[zmmmmm]

I am curious about the opposite end of the spectrum. What is the smallest and cheapest self contained setup that can be a serviceble development box for someone doing ML / AI type work? Does not need to run the production load, but has to be capable enough to allow local development activity that is still representative enough.

So far the best I have identified is Intel NUC8 + nVidia GPU via Thunderbird. But it is still $1000 at least by the time you have it all together.

NB: I know lots of people will say, just do it with cloud, but I work in a setting where much of my data cannot be put in the cloud, and also where the cost structure of funding well allows for fixed capital expenditure but not variable cloud costs.

[plasticchris]

Just buy a case, motherboard, cpu, GPU, ram, psu, and build it. At the extreme low end you can buy a refurb Dell tower and drop in a new GPU.

[p1esk]

This entirely depends on the specific ML work you want to do. Smallest and cheapest could be something like Raspberry Pi or Jetson Nano.

By the way, $5k ML workstation is still on the cheaper end of the spectrum. An 8x A100 machine will set you back at least $100k. And even that won't be enough to finetune GPT-3.

[fomine3]

Buy used ATX tower desktop PC on Skylake gen (or buy new parts for Ryzen 3500 build), buy GPU (2070 SUPER for budget/perf?), buy new 750W PSU, put these parts.

GPU via Tunderbolt looks like most expensive way.