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AWS raises GPU prices 15% on a Saturday, hopes you weren't paying attention

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Re: AWS raises GPU prices 15% on a Saturday, hopes you weren't paying attention

#201

Post by bell-cot »

TrackerFF wrote: post #89
muvlon wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how everyone arrives at that conclusion when the cost of the subscription services is also going up (as evidenced by the very article we're talking about). People who are renting are feeling this immediately, whereas people who bought their computers can wait the price hikes out for a couple years before they really need an upgrade.

Difference is that if subscription goes up from $10 to $15, that doesn't seem to bad. But if you want to purchase a new computer, and the price goes from $1000 to $1500, then that's a pretty big deal. (Though in reality, the price of said computer would probably go up even more, minimum double. RAM prices are already up 6-8 fold from summer)

> ...that doesn't seem too bad.

Yep, "seem". But the reality is more like 3 different subscriptions going up by $5/month, and the new computer is a once-in-4-years purchase:

$5/month * 3 subscriptions * 48 months = $720.00

And no bets on those subscriptions being up to $20 or so by the end of year 4.

Re: AWS raises GPU prices 15% on a Saturday, hopes you weren't paying attention

#202

Post by SkyeCA »

fzeroracer wrote: post #110
haritha-j wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a resource allocation perspective, this doesn't feel particularly undesirable, at least in terms of certain assets like vehicles. The current system of ownership is quite wasteful. I own a high end GPU that I use maybe 4 hours a week for gaming.

I'm not sure if you're doing this intentionally or not, but it is incredibly funny to see people on HN doing what is effectively manufacturing consent for people to not actually own anything. We've gone from home computing is the future to no one should own a computer because it's wasteful. I'm not sure where this sentiment even comes from but if the economy only consists of renters and landlords then we don't even h…

The sentiment comes from techbros who see yet another avenue through which to exploit the average person.

Re: AWS raises GPU prices 15% on a Saturday, hopes you weren't paying attention

#203

Post by rootusrootus »

CivBase wrote: post #162
Waterluvian wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People rent things they can’t afford to own.

Is this true? I'm trying to think of a solid example and I'm drawing blanks. Apartments aren't really comparable to houses. They're relatively small units which are part of a larger building. The better comparison would be to condominiums, but good luck even finding a reasonably priced condo in most parts of the US. I'd guess supply is low because there's a housing shortage and it's more profitable to rent out a unit…

Lots of people rent houses, it’s not just apartments.

Re: AWS raises GPU prices 15% on a Saturday, hopes you weren't paying attention

#204

Post by lotsofpulp »

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #41
mikasisiki wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s possible. Either way, many people literally sleep in a monthly subscription model — rent.

You still have to pay for utilities and taxes: No way to escape that unless you live in the wilderness.

“Rent” needs to better defined at this point.

At least some portion of utilities and tax charges pay for ongoing maintenance and investment to provide expected quality of life. Similar to how rent for a home eventually pays for a new roof or other repairs.

The profit margin component of rent is probably what most are referring to in this discussion, but presumably tax and (government owned) utilities don’t have that.

Re: AWS raises GPU prices 15% on a Saturday, hopes you weren't paying attention

#205

Post by 9rx »

nasmorn wrote: post #84
Waterluvian wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People rent things they can’t afford to own.

You could never afford a hyperscaler size data center. You could always just buy a server and stick it into Colo. it’s just not totally the same thing

I also couldn't afford to rent one.

I can afford to rent fractional use of one, but by that token I could also afford to buy a very small fraction of one too.

Re: AWS raises GPU prices 15% on a Saturday, hopes you weren't paying attention

#206

Post by dcchambers »

xvxvx wrote: post #12

- GPU prices rising - RAM prices rising - hard drive prices rising Are we looking at a future where home computers are replaced by thin clients and all the power lies in subscription services? ‘You don't need storage space, use our cloud subscription’ ‘You don’t need processing power, stream your games through our subscription service.’ Game publishers have already publicly floated the idea of not selling their games…

> Are we looking at a future where home computers are replaced by thin clients and all the power lies in subscription services?

You will own nothing, and you will be happy.

Re: AWS raises GPU prices 15% on a Saturday, hopes you weren't paying attention

#207

Post by general1465 »

xvxvx wrote: post #12

- GPU prices rising - RAM prices rising - hard drive prices rising Are we looking at a future where home computers are replaced by thin clients and all the power lies in subscription services? ‘You don't need storage space, use our cloud subscription’ ‘You don’t need processing power, stream your games through our subscription service.’ Game publishers have already publicly floated the idea of not selling their games…

> Are we looking at a future where home computers are replaced by thin clients and all the power lies in subscription services?

No we don't. In Eastern Block during communism everything was either expensive or unavailable to the point that picking up broken TV on the side of the road and dismantling it for parts was making complete sense and you could actually learn something.

Today it is much easier. You can visit eBay or AliExpress and buy old server crap from 2016 - i.e. Xeon E3 + X99 board + 32GB DDR4 RAM = 150EUR or just buying older laptops, computers from eBay. That's where consumer market is heading.

The fact that hardware is going to be computationally constrained will finally force software developers to stop wasting resources. Having application which is able to run on old Windows 10 with i3 and 4GB of RAM without being sluggish will become competing advantage.

Re: AWS raises GPU prices 15% on a Saturday, hopes you weren't paying attention

#208

Post by 9rx »

rootusrootus wrote: post #203
CivBase wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this true? I'm trying to think of a solid example and I'm drawing blanks. Apartments aren't really comparable to houses. They're relatively small units which are part of a larger building. The better comparison would be to condominiums, but good luck even finding a reasonably priced condo in most parts of the US. I'd guess supply is low because there's a housing shortage and it's more profitable to rent out a unit…

Lots of people rent houses, it’s not just apartments.

And even ~40% of so-called homeowners rent money in order to be there.

Re: AWS raises GPU prices 15% on a Saturday, hopes you weren't paying attention

#209

Post by pjmlp »

xvxvx wrote: post #12

- GPU prices rising - RAM prices rising - hard drive prices rising Are we looking at a future where home computers are replaced by thin clients and all the power lies in subscription services? ‘You don't need storage space, use our cloud subscription’ ‘You don’t need processing power, stream your games through our subscription service.’ Game publishers have already publicly floated the idea of not selling their games…

I hope we go back into old days up to the late 1990's, and current generation of developers learn to target the computers users can afford.

Re: AWS raises GPU prices 15% on a Saturday, hopes you weren't paying attention

#210

Post by jacobr1 »

cyberpunk wrote: post #177
bluGill wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Subscription is still worth it for most people though. Sure it costs more, but your 2TB plan isn't a single harddrive, it is likely across several harddrives with RAID ensuring that when (not if!) they fail no data is lost, plus remote backups. When something breaks the subscription fixes that for no extra charge. If you know how to admin a computer and have time for it, then doing it yourself is cheaper. However mak…

I’m not even sure it does cost more. I could have a geforcenow subscription for like 8 years before it’s more expensive than building a similar spec gaming rig.

Depends on the service, and timeframes. For geforcenow, you also need to consider the upgrade cycle - how often would you need to upgrade to play a newer game? I'm not sure but probably at least once within that 8 years. Buying a new car, or almost new car, and driving it until it falls apart is a better financial option than leasing. But if you want a new car every year or two, leasing is more affordable - for that scenario. Also it depends on usage. My brother in law probably plays a video game once every other month. At that point, on demand pricing (or borrowing for me) is much better than purchase or consistent subscription. You need to run the numbers.
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