should you build a local-AI rig in 2026? my honest answer is 'probably not' — with one big exception

this is the question I get more than any other, and my answer disappoints people. the hardware is genuinely capable now. the maths usually still… Aliteq Lena Fischer · AI & Local Compute Editor

The hardware is real now — a $1,999 mini-PC can hold models no consumer GPU can. That part is no longer the problem.

For most people, API access to a frontier model is cheaper and better than anything you can run at home. That's the uncomfortable maths.

The exception: if your reason is privacy, offline capability, or genuinely high volume, local wins immediately and the cost stops mattering.

If you're doing it anyway, a used 24GB GPU is the best entry point — not the exotic unified-memory boxes.

'Open weights' means you're allowed to download it. It doesn't mean you can load it.

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