What a GPU cluster actually costs.
The GPU price is the number everyone compares and the smallest line in the eventual bill. Here is the full sheet, in the order the costs actually arrive.
What decides this requirement.
Every line, before the first quote.
Compute. Node count times node price, including the CPUs, memory and storage inside them rather than the accelerators alone.
Fabric. Switching, network cards, transceivers and cabling with spares. At third-party markups this line can rival the switching itself, which is why it is worth sourcing deliberately.
Storage. Fast enough to feed the accelerators, which is a higher bar than general enterprise storage and a common source of underperformance.
Facility. Power, cooling, space and their escalation terms. Over the cluster's life this is usually the largest line of all.
Border. Freight, insurance, duties, import handling and recovery on anything crossing a frontier.
Exit. What the hardware is worth at refresh, and who buys it back. Priced at signature it is money most buyers leave behind.
Normalise every quote onto it.
Build the sheet before requesting quotes, with rough numbers in every line. Then normalise each supplier response onto it rather than comparing headline figures. A quote that looks sharp but leaves four lines blank stops looking sharp once those blanks are filled at market rates.
This is also how you identify the seller whose margin lives in the omitted lines. They are consistently the ones most resistant to the exercise.
The cost calculator models the commercial structures across a horizon; this sheet covers what goes into them.
Start from what is verified.
Current verified lines with quantities, lead times and indicative pricing are public on the live inventory. Anything not listed becomes a sourcing requirement with a first pass inside one business day.
Asked first, answered straight.
Because a cluster is a system. Fabric, storage, facility power over years, freight and the border all add up, and facility power in particular typically exceeds the hardware over the cluster's life.
The network, consistently. Transceivers and cabling in real quantities surprise first-time builders, and at third-party markups the line can rival the switching.
Yes. Buyback and residual terms negotiated at signature, when you have leverage, are worth considerably more than negotiating them at expiry when you do not.
That is the intention. We price the landed, running, connected cost rather than the hardware alone, because that is the only number on which two offers can be honestly compared.
Working through this on a real requirement?
Twenty minutes with the desk, no pitch and no quote at the end of it. Tell us roughly what you need and we will come back within one business day.
Sent. We are on it.
Your enquiry has landed with the desk. Acknowledged within one hour.