Methodology

How BudgetRig recommendations work

Price ranges, not teaser prices

Hardware prices are stored as realistic UK ranges with source links and a last-checked date. A build must fit inside your budget at the top of each component range. A price becomes stale after 45 days and the site labels it rather than silently presenting it as current.

Model fit and honest limits

BudgetRig checks usable VRAM or shared memory, model-file size, runtime headroom and editorial limits before recommending a model. If no sensible build fits, the result is an honest refusal rather than a weaker configuration disguised as success.

Benchmarks

Speed appears only when a published source matches the model, quant and hardware class. No published benchmarkmeans exactly that: BudgetRig leaves the speed absent instead of transferring a plausible-looking number from different hardware or a different model.

Caveats and used hardware

Recommendations include assembly steps, power and compatibility warnings, used-hardware risks and links to the evidence used. Availability is never guaranteed; marketplace search results and prices can move.

Affiliate funding

BudgetRig may earn from eBay links, but the recommendation engine does not use affiliate commission, click or earnings data when ranking builds. It selects from the same dataset before affiliate parameters are added to outbound URLs.

Who BudgetRig is for

BudgetRig is an independent UK-focused build adviser for people who want to run AI models locally and need a budget-first answer. Corrections and questions are welcome through the contact page.