A Reddit user has acquired an abandoned mining rig equipped with nine NVIDIA P106 GPUs and 54 GB of GDDR5 memory for roughly 35 dollars, successfully repurposing the legacy hardware to run local artificial intelligence models. The transaction bypasses standard market hardware costs by utilizing discontinued crypto-mining components.
From Mining Rig to Local AI Infrastructure
- Asset Acquisition: The 9-GPU rig was secured on the Russian classifieds platform Avito for 3,000 rubles (approximately 35 USD), down from an initial asking price of 5,000 rubles.
- Hardware Configuration: The setup incorporates nine NVIDIA P106-100 cards carrying 6 GB of VRAM each, delivering a cumulative total of 54 GB of video memory without an included solid-state drive.
- Operational Output: Benchmarked running Qwen3.6 35B-A3B under Ollama, the improvised system reportedly achieves over 30 tokens per second while operating on electricity bundled into the owner’s rent.
Sourcing Hardware Through Classifieds
The seller was uncertain whether the internal components functioned.
The assembly lacked a persistent storage drive, requiring the owner to boot the operating system directly from a USB thumb drive to confirm functionality.
High VRAM Capacity Offsets Pascal Architecture Bottlenecks
The system’s primary asset is its aggregate memory capacity. By housing nine NVIDIA P106 units—chips structurally related to the GeForce GTX 1060—the rig amasses 54 GB of GDDR5 VRAM. This volume exceeds the native capacity of most standard consumer desktop setups, opening pathways for testing large language models locally.
The 2016-era Pascal architecture suffers from significant processing speed limitations. Mining motherboards traditionally rely on constrained PCIe x1 slots, creating a bottleneck that severely restricts inter-GPU data transfer speeds during heavy computational tasks.
Legacy Mining Hardware Generates Measurable Output Despite Power Costs
Despite architectural constraints, the hardware is generating measurable output. The user observed processing speeds exceeding 30 tokens per second utilizing Qwen3.6 35B-A3B via Ollama. However, these figures lack rigorous, standardized benchmarking protocols.
Operating legacy mining hardware involves recurring overhead. Nine Pascal-generation cards can draw substantial power, potentially neutralizing initial acquisition savings through utility bills. In this specific instance, the user operates within unique parameters, noting that electricity costs are fully absorbed by their residential lease. For hobbyists operating under similar cost structures, decommissioned mining arrays offer an unconventional entry point into dense model experimentation.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
