My third ESXi host, ESX-3, runs an NVIDIA A2 instead of the L4 found in ESX-1 and ESX-2. The A2 is a lower-power data center GPU with a 60 W TDP compared to the L4’s 72 W. Like the L4, it is passively cooled and supports NVIDIA vGPU. I am cooling it with the same…
Category: AI/ML & vGPU
n3rdware NVIDIA L4 Coolers: 3-Slot vs 1-Slot Compared
As part of my collaboration with Robbe from n3rdware, he designed two different aftermarket coolers for the NVIDIA L4: a 3-slot version and a 1-slot version. I tested each one on a separate ESXi host running the same stress test. This article brings both results together in a direct comparison so you can see how…
NVIDIA L4 Cooling Results with a Custom 1 Slot Cooler from n3rdware
I’m happy to say that my collaboration with Robbe from n3rdware has finally reached the finish line. He has been designing and selling custom GPU coolers for years, with most of his customers coming from the home lab community, so this project was in very capable hands from the start. As part of this collaboration,…
My NVIDIA L4 Now Runs 18°C Cooler with a Custom 3 Slot Cooler
I’m happy to say that my collaboration with Robbe from n3rdware has finally reached the finish line. Robbe has been designing and selling custom GPU coolers for years, with most of his customers coming from the home lab community, so this project was in very capable hands from the start. Our goal was to build…
Building My Custom iSCSI/NFS Storage Server
The Custom Storage build was one of the most serious server builds I have done, and I am very happy with how it turned out. Here is the story in more detail. For more than a week, I was busy building my Storage server. For years, I had planned to make my existing servers diskless,…
After Upgrading vGPU from 16.9 to Newer Versions, nvidia-smi Fails on ESXi: “Couldn’t communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running.”
I recently ran into a tricky issue while upgrading NVIDIA vGPU on a VMware ESXi host using an NVIDIA A2 GPU. On my Management Core Server, I replaced an NVIDIA Tesla P4 with an NVIDIA A2 because the A2 has more VRAM and supports newer vGPU releases. The P4 is still a capable GPU and…
Building a Custom Silent Cooler for NVIDIA A2 and L4 Data Center GPUs with n3rdware
My goal with my home lab has always been clear. Keep it as silent as possible and as cool as possible, without sacrificing performance. Recently I started working more seriously with the NVIDIA A2 and the NVIDIA L4. Both are data center GPUs designed to operate inside rack servers with strong, directed airflow. They do…
PNY NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 96GB Blackwell Workstation Edition
My homelab just got a big upgrade to run large Private AI models, experiment, train, and have some fun. The PNY NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Workstation Edition is an absolute beast—the most powerful workstation GPU ever made. (96GB GDDR7, 600W, PCIe 5, AI performance 4000 TOPS, RT Core Performance 380 TFLOPS, Single-Precision Performance 125…
Heading to NVIDIA GTC AI Conference – Let’s Connect! March 17-21, 2025 | San Jose
If you’re attending the NVIDIA GTC Conference this year, feel free to reach out and connect with me. Here are some seminars that I highly recommend. Heritage Meets Technology: Leveraging Virtualized Platforms for Architectural Conservation and Business Innovation [S72407] Thursday, Mar 20 – 2:00 PM – 2:40 PM PDT Mark Cichy, Principal, Director of Design…
How Fast Is My Home Lab?
I have been tuning my Home Lab network during my vacation. Private AI/ML, vGPU and VDI requires a fast Home Lab setup. I tweaked my Switch (Dell EMC S4112T-ON), UDM Pro, ESXi hosts, and also revisited the subnetting logic. I went over my servers’ BIOS CPU and RAM features and found out that default settings…