local-ai/docs/gpu-setup-research.md

# GPU Setup Research: Rack Server AI Workloads

*Last updated: March 22, 2026*

## Goal
Cost-efficient rack-mountable GPU setup for:
1. **LLM coding inference** — Run 32B+ parameter coding models with maximum context windows
2. **Image generation** — ComfyUI / InvokeAI with Stable Diffusion SDXL / Flux

Target servers: Dell R720/R730 or HP DL380 equivalent (2U rack)

## Why 48GB VRAM is the Right Target

### The Problem with 24GB
32B coding models at Q4_K_M quantization use ~20GB of weights, leaving only ~4GB for KV cache
on a 24GB card. This severely limits context window size — the key ingredient for complex
coding sessions where the model needs to understand your entire codebase.

### What 48GB Unlocks
- **32B models at higher quantization** (Q6_K/Q8_0) = better output quality
- **28GB+ free for KV cache** = massive context windows (32K+ tokens)
- **70B models** in aggressive quantization (~12 t/s but functional)
- **Simultaneous model loading** — coding model + image gen model at once
- Room for future larger models without hardware changes

## Best Local Coding Models (2026)

| Model | Size at Q4_K_M | Quality | Notes |
|-------|---------------|---------|-------|
| **Qwen2.5-Coder 32B** | ~20GB | 73.7 Aider (≈ GPT-4o) | FIM king, 92.7% HumanEval |
| **Qwen 3.5 27B** | ~16GB | 72.4% SWE-bench (ties GPT-5 mini) | 262K context, multimodal |
| **Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B** (MoE) | ~18GB | #1 SWE-rebench (64.6%) | Only 3.3B active, very fast |
| **Qwen3-Coder-Next 80B** (MoE) | needs 64GB+ RAM offload | Beats Claude Opus 4.6 on SWE-rebench | Hybrid attention, 256K context |

### Honest Assessment: Local vs Claude Code
Nothing local approaches Claude Opus 4.6 quality for complex multi-file agentic coding.
These 32B models are competitive with **GPT-4o** — a tier below Claude Sonnet, two tiers below Opus.
Best strategy: use local models for routine tasks, save Claude credits for hard problems.

## 48GB GPU Market (March 22, 2026 — Real Prices)

| GPU | Arch | Used Price | TDP | Cooling | Tensor Cores | Mem BW |
|-----|------|------------|-----|---------|--------------|--------|
| **Quadro RTX 8000** | Turing (2018) | **$2,000–2,900** | 260W | Passive variant | Yes (576) | 672 GB/s |
| **A40** | Ampere (2020) | **~$5,050+** | 300W | Passive | Yes (336 3rd-gen) | 696 GB/s |
| **RTX A6000** | Ampere (2020) | **~$5,400+** | 300W | Active (blower) | Yes (336 3rd-gen) | 768 GB/s |
| **L40** | Ada (2022) | **~$6,500+** | 300W | Passive | Yes (568 4th-gen) | 864 GB/s |
| **RTX 6000 Ada** | Ada (2022) | **~$6,500+** | 300W | Active | Yes (568 4th-gen) | 960 GB/s |

Sources: eBay active/sold listings, GPUPoet price tracking, Pangoly, CamelCamelCamel (all March 2026)
Note: One outlier RTX 8000 listing at ~$750 exists but is not representative of the market.

### Cheapest 48GB Option: Quadro RTX 8000 Passive ($2,000–2,900)

The RTX 8000 is still the cheapest 48GB card — roughly half the price of an A40 and a
third of an A6000. The passive variant is purpose-built for rack servers — no fan, relies
on chassis airflow, designed for 24/7 operation in 2U/4U systems.

Key advantages over the P40:
- **48GB vs 24GB** — room for models + massive context
- **Has Tensor Cores** (576 Turing) — native FP16, no `--force-fp32` hacks for image gen
- **NVLink support** — pair two for 96GB combined (100 GB/s bidirectional)
- 10W idle power draw

### Cost Reality Check
At $2,000–2,900 the RTX 8000 is a significant investment. The key question: is unified
48GB VRAM worth 4–6x the cost of dual P40s ($400–500)?

**Yes, if** you need large context windows (32K+) for complex coding — KV cache can't
be split across two GPUs without NVLink (which P40s don't have).

**No, if** you're mostly doing short-prompt coding tasks and image gen — dual P40s give
you 48GB total (split) at a fraction of the cost, and each card can handle its own workload.

## RTX 8000 Performance Benchmarks

### LLM Inference (Exllama, 5.0 bpw quantization)

| Model | Context | Prompt Processing | Generation |
|-------|---------|-------------------|------------|
| Qwen3 30B-A3B (MoE) | 8K | 950 t/s | **34 t/s** |
| Qwen3 30B-A3B (MoE) | 16K | 673 t/s | **21 t/s** |
| Qwen3 30B-A3B (MoE) | 32K | 345 t/s | **11 t/s** |
| Llama 3.3 70B | short | 36 t/s | **13 t/s** |
| Llama 3.1 8B | — | — | **72 t/s** |

### Compared to P40 (24GB)

| Metric | P40 (24GB) | RTX 8000 (48GB) |
|--------|-----------|-----------------|
| **Used price** | **$150–320** | **$2,000–2,900** |
| 32B model fit | Barely (~2GB free) | Comfortable (~28GB free) |
| 32B generation speed | ~5-12 t/s (est.) | ~20-34 t/s |
| Max practical context | ~4K tokens | **32K+ tokens** |
| Image gen (SDXL) | ~49s (`--force-fp32`) | Faster (native FP16) |
| Rack server ready | Yes (passive) | Yes (passive variant) |

### Image Generation
The RTX 8000 has Turing Tensor Cores with native FP16 support. Unlike the P40, it does NOT
need `--force-fp32` workarounds. Image gen performance is significantly better than the P40,
though still behind Ampere/Ada cards.

## 24GB GPU Options (Previous Research — Still Valid for Tighter Budgets)

| GPU | VRAM | Price Range | Best Deals | Notes |
|-----|------|-------------|------------|-------|
| **Tesla P40** | 24GB | $150-320 | Newegg refurb $219-270; eBay used $150-200 | Best VRAM/$ at 24GB |
| **RTX A2000 12GB** | 12GB | $250-535 | eBay used ~$250-350; one listing at $490 | Can't run 32B models |
| **Tesla T4** | 16GB | $150-350 | eBay used $150-250 | Great power efficiency |
| **RTX A4000** | 16GB | $700-750+ | eBay used ~$700; new $720+ | Too expensive for 16GB |

## Rack Server Compatibility

### Quadro RTX 8000 Passive in R720/R730
- **Physical fit**: Full-length, dual-slot — fits in GPU riser slots
- **Power**: 260W, requires 8-pin aux power + GPU enablement kit
- **Cooling**: Passive — relies on server chassis fans (same as P40)
- **Requirement**: Dual CPUs, redundant 1100W PSUs recommended
- **NVLink**: Can pair two RTX 8000s for 96GB combined VRAM
- Very similar physical/power requirements to the Tesla P40

### RTX A2000 in R720/R730
- **Physical fit**: Yes. Dual-slot, low-profile, 167mm length
- **Power**: 70W bus-powered, no aux cable needed. Must use 75W slots (slots 4-7 on R720)
- **Cooling**: Blower-style fan exhausts out bracket — ideal for rack airflow
- **Requirement**: Dual CPUs needed for GPU PCIe slots
- **Confirmed working** in Dell R740XD (similar architecture)

### Tesla P40 in R720/R730
- **Physical fit**: Yes. Full-length, single-slot, designed for rack servers
- **Power**: 250W, requires 8-pin aux power. Needs GPU enablement kit
- **Cooling**: Passive — relies on server chassis fans
- **Requirement**: Dual CPUs, redundant 1100W PSUs recommended
- **Natively supported** in these servers

### R720 vs R730
- R720: PCIe Gen2 (not a bottleneck for LLM inference, which is VRAM-bound)
- R730: PCIe Gen3, generally preferred
- Both support up to 2x double-wide or 4x single-wide GPUs

## Recommended Setups

### If budget allows ($2,000–2,900): RTX 8000 Passive
Single card handles both coding and image gen. 48GB VRAM fits 32B models with massive
context windows (32K+). Passive cooling is rack-native. Tensor cores handle FP16 image gen
properly. One card, one slot, simple setup. The premium buys you unified VRAM = big context.

### If budget allows + dedicated image gen ($2,300–3,250): RTX 8000 + A2000
RTX 8000 for coding with full 48GB dedicated to LLM context.
A2000 for image gen (3x faster than Turing, 70W, bus-powered, blower cooled).
Best separation of concerns — no model swapping needed.

### Best value ($400–500): Dual P40
Two P40s for 48GB total, but split across cards (can't combine for one model without
NVLink, which P40s lack). One for 32B coding (tight fit, ~4K context), one for image gen
(slow, needs --force-fp32). **5x cheaper than RTX 8000** but with significant context limitations.

### Cheapest entry ($200–300): Single P40
Run 32B coding model with very limited context (~4K tokens). Swap to image gen when needed.
Good for testing whether local LLM coding works for your workflow before investing more.

## Configuration Notes for local-ai stack

### For 48GB RTX 8000
```bash
# Ollama — take advantage of the full 48GB
OLLAMA_NUM_GPU=999
OLLAMA_NUM_CTX=32768  # Large context window — 48GB can handle it
OLLAMA_KEEP_ALIVE=24h

# Pull best coding models
ollama pull qwen2.5-coder:32b-instruct-q4_K_M  # ~20GB, leaves 28GB for context
ollama pull qwen3.5:27b                          # ~16GB at Q4, even more context room
ollama pull qwen3-coder:30b                      # MoE, very fast inference

# Higher quantization for better quality (48GB allows this)
# Look for Q6_K or Q8_0 variants on Ollama for better output quality
```

### For 32B models on P40 (24GB — tight fit)
```bash
OLLAMA_NUM_GPU=999
OLLAMA_NUM_CTX=4096  # Keep context small to fit in remaining VRAM
OLLAMA_KEEP_ALIVE=24h

ollama pull qwen2.5-coder:32b-instruct-q4_K_M
```

### For dual-GPU setup (RTX 8000 + A2000 or P40 + anything)
```bash
# Assign GPU 0 to Ollama (coding), GPU 1 to InvokeAI (image gen)
# In docker-compose.yml for Ollama:
CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=0

# In docker-compose.yml for InvokeAI:
CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=1
```

### For image gen on P40 (no tensor cores)
```bash
# InvokeAI
INVOKEAI_PRECISION=float32

# ComfyUI launch args
--force-fp32
```

### For image gen on RTX 8000 / A2000 / T4 (has tensor cores)
```bash
# InvokeAI — native FP16 works fine
INVOKEAI_PRECISION=float16

# ComfyUI — no special flags needed
```

## Sources
- [Quadro RTX 8000 for Local LLMs — Hardware Corner](https://www.hardware-corner.net/guides/quadro-rtx-8000-for-llm/)
- [RTX 8000 Passive — Network Outlet](https://networkoutlet.com/blogs/articles/nvidia-quadro-rtx-8000-48gb-passive-cooling-powering-ai-rendering-server-workloads)
- [LLM Benchmarks on Turing/Ampere GPUs — Stefandroid](https://blog.stefandroid.com/2025/06/02/benchmark-llm-performance-nvidia-gpus.html)
- [NVIDIA A40 Price Tracking — GPUPoet](https://gpupoet.com/gpu/learn/card/nvidia-a40)
- [NVIDIA L40 Price Tracking — GPUPoet](https://gpupoet.com/gpu/learn/card/nvidia-l40)
- [RTX A6000 Price History — CamelCamelCamel](https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B09BDH8VZV)
- [RTX A6000 Price History — Pangoly](https://pangoly.com/en/price-history/pny-nvidia-quadro-rtx-a6000)
- [NVIDIA RTX A2000 Datasheet](https://www.nvidia.com/content/dam/en-zz/Solutions/design-visualization/rtx-a2000/nvidia-rtx-a2000-datasheet-1987439-r5.pdf)
- [Dell R730 Owner's Manual — Expansion Cards](https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/poweredge-r730/r730_ompublication/expansion-card-installation-guidelines)
- [Dell R720 Owner's Manual — Expansion Cards](https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/poweredge-r720/720720xdom/expansion-card-installation-guidelines)
- [ComfyUI GPU Benchmarks Discussion](https://github.com/Comfy-Org/ComfyUI/discussions/2970)
- [ComfyUI P40 FP32 Issue](https://github.com/Comfy-Org/ComfyUI/issues/4363)
- [Best Local LLMs for 24GB VRAM 2026](https://localllm.in/blog/best-local-llms-24gb-vram)
- [Best Coding Models 2026](https://localvram.com/en/guides/best-coding-models/)
- [Ollama VRAM Requirements Guide](https://localllm.in/blog/ollama-vram-requirements-for-local-llms)
- [Local LLMs That Can Replace Claude Code](https://agentnativedev.medium.com/local-llms-that-can-replace-claude-code-6f5b6cac93bf)
- [7 Local LLM Families to Replace Claude/Codex](https://agentnativedev.medium.com/7-local-llm-families-to-replace-claude-codex-for-everyday-tasks-25ba74c3635d)
- [Qwen2.5-Coder 32B on Ollama](https://ollama.com/library/qwen2.5-coder:32b-instruct-q4_K_M)
- [Qwen3-Coder — How to Run Locally](https://unsloth.ai/docs/models/qwen3-coder-how-to-run-locally)