Guide
Guide Articles
In-depth guides on AI hardware — choosing the best GPU, building AI workstations, setting up local AI, and optimizing your rig for inference and training.
10 articles
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 ~$1,899–$1,999 128GB Ryzen AI Max+ 395 mini PC that runs GPT-OSS 120B at ~31 tok/s (~120W) 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 70–100 tok/s on the same box. Here's the full tokens-per-second table by model size, why memory bandwidth caps it, 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 ~$2,000 128GB Strix Halo box that holds a 4-bit 70B model and runs it at 5–10 tok/s (7B at 50–80). Real per-model benchmarks, thermals, the ROCm reality, and whether it beats the Framework Desktop, Beelink GTR9 Pro, and $3,999 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 ~$2,000. 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 $250 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.