A 3-year GPU commit costs more than owning the servers
Resale value changes the math. Weekly GPU prices, July 10 to October 2, 2026.
SUMMARY
Owning beats a three-year commit. A new 8x B300 pulls ahead between months 10 and 26, including colo and power. The server stays yours.
Resale value is the hardest number to find. Used GPU transaction prices aren't public. We price five NVIDIA platforms every week using executed trades and firm dealer quotes.
Q3 prices moved both ways. New B200 +15%, B300 +14% as Blackwell shipped in volume. Used H100 -12%, A100 -9%, H200 -2%. No new lows since August 21.
Exhibit 1 New 8x B300 cost over 36 months, owning versus a three-year commit
Owning: $500K to $650K for the system, plus 14 kW of colo and power at $250 per kW-month. October 2026 commit quotes: $4.40 to $5.30 per GPU-hour for 8 GPUs, 30% prepaid and the rest paid monthly. Over 36 months, the commit costs $0.93M to $1.11M. Owning costs $0.63M to $0.78M before resale, or $0.38M to $0.45M if sold for 50% of the purchase price. Source: Stoa Intelligence.
THE PROBLEM
Most teams we talk to can't get GPUs on demand, so they sign multi-year offtakes to reserve capacity. Decent rates require three years or more. Ask for six months or a year and the hourly price jumps.
THE MATH
| Commit | rate per GPU-hour × number of GPUs × 26,280 hours (3 years) |
|---|---|
| Owning | server price + 3 years of colo and power − resale value at the end |
At these B300 prices, owning costs $3 to $3.70 per GPU-hour over three years before resale, versus $4.40 to $5.30 for a commit. If you borrow to buy, add interest.
Exhibit 2 A100 80GB book value and resale value
A100s bought at launch reach zero book value in November 2025 or November 2026 on five- or six-year schedules. They still have resale value.
Server depreciation (years): Alphabet 6, CoreWeave 6, Amazon 5 to 6, Meta 5 to 5.5, Nebius 5, IREN 5, Microsoft 2 to 6, Oracle 1 to 6. Sources: 2025 to 2026 10-K and 20-F filings, and Stoa Intelligence.
Exhibit 3 GPU price changes, July 10 to October 2, 2026
B200 and B300: new, sealed. H100, H200 and A100: used, tested. Public asking prices are higher than competing dealer quotes. Source: Stoa Intelligence.
WHAT OWNING LOOKS LIKE
- Suppliers on Stoa quote new B300 and B200 systems with firm prices and delivery dates. Used H100 and H200 systems are available now.
- An RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q workstation gives you 96GB of GPU memory per card and plugs into a wall outlet. No colo.
- For jobs that outgrow an A100, used 8x H100 prices fell 12% from July 10 to October 2.
- A complete used 8x A100 server costs under $100K, with 640GB of GPU memory in one machine.
WHEN RENTING STILL WINS
Renting wins for spiky usage or a few weeks of extra capacity. We arrange short-term compute. Buying takes cash up front, and we help with financing.
WHY RESALE VALUE MATTERS TO LENDERS
Lenders take GPUs as collateral. Resale prices determine what they can recover.
| March 2026CoreWeave | $8.5B GPU-backed financing with an investment-grade rating |
|---|---|
| June 2026IREN | $3.65B investment-grade GPU financing, US private placement |
| August 2026NVIDIA | MOUs targeting $500B+ in capital with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR. Potential residual-value support of up to 25% of an opportunity, assessed project by project. |
| September 2026ZanKore | $3.1B senior term loan secured on GPU equipment, led by Citi with ING, Natixis, QNB and UOB |
The first investment-grade ratings for GPU-backed financing were assigned in 2026. Sources: public announcements and filings.
HOW WE PRICE THE HARDWARE
Stoa Intelligence prices 8-GPU HGX systems every week using executed trades and firm dealer quotes. Ampere and Hopper systems are used and tested. Blackwell systems are new and sealed. Clients can access current and historical prices.
ABOUT TO SIGN AN OFFTAKE?
Send us your quote. We'll price out owning the same hardware. Request firm supplier quotes on Stoa Markets, from workstations to data center orders. Stoa Intelligence values fleets every week.
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