gpu buying guide

5 articles · newest first

AI

everyone says AMD means fighting ROCm for local AI. on llama.cpp, the thing you're told to install is the slower one

The RX 7900 XTX gives you 24GB cheaper than a 3090. The catch isn't what you've heard — a llama.cpp scoreboard and an open bug report suggest its Vulkan backend beats ROCm for inference, no painful install required.

Lena Fischer · 57m ago · 9 min

AI

the $549 new GPU or the $1,000 used one? for local AI, the old card wins — and it's not close

A new RTX 5060 Ti 16GB looks like the safe budget pick. But 16GB can't load the 32B models a used 3090 runs at 30 tokens/sec — and in local AI, the card that opens the file wins before speed matters.

Ravi Malhotra · 57m ago · 9 min

AI

At $1,999 the RTX 5090 is an easy yes for local AI. Nobody will sell you one at $1,999

Measured at 102.7 tokens/sec — double a 3090 — with the only 32GB of VRAM in consumer land. Then the street price doubles the MSRP and the whole verdict flips. Both answers, with the math.

Lena Fischer · 1h ago · 9 min

AI

The 4090 is 34% faster for local AI. Your electricity meter can't tell them apart

Measured llama.cpp numbers say the 4090 wins every speed test and costs twice as much — while energy per generated token is a dead heat. Here's who each card is actually for.

Ravi Malhotra · 1h ago · 9 min

Hardware

Nvidia literally finished the 24GB RTX 50 Super — then shelved it over a $50 chip. you can't make this up

the cards are done. they're sitting at board partners right now. what's stopping them from shipping? a single memory chip that costs about $50 more than the one it replaces.

Ravi Malhotra · 3d ago · 4 min