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Was my $48K GPU server worth it?

rosmine.ai

201–210 of 480 posts

Re: Was my $48K GPU server worth it?

#201

In the last year, I have bought an M3 Ultra Mac Studio with 512 GB, a Macbook Pro M5 MAX with 128 GB and an RTX 6000 Pro. I have spent around $25k so far, not including electricity. I figured worst case scenario I can sell them in the next year and only take a haircut as opposed to losing my entire investment. In comparison to just spending for tokens, the tokens would have been much cheaper and much much faster. I'v…

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Re: Was my $48K GPU server worth it?

#202

In the last year, I have bought an M3 Ultra Mac Studio with 512 GB, a Macbook Pro M5 MAX with 128 GB and an RTX 6000 Pro. I have spent around $25k so far, not including electricity. I figured worst case scenario I can sell them in the next year and only take a haircut as opposed to losing my entire investment. In comparison to just spending for tokens, the tokens would have been much cheaper and much much faster. I'v…

I’m not usually one to ask this because learning to do a thing can be fun, but why exactly have you spent 25 thousand dollars on getting an LLM someone else made to answer maths exam questions?

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Re: Was my $48K GPU server worth it?

#203
post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Network effect for graphics cards? Literally what? Your friends don’t care what GPU you run my guy and there is not much benefit of having brand loyalty to a company like Nvidia that gives absolutely zero fucks about people that aren’t their enterprise customers buying GPUs by the thousands. If there’s any “network effect” for gaming GPUs on Linux it’s in favor of AMD because of the immense amount of work Valve has b…

I am also an enterprise customer that buys GPUs by the thousands, you can see a bit more about my work here: https://www.gene.com/media/press-releases/15010/2023-11-21/g... and https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/roche-ai-factories-omniverse/ and have worked with nvidia since the mid-2000s on high performance computing for scientific research (in addition to having nvidia graphics cards since the Riva TNT, running both Win…

We’re talking about your gaming PC here. Nobody is forcing you to ONLY buy Nvidia graphics for your personal gaming rig when you ALSO have a purpose built AI rig. Nvidia just removed “gaming” as a segment from their financial reports. They give zero fucks. This absurd blind loyalty serves no purpose.

Re: Was my $48K GPU server worth it?

#204
post #94

Hi! Thank you so much for posting this! I got back luck/timing when I tried, so happy it made it to the front page! (I am the author)

You kind of bury the lede in that Article, it's a good article, well done getting interest in your work.

Will you now be selling these GPUs for a profit?

Re: Was my $48K GPU server worth it?

#205
Sounds fun/stressful/rewarding. I'm most interested in the update at the end though 'Launch was a success! 400K+ views, and multiple companies reached to use my IP.' I too, like probably 1 in 5 of the people reading this, think I have figured out some major problems with LLMs (context and computation research) but have wondered the best way to 'release' and get value out of it. I can see training being a little easier in that you release weights against a known model arch but not the training code. Wy stuff is all custom layers though. Any thoughts on a release strategy where you need to release the layer code for people to see test weights/the benefits?

Re: Was my $48K GPU server worth it?

#206
This is interesting but I am unsure how you make money out of this home setup, I would imagine if one would be offering consultancy to a business the business would make their own equipment/infrastructure available, which would also give a better control of their data. But perhaps I am thinking this because I am thinking about very big companies. Then, on very small business I don’t see they having the use case with the budget to match the need. So is this for specific services for medium sized businesses? Can you explain this a bit?

Re: Was my $48K GPU server worth it?

#207
Great article. I'm about to embark on a similar journey.... Doing a ton of AI development right now. Don't need a server, but a very, very high end workstation is super appealing to me right now. Looking at $50-$80k. 1TB RAM. 2x RTX Pro 6000s. 64 core Threadripper Pro. As many 4tb or 8tb nvme drives as I can stuff.

I envision NixOS at the core... then everything I need virtualized on top with KVM/QEMU. Maybe a dual boot setup with Windows for gaming and Flight Simulator (but I could virtualize that too with easy GPU passthrough.)

Lingering questions I'm working to figure out:

- Will 2 RTX Pro 6000s run on a 1600 watt PSU? Not sure how much higher I can go without calling an electrician. (standard US home.)

- Assuming I plop this into my home office, should I expect the PC to run significantly hotter than my current rig? (3960x threadripper, 128GB RAM, 1600watt psu, overclocked and watercooled 4090.) My water temp, measured at radiator, is about 60c at peak load. (This is the only number I care about, as this is what I have to consider to be comfortable sitting next to it.)

Re: Was my $48K GPU server worth it?

#208

This article appears to lack any reason for "needing" this beast, or any real comparison with alternatives, both of which are required to answer the question posed in the title. It's a summary of how much they spent and some light anecdotal comparison to what they might have spent on cloud services, but clearly they didn't do an exhaustive hunt for value. The real question is whether or not they could have done whate…

At the end of the article, the author has this to say: > UPDATE: Launch was a success! 400K+ views, and multiple companies reached to use my IP. Read more here[0] [0] https://rosmine.ai/2026/05/18/fixing-llm-writing-with-distri...

Post-hoc justification. There's no analysis of whether that level of hardware was necessary to launch, only that they did get that hardware and did launch.

Re: Was my $48K GPU server worth it?

#209
post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not usually one to ask this because learning to do a thing can be fun, but why exactly have you spent 25 thousand dollars on getting an LLM someone else made to answer maths exam questions?

I didn't spend that much, only $6500 AUD for a GB10 based Asus GX10 which is even slower than OPs, but I spent that because it makes for a great learning platform. Theres not much else that lets me fiddle with 128GB of RAM for my graphics processor, and it's quite lovely to be able to run things as long as I like without worrying about my cloud instance being shut down. It's not financially a good idea: renting reall…

When you say you are not just doing inference, you mean you are also training your own llms? I am curious what other things can be done.

Re: Was my $48K GPU server worth it?

#210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which of these has been the most productive for you? Sounds like you've enjoyed the RTX6000 the most?

RTX 6000 is some-what obviously my fastest card but my biggest problem with the RT 6000 is the immense heat. The GPU itself is almost 200F and the exhaust from the fans itself is over 150F. I'm worried that my hard drives are going to fail. I was told that the GDDR7 is even hotter than the GPU which is surprising to me. After my last run, I'm going to wait for the new case I ordered to come in and cannibalize my kid'…

That's about what my OC'd and watercooled 4090 runs at. The cards are designed for it. Only problem I have is when sitting next to the computer under load -- I either have to open windows or blast the AC. Too bad I don't live in a cold climate -- that 60c heat output would come in handy :)
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