Building an AI workstation is rarely about buying the single fastest component on the market; it is about finding the specific "sweet spot" that fits your workload. Whether you are prioritizing VRAM capacity, PCIe lane availability, or thermal management, the right build depends entirely on how you plan to use your machine. The goal isn't just raw power, but the ability to run the tools you need efficiently.
This is the first article in a new AI Hardware series talking about the requirements for running AI Models and why paying attention to these things can help you build a better AI Workstation. If anything learning why a DGX Spark or Mac Mini work but, can also be really slow.
2026 marks the 30th year for Lexar and they started CES off with an announcement that they were going to be the global storage partner for the Argentina National Football (Soccer) Team and launched a number of AI focused storage devices.
According to CES 2026 material there were over 4100 exhibitors registered to attend along with several unknowns looking to take advantage of CES by hosting their own events in area hotels. It is not practical to see everything but with a good pair of shoes and a crisp Pepsi I attempted to do the impossible.
Pro Gamers Group was available at CES showing of some of the latest products available in their catalog including a number of ultra light mice, a racing chair and some rather impressive GPU waterblocks.
There were several video cards on display at the Zotac suite from a tiny mini ITX style GTX 970 to the AMP! Super Omega Extreme editions with fancy lights and large capacitors.
Our first visit during the CES week was with beQuiet and they used their presentation suite to show off some new products that are available for your cooling and computer containment needs.
A NAS (Network Attached Storage) system can help you safeguard your data and do much much more. Asustor was showing off their new line of 7 Series NAS devices along with some of the new features of ADM 2.3.
Gigabyte had several new times on display starting with the X99 SOC Champion. This is basically a revision of the X99 SOC Force designed specifically for overclockers and hardware enthusiasts.
In this article I’m going to use an EVGA GTX 980 Classified the way EVGA had intended and overclock the card using LN2 (Liquid Nitrogen). Of course the card is extremely solid without LN2 and offers better performance over reference designs with a full EVGA warranty but, I want more.
By switching focus away from “The Fastest Person Wins” we open up overclocking to a whole new level of competition. Hardware makers will still have a reason to build and market their high-end overclocking hardware and players will be given a chance to choose what hardware they want to use.
ASRock Steel Legend 360 LCD Liquid CPU Cooler Review @ ThinkComputersASRock Radeon RX 9070 XT Taichi White OC @ TechPowerUpCORSAIR MAKR PRO 75 Hall Effect DIY Keyboard Review @ Funky Kit ReviewdarkFlash Explore DE360 @ TechPowerUpAorus X870E Elite X3D Ice Motherboard ReviewCrimson Desert Performance Benchmark ReviewHighPoint Announces Rocket 1604L: The World’s Most Compact PCIe Gen5 x16 Retimer AIC for AI and Industrial EdgeTurboQuant - the Pied Piper Technology for AITurboQuant: Revolutionizing AI Efficiency Through Extreme Compression – A Game Changer for Search and Large Language ModelsBuilding a Multi-GPU AI Workstation on a Budget