Dual RTX 3090s top 5080 for local coding

VRAM capacity is the primary bottleneck for local coding; inference speed is secondary to whether the "smartest" models can actually load.

• –Returning a 16GB RTX 5080 for two used 24GB RTX 3090s triples memory, allowing 70B-parameter models to run without CPU offloading.
• –Modern "gold standard" coding models like Qwen2.5-Coder-32B require 20GB+ at high quantization, making 16GB cards effectively obsolete for high-end local development.
• –While the RTX 5080's GDDR7 and Blackwell architecture provide superior tokens-per-second, they fail the utility test for privacy-focused devs who need larger model weights.
• –Dual-GPU setups introduce significant power (750W+) and cooling overhead, requiring a 1200W+ PSU that may eat into the $1,300 hardware budget.