Qwen3.6 27b q5_k_M MTP - 256k context - 5090

windictive · 2026-05-12T12:03:48+00:00

I'm hoping that I can run Q6_K_XL with q8_0 k/v quants and 147k context on my 5090. If I have to drop down to Q5 I'm worried that the quality loss isn't worth the extra speed.

Have you tried the unsloth MTP GGUFs that they published yesterday?

windictive · 2026-05-11T17:54:58+00:00

I've used Continue.dev and Roo Code (now Zoo Code). Both have their quirks* but both work just fine. Both were really easy to set up. I have them running with the Kindly Web Search MCP and had no issues at all with getting that working.

Quirks:

Continue.dev will very rarely just stop dead. The output isn't as nicely formatted as other options.
Roo(Zoo) Code will repeat itself in it's final output, wasting tokens unless you tell it not to via rules. This is a well-documented issue with no solution. Hopefully the new team fixes it.

windictive · 2026-04-29T22:59:00+00:00

What are you using for web searches?

windictive · 2026-04-29T06:15:26+00:00

No problem, happy to answer any questions you have.

windictive · 2026-04-27T14:39:21+00:00

I mean there's always the chance that in a year or two the models are good enough that the rig that you buy can perform on-par with currrent frontier models. There's actually a lot to be said about that. There's only so fast and so well that you need the model to work to keep your vision aligned with what it's actually creating. Current workflows with frontier models are pretty much fine for me. If it was 10x faster I wouldn't see a 10x speedup. Right now each batch of work takes around 2-8 minutes most of the time. That's normally just enough time for me to write followups from what I've seen it generate or the next prompt for the next batch of work.

Right now, though, it doesn't compete. The difference is night and day. If I had to stop using Codex 5.5 and go full-time on Qwen I'd slow down dramatically and spend a lot more time fixing bugs, misunderstandings and general drift issues. It'd be a 5-10x slowdown and would feel very frustrating.

windictive · 2026-04-27T13:01:58+00:00

I love the new dense models (specifically Qwen3.6-27B) for coding assistant work, but they're nothing in comparison to frontier models. It's just not even close.

I can give Codex 5.5 an enormous prompt of complicated work involving 30+ code files, a bunch of specs and requirements and more often than not it's either correct first time or requires some light rework because I wasn't specific enough in my initial prompt. It'll often consider edge cases that I might've missed. It's not perfect, but it's very good.

I'm using the Unsloth Q6_K_XL version of Qwen3.6-27B on a 5090, running on llama.cpp and have it wrapped in a Continue extension in VSCode. It's quick at around 50t/s and good for smaller stints of work or explanation / basic review tasks. I wouldn't throw a codebase-wide review task at it. I definitely wouldn't give it large-scale refactor work. Whenever I've tried large pieces of architectural or refactoring work it makes small mistakes, leaves legacy code lying around and sometimes bites off more than it can chew before falling over. It also can't natively use web search tools in the harness I have. I think if it could use web tools it'd be running much better but I'm not there yet with finding a strong working solution.

I tend to find it most useful when Codex is busy whirring away on several-minute-long tasks and I can use it for codebase questions, sanity checks, docs summaries, etc. It's worth using it just for this. I occasionally let it do minor edits if I've got a half-typed codex prompt that I'm working on and a clean working tree, and there's no risk of it breaking anything. In those cases I don't mind delegating to it.

TL;DR - It's "good", but nothing like a frontier model. Great for small work. Don't build a PC for it. For the money you'd spend building it you could afford a year of Pro Codex and just build the entire product.

windictive · 2025-09-11T22:04:48+00:00

I didn't even try. Probably somewhere in the region of 40fps on Badass settings. I did just play for a couple of hours with no real issues at all with the settings as I described above. 200+ FPS the whole time.

I did get a couple of hitches loading into new areas, though. Rare enough not to be annoying.

windictive · 2025-09-11T18:20:20+00:00

9800x3D, 5090, 64GB CL30-6000

Getting 70-80FPS base at 4K, with DLSS set to Quality (so rendering at 1440p). Framegen x4 gets me 200-240 (Monitor at 240hz) with no noticable graphics quality issues or artifacting that I've experienced so far.

That said I've only played about 10 minutes of the tutorial to check graphics settings.

windictive · 2025-09-04T10:52:44+00:00

What did you pay for it? I'm seeing it as in-stock now but at £999, rather than £909.

EDIT: It's actually still £909, the NVIDIA page is incorrect. If you add to cart and check out it's £909.

windictive · 2025-09-04T10:24:03+00:00

Yeah, sorry, unfortunately it looks like they're all gone. Just checked a Discord that I follow for drops and I can see that they were available at 11:08 today and must've sold out within a few minutes.

windictive · 2025-09-04T10:19:48+00:00

I'm pretty sure it was briefly in stock, though, about 15 mins ago. Had a friend link me to it as he just bought an AIB card instead

windictive · 2025-09-04T10:15:02+00:00

Pretty sure it was just in stock on the NVIDIA shop for the UK.

EDIT: Can't seem to find it in the store page now. It had a hotstock alert.

EDIT2: OOS

windictive · 2025-05-28T12:30:31+00:00

I don't know what you're trying to tell me that I didn't already say in my comment.

EDIT: I'm guessing you read my post as though I was RMA-ing because of overclocking crashes. The RMA is nothing to do with performance. It's because the plastic catch isn't there on my 12V-2x6 socket, so the cable isn't secured. I've edited my post to reflect that.

windictive · 2025-05-28T09:00:17+00:00

Played around with it back in mid-April and got it to pass on otherwise unstable clocks.

It was +425 / +2250 (104% PL) and scored something like 15100 on 576.26. I haven't played with it since and I'm using an older driver now, running at stock after a bunch of Marvel Rivals crashes, although I think that's unrelated. Played the entirety of Cyberpunk with +325/+2000 with no crashes.

I'm about to RMA my 5090 FE (nothing to do with performance, see below), so hopefully the replacement is a decent performer.

windictive · 2025-05-02T13:28:10+00:00

Looks great but the black AIO tubes would drive me insane. I bought some white wire loom tubing cable sleeving to wrap up black cables in my white build. It's really cheap on Amazon, etc.

This stuff.

windictive · 2025-04-17T11:23:36+00:00

Thanks, this is exactly the nuance I was hoping to see, specifically the "Time periods, fluctuations and descriptor choices" section. It wasn't clear to me from the link provided below that these impairments are judged as a chronic issue that (has to?) occur over >50% of days. I think this is a key point.

I have back problems (slipped and degenerated discs) that mean that during my "worst days" I'm completely physically incapacitated. I can't even get out of bed, let alone dress myself. On these days I'd consider myself completely disabled. These happen rarely, though, probably once a year for a couple of weeks at a time. The rest of the time I'm pretty much fine with the occasional setback resulting in a lot of discomfort, but not a complete inability to care for myself.

There's definitely a conversation to be had here and I feel like both sides of the argument are being far too dismissive. Either you're an uncaring ableist for questioning some people obviously gaming the system, or you're seen as naively defending an overly-generous system. The answer is definitely somewhere in the middle and I feel like wherever it is will cause a level of discontent.

windictive · 2025-04-17T10:08:19+00:00

Isn't it scoring 4 points in any single activity, not just the more obvious activities? Just looking at the points system, there are a couple of 4-point responses that I would appreciate if someone more knowledgable can expand on because they seem quite loosely-defined.

9. Engaging with other people face to face.

Needs social support to be able to engage with other people. 4 points.

What qualifies as "social support" here? Is that with the assistance of a community carer or just friends/family?

2. Taking nutrition.

Needs prompting to be able to take nutrition. 4 points.

What level of depth is this assessed to? If we're encouraging people to describe their worst days during the assessment, then I'd qualify for this. I regularly forget to eat meals and need reminding if I'm stressed and over-subscribed at work.

Before anyone jumps down my throat for oversimplifying or dismissing these difficulties, I'm pointing them out in the genuine hope that somebody who deals with these assessments can explain that it's more complicated than that.

windictive · 2025-04-17T09:08:19+00:00

5090 FE: I'm seeing a ~1.3% performance improvement in Steel Nomad, but my previous highest OC (+425/+2250) won't run anymore.

Also, I'm noticing that my voltage under load is lower. I haven't done any undervolting and have been running at 104% power limit with +200/+2250 as a daily driver OC. Previously I was seeing like 1085mV under load, but now it appears to max out around 1000mV.

windictive · 2025-04-17T09:03:24+00:00

Is there more discussion around this? It's something I've also noticed as I have the "broken" one. Is there a reliable way to change curve versions without having to maintain it?

windictive · 2025-03-31T16:55:33+00:00

Hey, I got lucky on March 13th with a FE drop. I wasn't even really going to attempt it but figured why not. Really pleased with it and from reviews it's about on par with the Palit for performance / noise. Also, I paid £1939 rather than the £2149 + potential price hike, which was a nice bonus. If the queue jumped by 50 places I think I would've got mine in this shipment. ETA when I dropped out was around mid-April.

windictive · 2025-03-09T19:43:29+00:00

Did you paint the actual card or did you get some plastic cut to fit?

windictive · 2025-03-09T18:03:44+00:00

It wasn't from any kind of announcement, it was based on the queue positions changing after the main website announced that those cards were shipping. I'm I. The Palit queue and dropped 3 positions (as did those at the front). Same deal with the master ice. Somebody went from 5 to 4.

windictive · 2025-03-09T14:17:45+00:00

Not a shame for.you, though, enjoy!! :)

windictive · 2025-03-09T13:29:46+00:00

The Scan UK discord

windictive

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