The Machine
This is a consumer-grade gaming PC repurposed as an AI server. No server hardware needed. Everything was already in the living room, connected to a TV.
CPU
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
RAM
96 GB DDR5
GPU
AMD RX 7900 XTX 24GB
Root SSD
295 GB (ext4)
Data SSD
4 TB (NTFS)
OS
Ubuntu 24.04 + Windows
Storage Layout
The 4TB SSD is the secret weapon. It holds models, backups, and Timeshift snapshots — all while keeping the root partition clean.
| Partition | Size | Filesystem | Mounted At | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nvme1n1p5 | 295 GB | ext4 | / | Ubuntu root, Docker images, configs |
| nvme0n1p1 | ~500 GB | NTFS | — | Windows C: drive |
| nvme0n1p3 | ~1.8 TB | NTFS | /media/wm/2TB-Data | Ollama models, Restic repo, Timeshift |
| nvme0n1p4 | ~1.9 TB | NTFS | OS-BK | General storage, Macrium Reflect backups |
💡 Pro tip
Ollama models are 72 GB. Keeping them on the 4TB SSD via symlink (
/home/wm/.ollama/models → /media/wm/2TB-Data/ollama-models) dropped root partition usage from 73% to 47%.
Dual Boot
Windows stays for gaming and Macrium Reflect backups. Ubuntu runs the AI stack. GRUB handles boot selection.
Windows side
- Macrium Reflect for full disk imaging
- No Linux version exists — use Timeshift on Ubuntu instead
- HER (Windows agent) runs there when booted
Ubuntu side
- All AI services run here
- Restic + Timeshift for backup
- HER (Ubuntu agent) — the primary workhorse
⚠️ Timeshift + NTFS conflict
Timeshift wants exclusive mount control during snapshots. If your data partition is mounted at boot via fstab, Timeshift will fail. Solution: use
noauto in fstab + a systemd oneshot service to mount after local-fs.target.
Why AMD GPU?
NVIDIA is the default choice for AI, but AMD ROCm works well for inference:
- 24 GB VRAM — runs 30B models comfortably (18 GB model + overhead)
- ROCm 6.2 — Ollama supports it natively
- Free — already owned the card
- Linux-first — ROCm is better supported on Linux than Windows
One quirk: the 7900 XTX reports as gfx1100 but needs HSA_OVERRIDE_GFX_VERSION=11.0.0 to work with ROCm's compatibility layer.
Total Cost
| Item | Cost | Note |
|---|---|---|
| PC hardware | $0 | Already owned |
| Ubuntu | $0 | Free |
| Ollama | $0 | Open source |
| Open WebUI | $0 | Open source (MIT) |
| Nextcloud | $0 | Open source (AGPL) |
| Jellyfin | $0 | Open source (GPL) |
| AdGuard Home | $0 | Open source |
| Restic + Timeshift | $0 | Both open source |
| Total | $0 | Existing hardware only |