buyer
The Cheapest Way to Run a Local LLM in 2026
You don't need a $2,000 GPU to run a capable local LLM. Here are the cheapest paths that actually work, ranked by price, with the exact hardware we'd buy.
Articles
Hands-on guides, benchmarks, and buyer advice for running AI on your own hardware or rented GPUs. Tested on real machines, no hype.
buyer
RTX 3090 vs RTX 4090 for Local AI: Which Should You Buy in 2026?
Both have 24 GB of VRAM, so they run the same models. The real question is whether the 4090's speed is worth more than double the price. Here's the honest answer.
howto
Running a Local LLM on a Raspberry Pi 5: What Actually Works
Hands-on results running quantized LLMs on a Raspberry Pi 5. Which model sizes are usable, what tokens/sec to expect, and the accessories you actually need.
buyer
Renting a Cloud GPU for AI: RunPod vs Vast.ai (Hands-On Review)
No room for a noisy GPU at home? You can rent an RTX 4090 by the hour for the price of a coffee. We tested RunPod and Vast.ai head-to-head; here's which to pick.
requirements
How Much VRAM Do You Need to Run Llama, Qwen, and DeepSeek?
The #1 question before buying any AI hardware. Here's a simple rule of thumb plus an exact VRAM table for every popular model size, from 3B to 70B, at 4-bit.
howto
Ollama vs llama.cpp vs LM Studio: Which Local AI Tool Should You Use?
Three popular ways to run an LLM on your own machine: one is easiest, one gives the most control, one has the nicest interface. Here's how to pick in 5 minutes.