When building or choosing a PC for local AI image generation, the main trade-offs come down to cost, system RAM vs. VRAM, memory bandwidth, and generation latency. How does a low-power Intel Core i3-1220P CPU with 8GB RAM perform compared to dedicated gaming GPUs like an RTX 3060 or RTX 4090? In this comparative benchmark, we test 5 distinct hardware tiers to see real-world render speeds, memory limits, and recommended settings for each setup.