Guides
VRAM-first buying guides, explainers and tuning sheets for local LLM hardware.
LatestHow to read the DiggTop boardWhat the checkmark, the self tag and the ellipsis mean on our benchmark board, and why some imported numbers stay partial.Sep 10, 2026 · 3 min readRead →- Sep 10, 2026 · 4 min readWhat $1,000 buys for local LLMs (Sep 2026)What $500-$1,000 buys in VRAM for local LLMs, from the 2026-09-28 price snapshot: 12GB, 16GB, 24GB and now 32GB.
- Sep 5, 2026 · 3 min readThe 48GB VRAM Local LLM BuildHow to get 48GB of VRAM for 70B-class local LLMs: dual RTX 3090 vs used A6000 48GB — power, cooling, PCIe and real community tok/s.
- Sep 5, 2026 · 3 min readBest GPU for Qwen3: VRAM Tiers per ModelWhich GPU runs which Qwen3 model — 0.5B to 180B mapped to VRAM tiers, with real community tok/s from 143 sourced DiggTop benchmark runs.
- Sep 5, 2026 · 3 min readNVIDIA PAIR: Idle Home PCs as a Local AI ClusterNVIDIA PAIR explained: what the open-source personal AI router does, which devices work, and how much time it saves when your home PCs share AI work.
- Sep 5, 2026 · 4 min readQuantization for Local LLMs: Q4_K_M vs NVFP4How quantization cuts VRAM for local LLM inference: GGUF K-quants, IQ quants and NVFP4 compared with community data from real GPU runs.
- Sep 5, 2026 · 5 min readRTX 5090 vs RTX 3090 for Local LLMsRTX 5090 vs used RTX 3090 for running LLMs locally: community tok/s data, VRAM math, street prices and which card actually wins.
- Sep 5, 2026 · 3 min readQwen3.8-27B on a Single RTX 3060 (12GB)Qwen3.8-27B on a 12GB RTX 3060: two IQ2_XS community builds — 158K context at 22 tok/s, or 82K with MTP draft at 38 tok/s. Full llama.cpp configs.
- Sep 5, 2026 · 3 min readRyzen AI Max+ 395 (Strix Halo) 128GBRyzen AI Max+ 395 Strix Halo mini PCs put 128GB unified memory behind a 40-CU iGPU — real llama.cpp tok/s for 30B, 80B, 120B and 228B models.
- Sep 5, 2026 · 4 min readBuying Used GPUs for Local LLMsUsed GPU guide for local LLM inference: RTX 3090 and A6000 market prices, CMP 170HX mining cards, Tesla P100/V100 — what to check before you buy.
- Sep 4, 2026 · 3 min readllama.cpp Optimization Cheat SheetThe settings that actually move llama.cpp throughput: quant choice, offload, flash attention, context, batch — with the flags and the reasoning.
- Sep 4, 2026 · 8 min readLocal LLM GPU Buying Guide (2026)What to buy to run local LLMs in September 2026, chosen by VRAM tier with current US prices, used-market alternatives and honest tradeoffs.