ModemGuides BlogGuides for people who would rather own their hardware than rent it.
AI Infrastructure · Topic
Every AI Infrastructure article tagged Buying Guide, newest first.
4 articles
Buying guide
Find your memory number and get the one verified pick for it. Six tiers from a 12GB card to a 512GB Mac Studio, every size sourced from the repository, every license checked, re-verified September 5, 2026.
Memory prices
Which GPU and how much VRAM for local AI in 2026 — honest build tiers repriced for the memory shortage, from used RTX 3090 to Apple Silicon.
Memory prices
Apple's Mac Studio M5 Ultra is official: 512GB max, not 768GB. Which local AI models fit, the cluster math, and whether to buy, wait, or skip.
Memory prices
RAM prices tripled, Apple pulled high-memory Macs, and relief isn't coming in 2026. Here's the shortage explained — and how to build local AI anyway.