Please do not take this as a sale offer. We would probably need to go through the WTS section if it gets that far. I have a glut of graphics cards, including a 6900xt in one of my systems. It is the AMD… founders, or whatever AMD sold directly when the 6900xt launched. It currently has an EKWB water block on it. I haven’t laid eyes on it in a while, but I should still also have the original air cooler. That system is not something I use very often, as I use it to mostly just check emails at this point. I haven’t had an issue. Anyway, no pressure. I would have to set up a WTS thread if you decide to go that way, with pictures etc.
It sounds like you have a good path forward. Absolutely no pressure, and I hadn’t thought of this until you mentioned liking your card.
FWIW, I run a pair of dual 3090s for my AI/LLM that I bought, during the crypto mining craze.
Originally, I was internally debating between more 3080s (e.g. in terms of VRAM, one 3090 can be like two 3080s), so I ended up getting the 3090s instead, as the higher amount of VRAM meant that I was going to be able to do more with it, down the road. (Didn’t originally envision it would be AI, but it works very well for this use case.)
Thus, I echo the same sentiments - if you already have a deal on the AMD card lined up, then go for that.
But if not, or if you can get your hands on a 3090, even if it is a little bit more than the AMD option, personally and based on my experience, I’d go for that.
For gaming, I am using Nobara Linux 42 now and that’s the first distro that I’ve tried where I was able to get Halo Infinite and CIties Skylines 2 to work, in Linux, out of the box. Didn’t have to do much other than download a bunch of updates/drivers, etc.
So if you want to use it for the gaming scenario, that would also be an option for you as well.