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> all the hyperscalers will happily charge you more for 3 months worth of compute than the cost of the hardware the compute is being done on. Would I rather bui

> all the hyperscalers will happily charge you more for 3 months worth of compute than the cost of the hardware the compute is being done on. Would I rather build a server for $5k or pay $1600/mo to rent that exact same server? Such a difficult decision! /s The benefit is that you don't have to buy the entire server in order to use a portion of the resources on it. If you're going to use the entire server, buy the entire server — if you're only going to use a portion of a server, why buy an entire server?

chii 3y ago
> if you're only going to use a portion of a server only if your data usage decreases over time. There's a break even point, and that break even point is closer than you think. But by then, you're locked in. It is also the same reason why they are able to charge you more money than a self-setup storage system, since once you're locked in, the cost of switching is almost always just slightly higher than staying.
anonym29 3y ago
> if you're only going to use a portion of a server, why buy an entire server? Unless your compute needs fall below those of an Rpi Zero, it is almost always cheaper to buy physical hardware once that doesn't have a monthly bill attached. Sure, scalability is a real value proposition from the hyperscalers that isn't the same with physical hardware, but is scalability worth paying 10x+ in OpEx for what could've been 1x in CapEx? For most businesses, I have a hard time making financial sense of that one.
- leetrout 3y ago
  Do you sign long term lease agreements for colo space, power and bandwidth for the hardware or are you still paying that annually/monthly? There are no free lunches. I do not disagree buying hardware is cheaper but operational overhead and opportunity cost are real.
  - LoganDark 3y ago
    Eh, buying hardware isn't necessarily cheaper if you factor in operational costs like power, cooling, and especially internet (which gets very expensive very quickly for servers). Datacenters get to spread this cost out over many servers, small installations don't.
    - anonym29 3y ago
      As a business owner, I don't need a whole data center worth of electricity and internet.
      - LoganDark 3y ago
        No, but as an example, if you want more than 30Mbps upload, it can cost you hundreds of dollars per month depending on location. (Depending on location.)

chii 3y ago

> if you're only going to use a portion of a server only if your data usage decreases over time. There's a break even point, and that break even point is closer than you think. But by then, you're locked in. It is also the same reason why they are able to charge you more money than a self-setup storage system, since once you're locked in, the cost of switching is almost always just slightly higher than staying.

anonym29 3y ago

> if you're only going to use a portion of a server, why buy an entire server? Unless your compute needs fall below those of an Rpi Zero, it is almost always cheaper to buy physical hardware once that doesn't have a monthly bill attached. Sure, scalability is a real value proposition from the hyperscalers that isn't the same with physical hardware, but is scalability worth paying 10x+ in OpEx for what could've been 1x in CapEx? For most businesses, I have a hard time making financial sense of that one.

leetrout 3y ago
Do you sign long term lease agreements for colo space, power and bandwidth for the hardware or are you still paying that annually/monthly? There are no free lunches. I do not disagree buying hardware is cheaper but operational overhead and opportunity cost are real.
- LoganDark 3y ago
  Eh, buying hardware isn't necessarily cheaper if you factor in operational costs like power, cooling, and especially internet (which gets very expensive very quickly for servers). Datacenters get to spread this cost out over many servers, small installations don't.
  - anonym29 3y ago
    As a business owner, I don't need a whole data center worth of electricity and internet.
    - LoganDark 3y ago
      No, but as an example, if you want more than 30Mbps upload, it can cost you hundreds of dollars per month depending on location. (Depending on location.)