# AI Knowledge Base

**What this is:** Tony's evolving record of AI releases, hardware configurations, tools, and links
worth remembering. Grows daily from the 21:30 knowledge debrief.

**What this is NOT — the one rule that keeps this safe:**

> **This file is a library, not a backlog.**

Nothing here is a commitment. Reading something interesting and filing it costs nothing. The moment a
find makes Tony want to *build* something, it goes in the mentor's `queue.md` and waits its turn behind
the active item — it does **not** become today's work.

The test of whether this ritual is working: **does this file grow while the active item still ships?**
If the notes grow and Thornhill stalls, the ritual has failed and we cut it. Tony's admitted failure
mode is exactly this — investigating too many ideas at once until he's paralysed. A capture ritual is
a *defence* against that, not an invitation to it, but only as long as it stays capture.

**Format:** dated, one line per entry, link if there is one, no evaluation, no "I should try this."

```
## YYYY-MM-DD
- <what it is> — <one clause on why it's interesting> — <link>
```

---

## 2026-09-11

- **"96 GB VRAM 5090" sold via Alibaba** — *reported by Tony from a link someone sent.*
  **VERIFIED 2026-09-11** — the claim is true.
  - **Shenzhen Suqiao Intelligent Technology** (a Chinese OEM/ODM, 10+ years making GPUs, boards,
    servers) listed a modified **RTX 5090 with 96 GB** on Alibaba at **$3,888** — 3× the stock 32 GB.
    Covered by Tom's Hardware and TechPowerUp, both published **11 Sep 2026**.
  - **Why it's plausible, not fantasy:** NVIDIA's own **RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell** uses the *same GB202
    silicon* with 96 GB of GDDR7. The mod is likely a custom PCB in clamshell mode plus modified
    firmware — the same route that produced the RTX 4090 48 GB, 3090 48 GB, and 5080 32 GB mods.
  - **Caveats worth keeping attached:** the listing's own specs are internally inconsistent — it
    claims **GDDR6X** and 14 Gbps, but GDDR6X only shipped in 2 GB modules (capping clamshell at
    48 GB) and runs 19–24 Gbps. Also: **no NVIDIA support, no warranty.** And the price is all over
    the map — $3,888 listed, ~$5,900 from other Alibaba sellers, ~**$8,200** quoted in Shenzhen's
    Huaqiangbei market for a card plus the 96 GB swap.
  - **Relevance — read this before getting excited:** if the cards are real and stable, this is the
    cheapest route to large-VRAM local inference, which is directly on the path to Tony's stated
    long-term aim (bots doing the work). But it is gray-market hardware with no recourse.
    **This is a research entry, not a purchase.** It goes in the queue if Tony ever wants to act.

---

## Themes to watch

*(Added as patterns emerge — the point of a knowledge base is that it eventually tells you something
you didn't know you knew.)*

- **Local inference hardware** — VRAM-per-dollar, modified cards, multi-GPU configs. Relevant because
  Tony's stated long-term goal is automation that runs without renting someone else's model.
- **Agent harnesses & orchestration** — releasing fast. See the mentor's `notes/deepseek-harness.md`
  for the DeepSeek Harness briefing (parked).