I regret building a $3000 Pi AI Cluster

Video Description

It's been a while. Some Kickstarters take time. What do you think about doing the same thing 10 times in a row, over and over? If that's your jam, build a cluster like I did in this video! If you want to replicate the Compute Blade Cluster, here are all the parts I used (some links are affiliate links): - Compute Blade DEV: https://www.pishop.us/product/compute-blade-dev/ - Compute Blade Standard Fan Unit: https://www.pishop.us/product/fansta-1v1-0/ - Compute Blade 10" 3D Print Rackmount: https://github.com/Uptime-Lab/compute-blade/tree/main/models/bladerunner - Raspberry Pi CM5 16GB (CM5016000): https://www.pishop.us/product/raspberry-pi-compute-module-5-16gb-ram-lite-cm5016000/ - GLOTRENDS Aluminum CM5 Heatsink: https://amzn.to/45YACBV - Patriot P300 256GB NVMe SSD 10-pack: https://amzn.to/4lPJ0JC - GigaPlus 2.5 Gbps 10 port PoE+ switch: https://amzn.to/3UNOwSd - GigaPlus 10" Rack Mount 3D Print ears: https://www.printables.com/model/1215585-unified-10-rack-gigaplus-switch-mounting-ears - Monoprice Cat6A SlimRun 6" Cat6 patch cables (10 pack): https://amzn.to/4fX1gzr - ioplex SFP+ Twinax DAC patch cable: https://amzn.to/47UlPKX - DeskPi RackMate TT: https://amzn.to/3UUjCHP Other resources mentioned in the video: - My older Compute Blade video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKDGlpnP-vE - Xerxes Pi Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1907647187/small-board-big-possibilities-xerxes-pi - Xerxes Pi testing: https://github.com/geerlingguy/raspberry-pi-pcie-devices/issues/753 - Unredacted Labs' Tor exit cluster: https://unredacted.org/blog/2025/05/unredacted-labs/ - World's Largest Pi Cluster at UC Santa Barbara: https://www.independent.com/2025/04/29/worlds-biggest-raspberry-pi-cluster-is-now-at-uc-santa-barbara/ Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/geerlingguy Sponsor me on GitHub: https://github.com/sponsors/geerlingguy Merch: https://www.redshirtjeff.com 2nd Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GeerlingEngineering 3rd Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Level2Jeff Contents: 00:00 - 2 years 2 long 00:32 - Another blade 01:30 - Unboxing a cluster 03:06 - Assembling one of 10 06:11 - A bandolier of microSD cards 07:16 - Assembling blades 2-10 08:16 - Next steps - fans and storage 10:17 - Flashing NVMe drives 11:00 - Only Fan Units 12:45 - They all just... disappeared 14:33 - Spending another $200 15:45 - Cluster benchmarks: HPL 16:23 - Spending another $70 17:03 - Framework cluster vs Pi cluster 18:12 - AI clustering (down one node) 19:26 - llama.cpp is totally RPC 20:54 - Exo and Distributed Llama 22:09 - Blade (the movie) vs blade (the compute)