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Comment by xyzsparetimexyz

4 days ago

They wear down being run at 100% all the time. Support slowly drops off, the architecture and even the rack format become deprecated.

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xyzsparetimexyz

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well_ackshually  4 days ago

GPUs do not wear down from being ran at 100%, unless they're pushed past their voltage limits, or gravely overheating.

You can buy a GPU that's been used to mine bitcoin for 5 years with zero downtime, and as long as it's been properly taken care of (or better, undervolted), that GPU functions the exact same as a 5 year old GPU in your PC. Probably even better.

GPUs are rated to do 100%, all the time. That's the point. Otherwise it'd be 115%.

  • andersmurphy  3 days ago

    Yeah that's not how it works in practice in a datacenter with the latest GPUs, they are basically perishable goods.

    You don't run your gaming PC 24/7.

    • well_ackshually  3 days ago

      No, you're fundamentally wrong. There's the regular wear & tear of GPUs that all have varying levels of quality, you'll have blown capacitors (just as you do with any piece of hardware), but running in a datacenter does not damage them more. If anything, they're better taken care of and will last longer. However, since instead of having one 5090 in a computer somewhere, you have a million of them. A 1% failure rate quickly makes a big number. My example included mining bitcoin because, just like datacenters, they were running in massive farms of thousands of devices. We have the proof and the numbers, running at full load with proper cooling and no over voltage does not damage hardware.

      The only reason they're "perishable" is because of the GPU arms race, where renewing them every 5 years is likely to be worth the investment for the gains you make in power efficiency.

      Do you think Google has a pile of millions of older TPUs they threw out because they all failed, when chips are basically impossible to recycle ? No, they keep using them, they're serving your nanobanana prompts.

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andersmurphy  4 days ago

Yeah what's crazy is most of these companies are making accounting choices that obscure the true cost. By extending the stated useful life of their equipment, in some cases from 3 years to 6. Perfectly legal. And it has the effect of suppressing depreciation expenses and inflating reported earnings.