Hi everyone, I’m an ex-programmer returning to PC hardware after a 20-year gap (2006–2026) and building a local AI and father-son project setup with my two sons (ages 15 and 12). I already own a Gigabyte RTX 3090 GAMING OC 24GB (GV-N3090GAMING OC-24GD rev 1.0, 320mm length, 2x 8-pin PCIe power connectors, 936.2 GB/s bandwidth (€1,260) and need a host machine for it. Are these TWO modded Dell Precision T5810 workstations plus accessories (€250–€295 bundle) a smart, dirt-cheap foundation, or is buying Broadwell-EP (Xeon v4) in 2026 a stupid choice? MY INTENDED USAGE & SOFTWARE STACK OS: Linux (Ubuntu / Proxmox) Inference Engines: llama.cpp (generalist) and Strata (for MoE CPU+GPU hybrid offloading) Use Cases: Daily Vibe Coding (Antigravity / Claude-style agentic workflows) + local processing of sensitive private PDFs (medical records, tax/legal documents). Zero video generation. Target Models & Speed: Now – Mid 2027: Qwen 3.8 27B (fits 100% inside my 24GB RTX 3090) & Qwen 3.8 Flash Next MoE (~120GB memory footprint, once I add more cheap DDR4 RDIMMs). Target Speed: Minimum 20+ tok/s. Secondary Family Goal: Let my sons (15 & 12) learn hardware/Linux and play light/medium games (Minecraft, Geometry Dash, 1080p games) on the 2nd machine (which can also double as an Agentic sandbox / Proxmox node). FULL TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS OF THE €250–€300 DEAL 1. Machine #1 (Primary AI Host for my RTX 3090): Chassis: Dell Precision Tower 5810 (Mid-tower workstation; seller removed the front 5.25" optical/drive cages and installed front intake fans to physically fit 320mm+ GPUs and two dual-slot GPUs) Motherboard: Dell T5810 Proprietary Workstation Board (Intel C612 Wellsburg Chipset, Socket LGA 2011-v3, flashed to the latest BIOS with NVMe boot support) CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2699 v4 (Broadwell-EP, 14nm, Q1 2016) Cores / Threads: 22 Cores / 44 Threads Clocks: 2.2 GHz Base / 2.8 GHz All-Core Turbo / 3.6 GHz Single-Core Max Turbo Cache & Extensions: 55 MB L3 SmartCache, 145W TDP, AVX2, FMA3 Memory Architecture: Quad-Channel (4-Channel) DDR4 ECC Registered (RDIMM / LRDIMM) DIMM Slots: 8 slots total (2 DIMMs per channel), supports up to 256GB DDR4-2400 RDIMM (or 512GB LRDIMM) Theoretical Quad-Channel Bandwidth at 2400 MT/s: 76.8 GB/s (~65–70 GB/s sustained real-world read bandwidth) PCIe Lanes & Expansion Slots (40 PCIe 3.0 Lanes Direct from CPU): Slot 1: PCIe 3.0 x8 (wired x4) Slot 2: PCIe 3.0 x16 (Full 16 lanes direct to CPU — where my RTX 3090 will go) Slot 3: PCIe 2.0 x4 (wired x1, via C612 chipset) Slot 4: PCIe 3.0 x16 (Full 16 lanes direct to CPU) Slot 5: PCIe 3.0 x16 (mechanically x16, electrically wired x8 direct to CPU) Slot 6: Legacy PCI slot Power Supply (PSU): Dell 685W 80+ Gold hot-swap modular power supply (12V multi-rail, 55A / 660W max 12V output) with Dell Power Distribution Board harness providing 2x 8-pin (6+2) PCIe power connectors (matches my Gigabyte 3090's 2x 8-pin requirement) Cooling & Acoustics: Upgraded black aftermarket tower CPU cooler + custom quiet case fans (be quiet! / NZXT) replacing the loud stock Dell fan shrouds Idle Power Draw: Seller reports under 50W idle at the wall in Proxmox with an RTX 3090 installed. 2. Machine #2 (2nd Node for Agent Sandboxes / Boys' PC): Identical modded Dell T5810 Chassis, C612 Motherboard (8x DDR4 RDIMM slots, 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes), Aftermarket Tower CPU Cooler, Custom Quiet Fans, and Dell 685W 80+ Gold PSU, except equipped with: CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2698 v4 (Broadwell-EP, 14nm) Cores / Threads: 20 Cores / 40 Threads Clocks: 2.2 GHz Base / 2.6 GHz All-Core Turbo / 3.6 GHz Single-Core Max Turbo Cache & TDP: 50 MB L3 SmartCache, 135W TDP, AVX2 Included Add-ons in the Bundle: 32GB (2x 16GB) DDR4-2666 ECC Registered (RDIMM) (runs at 2400 MT/s on Xeon v4; I plan to add more RDIMMs later to populate all 4 channels to 128GB–256GB) 2x PCIe x4 to M.2 NVMe Adapter Cards (one for each T5810 so both boot from modern M.2 NVMe SSDs; I will supply my own NVMe drives) (Optional): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB (1,280 CUDA cores, 6GB GDDR5, 120W TDP) for Machine #2 so it has video output and my sons can immediately play Minecraft & Geometry Dash on it. Total Bundle Price: €250 (without GTX 1060) or €300 (with GTX 1060 6GB). MY QUESTIONS FOR THE COMMUNITY: Sanity Check: At €250–€300 for BOTH complete Xeon v4 workstations + 32GB RDIMM + NVMe adapters, is this a no-brainer starter deal for my RTX 3090, or is there a fatal flaw with the Dell T5810 / Xeon E5-2699 v4 platform I am overlooking? 685W PSU + RTX 3090: For anyone running an RTX 3090 inside a Dell T5810 on the stock 685W Gold PSU, what nvidia-smi power limit do you recommend (e.g. 280W–300W) to stay completely safe from transient power spikes? Future 120GB MoE Offloading: If I upgrade Machine #1 to 128GB or 256GB (8x 16GB or 8x 32GB) Quad-Channel DDR4-2400 RDIMM (~68 GB/s RAM bandwidth) alongside my 24GB RTX 3090, what realistic tok/s can I expect on ~100GB–120GB sparse MoE models using Strata / llama.cpp? Gaming on Machine #2: Will the Xeon E5-2698 v4 + GTX 1060 6GB handle Minecraft, Geometry Dash, and light 1080p gaming smoothly enough for a 15yo and 12yo? https://preview.redd.it/ijdgaac4uhxh1.png?width=546&format=png&auto=webp&s=b9de910fb230fce59f2e00f612aa7766eef9cc8d Dell Precision T5810 with Xeon 2699v4 Dell Precision T5810 with Xeon 2698v4   submitted by   /u/SlechteConcentratie [link]   [comments]