Ask HN: Is there a market for machine learning rigs?

Please chime in if that's something you're interested in, or not.

Would you rather buy a rig or rent them out on AWS or some other cloud provider?

What if it came pre-bundled with all the software and drivers you need to quickly get going?

3 comments

[ 5.9 ms ] story [ 21.5 ms ] thread

I worked at a place that was developing ML apps and they bought me an Alienware gaming laptop. I also put an entry-level 10-series graphics card into a not-quite-bargain basement desktop (the real bargain basement desktop might not let you add a GPU.) Recently I built a "gaming PC" with all the RGB bling, it works fine for model training.

p1esk 3y ago ↗

Obviously there’s a market for ML rigs as evidenced by dozens of small and big system integrators selling such rigs (e.g. Lambda Labs). As for buy vs rent, it depends on your particular situation.

oumua_don17 3y ago ↗

Yes, definitely. While I am no longer inclined to build my own rig (it was fun in younger days) but now I would rather spend money to get a prebuilt rig.

AFAICT, hobbyists with deep pockets; freelancers or small boutique shops doing consulting in ML, AI or 3D graphics; research labs with good funding in these domains will be the key market for such rigs.

I have got my rigs from: https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/custom/cad-graphics-workstations