Was my $48K GPU server worth it?

Post by gbgarbeb » Fri, May 22, 2026, 6:29 PM UTC

joefourier wrote: post #357

gbgarbeb wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

24GB GPUs are $700-2500. Please show me the 64GB GPU for $1k.

Not a single new 64GB GPU, but multiple used GPUs. They’ve significantly increased in price (so much for hardware depreciation…) but you can still get a modded 22GB 2080 ti for $320, or a Mi50 32GB for ~$450 each (used to be $150 a few months ago, alas), or a Mi50 16GB or There’s also some more exotic configurations but those are probably the simplest options. You won’t get the performance of an RTX Pro 6000 Blackwel…

Post by arjie » Fri, May 22, 2026, 6:57 PM UTC

theYipster wrote: post #421

arjie wrote: post #279

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What do you want to do with the workstation? I have a similar setup: - 512 GB - Epyc 9684x - 2x RTX 6000 Pro - 1400 W PSU x 2 but in redundant mode Mine is in a colo where it stays nice and cool. In my case, I went with less RAM and more GPUs (bought 4). Secondarily, the Max-Q blower version of an RTX 6000 Pro Blackwell is easier to keep cool and also only needs 300 W at the cost of very little performance. The non-m…

Very nice. Primary use case is application development, where the applications leverage a mixture of cloud based and local models. Modelling complex architectures. My work is primarily in the aerospace and defense arena, so hybrid and on-prem are important, as are ITAR and CMMC compliance. The idea is to have the local rig to build and validate architectural deployments that can sit on prem on customer hardware, in c…

Post by glaslong » Fri, May 22, 2026, 8:40 PM UTC

freediddy wrote: post #10

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…

Post by tryauuum » Fri, May 22, 2026, 8:54 PM UTC

throwatdem12311 wrote: post #181

dekhn wrote: post #131

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I have no interest in moving to AMD for video cards right now- the network effect of NVIDIA is just too high, and their peak performance is insane. I also haven't noticed any major issues with nvidia drivers, unless you mean specifically running Windows games on Linux machines with nvidia cards, where I have zero experience.

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…

Post by brianwawok » Fri, May 22, 2026, 10:14 PM UTC

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #191

dylan604 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know it's one of those "if you have to ask" situations, but curiosity got the better part of me. Here's the search assist response: "The DGX GB200 NVL72 AI server costs approximately $3 million per unit. This system includes 72 Blackwell GPUs and 36 Grace CPUs, making it one of the most powerful AI servers available." The search assist actually credited a source used with: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/98292/nvidi…

It's The Circle of Computing Life. The pendulum swings between centralised mainframe timesharing-for-hire and desktop individuality. We've been in a centralised phase for longer than usual - first cloud everything, then AI - but at some point in the next decade prices will crash and a market will appear for personal, local intelligence.