
Ask HN: Why there are no GPU clouds using cards like GTX 1080? - inlineint
AWS and Azure offer instances with GPUs like K-80 that are expensive on themselves and the instances are pretty expensive too, for example p2.xlarge costs $0.9 per hour. These cards are so expensive partly because they have good double-precision capabilities.<p>However, for Deep Learning it is enough to use cards like GTX 1080 which are much cheaper than something like K-80. I wonder why none of the providers like Linode or DigitalOcean built servers with these cheaper cards and offered instances with them. I think there would be high demand for this kind of offer taking into account the current AI hype.<p>I&#x27;ve heard somewhere that Nvidia legally prohibits using their consumer cards in servers, but I didn&#x27;t found anything confirming it. The consumer cards also probably have less expected lifetime than their server counterparts in 24&#x2F;7 usage mode, but the huge difference in upfront cost probably could compensate it.
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minimaxir
Upgrading to new graphics cards has a _very_ high fixed cost which may not
necessarily be offset by the decrease in variable costs from efficiency.

