Howdy,
This post was initiated through a help ticket that I created. I was advised to ask the forums as it would possibly help myself and others. I apologize if this question has already been posted as I was not able to find any information using the search function. I will be posting the initial correspondence with Rachel Thomas for clarification and ease of typing for myself. I will also below add additional information about my situation and resources in the event that it aids in providing a better answer.
Howdy,
My name is Justin Harris and I am eagerly working through the beginning stages of the fast ai course. I am currently a college student at Texas A&M University and in my current situation I am finding it difficult to work with the AWS service monetarily. I am writing in hopes that there are other possibilities that I may have missed while reading through the course that would be fairly inexpensive or free. I have a laptop with an onboard Nvidia GPU (also has an Intel integrated GPU) as well as a desktop. I am curious as to if there are any services that are more accessible to students or if there is a way to use my mid-tier GPU’s on my current machines. If the only option is AWS or Microsoft Azure then I will buckle and attempt to budget for these services. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Justin
My current resources consist of a Laptop that contains an Nvidia GTX 970m (I know not very powerful), as well as a desktop with an Nvidia GTX 960 (Again not powerful). During the semester I may be able to obtain access to the necessary hardware, although this is very much a maybe, through my university. In the event that I cannot, I may be able to scrape together the funds to afford the AWS solution. Currently, I am unable to use the service as I have been denied the upgrade that I requested. I was rightfully denied on the basis that my account is new and I have yet to use the service to Amazons standard for the upgrade. Any alternative that is either free or is more in the area of a flat fee would be preferable. I understand that this type of work requires compute power. I am very interested in learning the material so regardless of my situation I will find a way but, any help from this community would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your time,
DBAggie