Hey team,

Years ago, SO gifted me an Alienware Aurora R7.

It has an Intel I7-8700 and Nvidia GTX 1080 (8GB VRAM), 16 GB of DDR 4 RAM. (what else is relevant to this question?)

My question to you is basically this -

Given that I’m not gaming with it anymore, I want to use it for only two things -

  1. Plex Server
  2. Running random local LLM stuff like Kotaemon (https://github.com/Cinnamon/kotaemon)

Let’s say I have $1000 to throw at a GPU and I’d like to get 16 GB VRAM (or 24 if it’s possible). I want to install it myself rather than take it into a shop.

What’s a GPU I can buy that will fit,

  1. within my budget?
  2. within the chassis?
  3. with the CPU and motherboard without issues?
  4. with the needs I’ve detailed (namely Plex transcoding, and running ML models)?

I am an absolute noob when it comes to figuring out what hardware to buy (hey, we got us an Alienware sucker here).

So lemmings, help me out! I’d rather not ask ChatGPT.

  • ThrowawayOnLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    20 hours ago

    These are the exact specs of my old computer.

    I got myself a new one a year ago. My old one is now running unraid, and runs all my downloading apps and Plex server. Just bumped it up to 80Tb and it’s going strong. Enable GPU support and the 1080 is more than enough for any transcoding that might pop up.

    But LLM stuff is a different question. I haven’t begun to dabble with that. But I hear Framework just announced a new desktop that’ll end up being an awesome little box for machine learning.

    • damnthefilibuster@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      17 hours ago

      Oh yeah, I’ve got an external 140 TB nigh impossible to fill up! I don’t have download ware any more though. So there’s that. I’ve yet to explore unraid. I’m stuck with windows for now because I got on windows 11 bleeding edge for some reason I can’t remember. Stepping away means I’d have to wipe or dual boot. And I’m… lazy… haha!