Crypto Rig Bought for $35 Delivers 54GB of VRAM
An old crypto mining rig discovered in a garage was purchased for just $35, providing 54GB of VRAM to successfully run a 35-billion-parameter AI model locally.
Radwan AbdulhadiEditor and technology writer
Garage Discovery and Untested Purchase
A Reddit user known as markpronkin secured a rusty crypto mining rig discovered in a damp garage after negotiating a price of 3,000 rubles, which translates to roughly $35. As detailed in a report by [Tom's Hardware](https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/reddit-user-pays-usd35-for-a-crypto-mining-rig-left-in-a-garage-and-gets-54gb-of-vram-at-65-cents-per-gb-the-first-test-for-2017-era-gpus-a-35b-parameter-ai-model-running-locally-at-over-30-tokens-per-second), the seller refused a pre-purchase test, leaving both parties uncertain whether the hardware was functional. The buyer decided to take the risk given the low cost.
The hardware was initially listed on the Russian classifieds site Avito. Despite concerns about system stability and a weak Celeron CPU paired with minimal system memory, all nine graphics cards proved fully operational upon initial testing.
Hardware Specifications and VRAM Cost
The rig houses nine specialized Nvidia P106-100 GPUs, which are Pascal-generation compute cards equipped with 6GB of GDDR5 memory each. Originally introduced around mid-2017, these units function similarly to the GTX 1060 6GB. Together, the array provides 54GB of VRAM, bringing the cost down to about 65 cents per gigabyte of VRAM.
While software support is aging—with CUDA 13.0 removing offline compilation for GPUs below compute capability 7.5 and driver branch 580 serving as the final branch supporting these cards—security updates remain scheduled through October 2028. Further details and discussions regarding the discovery can be found in [A Reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/LocalLLaMA/comments/1wz6ist/54gb_vram_for_35/) shared on the platform.
Local AI Testing and Performance
Upon setting up the system, the buyer put the hardware through its paces with an initial test using Alibaba's Qwen3.6-35B-A3B. This mixture-of-experts model features 35 billion parameters in total with 3 billion activated. Running through Ollama, the setup achieved over 30 tokens per second.
Although performance is limited by PCIe 2.0 x1 motherboard slots and a weak central processor, the configuration successfully handled the model. Additional testing possibilities include running Llama 3.3 70B at 4-bit quantization, though larger models and extensive context windows present tighter constraints due to memory bandwidth limits.
Future Upgrades and Self-Hosted AI
The buyer plans to transfer the components into an upgraded case capable of supporting an i7-7700K CPU, 32GB of RAM, and up to 12 GPUs. Expanding the rig with three additional matching cards would elevate the total VRAM pool to 72GB. Repurposing legacy mining equipment offers enthusiasts an economical path toward self-hosted artificial intelligence solutions centered on privacy and unlimited usage.
Sources
- Tom's HardwareReddit user pays $35 for a crypto mining rig left in a garage and gets 54GB of VRAM at 65 cents per GB
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