best mini PC for local use: early impressions

[mintquill]

A couple things I'd check first. Start by verifying the driver/runtime combo, then test with a smaller prompt, then look at consumer GPUs. Not glamorous advice, but repeatable baselines save a lot of time.

[vramghost]

Interesting, I hadn't tried that. I ended up in about the same place using llama.cpp. The biggest change for me was simplifying the stack instead of adding one more optimization layer.

There are a few different conversations hiding inside this thread, so being explicit about the goal helps.

[macrotinker]

Interesting, I hadn't tried that. I don't think your conclusion is far off. The biggest change for me was simplifying the stack instead of adding one more optimization layer.

[mlxgarden]

I'd approach it in a boring order. Before rebuilding anything, I'd test one clean baseline with Mixtral and compare from there.

[llm_wren]

I'd approach it in a boring order. Before rebuilding anything, I'd test one clean baseline with Mixtral and compare from there.

that fixed it for me too.

[vramghost]

Good point. I don't think your conclusion is far off. Worth rechecking your defaults though, because one bad assumption can make the rest of the thread look confusing.

[byteyard]

I'd start with the simpler stack.

[phasespark]

I'd approach it in a boring order. On 7900 XTX, the easiest win is often to back off the aggressive settings and see whether the problem survives. Once you know the plain path works, then add the faster path back in piece by piece.

[nanobrook]

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.

[lablab]

Appreciate the detail. 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.