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Apple M3 Pro Chip Has 25% Less Memory Bandwidth Than M1/M2 Pro
  • This was a real bummer for anyone interested in running local LLMs. Memory bandwidth is the limiting factor for performance in inference, and the Mac unified memory architecture is one of the relatively cheaper ways to get a lot of memory rather than buying a specialist AI GPU for $5-10k. I was planning to upgrade the memory a bit further than normal on my next MBP upgrade in order to experiment with AI, but now I’m questioning whether the pro chip will be fast enough to be useful.

  • Heat pumps can't take the cold? Nordics debunk the myth
  • The Mitsubishi Hyper heat can work down to -13F, The absolutely best resource I’ve found for heat pump research is the NEEP database which will you give you actual BTU outputs at various ambient temperature readings: https://ashp.neep.org/#!/product_list/
     Also worth considering a geothermal heat pump depending on your geography, as then you have a guarantee of efficiency all year round

  • Their kids died after buying drugs on Snapchat. Now the parents are suing
  • I am conflicted on this one. On one hand, yeah they’re just a platform, and realistically these kids would just go to another messaging service instead, but it also feels like they’re asleep at the wheel when it comes to investigating user reports of abuse.

    It’s sort of an all social media thing, because I’ve reported posts selling drugs on FB marketplace too and they ignored them after review.

    They quote one of the families in the article reporting a drug dealers account and Snapchat taking no action for months. I’d be willing to bet moderation is an afterthought and likely understaffed for the sheer volume of content on the app.

  • good alternatives to raspberry pi which are cheap and efficient?
  • Compact business desktops like others have mentioned are great. Depending on your needs, I also like using older or used laptops. They’re still power efficient if you get a recent processor model, people sell them for fairly cheap used, and sometimes having an attached keyboard and display is more convenient than having to hook up a crash cart

  • Wisest Upgrade from Raspberry Pi
  • Makes sense. I think you’d be fine with pretty much any modern(post DDR4) motherboard/CPU combo these days. I feel Linux hardware support is only really shakey if you’re using a SoC without upstream patches or if you’re using brand new hardware/laptops. With that being said if you’re running a lot of containers on one host have you looked into docker compose or kubernetes(k8s)? Maybe k8s is overkill for home use, but both offer support to restart containers if a health check fails. With k8s you also can spread out containers across multiple physical node, so you could just add a second RPI and “double” your resources.

  • Wisest Upgrade from Raspberry Pi
  • For $350-500 you could easily get a used desktop and processor with 16-32 gb ddr4. But it sort of depends on your home lab goals and workloads. Do you need a lot of storage? Are you CPU bound or memory bound? Some people will suggest used Dell/HP servers, and they’ll look affordable, but keep in mind enterprise gear will eat power and is usually loud. Personally I’d go for a used AMD 5800 or 5900 processor and mobo, install your favorite Linux, and call it a day. AMD processors don’t have quick sync which makes them slightly worse for plex hosting but better for everything else.

  • Young professionals are turning to AI to create headshots. But there are catches
  • Yeah, makes sense, the people I saw online with “successful” results were primarily white men, which I would imagine would pop up pretty frequently in a training set. The bias also feeds into the echo chamber of AI hype too in my opinion

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  • Teslas have some serious issues and shortcomings. And I say that as an owner. FSD is a mess and I don't trust it. The model 3 has some very opinionated design choices. I don't like how it's frameless. The interior is nowhere near as nice as cars in the same price range. There's only 2 usb ports and you need to use one of them for dashcam storage. Maintenance is a pain in the ass to DIY. They remove key features over OTA updates(they took away radar sensors for parking in older model 3s).

    However, if you're in the market for a used EV under 30k, you've only got basically 3 options: a rwd model 3, a leaf, or a bolt. The model 3 is the only one of those that has fast charging and can be taken on any sort of longer road trip. And they're cheap to charge at home. And even if you're shopping new, I'm fairly sure the base model 3 is the cheapest EV on the market if you qualify for the full tax credit.

  • Heat Pump switch-over temperature?
  • Ah, ok, good point. In my install, I did not opt to have them wire and install electric auxiliary heating strips for my unit, and the boiler & aqua coil is I believe being controlled by a control system that makes the unit think the boiler is a heating strip. 17 F is about the coldest it got in my climate last winter, so I guess that's a good starting point.
    So it seems my Heat pump alone would run at 4.2 kW for 31,800 Btu. at 17F. My blended electric rate is about $.12/kwH, so about $.5/hr to run.

    For my house, I believe the load calculation would be that I need about 48,000 Btu to effectively heat. Our boiler runs at 0.75 gal/hr max, and heating oil was $4.69/gallon last winter, so the boiler would still need to run at ~20-25% of capacity(assuming it's a linear curve) at 17F to reach that btu number based on 138,500btu/gal x 0.75gal/hr x 0.8(not so sure on efficiency) x 20% capacity = 16,620 btu, which I believe at 0.75gal/hr x 0.2 = 0.15gal/hr would be ~$0.72/hr. So that would give me a total cost of ~$1.2/hr for 48,420 btu.

    Without a heat pump, I guess I would solely be burning oil, so that would need to be about 57-60% load, so 138,500btu/gal x 0.75gal/hr x 0.8 x .6=49,860btu, which I believe at 0.75gal/hr x 0.6 = 0.45gal/hr would be ~$2.1/hr.

    It seems like based on my electric rates and the values from that heat pump, it should offset roughly half of my heating oil usage at the 4.2 kW electric consumption assuming the boiler has some sort of ability to modulate oil in take.

  • Home Improvement @lemmy.world bbbbb @lemmy.world
    Heat Pump switch-over temperature?

    Hi folks, I got a heat pump installed at my home and I'm looking to better understand when/how it switches over to backup fuel in the winter. My unit is the LENNOX ELITE EL18XPV SERIES, which I found heating specs on here It is installed in conjunction with a heating oil fired boiler and an aqua coil as the backup heat source. When it was installed, I asked, and the installer indicated that the heat pump will switch over to the boiler at about 37F. What I don't fully understand though, is that this unit was billed as a variable speed/inverter, so it seems it should be able to run at lower temperatures than 37. The website above seems to indicate it should produce 31,800 BTU/h at 17F, so can I set the "switch-over" temperature of outside to be lower to use less oil?

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    Home Improvement @lemmy.world bbbbb @lemmy.world
    Efficient basement dehumidification?

    I have 2 standard freestanding units in my basement and crawlspace running 24/7. I want to get something more energy efficient, will last a while, and that's easy to maintain. I am considering an Aprileaire dehumidifier. Based on this https://www.energystar.gov/productfinder/product/certified-dehumidifiers/results it would appear they have a high efficiency rating. Does anyone have experience with these or recommendations on solutions?

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    bbbbb @lemmy.world
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