A lot of people coming from A1111 with its tag-and-slider interface get scared off the moment they see a node graph and think ComfyUI is some deep, complicated shit. But once you actually try it, you’ll find it’s actually easier to set up. The key thing is the portable version comes with Python built-in, so you don’t have to mess with your system environment—that alone makes installation way simpler.
Hardware-wise, an Nvidia card with 6GB VRAM can run SD1.5, 12GB gets you SDXL, and if you wanna play with Flux, I’d say 16GB or more. AMD cards can work with forks or DirectML, but the experience is a bit rougher.
Just make sure your drivers aren’t too old—anything from the last year or two should be fine. From a clean system to generating your first image, if you’re serious, it takes about 20 minutes. Don’t stress about node complexity for now; just learn it bit by bit when you actually need it.