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  • 15 Liter Energy-Efficient AI Workstation with Ryzen 9, 128GB DDR5 RAM, and an Nvidia RTX Pro 4000 Blackwell GPU

    I recently built this new, energy-efficient AI workstation to replace the much more power hungry workstation that I built a year ago. While my old workstation had substantially more VRAM and compute than my new workstation, it was as loud as a jet engine and used a considerable amount of electricity each month. The new one handles my workloads adequately, runs whisper quiet, and sips electricity by comparison.

    Below, you can see some pictures of assembling the workstation and advice based on my experience building this system.

    When I began researching this build, the price of RAM and video cards began to rocket into the stratosphere. I considered keeping the old workstation’s motherboard and CPU, but swap out the 64GB of RAM for a matched pair totaling 128GB DDR5 RAM. But, the price of desktop DDR5 versus laptop RAM got me to thinking about an alternative option made by Minisforum–a mini-itx motherboard paired with a laptop processor and laptop SO-DIMM DDR5 RAM slots. So, I decided to part out and sell off the entire old workstation and build the new one from scratch. This is what I purchased:

    I began by setting up the Minisforum BD895i SE motherboard.

    I installed the nvme drives in the two slots at the top edge of the motherboard. The plastic retainer pins are difficult to open with my hands. I used a Gerber multitool’s plyers to grab the wings at the top of the pin and pulled straight up while holding down the board with my other hand. Reinstalling each pin is very easy–just line it up with the hole and press down firmly on the pin until it makes a click sound.

    Then, I installed the two sticks of DDR5 memory that I had read others had used with this motherboard. It pays to read the experience of others through Google, Reddit and Amazon reviews to find the optimal parts for your build so that you don’t have to worry about making returns for incompatibility issues.

    Installing the RAM is easy. The white clips on each slot need to be opened first. Then, check the orientation of each RAM stick’s notch with the slot (the notch is in a different place for DDR4 and DDR5 RAM making them mechanically incompatible to enforce the electrical incompatibility). Finally, line up the RAM stick with the slot and push down firmly until the arms on either side click into place and hold the RAM stick in place.

    I missed taking a photo of installing the fan brackets on to the CPU’s heatsink. There were no instructions in the box showing how to do this, but it is easy to see how the two metal brackets included align with the six holes–three on each side of the top of the heatsink–and finding which bag has six screws of the appropriate size. Once the brackets are installed, the 120 mm fan’s mounting holes line up with screw holes on the brackets. The motherboard box has a selection of screws of different lengths to accommodate popular heights of fans. Find the one for your fan and install the four screws. The motherboard is ready for mounting.

    The TGDGAMER 15 liter Micro-ATX case can accommodate mATX and Mini-ITX motherboards. Like old school towers, the PSU is mounted at the top of the case above the motherboard. In this orientation, the PSU draws air from inside the case and pushes it out the back of its housing at the rear of the case.

    It included all the hardware needed to install the motherboard and tie straps for cable management.

    Before installing the motherboard, there is a metal L-shaped plate that needs to be removed from the opening where the motherboard’s ports are exposed at the rear of the case. Bending this piece back and forth a few times makes it snap off. It’s purpose is to secure the expansion cards, but despite bending it and the case, I couldn’t get it to line up correctly without putting too much stress on the installed video card, so I left it off.

    The Corsair RM1000x (2024 version) is an updated PSU that adds a 12V-2×6 connector for modern video cards so that you don’t need an adapter–fewer cables and fewer obstructions to air flow.

    Before installing the PSU, I added one 120 mm Arctic fan to the inside-front of the case in the upper position (there’s room for two 120 mm fans, but my video card is too long to accommodate the second fan).

    I connected the power cords to the PSU that I would need–two for the CPU and one for the video card.

    With the motherboard still outside the case, I connected the sound, USB, and front panel power and reset buttons and power and HDD LEDs.

    I maneuvered the motherboard into place and installed it with the case’s included mounting screws.Then, I connected the two power cables for the motherboard.

    The last part to install was the PNY Nvidia RTX 4000 Pro Blackwell video card.

    It comes with a 2 x PCIe power to 12v 2 x 6 connector adapter, which I didn’t need to use thanks to the new Corsair PSU.

    After some experimenting with installing the video card, I wanted a little bit of extra room for the 12v 2×6 cable that plugs into the front of the video card. It fit, but I would sleep easier knowing that those cables weren’t pressed hard up against the metal front of the case. My solution was to take out the video card and using the handle of a large screwdriver, I pressed on the front of the case from inside to create a bump of about 1/4″ in height to give that cable a little extra breathing room in front of the video card.

    Before positioning the 9.5″ long video card into the 9 27/23″ space, I connected the power cable to the card and went through contortions to line it up with the PCIe slot and pushed it in until it clicked into place and then screwed it into the case.

    While installing the motherboard, I realized that it wouldn’t fit into place with an 80 mm fan installed inside the case, so I removed the 80 mm exhaust fan that the case came with, bent the exhaust fan cover of the case so that it wouldn’t obstruct installing the 80 mm on the outside of the case pulling air from inside the case and pushing it out. I ran the power cable for the fan through the hole above the expansion card slots.

    With the workstation assembled, it was time to power it up.

    The BIOS isn’t as robust as some other manufacturers’, but I was able to quickly find where to change boot options so that I could boot from a USB drive.

    The first order of business was verifying the system’s 128GB DDR5 RAM with memtest86+. Thankfully, it passed!

    Feeling confident about the system, I began installing Debian 13 Trixie. Unfortunately, after spending about 8 hours, I couldn’t get Debian to play well with using the AMD integrated graphics for video out and using the Nvidia RTX 4000 Pro only for compute.

    I figured that I would give my former favorite distribution Linux Mint a try with their latest 22.3 version with Xfce. I wish that I had installed it to begin with. It was a turn key experience! I installed the 590 Nvidia drivers without any trouble and Linux Mint maintained video out with the AMD integrated graphics while using the Nvidia GPU for AI tasks.

    I’m sure that a solutions exists for Debian 13, but I don’t know enough and couldn’t find relevant advice for this particular setup. After waiting some time for software updates and more sharing of troubleshooting advice, I might try installing Debian on this machine again. For the time being, I’m happy with Linux Mint with Xfce, which I’ve configured to look like BeOS.

    After installing text-generation-webui (for llama.cpp) and ComfyUI, they have worked flawlessly on the new workstation. For text generation, I am able to run models in the 103 to 120B parameter range at 4 bit quantization, or 70B models at 8 bit quantization. For ComfyUI workflows, I purge the GPU’s VRAM to make the most out of its 24 GB GDDR7 memory without having to offload to the CPU/RAM.

  • LEGO Technics Laptop Stand for 16″ Lenovo Thinkpad P1 Gen4

    open laptop raised on a stand sitting on a white desk

    I’ve been using my Lenovo Thinkpad P1 Gen4 laptop as a desktop replacement system lately, so I wanted to raise its screen higher to avoid slouching and subsequent neck and shoulder pain. While there are lots of solutions to buy, I opted to use the LEGO Technics that I had on hand to build a stand. My goals for the project were facilitating maximum air flow and reliably holding a 4 lb. 5 oz. laptop.

    I started by disassembling the folding stand that I had built in 2024, but I noted how I sandwiched a Technic beam between two Technic bricks. The beam’s lower dimension provided a smooth shelf for the laptop’s feet to rest on and the studs on the bricks kept the laptop from sliding off the beam toward the front or rear. I planned to replicate this design in the new laptop stand.

    Another important element of the design was an open space beneath the laptop for maximum air flow (this laptop has an NVIDIA RTX A5000 16GB video card that I use for AI workflows). I figured that a rectangular holder for the laptop would work best and allow me to use the black Technic bricks that I had on hand in limited numbers (I have far more light and dark gray elements thanks to all of the Star Wars sets I’ve built over the years).

    To strengthen the rectangular frame, there are four layers: top-most brick structure, plates, substructure bricks, and plates. All joints are overlapped, which further strengthens the design.

    To support the rectangular laptop frame, I used one L-shaped beam to hold the frame at the bottom and a long Technic brick at 90 degrees to raise the back. As an added support to the back Technic brick, I put a L-shaped beam to apply pressure to the rectangular frame when under the weight of the laptop.

    The base of the stand is U-shaped to hold either side’s base in place to prevent any lateral movement, which could cause one of the supports to unhinge.

    As a safety measure, I added two Technic L-shaped beams to the bottom center of the laptop frame if not to hold the laptop in place should it slip off then to slow it down as it crashes forward on my desk. I’ve also found this useful for holding paper, such as printed articles, which makes it easy to read and type by looking down-and-up instead of to the left or right.

    The stand raises the back of the laptop up 7″, which makes the top of the monitor about even with my eye line. I’ve only been using it a couple of days, but it seems to fit the bill perfectly for my needs.

  • CUNY Graduate Center Classroom for Interactive Technology and Pedagogy I

    panoramic view of a seminar style classroom from a corner opposite the door, two chalkboards, overhead projector, tv in back

    Last night, I stuck around after my first co-taught Interactive Technology and Pedagogy I class at the CUNY Graduate Center. The class went very well. Students demonstrated that they had done the reading and some brought deep perspectives from their disciplines to bear on our first discussion on technology and media.

    Thankfully, there were no classes afterwards, because after everyone cleared out, I used the classroom to meet with a City Tech student over Zoom for her Individualized Study of ENG3790 Information Architecture.

  • Call for Papers: The Tenth Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium on Image in SF

    Call for Papers: Image in Science Fiction: The Tenth Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium

    Deadline for CFP: Friday, Oct. 31, 2025

    Date and Time of Event: Tuesday, December 2, 2025, 9:00AM-5:00PM EST

    Location: Academic Building A-105, New York City College of Technology (City Tech), CUNY

    Organizers: Jill Belli, Wanett Clyde, Jason W. Ellis, Leigh Gold, Kel Karpinski, Lucas Kwong, and Vivian Zuluaga Papp

    Science Fiction (SF) is an image driven genre. Whether described in text, see the “dull yellow eye” in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818)); rendered in the two-dimensional art of magazines like Analog; or brought to life in film, TV, and video games, SF imagery continually confirms Gérard Klein’s observation that “science fiction does not proceed directly from science, nor from philosophy, but from the “images (eikons) and representations (eidons)” that these disciplines “unknowingly” produce (“From the Images of Science to Science Fiction,” 2000). SF images abound; how those images are understood and interpreted iterates to infinity.

    The Tenth Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium explores the many aspects, configurations, and meanings of the image in SF. We invite proposals for 10-20 minute scholarly paper presentations or 40-60 minute panel discussions related to the topic of image in SF broadly construed. Please send a 250-word abstract with title, brief 100-150-word professional bio, and contact information to Jason Ellis (jellis@citytech.cuny.edu) by Friday, October 31, 2025. 

    Topics with a connection to image in SF might include but certainly are not limited to:

    • image across modalities: textual, visual, interactive, etc.
    • images of race, ethnicity, sex, gender, sexuality, and other aspects of identity
    • images meant to shape understanding of stories and/or sell them (e.g., magazine covers, in-text illustrations, movie posters, trailers)
    • advertising images in and around SF (e.g., advertising to sell SF as well as non-SF advertising around SF ranging from Big Tobacco to the Johnson Smith Co.
    • fandom’s use, adaptation, and transformation of images 
    • image and politics
    • image and meaning
    • image and representation
    • SF and photography
    • SF, simulacra, and simulation
    • Generative AI and SF

    The event will be held in person at the New York City College of Technology (City Tech), CUNY in downtown Brooklyn, New York. 

    This event is free and open to the public as space permits: an RSVP will be included with the program when announced on the Science Fiction at City Tech website (https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/sciencefictionatcitytech/). Free registration will be required for participation.

    The event is sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences at the New York City College of Technology, CUNY.

    The Annual City Tech Symposium on Science Fiction is held in celebration of the City Tech Science Fiction Collection, an archival holding of over 600-linear feet of magazines, anthologies, novels, and scholarship. It is in the Archives and Special Collections of the Ursula C. Schwerin Library (Library Building, L543C, New York City College of Technology, 300 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201). More information about the collection and how to access it is available here: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/sciencefictionatcitytech/librarycollection/.

  • The Magazine Rack at the Internet Archive

    The Internet Archive has a tremendous collection of magazines across all disciplinary possibilities. Most are contained in The Magazine Rack. You can read them online, download them individually, or bulk download them using Jeff Kaplin’s instructions from 2012. Though, I have modified Kaplin’s wget command when files stopped downloading due to changes at archive.org, wget, or both:

    wget -r -l 1 -nc -np -nH --cut-dirs=3 -A .cbz,.cbr,.pdf -e robots=off -l1 -i itemlist.txt -B https://archive.org/download/