Tobias Mann
@tobiasmann.bsky.social
Systems Editor at TheRegister / SitPub
— hiker, animal lover, photographer, blogger, and tech journo.
— hiker, animal lover, photographer, blogger, and tech journo.
#ICYMI I tested Nvidia's GB10-based DGX Spark against the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 395-based HP Z2 Mini G1a.
For AI development, the GB10 is hard to beat, but for an multi-purpose PC, AMD's Strix Halo is more flexible.
Full story: @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/12/25/a...
#AI #PC
For AI development, the GB10 is hard to beat, but for an multi-purpose PC, AMD's Strix Halo is more flexible.
Full story: @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/12/25/a...
#AI #PC
Tested: AMD's Strix Halo vs Nvidia's DGX Spark
Hands On: Two tiny boxes, 128 GB apiece – but very different strengths
www.theregister.com
December 29, 2025 at 9:26 PM
#ICYMI I tested Nvidia's GB10-based DGX Spark against the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 395-based HP Z2 Mini G1a.
For AI development, the GB10 is hard to beat, but for an multi-purpose PC, AMD's Strix Halo is more flexible.
Full story: @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/12/25/a...
#AI #PC
For AI development, the GB10 is hard to beat, but for an multi-purpose PC, AMD's Strix Halo is more flexible.
Full story: @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/12/25/a...
#AI #PC
#AMD's Strix Halo (Ryzen AI Max+ 395) and #Nvidia's DGX Spark (#GB10) are an interesting class of hardware for local AI #development.
Which is right for you depends on whether you want a #PC that runs AI or a PC for #AI.
My latest for @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/12/25/a...
Which is right for you depends on whether you want a #PC that runs AI or a PC for #AI.
My latest for @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/12/25/a...
Tested: AMD's Strix Halo vs Nvidia's DGX Spark
Hands On: Two tiny boxes, 128 GB apiece – but very different strengths
www.theregister.com
December 26, 2025 at 9:17 PM
#AMD's Strix Halo (Ryzen AI Max+ 395) and #Nvidia's DGX Spark (#GB10) are an interesting class of hardware for local AI #development.
Which is right for you depends on whether you want a #PC that runs AI or a PC for #AI.
My latest for @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/12/25/a...
Which is right for you depends on whether you want a #PC that runs AI or a PC for #AI.
My latest for @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/12/25/a...
If you hadn't noticed, AI infra all pretty much looks like #Nvidia's NVL72 now.
#AWS' Trainium3 UltraServers are the latest example
For more on the convergent evolution of #AI infra and the future of the #datacenter, find my latest on @theregister.com
forums.theregister.com/forum/all/20...
#AWS' Trainium3 UltraServers are the latest example
For more on the convergent evolution of #AI infra and the future of the #datacenter, find my latest on @theregister.com
forums.theregister.com/forum/all/20...
December 8, 2025 at 5:32 PM
If you hadn't noticed, AI infra all pretty much looks like #Nvidia's NVL72 now.
#AWS' Trainium3 UltraServers are the latest example
For more on the convergent evolution of #AI infra and the future of the #datacenter, find my latest on @theregister.com
forums.theregister.com/forum/all/20...
#AWS' Trainium3 UltraServers are the latest example
For more on the convergent evolution of #AI infra and the future of the #datacenter, find my latest on @theregister.com
forums.theregister.com/forum/all/20...
Here’s what you need to know about Graviton5
- 192 cores
- 2MB L2 per core
- 192MB of L3
- DDR5 7200 support - 8800MT/s planned
- 25% higher perf than AWS dual G4 M8g instances (192 cores vs 2x96 cores)
My latest for @theregister.com #reinvent #reinvent25
www.theregister.com/2025/12/04/a...
- 192 cores
- 2MB L2 per core
- 192MB of L3
- DDR5 7200 support - 8800MT/s planned
- 25% higher perf than AWS dual G4 M8g instances (192 cores vs 2x96 cores)
My latest for @theregister.com #reinvent #reinvent25
www.theregister.com/2025/12/04/a...
Amazon keeps pressure on Intel, AMD with 192-core Graviton5
re:invent: The homegrown chips now account for half of all new CPUs added to AWS over the past three years
www.theregister.com
December 5, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Here’s what you need to know about Graviton5
- 192 cores
- 2MB L2 per core
- 192MB of L3
- DDR5 7200 support - 8800MT/s planned
- 25% higher perf than AWS dual G4 M8g instances (192 cores vs 2x96 cores)
My latest for @theregister.com #reinvent #reinvent25
www.theregister.com/2025/12/04/a...
- 192 cores
- 2MB L2 per core
- 192MB of L3
- DDR5 7200 support - 8800MT/s planned
- 25% higher perf than AWS dual G4 M8g instances (192 cores vs 2x96 cores)
My latest for @theregister.com #reinvent #reinvent25
www.theregister.com/2025/12/04/a...
December 4, 2025 at 11:52 PM
December 2, 2025 at 4:38 PM
To compete with Nvidia, Amazon is embracing Nvidia, fusing the GPU giant's NVLink interconnects into its next-gen Trainium4 UltraServers.
My latest for @theregister.com
theregister.com/2025/12/02/a...
#reinvent #reInvent25 #aws #ai #cloud
My latest for @theregister.com
theregister.com/2025/12/02/a...
#reinvent #reInvent25 #aws #ai #cloud
Amazon to fuse Nvidia's NVLink into Trainium4 accelerators
Re:Invent: Meanwhile, Trainium3 makes its debut promising million-chip training clusters
theregister.com
December 2, 2025 at 4:38 PM
To compete with Nvidia, Amazon is embracing Nvidia, fusing the GPU giant's NVLink interconnects into its next-gen Trainium4 UltraServers.
My latest for @theregister.com
theregister.com/2025/12/02/a...
#reinvent #reInvent25 #aws #ai #cloud
My latest for @theregister.com
theregister.com/2025/12/02/a...
#reinvent #reInvent25 #aws #ai #cloud
The Tenstorrent's Blackhole QuietBox is an impressive bit of #AI kit.
- 128GB of GDDR6
- 2TB/s of MEM BW
- 3 petaFLOPS of FP8
- 12.8 Tbps of interconnect BW
- and an ambitious software strategy that... needs some polish
Find my full review on @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/11/27/t...
- 128GB of GDDR6
- 2TB/s of MEM BW
- 3 petaFLOPS of FP8
- 12.8 Tbps of interconnect BW
- and an ambitious software strategy that... needs some polish
Find my full review on @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/11/27/t...
Blackhole QuietBox, Tenstorrent's AI workstation reviewed
hands on: $12K machine promises performance that can scale to 32 chip servers and beyond but immature stack makes harnessing compute challenging
www.theregister.com
November 27, 2025 at 7:18 PM
The Tenstorrent's Blackhole QuietBox is an impressive bit of #AI kit.
- 128GB of GDDR6
- 2TB/s of MEM BW
- 3 petaFLOPS of FP8
- 12.8 Tbps of interconnect BW
- and an ambitious software strategy that... needs some polish
Find my full review on @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/11/27/t...
- 128GB of GDDR6
- 2TB/s of MEM BW
- 3 petaFLOPS of FP8
- 12.8 Tbps of interconnect BW
- and an ambitious software strategy that... needs some polish
Find my full review on @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/11/27/t...
Europe has joined the US as an exascale super power. EuroHPC's biggest iron has crested 1 EF on the Top500's HPL benchmark.
Is HPL still the bench to watch when Blackwell offers more than 200x the FP8 perf as FP64? #sc25
My latest for @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/11/17/e...
Is HPL still the bench to watch when Blackwell offers more than 200x the FP8 perf as FP64? #sc25
My latest for @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/11/17/e...
Europe joins the US as an exascale superpower
SC25: EuroHPC's biggest iron still has more to give with Universal Cluster expansion expected to come online next year
www.theregister.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Europe has joined the US as an exascale super power. EuroHPC's biggest iron has crested 1 EF on the Top500's HPL benchmark.
Is HPL still the bench to watch when Blackwell offers more than 200x the FP8 perf as FP64? #sc25
My latest for @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/11/17/e...
Is HPL still the bench to watch when Blackwell offers more than 200x the FP8 perf as FP64? #sc25
My latest for @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/11/17/e...
I'll be at SC25 next week repping @theregister.com for the fourth year running. Give me a shout if you're going to be in St Louis for the event.
November 10, 2025 at 4:33 PM
I'll be at SC25 next week repping @theregister.com for the fourth year running. Give me a shout if you're going to be in St Louis for the event.
Nvidia's biggest scale up domain is 72 GPUs. Google's is 9,216 TPUs.
Historically TPUs have trailed on FLOPS, memory, & bandwidth. That's no longer the case with Ironwood.
Google has a Blackwell-class TPU with absurd scale. More on @theregister.com ⬇️
www.theregister.com/2025/11/06/g...
Historically TPUs have trailed on FLOPS, memory, & bandwidth. That's no longer the case with Ironwood.
Google has a Blackwell-class TPU with absurd scale. More on @theregister.com ⬇️
www.theregister.com/2025/11/06/g...
TPU v7, Google's answer to Nvidia's Blackwell is nearly here
: Chocolate Factory's homegrown silicon boasts Blackwell-level perf at massive scale
www.theregister.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Nvidia's biggest scale up domain is 72 GPUs. Google's is 9,216 TPUs.
Historically TPUs have trailed on FLOPS, memory, & bandwidth. That's no longer the case with Ironwood.
Google has a Blackwell-class TPU with absurd scale. More on @theregister.com ⬇️
www.theregister.com/2025/11/06/g...
Historically TPUs have trailed on FLOPS, memory, & bandwidth. That's no longer the case with Ironwood.
Google has a Blackwell-class TPU with absurd scale. More on @theregister.com ⬇️
www.theregister.com/2025/11/06/g...
I might be crucified for saying this, but OEM GPU servers are boring now.
Everything is just a rebadged HGX box or NVL rack now.
The only point of differentiation becomes whose lights out management interface does it have.
Everything is just a rebadged HGX box or NVL rack now.
The only point of differentiation becomes whose lights out management interface does it have.
October 21, 2025 at 6:29 PM
I might be crucified for saying this, but OEM GPU servers are boring now.
Everything is just a rebadged HGX box or NVL rack now.
The only point of differentiation becomes whose lights out management interface does it have.
Everything is just a rebadged HGX box or NVL rack now.
The only point of differentiation becomes whose lights out management interface does it have.
Say what you will about the hardware or the software, @tenstorrent.bsky.social's Blackhole QuietBox is a gorgeous bit of kit.
Full review is already in the works #AI #Workstation #watercooling #Tech
Full review is already in the works #AI #Workstation #watercooling #Tech
October 21, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Say what you will about the hardware or the software, @tenstorrent.bsky.social's Blackhole QuietBox is a gorgeous bit of kit.
Full review is already in the works #AI #Workstation #watercooling #Tech
Full review is already in the works #AI #Workstation #watercooling #Tech
This was a fun review. I don't think folks realize how big a deal the DGX Spark is. A year ago an #Nvidia #workstation with 128GB+ of VRAM cost tens of thousands of dollars. Is it better than AMD's Strix Halo? Now that's the real question.
#DGXSpark #AI
www.theregister.com/2025/10/14/d...
#DGXSpark #AI
www.theregister.com/2025/10/14/d...
DGX Spark Nvidia's desktop supercomputer: first look
hands on: This relatively-affordable AI workstation isn’t about going fast; it’s about doing everything well enough
www.theregister.com
October 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
This was a fun review. I don't think folks realize how big a deal the DGX Spark is. A year ago an #Nvidia #workstation with 128GB+ of VRAM cost tens of thousands of dollars. Is it better than AMD's Strix Halo? Now that's the real question.
#DGXSpark #AI
www.theregister.com/2025/10/14/d...
#DGXSpark #AI
www.theregister.com/2025/10/14/d...
On the road again.
September 28, 2025 at 4:49 PM
On the road again.
Reposted by Tobias Mann
If you can't use AI then it's bye bye, Accenture tells staff.
If you can't use AI then it's bye bye, Accenture tells staff
ai-pocalypse: Consultancy says machine learning advice is making bank
www.theregister.com
September 26, 2025 at 8:05 PM
If you can't use AI then it's bye bye, Accenture tells staff.
I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve never held a QSFP DD cable before. It’s enormous compared to the SFP+ DACs I’m used to.
September 12, 2025 at 7:55 PM
I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve never held a QSFP DD cable before. It’s enormous compared to the SFP+ DACs I’m used to.
I love my dog. He's usually a very good boy. But having adopted him as a 10 week-old puppy less than a year before COVID hit, his anxiety can be overwhelming at times.
He had a vet visit today. He got his shots, but wouldn't let the Dr. do a proper exam. We get to come back in 4 weeks and try again
He had a vet visit today. He got his shots, but wouldn't let the Dr. do a proper exam. We get to come back in 4 weeks and try again
September 12, 2025 at 5:27 PM
I love my dog. He's usually a very good boy. But having adopted him as a 10 week-old puppy less than a year before COVID hit, his anxiety can be overwhelming at times.
He had a vet visit today. He got his shots, but wouldn't let the Dr. do a proper exam. We get to come back in 4 weeks and try again
He had a vet visit today. He got his shots, but wouldn't let the Dr. do a proper exam. We get to come back in 4 weeks and try again
Look what just landed in the lab
September 12, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Look what just landed in the lab
Something curious I’ve noticed is I’m using virtualization less in my homelab preferring instead to run bare metal with containers.
I still keep a PVE box for VMs when they’re warranted but a lot of the stuff I’m doing can be achieved using containers.
#Linux #VM #Homelab #tech
I still keep a PVE box for VMs when they’re warranted but a lot of the stuff I’m doing can be achieved using containers.
#Linux #VM #Homelab #tech
September 11, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Ever since Nvidia started talking about disaggregated inference architectures at GTC this spring, I had a feeling a HBM-less prefill accelerator was only a matter of time.
My latest for @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/09/10/n...
#Nvidia #AI #Datacenter #Servers #HPC
My latest for @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/09/10/n...
#Nvidia #AI #Datacenter #Servers #HPC
Nvidia's context-optimized Rubin CPX GPUs were inevitable
Analysis: Why strap pricey, power-hungry HBM to a job that doesn't benefit from the bandwidth?
www.theregister.com
September 10, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Ever since Nvidia started talking about disaggregated inference architectures at GTC this spring, I had a feeling a HBM-less prefill accelerator was only a matter of time.
My latest for @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/09/10/n...
#Nvidia #AI #Datacenter #Servers #HPC
My latest for @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2025/09/10/n...
#Nvidia #AI #Datacenter #Servers #HPC
Oof. I can relate. Last night my email was filled with TrueNAS warnings. A drive reported Smart Errors.
Logs: extended test failed.
short test fails. Yep dead drive. 😟
Backup my core files and drop in the cold spare. 6 hours of resilvering left to go.
www.theregister.com/2025/09/03/m...
Logs: extended test failed.
short test fails. Yep dead drive. 😟
Backup my core files and drop in the cold spare. 6 hours of resilvering left to go.
www.theregister.com/2025/09/03/m...
Matrix.org homeserver grinds to a halt after RAID meltdown
: Engineers wrangle 55 TB restore and traffic replay as millions of messages queue up
www.theregister.com
September 3, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Oof. I can relate. Last night my email was filled with TrueNAS warnings. A drive reported Smart Errors.
Logs: extended test failed.
short test fails. Yep dead drive. 😟
Backup my core files and drop in the cold spare. 6 hours of resilvering left to go.
www.theregister.com/2025/09/03/m...
Logs: extended test failed.
short test fails. Yep dead drive. 😟
Backup my core files and drop in the cold spare. 6 hours of resilvering left to go.
www.theregister.com/2025/09/03/m...
New bench who this?
August 30, 2025 at 12:56 AM
New bench who this?
After three years of 24/7 service in my homelab my R9 3900X met its end on Sunday.
During routine thermal paste change the cooler ripped it from the socket bending several pins.
Alas even when bent back into position it refused to post. RIP my friend.
#AMD #CPU #PC #Homelab #Tech
During routine thermal paste change the cooler ripped it from the socket bending several pins.
Alas even when bent back into position it refused to post. RIP my friend.
#AMD #CPU #PC #Homelab #Tech
August 26, 2025 at 2:37 PM
In my latest hands on for @theregister.com I break down everything you need to know to run large language models in the privacy of our home using Llama.cpp.
www.theregister.com/2025/08/24/l...
#AI #PC #LLM #HomeLab
www.theregister.com/2025/08/24/l...
#AI #PC #LLM #HomeLab
How to run LLMs on PC at home using Llama.cpp
Hands on: Everything you need to know to build, run, serve, optimize and quantize models on your PC
www.theregister.com
August 25, 2025 at 1:52 PM
In my latest hands on for @theregister.com I break down everything you need to know to run large language models in the privacy of our home using Llama.cpp.
www.theregister.com/2025/08/24/l...
#AI #PC #LLM #HomeLab
www.theregister.com/2025/08/24/l...
#AI #PC #LLM #HomeLab