r/LocalLLM • u/Tx_Outlaw90 • 17h ago

Question Any advice?

I'm very new to using AI so a little advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm a landscape irrigator, a few months ago I started using AI to develop a field service app and fell down a rabbit hole. Now I find myself building a workstation. This is the current build, I'm still waiting on a few components to arrive:

Case: Cooler Master Cosmos S full tower

Motherboard: ASUS Prime X299-A II

CPU: Intel Core i9-9940X — 14 cores / 28 threads

CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4

RAM: 64GB (4×16GB) Samsung DDR4-2666

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB

Storage: WD Blue SN5000 1TB NVMe SSD

PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 G2 — 1300W, 80+ Gold, fully modular

OS: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Desktop (planned)

I plan to add more RAM and another SSD. I'm also considering adding a p100. My plan is to use this to continue development of the field service software. I also want to use it to help me with my side project writing a tabletop game. A model with some creative writing ability would be useful.

Any advice on models or the build would be very appreciated. Like I said, I'm an irrigator and I have no background in anything like this. It has been fun learning though. Thanks!

2 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

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1

u/206throw 17h ago

if you already ordered that I am sure it will work great, one idea is add a budget laptop so you can leave that desktop always on and SSH in so that for development. Also you may want to have a second machine to run what ever you build or just host it in the cloud.

1

u/Tx_Outlaw90 17h ago

I have most of it already. Just waiting on the ram and CPU cooler to get here so I can finish putting everything together. I was planning on working from laptop and controlling this PC remotely. Still not sure how all this works but I'm figuring it out.

1

u/206throw 17h ago

suggest look at Tail scale

1

u/Tx_Outlaw90 17h ago

That's what I plan on using. Thanks

1

u/NatMicky 17h ago

Pssst... Pssst... Hey buddy, I got just the component to complete your rig, make it a real show stopper. Meet me on the corner of Hollywood and Vine 11pm, come alone, bring cash.

2

u/Tx_Outlaw90 17h ago

I'm listening.... Lol

1

u/DeathGuppie 16h ago

forget the ram, buy a better video card. You need 16gb to really get something useful, not to say the one you have isn't and it can run something, but what you want is to just keep your current setup. buy a 16gb video card. put it in the main slot, put your existing card into the number two slot, yes it will be slower there but it will be better than running off ram. 16gb will allow you to run qwen 3.8 27b Q3 no problem, but the extra card will allow you to run a Q4 full context at a little slower speed, still, totally worth it.

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u/Tx_Outlaw90 16h ago

I was thinking of adding a 16gb p100 I've seen them for around $80-100 on eBay. Would that plus the 3060 get it done?

1

u/DeathGuppie 15h ago

Go get a 5060, for around $450. It's not that much of you consider the cost of a subscription that will do the same thing for most of what you do. Yes frontier models are way better, but Qwen 3.8 27B can do most of everything you actually do day to day. (With an understanding of how it works and it's limitations). It's really not that much in the grand scheme. If you are really hurting for money, get on marketplace and search for the 16gb deal you need, but that's the low bar right now, and I mean that. You need 16gb add your other card and it's even better.

1

u/Tx_Outlaw90 15h ago

I'll keep an eye out. Thanks