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Comment by dave7

20 hours ago

12GB GPU is insufficient for most purposes yes. Even 16GB is a notable improvement, but yes 32GB cards such as the 5090 or R9700 are a world of difference.

Given we're discussing a cost comparison (i.e. cutting a Claude subscription in lieu of running locally), how many months of claude $100 or $20/month plans would it cost to buy a 5090? I am showing it as 88 and 440 respectively. I.e. a 7 and 36 year payoff. Not even close to being worth it.

  • You also get to keep your data private (so you should compare it to api pricing), there are no forbidden topics (i just did a pentest on my webapp), and multiple people can use it. Basalt does 150 tok/s on a 5080

  • Currently, it's not worth it because:

    "SemiAnalysis, a research and analysis company specializing in the semiconductor and AI industries, found that a $200/month subscription plan is far more generous than previously thought. According to its calculations, while it's widely believed that a $200/month plan maxes out at roughly $2,000/month in tokens (assuming API pricing), the actual numbers are closer to $14,000 for ChatGPT and $8,000 for Claude. "

    https://cybernews.com/ai-news/chatgpt-claude-usage-costs-ope...

    This will change in the future.

  • The Claude plans are probably still heavily subsidized. Expect prices to increase, especially after the IPO. Self-hosting models for personal use is probably overkill, but I can see companies doing it pretty soon since they can probably run 24/7 workloads and fully utilize the hardware.

    • Great point. And, 3 years ago, a 4090 cost $1600, so maybe that will happen again some day. (Same/similar card, or a future card. I remember when GPUs used to get better every few years instead of staying roughly the same but costing several times the original amount!)