What it really costs
A GPU isn't its
sticker price.
“24 GB” tells you nothing about what a card actually costs to run. We turn any GPU into real money — electricity at the wall, true cost per month, and the exact point where renting beats buying.
Power at the wall
Not TDP — real draw, ×1.3 for the rest of the rig.
Buy vs rent
The break-even month, computed for your hours.
Same engine
The cited cost model behind every GPU page.
Typical: ~$0.10 India · ~$0.15 US avg · ~$0.30 EU.
Buy vs rent, over time
When does owning pay off?
Cumulative spend, month by month. Buying starts high — the sticker price — then barely climbs. Renting starts at zero and rises forever. Where they cross is your break-even.
How we cost it
Every rupee traceable.
Electricity
TDP × 1.3 ÷ 1000 × hrs × 30.4 × rate. The ×1.3 covers CPU, PSU losses and cooling — the whole rig draws more than the card's TDP.
Own — total
price + electricity accumulated over the horizon. Used-card pricing where a healthy second-hand market exists.
Rent — total
cloud $/hr × hrs × 30.4 × months. Indicative on-demand rates from the cloud database, reviewed July 2026.
One number isn't the whole story
Match the cost to the model.
Costing a card is step two. Step one is which cards even fit your model — the Workspace ranks them, then lands on this exact buy-vs-rent call.
Evidence & method
How this calculation works
Turns a GPU's rated TDP and price into running cost: electricity at the wall, monthly cost of ownership, and the cloud-rent equivalent, with the buy-vs-rent break-even month.
Data sources
- NVIDIA, AMD & Intel GPU documentation (TDP, price class)
- Cloud provider pricing
- Bitpute Methodology
Assumptions
- Energy = TDP × system-overhead factor × hours/day × 30.4 × months × rate
- Default utilisation 8 hours/day; electricity rate and hours are adjustable
- Purchase price amortised over the period; cloud-rent equivalent at the provider hourly rate
- Excludes cooling, networking, maintenance and datacentre cost beyond the TDP overhead factor
Limitations
- Electricity rates, utilisation and cloud prices vary widely by region, provider and contract
- Real power draw depends on workload, not just rated TDP
- Prices are indicative and change frequently
- Estimates are for comparison, not financial advice
Data status: Hardware specs — vendor documentation. Prices & rates — indicative and user-adjustable.
Related
Why does this estimate differ from other calculators?
- Different electricity rates and utilisation assumptions
- Cloud pricing variance by provider and region
- Power measured at the wall vs at the card
- Amortisation period and residual value
- Rounding