Guide
Guide Articles
In-depth guides on AI hardware — choosing the right mini PC, sizing unified memory, setting up local AI, and optimizing your box for inference and training.
18 articles
How Much Context Can a 128GB Mini PC Actually Hold? The KV Cache Math Nobody Runs Before Buying
Everyone sizes a unified-memory box against model weights. Almost nobody sizes it against the KV cache — and on a 128K-token agent run, the cache is the number that decides whether the job finishes. Here's the math, box by box, plus the KV-quantization trade that makes long first prompts slower, not faster.
192GB vs 128GB Unified Memory: What the Extra 64GB Actually Buys You
IFA 2026 filled the feeds with 192GB Gorgon Halo mini PCs. Capacity went up 50%; bandwidth went up about 7%. That asymmetry decides the whole purchase — here is the model-by-model list of what only 192GB runs, and why most buyers should still buy 128GB today.
How Much Unified Memory Do You Actually Need for Local AI? (64GB vs 96GB vs 128GB, 2026)
Unified memory on these boxes is soldered — it is the one spec you cannot change after checkout. Here is what each capacity tier actually runs, what the 64GB tier costs you in usable GPU memory, and why the extra 64GB buys context rather than a bigger model.
Can You Fine-Tune an LLM on a 128GB Mini PC? (And Which Box to Buy in 2026)
LoRA and QLoRA on 20–30B models are practical on 128GB of unified memory; full fine-tunes stop near 12B; dense 70B training doesn't happen on any box in this class. Fine-tuning is the one local-AI workload where the software stack — not memory bandwidth — decides which machine you buy. Here's the capability table, the CUDA tax, and the cloud break-even.
Strix Halo Memory Bandwidth: Why 256 GB/s Isn't 256 GB/s (2026)
AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is rated 256 GB/s. Real sustained bandwidth is around 215 GB/s — about 84% of spec. Here's where the missing 40 GB/s goes, why 32MB of Infinity Cache doesn't rescue it, and how to turn GB/s into a tokens-per-second estimate before you buy.
Best Mini PC for a Local Coding Agent in 2026 — Why Prefill, Not Tokens/Sec, Decides Your Box
A coding agent re-sends your whole repo context every single turn, which makes it a prefill-bound workload. That flips the buying logic: ~1,700 tok/s prompt processing on a GB10 box vs ~340 tok/s on Strix Halo, while generation is a near-tie. Here's the per-budget verdict, the memory math, and the boxes to skip — with the caveat that the 2026 DRAM spike has narrowed the price gap to about $1,250.
Ryzen AI Max 400 "Gorgon Halo": Should You Wait, or Buy a 128GB Box Now?
AMD's next Halo chip raises unified memory 50% — to 192GB, with 160GB GPU-allocatable — but bandwidth only rises about 7%, to 273 GB/s. Divide one by the other and the "300B models locally" headline collapses. Here's the arithmetic, and the honest buy-or-wait verdict.
Can You Cluster Two Mini PCs to Run Bigger Local LLMs? (2026 Reality Check)
AMD published a four-node Framework Desktop cluster running a trillion-parameter model, and two DGX Sparks pool 256GB over a single cable. Here's when a second box actually helps, when it makes things slower, and which mini PC to buy if clustering is on your roadmap.
Why Local-AI Mini PC Prices Doubled in 2026 — And Whether to Buy Now or Wait
The GMKtec EVO-X2 went from ~$1,999 to ~$3,399. NVIDIA repriced the DGX Spark from $3,999 to $4,699 on 2026-02-27, citing memory supply. Here's the SKU-by-SKU price damage, why DRAM did it, and why waiting is the wrong call — with TrendForce's own 2027 forecast as the evidence.
Beelink GTR9 Pro Review (2026): The 128GB Strix Halo Box With Dual 10GbE — Real Local-LLM Benchmarks & Who Should Buy
The Beelink GTR9 Pro is a ~$4,349 128GB Ryzen AI Max+ 395 mini PC that runs GPT-OSS 120B at 31.41 tok/s (125–128W) but a dense 70B at only ~5 tok/s. Its real hook is dual 10GbE — plus a real caveat: reported 10GbE instability under heavy GPU load. Benchmarks, thermals, and how it stacks up against the EVO-X2, Framework Desktop, and DGX Spark.
Why Your Local LLM Feels Slow on a Strix Halo Mini PC: The Prefill (Time-to-First-Token) Problem
On a Ryzen AI Max+ 395 box, token generation ties a DGX Spark — but prompt processing (prefill) is ~5× slower (~340 vs ~1,700 tok/s on gpt-oss 120B). On long prompts, that's the delay that makes RAG and coding agents feel sluggish. Here's who it hits, why, and how to fix it.
Best Local LLM Models to Run on a 128GB Mini PC in 2026 (Matched to Your Box)
You bought (or are eyeing) a 128GB unified-memory box. Here's what to actually load on it: gpt-oss 120B at ~31 tok/s, Qwen3-30B at ~100 tok/s, dense Llama 3.3 70B at ~4–6 tok/s — ranked by job, with the exact SKU for each.
Unified Memory vs VRAM for Local AI: Why Capacity Now Beats Bandwidth (2026)
VRAM is fast but capped at ~32GB; unified memory trades bandwidth for 128GB+ of capacity. Here's the exact trade-off, why Mixture-of-Experts models flipped the math, and which box to buy for the model you actually run.
How Fast Is Strix Halo, Really? Real Tokens-Per-Second for Local LLMs (Dense vs MoE)
On the Ryzen AI Max+ 395, a dense 70B model crawls at ~5 tok/s — but a 30B MoE model hits 72–75 tok/s on the same box. Here's the tokens-per-second table by model size, every figure linked to the run it came from, and why MoE changes the whole buying decision.
GMKtec EVO-X2 Review (2026): The 128GB Ryzen AI Max+ 395 Mini PC That Runs 70B Models — Real Benchmarks & Who Should Buy
The GMKtec EVO-X2 is a $3,649 128GB Strix Halo box that holds a 4-bit 70B model and runs it at ~5 tok/s (7–8B at 42–53). Real per-model benchmarks, thermals, the ROCm reality, and whether it beats the Framework Desktop, Beelink GTR9 Pro, and $4,699 DGX Spark.
How to Run GPT-OSS 120B Locally on a Mini PC (2026) — And Which Box to Buy
OpenAI's open-weight GPT-OSS 120B fits on a single $2,000 mini PC and runs at ~31–55 tok/s — interactive speed — because it's a Mixture-of-Experts model. Here's the memory math, the real benchmarks, and the exact box to buy.
AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 ("Strix Halo") Explained: The Chip Behind the 128GB Mini PCs
One APU put 128GB of unified memory and a 70B-capable iGPU on your desk for ~$3,449. Here's what Strix Halo actually is, what the numbers mean, and where it falls short.
The Best Mini PC for Local LLMs in 2026 (By Model Size and Budget)
From a $229 agent host to a 128GB box that runs 70B models, here's the right mini PC for local AI at every tier — matched to the model you actually want to run.