Comment by b89kim
20 hours ago
You could build small ML model like talos-v2. But larger model/LLM requires much more engineering cost than you expected. Optimizing HDL has too many control knob/param to solve by RL.
20 hours ago
You could build small ML model like talos-v2. But larger model/LLM requires much more engineering cost than you expected. Optimizing HDL has too many control knob/param to solve by RL.
Understood, and I like a challenge. I've also solved some tough engineering problems in the past (before AI). With AI it seems (and I emphasize seems) that I can tackle much harder problems. That's why I am proceeding to measurable experiments and not just taking AI chats as accurate.
I have a homelab, electronics lab, and software dev experience (electronics is a hobby, and an early career before I pivoted to O/S development). Before the recent RAM/GPU price jumps I had invested in a lot of used ECC RAM and many older GPUs (and some new GPUs) on many older servers that I refurbished and upgraded. It is hard to justify the prices of new GPUs/RAM going forward. It is cheaper to upgrade my CPUs (and I have) to have more cores.
Yes, my older hardware is slow by today's standards, but it is at least affordable. Yes, old hardware is power inefficient, but I justify that by using solar panels. I cannot do anything about the current supply/demand problems, but I can perhaps help with reuse and upcycling. Maybe my work will help students and junior programmers learn on old/used hardware.