Setting up a local computer for deep learning

At the time of writing this book, it is possible to purchase a computer with a GPU card suitable for deep learning for under $1,000. The current on-demand cost of the cheapest GPU computer on AWS is $0.90 per hour, which is equivalent to using the machine constantly for 46 days. So, if you are just starting with deep learning, cloud resources are the cheapest way to begin. Once you have learned the basics, then you may decide to get a GPU-based computer, but even then you may continue using cloud resources for deep learning. You have much more flexibility in the cloud. For example, in AWS, you can get a p3.16xlarge machine with 8 Tesla V100 GPU cards for an on-demand price of $24.48 per hour. An equivalent box is the DGX-1 from NVIDIA (https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/dgx-1/), which has 8 Tesla V100 GPU cards and costs $149,000!

If you are considering using your own computer for deep learning, then one of the following applies to you:

• You...