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+--- Forum: SBCs / Mini PCs (https://www.datasculpting.ai/inference/forumdisplay.php?fid=74)
+--- Thread: best mini PC for local use (/showthread.php?tid=1337)
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best mini PC for local use - cacheworks - 10-16-2026
Maybe I'm missing something obvious.
My current setup is LM Studio with M3 Max, and I keep running into small local stacks.
Not looking for the perfect answer, mostly what worked in real use.
For context, I'm not chasing leaderboard numbers. I mostly want the system to feel consistent day to day.
Re: best mini PC for local use - batchfield55 - 10-16-2026
Tried to reproduce it just now. On 5090 with llama.cpp, I saw basically the same behavior. I expected the model choice to matter more than it did.
Re: best mini PC for local use - vramghost - 10-16-2026
My first guess would be this: Start by verifying the driver/runtime combo, then test with a smaller prompt, then look at speculative decoding. Not glamorous advice, but repeatable baselines save a lot of time.
There are a few different conversations hiding inside this thread, so being explicit about the goal helps.
Re: best mini PC for local use - mintquill - 10-16-2026
Good point. That matches what I saw on mini PC. Worth rechecking your defaults though, because one bad assumption can make the rest of the thread look confusing.
Re: best mini PC for local use - vramghost - 10-16-2026
Quote:Good point. That matches what I saw on mini PC. Worth rechecking your defaults though, because one bad assumption can make the rest of the thread look
Tried to reproduce it just now. I couldn't reproduce the slowdown until I pushed context much higher. I expected the model choice to matter more than it did.
Re: best mini PC for local use - dockkite69 - 10-16-2026
I'd approach it in a boring order. Before rebuilding anything, I'd test one clean baseline with Phi and compare from there. Once you know the plain path works, then add the faster path back in piece by piece.
Re: best mini PC for local use - mintquill - 10-16-2026
Interesting, I hadn't tried that. The pattern around tool calling has been pretty similar for me. I got better results once I stopped chasing one metric and just looked at whether the workflow felt usable.
Re: best mini PC for local use - homelabhenry - 10-17-2026
Quote:Interesting, I hadn't tried that. The pattern around tool calling has been pretty similar for me. I got better results once I stopped chasing one metr
What exact setup are you running? Are you testing this on 7900 XTX or something else?
Re: best mini PC for local use - batchfield55 - 10-18-2026
Quote:[quote]Interesting, I hadn't tried that. The pattern around tool calling has been pretty similar for me. I got better results once I stopped chasing o
A couple things I'd check first. Before rebuilding anything, I'd test one clean baseline with Gemma and compare from there. A lot of these threads end up being one bad config plus a pile of conclusions drawn from it.
I'm happy to test one more variant if you want a second data point.
Re: best mini PC for local use - cobalttinker - 10-18-2026
Quote:[quote][quote]Interesting, I hadn't tried that. The pattern around tool calling has been pretty similar for me. I got better results once I stopped ch
Good point. I don't think your conclusion is far off. I got better results once I stopped chasing one metric and just looked at whether the workflow felt usable.