24

Post by grubbs »

Catloafdev wrote: post #23

These devices were great when they were cheaper than the DGX Spark. But when they cost the same price (unless the Spark has shot up too), there's no reason to buy this over a Spark. The Spark is literally a faster version of this, with better software support. Edit: And I say that as an owner of a Ryzen AI Max 395 device.

Cheapest I've been able to get a DGX Spark FE is now around $4700 just FYI. This is from multiple vendors in higher-ed.

Re: AMD Ryzen AI Halo – $4k AI Dev Kit

#26

Post by khurs »

benoau wrote: post #20
khurs wrote: post #17

Are the likes of Dell and Lenovo not going to be annoyed that AMD are cutting them out? As traditionally AMD was a supplier of parts.

Do they care that Microsoft is selling the Surface, or that Intel used to sell the NUC?

Intel = Fair as they sell both Intel and AMD so no loyalty on either side.

Microsoft = yes, they care enormously, as Surface has taken away many sales. Albeit they sold some ChromeBooks

Re: AMD Ryzen AI Halo – $4k AI Dev Kit

#28

Post by icedchai »

Catloafdev wrote: post #23

These devices were great when they were cheaper than the DGX Spark. But when they cost the same price (unless the Spark has shot up too), there's no reason to buy this over a Spark. The Spark is literally a faster version of this, with better software support. Edit: And I say that as an owner of a Ryzen AI Max 395 device.

Yep, the only reason I bought mine (in late 2025, before hardware prices went totally crazy) was because it was half the price of a Spark. I spent a while fiddling around with the right Linux kernel, kernel firmware, ROCm installs, etc.

Re: AMD Ryzen AI Halo – $4k AI Dev Kit

#29

Post by Catloafdev »

grubbs wrote: post #24
Catloafdev wrote: post #23

These devices were great when they were cheaper than the DGX Spark. But when they cost the same price (unless the Spark has shot up too), there's no reason to buy this over a Spark. The Spark is literally a faster version of this, with better software support. Edit: And I say that as an owner of a Ryzen AI Max 395 device.

Cheapest I've been able to get a DGX Spark FE is now around $4700 just FYI. This is from multiple vendors in higher-ed.

Ah ya then that's a bit of a gap.

For anyone considering these devices, the only reason I would recommend against them is if you plan on getting multiple to link together - the DGX Spark has a much, much faster interconnect bandwidth ceiling than the AMD devices do.

Otherwise, they're great!

Re: AMD Ryzen AI Halo – $4k AI Dev Kit

#30

Post by nightski »

vlian2088 wrote: post #25
nightski wrote: post #16

I recently bought a few sparks from Micro Center for the exact same price and it comes with ConnectX-7 200Gbps inter-connectivity. Not sure how AMD feels it can charge exactly the same for less.

it's 2026.07 and 128 GB of VRAM costs a firstborn.

The spark also has 128GB VRAM (same type) and by recently I mean I bought them last week for $3999 each.
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