Reddit user builds 256GB VRAM local AI rig with 4x CMP 170HX cards in a chicken-coop shed
sevendaysworth · reddit · 2026-10-15
A Reddit user shared their journey building a local AI workstation in a shed next to their chicken coop: starting with one unlocked 64GB CMP 170HX mining card, they scaled up to four cards totaling 256GB of VRAM, paired with a used 32-core Threadripper on TRX40 and 256GB DDR4, plus a 3050 on a NVMe riser for display/RDP.
- Banished from the house due to heat and noise, the rig now lives in an air-conditioned shed with two dedicated 20A circuits
- Currently running QFN split across two 170HX (with capacitor mods) and a quantized Qwen 27B on a third; the fourth card was just installed
- Downloading GLM Flash in EXL3 quantization to test all four cards, and looking forward to next-gen large models
What began as a money-saving local inference project is now, per his wife, "a financial liability."
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