Transcription
Hey guys, the question I get asked the most in this channel is what kind of PC hardware do I need to run a powerful AI video generator like LTX 2.3. No matter you are thinking about building your first very own AI PC in 2026 or you thinking about updating some of your PC hardware to run AI more efficiently, this video is for you.
So, before we diving into the spec sheet and where can you find the best deal for your PC parts, let's talk some fundamentals. I've summarized the five golden rules for building your AI PC in 2026. And if any of these are sounds a very difficult to understand, do not worry because I'll explain more later on. Just keep on watching.
The rule number one is VRAM is everything. And this one does not need explanation. The VRAM determine whether you can run the model or not. The rest of the spec determines how fast can you run this model? And rule number two is you should always aim for 2X of capacity of your RAM to your VRAM. Say, for example, if your VRAM is a 16GB, you need a 32GB minimum to run it sufficiently. And let's be honest, 32 is bare minimum for you to run any video generation models that efficiently in your system. And rule number three, please plug in all your power points. And on some CPU, they have a 12 pins and you need to plug all of them in. And do not use daisy chains, guys. And do not use extensions, please. And this problem happened to me. I My computer just cannot run AI because of this issue. And then, rule number four is you should always choose a TLC SSD for AI workload rather than QLC. And if you don't know what the QLC and TLC is, just look the price. The QLC is the cheapest SSD you can found in the market. And TLC generally is about 1.5 times more expensive. For example, like Samsung 990 Pro and 9100 Pro is a TLC SSD. And TLC is much stable uh for video generations. And if you are building a budget built, QLC is okay, but can only do image and a very very low quality video generation. And then, the last but not the least is you need to choose a PSU which is modular but also supporting ATX 3.0. And because the transient spikes of all these RTX card is crazy and we need the ATS 3.0 to tame the beasts.
Well, Pro Mastery is a AI channel. Before we're going further, I need you guys' help. As you can see, I made a lot of video about LTX 2.3 tutorials. And I need you guys to commenting in this video, tell me what's your PC specs and how long takes you to generate a 720p LTX 2.3 videos. Because I think this video will help a lot of new people get into the space. And for those viewers that already here, we need to build a database for the newcomers so they understand what kind of spec and what kind of speed and efficiency they are expecting. This is the [clears throat] spirit of open source world, guys. Everyone should contribute. And you think about it, if there's more people come into the space, you will be more incentive for more company to build open source models. And then we'll have a better model to play with. Eventually, everyone benefits.
Well, now let's come to the point number two is should you buy a brand new PC with a brand new parts or should you looking to the deals in the used computer market? I would recommend 90% of you guys to go on the first route. Simply is because the risk nowadays, the PC price is went absolutely bananas globally. And if you go buying a brand new parts, you can customize all the parts you need to build your dream rig. And also, you don't have the risk of any of the parts fails because you have the factory warranty. And in this way, you know every part is in top shape and you can spend more time on creating content rather than troubleshooting your hardware.
So, for the rest 10% brave souls and hardware expert, I would strongly recommend you guys trying to look for the deals in the used computer markets like in Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist. The reason why is for some graphic cards, they just don't have them new anymore. Like, for example, my computer is RTX 3090 and it's 24GB of VRAMs, which is a dream to run all the AI applications, but they only exist in the used market. And there's a lot of risk come with a buying used computers because a lot of these graphic cards like RTX 3090 coming out in about 2020 and 2021, they've been using for crypto mining like Ethereum. So, you need to have a hardware knowledge how to stress test these systems. But if you do want to go down this path, stay with us because I will give you some really good recommendations on where you can find deals later on in this video.
And then, this is a case study about my computers. I got my computer about a year ago from the Facebook Marketplace. I only paid $2,200 in it, about $1,800. And my spec is RTX a 3090, top range AMD 16 core CPU 5950X. And the computer come with a 32GB of RAM. So, when I purchased the computers, I I took the RAM out. I went to bought a 64GB of RAM. And I sold the 32GB RAM on the Marketplace for about $100. And cost me $200. Yeah, I know, back in time. And nowadays, 64GB of DR4 RAM is a $1,000. So, if you hunt the computer down in the used market and you can do some internal upgrading to to bring it up to speed for where you want it. So, this is another good strategy.
So, now let's come to the point number four. So, where do you buy your PC and where do you find your deals? So, first I recommend this website PCPartPicker.com. All right, so now we're in this website. And here, you can actually pre-build your PC by picking all the parts like you are in a supermarket. And currently, it's supporting the price data from all these countries from Australia, all the Europes, New Zealands, and Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States. So, wherever you are, choose the country and then the price will reflect to your local markets. I'm currently in Australia. If I switch to Australia, and then they will still finding me the best deals of these parts. So, if I click here and you can see that's all the different prices by all different retailers in Australia. And currently, Amazon have the cheapest price by $1. But anyway, so then you get idea. So, this allow you to pick all the parts you need and you can buy them just by click a button and will take you to the purchase page. And yeah, you can add to cart.
And the other option to hunting down the brand new parts is using Google Shopping. So, if you have a specific parts you want or model that's not available um on PCPartPicker, which is very rare, you can Google it and found them in Google Shopping and compare the prices.
For the brave souls that want to buy a used PC, you need to look into the marketplaces. And obviously, look in the seller close to your location. And once you go there, you need to make sure the seller allow you to do thorough hardware testing. And better if they could offer you a 24-hour return window if you find any issues. And the other really great options I would recommend is eBay Marketplace. Because a lot of people, if you don't know eBay, even you buy used product like RTX a 3090 graphic cards, you get 30-day money-back guarantees. You can stress test that video cards for 30 days. If you're running into any issues, no matter if the buyer accept return or not, you can return that to get your money back. So, eBay is actually a safer place to buy a used computer parts.
Well, number six, now let's come down to the spec recommendations. So, this is the build I built for you guys. And so, now let's talk about the specs recommendations. So, this is the specs I've built for you guys. I think this is a solid foundation for anyone trying to get the local AI. This This spec pretty much allow you to run any kind of AI models allow you to run in the consumer level hardware. And if you spend more money, it's pretty much just increase how much a speed or efficient that model can run. But this is a solid baseline for you to work on. And I'm really sorry how much the price have to change. The RAM, it's breathtakingly expensive. In Australia, 32 GB RAM is 586. So, I would say about 350 to 380 US dollars. A year ago, probably it's only going to be $100. And the the card I recommended for the brand new build is RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB. And this probably the the cheapest 16 GB cards you can buy in the 5000 series. And so, the the next step up is RTX 5070 16 GB, but the price is almost $1000 more expensive. If you have happen to have this card, please comment it in the comments and let me know how long it take you to generate LTS 2.3 720p videos. And if you have a 5060, and please also let me know so we can compare how much performance improvement of 5070 16 GB versus 5060 16 GB. And does it worth a $1000 premium or not?
And let's have a look specs again. So, I picked the B850. So, this one is a Gen 5 SSD ready with Wi-Fi 7. So, it's a future-proof card. So, even later on you want to upgrade it to 6000 series graphic cards, this motherboard will still be okay. I choose the two DDR5 6000 32 GB of RAM. And this speed is enough for all the AI works. And two times 16 give you the most stabilities in any kind of video generations. If you want to generate videos, I have to say it again, you need to at least have 32 GB of RAM, despite whatever VRAM do you have, right? 32 GB minimum and 64 is optimal, okay? And then Samsung 9100 Pro is a Gen 5 drive. So, it give you as quick as 15 GB per second write speed, and you will be lightning fast for all your AI workflow. And again, the graphic card I choose is RTX 5060 Ti, and this is the cheapest card you can get. And for the cases, it's mainly your choice. You can choose something a bit flashier if you want. And this one is ATX 3.0 PSU at 750 W and gold standard. And this is more than enough for your build. And then, if you're thinking about like upgrading more powerful graphic card later on, then go for a bigger size PSU. Maybe cost you $100 more. At least you have a future-proof.
And another honorable mention is this card. So, GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB. So, this card is actually a game-changer. In Australia, you can buy them for $400. And I checked the US price, it's also $400. So, US actually sells 1.5 times more expensive than Australia. So, if you are check your local market, this is the absolutely entry ticket. So, if you're on an extremely tight budget, this card is your entry ticket to the local AI world. Sometimes you can find a really good price on the used market. And this is only for advanced people, because these cards can run efficiently on AM4 platforms. So, what you can do is you can actually find a computer that built around 2000 or 2001 and with a crappy graphic cards, and buy that PC for like few hundred bucks, and then invest into one of these graphic cards, and you up upgrade that machine and sell whatever old graphic card. Just a bit over $1000, you have your ticket to local AI world.
Last not least, when you buy all the parts, and should you build yourself or should you hire a professional to do it? If you think you are handy person and you have some capability of learning new skills, I would recommend you try to build it yourself. And just there's heaps of free YouTube resources and teach you how to build it. Once you build your PC with your own hand, you will form a some kind of connections that cannot be replaced. And then, if anything you want to do in the future like upgrades, and you can do it so easily because you build this PC from ground up. It's also going to be a very unique and fun experience for you to build your own AI PC. By the time you turn on the computer and generate that killing photos by using a image generators, you will be all worth it.
But I have to say, if you are not confident about building the PC yourself or you never hold a screwdriver in your life, I recommend you to hire a professionals. But look for the reputable ones. And I heard horror stories, including my own PC, got it from the Facebook Marketplace. It was built by professionals by Aftershock here in Australia, and they did a shocking job. They used extensions for all the cables of my PSU, and they used daisy chains. They didn't even plug all the all the pins in my CPUs. So, my computer keep crashing when running heavy workload. And most ridiculous thing is the local computer experts couldn't even figure out what the problem why. So, I have to troubleshoot everything myself using AI to do the troubleshooting and researching. Eventually, I fixed all the problem myself. And in that process, I formed a really strong bond with my PC. And then, in the future, if anything happens, I can fix them easily.
All right, let's get back to the topic. So, what you need to do is you need to find a reputable builder and then offer you at least 1 year assembly warranty. So, if anything goes wrong or doesn't runs properly, then you can go take it back. But you know, we have a strong community here in this channel. If you guys running into any hardware problems, welcome to leave it in the comments because I'm pretty sure there will be someone can help you here in this community, and let's grow together. Hope this video help you guys to make decisions what computer to buy. And once you build your own PC and you want to learn how can you run AI image generators or AI video generators, I have a lot of free resources in my channel, and I built a full playlist of LTS 2.3. You can check it out just clicking here. Otherwise, subscribe the channel by clicking here. Turn on that notification bell so you don't miss all the future awesome contents. And love you guys so much, and I will see you guys in the next video.