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Alternative clouds are booming as companies seek cheaper access to GPUs

techcrunch.com

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Re: Alternative clouds are booming as companies seek cheaper access to GPUs

#161

Post by satvikpendem »

thfuran wrote: post #67
doctorpangloss wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People complain about this relentlessly, but never change. Additionally, every single business owner I know complains that whatever it is they're selling, (1) it isn't worth the brain damage to sell to customers looking for the lowest price, (2) as long as people comparison shop in a harebrained way, hook pricing (aka up front pricing that looks low and turns out high) is only rational. It's not like they're providin…

>hook pricing (aka up front pricing that looks low and turns out high) is only rational. Yes, many deceptive business practices are rational acts on the part of the businesses. That doesn't mean they should be tolerated.

This argument reminds me of pre-ordering games. People are simply too dumb to stop doing so, even if it's in their best interest. But those that do are often rewarded for not pre-ordering in the form of lower prices and more content, hen the game eventually goes on sale. It doesn't mean that pre-ordering should be banned, however.

Re: Alternative clouds are booming as companies seek cheaper access to GPUs

#162

Post by latchkey »

lowlevelprog wrote: post #36

I have switched to buying GPUs and I already see saved costs as compared to cloud renting. Also, networking is fun.

> Also, networking is fun.

Let me know how your 400G deployment goes with your vendors VRF implementation.

Re: Alternative clouds are booming as companies seek cheaper access to GPUs

#163

Post by notaustinpowers »

pjlegato wrote: post #144
silverquiet wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to say that my response to "not knowing what you're going to pay for something until you're billed" is basically, "well I guess we'll see if I can pay it then". You sort of start asking yourself, "what if I just don't pay?". I have a (deadbeat) buddy who's entire medical plan is essentially to give a fake name to the ER, and if you're poor in America, what else can you do?

> give a fake name to the ER, and if you're poor in America, what else can you do? The American government spends something approaching a trillion dollars annually on Medicaid, "a government program that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources."[1] Seperately, Obamacare[2] created a private health insurance market where low income people can obtain free or heavily discounte…

Obamacare is (largely) a failure due to insurance meddling and laws preventing government insurance programs from negotiating prices with drug companies.

I'm a healthy individual, not even 30 yet, never smoked, never broken a bone, and never even had stitches in my life. And when I last checked their prices, I was making only $45k/yr. For coverage with Obamacare, I would be paying $350/month for the "catastrophic" plan. Which includes no prescription copay, no dental, no vision, and only kicks in after I've spent $100,000 in one year, and it takes 6 months to take effect after signing up. It's only there for serious issues like losing a leg or cancer.

Re: Alternative clouds are booming as companies seek cheaper access to GPUs

#164

Post by mikepurvis »

godelski wrote: post #145
ryandrake wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It seems like AWS' entire business model is making the pricing so confusing that you don't know what it will cost until after you've used it. It feels weirdly similar to the US healthcare/insurance situation. Not just the healthcare situation, but everything. There's nothing much more stereotypically American than "not knowing what you're going to pay for something until you're billed." Dozens of little fees on you…

Don't get me started on dark patterns! I think the fact that we create them should be something we discuss. But I think we need to up our game in this cat and mouse game a bit. For example, in aggregators -- like Expedia or Google Flights, etc -- why not try to capture some of these fees in the price? I can search for hotels with parking but what about sorting hotels by price and including the parking price? It's har…

Probably an opportunity there to gather and expose that data, same as how flight aggregators like orbitz twenty years ago started showing prices inclusive of taxes and fees.

Re: Alternative clouds are booming as companies seek cheaper access to GPUs

#165

Post by latchkey »

ReptileMan wrote: post #76

To have cheaper GPUs we need at least four companies to design them and four companies that are able to produce them. Before that you always have cartel like behavior.

Maybe on the consumer low end, but on the enterprise level... it'll always be expensive.

Re: Alternative clouds are booming as companies seek cheaper access to GPUs

#166

Post by softsound »

pjlegato wrote: post #144
silverquiet wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to say that my response to "not knowing what you're going to pay for something until you're billed" is basically, "well I guess we'll see if I can pay it then". You sort of start asking yourself, "what if I just don't pay?". I have a (deadbeat) buddy who's entire medical plan is essentially to give a fake name to the ER, and if you're poor in America, what else can you do?

> give a fake name to the ER, and if you're poor in America, what else can you do? The American government spends something approaching a trillion dollars annually on Medicaid, "a government program that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources."[1] Seperately, Obamacare[2] created a private health insurance market where low income people can obtain free or heavily discounte…

It's still expensive, I worked as a contractor full time for a tech company for a year which basically means I pay for my own insurance through Obamacare (though they did suggest insurance at work but they didn't pay anything towards it so it is just is in case you want a 4th party to help you help yourself). Still long before that I basically just said I didn't have insurance and would get the price knocked down considerably. Half the time it's cheaper not to even have insurance... But now I'm "responsible" in the hopes it might bring down the price for other things in the future. For planned events I recommend health insurance, despite how often it's not all that worth it. Honestly though my current insurance copay cost as much as being uninsured in other countries so I kinda laugh at this crazy idea. I pay about $100 to visit any specialist doctor and it only cost $80 to be uninsured in some other countries on top of the $350 a month I already pay.

Re: Alternative clouds are booming as companies seek cheaper access to GPUs

#167

Post by lapphi »

alex_lav wrote: post #61
ryandrake wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It seems like AWS' entire business model is making the pricing so confusing that you don't know what it will cost until after you've used it. It feels weirdly similar to the US healthcare/insurance situation. Not just the healthcare situation, but everything. There's nothing much more stereotypically American than "not knowing what you're going to pay for something until you're billed." Dozens of little fees on you…

Hiding blatant fraud behind the label of “convenience”. Every industry. Pay for Amazon prime to get 2 day shipping “for free”. Item arrives in six days. Prime does not get refunded. Pay +10% for “priority” rides in Lyft, supposed to arrive in 1-5 minutes, whereas “regular” is 7-15. Car shows up in 18 minutes. Priority payment does not get refunded. Honestly what’s even the point in caring anymore. Living in America i…

Yes. Frank reynolds in the popular television show it’s always sunny in Philadelphia lays it out in plain terms on one of the episodes. “In America you’re either the duper or the dupee”. PT Barnum also knew this essential truth about our nation.

Re: Alternative clouds are booming as companies seek cheaper access to GPUs

#168

Post by matroid »

thundergolfer wrote: post #138
maxchehab wrote: post #110

Both Core Weave & Lambda Labs have fairly predatory pricing making it impossible to rent GPUs without a yearly contract. This doesn't make sense for training models, where a training run is on the scale of days & weeks. I wished that the techcrunch article mentioned other companies, like sfcompute, which offer hourly compute instead of yearly contracts.

Lambda Labs has on-demand GPUs. Just put in a credit card and you're able to launch. I launched an 1x H100 server just 10 minutes ago on Lambda Labs. The price is also $2.49/hr which does not seem predatory at all.

I have never seen 1x H100 available on Lambda Labs. Don't know why though.

Re: Alternative clouds are booming as companies seek cheaper access to GPUs

#169

Post by explaininjs »

danielvaughn wrote: post #150
silverquiet wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to say that my response to "not knowing what you're going to pay for something until you're billed" is basically, "well I guess we'll see if I can pay it then". You sort of start asking yourself, "what if I just don't pay?". I have a (deadbeat) buddy who's entire medical plan is essentially to give a fake name to the ER, and if you're poor in America, what else can you do?

I worked in a couple of emergency rooms for a total of 6 years, and you aren't wrong. Assuming the care you need can be entirely performed within the ER, then that's a viable strategy so long as you don't intend to re-visit the hospital. Hospitals are obligated to provide care regardless of your ability to pay in the moment, and of course they often take care of indigent and foreign patients, with the understanding t…

I have a friend that incurred massive medical debts in college when their (college-provided) insurance refused to cover services rendered at the (college) hospital. The college then made all sorts of threats like “you won’t be able to graduate until this $$,$$$ bill is paid!!!”. Keep in mind my friend was only able to attend college on a full scholarship as a result of coming from a poor ESL family.

They ignored all the threats, the department in charge of threatening seemingly didn’t talk to the department in charge of graduation, and to this day (5 years later) they still receive near-daily letters in the mail requesting payment. I can’t say I find my friend’s actions unethical in the slightest.

Ah! The UC system…

Re: Alternative clouds are booming as companies seek cheaper access to GPUs

#170

Post by silverquiet »

pjlegato wrote: post #144
silverquiet wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to say that my response to "not knowing what you're going to pay for something until you're billed" is basically, "well I guess we'll see if I can pay it then". You sort of start asking yourself, "what if I just don't pay?". I have a (deadbeat) buddy who's entire medical plan is essentially to give a fake name to the ER, and if you're poor in America, what else can you do?

> give a fake name to the ER, and if you're poor in America, what else can you do? The American government spends something approaching a trillion dollars annually on Medicaid, "a government program that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources."[1] Seperately, Obamacare[2] created a private health insurance market where low income people can obtain free or heavily discounte…

We live in Texas.
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