I built my current system in early January 2025. I felt like prices were bleeding me dry back then (especially the GPU - I paid over 750€ for a slightly used 4070 Ti Super), but in retrospect, I lucked out with the timing, picked exactly the right moment for using the money I had saved up over a long period of time and am feeling extraordinarily privileged for having a really good machine right now. I recently needed a RAM upgrade anyway, which was extortionately expensive, but I felt like it's now or never. The machine wasn't built with AI as its main or even secondary purpose in mind - I only learned about Strata after the RAM upgrade.

That said, if you are using AI in e.g. a business context, Strata drastically lowers the barrier of entry for a serious local LLM. Two (more like three these days, I'd guess) grand isn't a large expense for anything but the smallest business (compared to the substantial five digit sum you'd have to spend without it), although it should be stressed that you can't really do many simultaneous sessions on a PC or server rack that just meets the minimum requirements for Strata - and it'll eat up most system resources as it's running, only leaving enough for very light other tasks, at least if you're trying to run the version of Qwen that does the most with your system.