Weekend project with Intel B70s
Posted by dev_is_active@reddit | LocalLLaMA | View on Reddit | 40 comments
2x Intel Arc B70 GPUs
Gigabyte B850 AI Top Motherboard
AMD Ryzen 9 9900x
Crucial 128 GB DDR5
About to test Gemma 4 for legal RAG with the Hermes agent
RedParaglider@reddit
Certain youubers which get this hardware for free love showing this off running 4b models, at least show us what they can do on real workflow models :)
iMakeSense@reddit
What is "legal rag"
randomisednick@reddit
RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) for legal documents (which often have strict privacy requirements, hence the use of local LLM).
Beautiful-Floor-5020@reddit
7900 XTX 24GB VRAM is 950 CAD $.
QWEN 3.5 35B a3B i Quality quant (better than Q6 but less than unsloth Q8) on a DDR4 r9 5900XT
200k context, degradation at 32k context
Running at 2400 t/s prompt and 92 t/s on Generation.
Best and cheapest DDR4 system i ever had. Amd if it was optimized would be so affordable for household systems.
I use it for everything. Got a second 7900XTX on my pcie 4x slot that runs tts, stt, emotion, memory vector embedder.
Its insane and I love it.
Visual_Synthesizer@reddit
looking forward to seeing benchmarks!
jacek2023@reddit
Any progress?
Long_comment_san@reddit
I hope intel figures something out in terms of support because 32 gigs for under 1000 is quite lucrative. Running a decent agent nowadays is pretty much mandatory.
ambient_temp_xeno@reddit
Don't just install things into a naked board sat on a table.
Social media: not even once.
giant3@reddit
If you meant that it would bend the motherboard, then you are right. Two GPUs + 2 fans on the MB puts a lot of strain without the **standoffs** and also when it is lifted.
ambient_temp_xeno@reddit
Then they'll be on reddit asking why it's not booting/acting flaky.
giant3@reddit
Yeah. I don't know why you got downvoted.
Reddit is regarded. 😂
FranticBronchitis@reddit
Put it on top of the motherboard's box like a sane person
Serious-Issue-6298@reddit
I'm in the process of adding a second RTX 3090 that I just bought. However I've been watching these. Waiting for someone to use them. Excited to see what you do. I could trade 48 GB of vram for 64 :-)
FullstackSensei@reddit
The fan cables are really tying the build together
tecneeq@reddit
Travnewmatic@reddit
please let us know how it is! this is my use case as well! are you able to test with Qwen3.5-35B-A3B?
soyalemujica@reddit
I mean, for 35B you don't need such a gpu, with any in the 16gb range you can get 38t/s. This 32gb is meant for bigger and stronger models.
markole@reddit
You need more VRAM if you want to run 35B in a proper quant q6+ and with a huge context.
soyalemujica@reddit
You can run 35B in Q8 in 16vram since it's a moe model
Own_Mix_3755@reddit
Not with big enough context. I tried that numerous times and it simply can’t if you want to throw a bit more than just few lines of code and use it as a but more intelligent thing than just few lines of code fixer.
Travnewmatic@reddit
i understand. just trying to compare it with something i'm familiar with - same model, just on different hardware. of course i wish i can run something like Qwen/Qwen3.5-27B (if the speed is tolerable)
Travnewmatic@reddit
also i have that same motherboard :)
Emotional_Thanks_22@reddit
+1
dev_is_active@reddit (OP)
Some screen I'll definitely make some videos and post them once I run some tests
BuildAQuad@reddit
Are the fans supposed to be mounted like that? Just Curious i have no idea myself
tavirabon@reddit
It's not very efficient, I wouldn't recommend unless your case has a highly unusual quirk about it. Maybe they are thinking it'll give the GPU more exhaust to keep gpu temps lower but most likely it will make the cpu hotter and the fans louder.
I turned the same cooler vertical, it's lined up perfectly with the 140mm top exhaust with a small gap. It's taking the GPU exhaust as well, but at least it's not getting dumped back in with the rest of the exhaust.
PaMRxR@reddit
Yeah that looks unusual, like they are blowing into each other.
BuildAQuad@reddit
Yea, or one is blowing away from it. As far as i understand it fans should always blow into the heatsink
MoffKalast@reddit
Nah he's right, they're both mounted to blow into the radiators and the exhaust is in the middle. I suppose it should work fine if it's mounted with a top exhaust.
EagleNait@reddit
Yeah from experience it doesn't change much in open air builds. When you have a case you can get hot air pockets or hot air that get recirculated though
finevelyn@reddit
Yeah absolutely not. One is supposed to be mounted between the fins, and more importantly, both should be blowing in the same direction (usually towards the rear of the case).
https://www.thermalright.com/product/peerless-assassin-120-se/
viperx7@reddit
Can you tell me how much noise does this make when idle (without any load on system)
MundanePercentage674@reddit
it would be great if do some benchmark.
dev_is_active@reddit (OP)
for sure will report back
MundanePercentage674@reddit
i am planning to buy 2x rtx 3080 20gb cost around 450$ each now i am waiting your benchmark before make my decision.
CalligrapherFar7833@reddit
Please do also im interested if arc is still hard to deploy
lemondrops9@reddit
I'm excited for you.
ajw2285@reddit
Would love to know results
dev_is_active@reddit (OP)
i will update once I'm up and running
Altruistic_Heat_9531@reddit
Currently i am looking to upgrade my setup for dual GPU for Comfy, does your mobo second PCIe gen 5th slot from CPU or from the chipset?