H100 vs MI300X — which GPU should I choose?

H100 if you need the broadest software ecosystem (CUDA, TensorRT, vLLM). MI300X if you need maximum VRAM (192GB vs 80GB) for large model inference. MI300X offers better $/TFLOP but NVIDIA's software stack is more mature.

How much VRAM do I need for LLM inference?

A model needs ~2x its parameter count in GB for FP16 inference (70B model = ~140GB VRAM). With INT8 quantization ~70GB, INT4 ~35GB. A single H100 (80GB) runs 70B at INT8; MI300X (192GB) runs it at full FP16.

Should we buy GPUs or use cloud GPU instances?

If running GPUs 60%+ of the time, on-premise ownership wins on 3-year TCO. Below 40% utilization, cloud is more cost-effective. Many enterprises use hybrid: owned hardware for baseline, cloud for peak demand.

What is the cheapest way to rent an H100 GPU?

As of 2026, H100 cloud pricing ranges from $2.23/hr (Lambda, RunPod spot) to $4+/hr (AWS, Azure on-demand). Reserved instances and spot pricing offer 30-60% savings. CoreWeave and Lambda typically offer the lowest rates.

What GPU is best for LLM training in 2026?

NVIDIA H200 SXM (141GB HBM3e) for proven clusters, B200 for next-gen 4-5x speedup over H100, or AMD MI300X (192GB) for budget-conscious teams. For JAX workloads, Google TPU v5p pods offer unmatched scale.

Regularly tracked · Jul 2026

Build / Own vs Rent

Model the real cost of owning GPU infrastructure against our regularly-tracked cloud-rent baseline. Cumulative cost curves, exact payback month, utilization break-even, and build-timeline bridge — all computed from your own inputs with no baked-in savings claims.

✓ CapEx + power + cooling + staff✓ Build lead-time bridge✓ Utilization break-even✓ Cloud rates from our tracked dataset

Capacity

GPU TypeGPU Count

Total GPUs to own. 8 = one standard node.

Time Horizon — 36 months (3.0 yrs)

1 yr2 yrs3 yrs4 yrs5 yrs

Own Infrastructure

Hardware CapEx ($ / GPU)

Server, rack, networking excluded unless you roll them in here.

Build Lead Time (months)

Months until cluster is online. You rent cloud during this period (bridge).

Electricity Rate

$/kWh

PUE

Power Usage Effectiveness. Typical DC: 1.4–1.6. Modern modular: 1.1–1.3.

GPU TDP

kW / GPU

Nameplate TDP. Power is modeled as fixed DC reservation (not utilization-scaled).

Maintenance (% CapEx / yr)

Hardware maintenance contracts. Industry typical: 3–8%.

Staff + Other OpEx

$ / yr

DC ops staff, software licenses, connectivity, etc.

Cloud Rent Baseline

Regularly tracked · July 1, 2026

Cloud Provider

Same data as /cloud-pricing — rates cannot diverge between tools.

Rate Override ($/GPU-hr)

$/GPU-hr

Auto-filled from tracked on-demand data. Override for committed/reserved discounts.

Utilization — 80%

Cloud: you pay only for GPU-hours consumed. Own: power cost is fixed regardless of utilization (DC reservation model).

months to payback

Owned infrastructure recovers its cost at month 21 — 1.8 years. After that, own path saves $1.0M vs renting over the full 3-year horizon.

Own at 36mo

$2.2M

$960,000 capex + $669.8K opex + $533.7K bridge

Rent at 36mo

$3.2M

$89.0K/mo × 36 months at 80% util

Cumulative Cost Over Time

Own (blended)RentPayback

Own monthly opex: $22,326/mo·Cloud: $88,955/mo

Utilization Break-Even

49%minimum utilization for owning to pay off over 3 years

0%49% break-even100%

✓ Your 80% utilization is above the 49% threshold — owning pays off at this utilization. Cloud charges per GPU-hour consumed; owned power is a fixed DC cost regardless of utilization.

Build Timeline Bridge

You'll rent 32 GPUs on cloud for 6 months while your cluster is built, spending $533,729 before going online. This bridge cost is already folded into the Own path above — so the payback clock starts from day one, not from handover.

Hardware CapEx: $960,000Bridge rental: $533,729Day-one total: $1,493,729

Monthly Own OpEx Breakdown

Power (TDP × PUE × $/kWh)$1,660/mo

Maintenance (hardware contracts)$4,000/mo

Staff + other opex$16,667/mo

Total monthly opex$22,326/mo

Annual opex$267,917/yr

Get a free advisory call

Share your analysis (32× H100 80GB, 36mo horizon, payback month 21) and get a tailored advisory response.

Estimates only — confirm current rates before procurement. Power modeled at nameplate TDP × PUE × 730 hrs/mo as a fixed DC reservation (not utilization-scaled). Cloud pricing from our regularly-tracked dataset (last tracked July 1, 2026). Hardware CapEx is user-supplied; server chassis, InfiniBand, rack, and cooling infrastructure are not included unless folded into your CapEx figure. Powered by GPUAdvisor — neutral cloud pricing, identical for every partner.

What's modeled

Own path

—Hardware CapEx (user-supplied)
—Power: TDP × PUE × $/kWh × 730 hrs/mo
—Maintenance % of CapEx per year
—Staff + software + other opex
—Bridge rental during build lead time

Rent path

—On-demand per-GPU rate from our tracked data
—Scales with utilization % (pay for hours consumed)
—10 providers — pick your baseline or override
—Rate = same data as /cloud-pricing table
—Committed rate override available

Analysis outputs

—Cumulative cost curves over horizon
—Exact payback / crossover month
—Utilization break-even threshold
—Monthly opex breakdown (power / maint / staff)
—Build timeline bridge cost

GPU TCO Calculator

Side-by-side 3-year TCO for two GPU clusters

Cloud Pricing Table

Live per-GPU rates across 10 providers

Budget Builder

What can my budget buy or rent?