Introduction
My Motivation
I have been using Linux for such a long time that I have lost track. One of my favorite things is that I can customize it fully to my specialized needs, which have only grown ever since my start. Because of that, the first workstation PC that I set up used an AMD GPU — back when it had unbeatable driver support — and specifically the RX580.
Unfortunately, one of the issues that have arose from my mounting needs is the need of a workflow for machine learning and 3D graphics. I am lucky enough to have the 8GB variant, but the outdated architecture (Polaris) and the lack of CUDA makes it really hard to make the best use of it in production; even if I use workarounds.
Another thing that I’ve recently had is a laptop for travel and business work. Since the prices of graphics cards are still very inflated, I thought that the best way for me to save a few bucks is to buy a laptop with a good graphics card and lots of VRAM so that I do not have to buy later.
Why Razer Blade 15
Its graphics card, the NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti, was the main factor of my purchase. While NVIDIA is known for using low amounts of VRAM for planned obsolescence, they actually gave us a hidden gift with the 30 series: unlike the desktop GPU variants, the 80 Ti features 16GB of VRAM!
With this VRAM, I can run my personal model converting system audio to text, my local LLM, and ComfyUI with Stable Diffusion all at the same time — without needing to offload much into the system memory. And what’s more, I even managed to backport paywalled features like DLSS4 for running games with awesome tools by the community, so I am not missing out on new features!
There were other laptops on eBay, but I bought the Blade 15 because it was portable, relatively affordable (I got it for less 1000 dollars), and the seller was very trustworthy.
Overview
This article shows my own Linux-based operating system, Nixtra at a first glane, including thermal optimizations and benchmarks that were recorded for each step. Then, you will see a deep cleaning session and me applying the Honeywell PTM7950 phase-change material alongside the Jarapad Extreme thermal putty.
The Operating System
My operating system, Nixtra, is based on NixOS; a distribution that focuses on immutability and reproducibility. What mine does is harden the kernel, programs, and services, and also set advanced measures for privacy, security, and anonymity, depending on one’s needs. While that is cool and all
