Cloud GPU Workstations vs. On-Premises: The Real Cost Comparison

The decision between cloud GPU workstations and on-premises hardware is one of the most consequential infrastructure choices a gaming studio or creative team can make. The sticker price of an NVIDIA RTX 4090 workstation looks compelling — until you factor in the full picture.

The Hidden Costs of On-Premises GPUs

When studios evaluate on-prem GPU workstations, they typically budget for the hardware itself. What they miss:

• Refresh cycles: GPU hardware depreciates fast. A 3-year refresh cycle means you’re always either running outdated hardware or writing large checks.
• Idle time: Most creative workstations sit idle 12-16 hours per day. That’s 50-66% waste on a depreciating asset.
• IT overhead: Someone needs to image machines, manage drivers, handle hardware failures, and maintain security patches.
• Remote access: Distributed teams need VPN infrastructure, remote desktop solutions, and the bandwidth to make it usable.
• Scaling: Crunch time hits and suddenly you need 20 more workstations — in a hardware shortage market.

The Cloud GPU Economics

Cloud GPU workstations on AWS flip the model:

Pay for what you use. A workstation that’s only needed 8 hours per day costs 33% of a 24/7 instance. Spot instances for batch rendering can cut costs another 60-90%.

Scale instantly. Need 50 workstations for a 6-week sprint? Provision them in minutes, decommission when done.

Zero refresh cycles. When NVIDIA releases a new GPU generation, you switch instance types. No procurement, no e-waste.

Built-in remote access. NICE DCV provides near-zero-latency streaming from AWS to any device, anywhere. No VPN complexity.

Real Numbers

For a mid-size gaming studio (30 artists), our clients typically see:

Factor	On-Premises	AWS Cloud
Year 1 hardware	$450,000	$0
Monthly compute	$0	$18,000
Annual IT overhead	$120,000	$24,000
3-year TCO	$810,000	$672,000
Scaling flexibility	Weeks	Minutes

That’s a 17% lower TCO with dramatically better flexibility — and it improves further with auto-scaling and reserved instances.

When On-Prem Still Wins

Cloud GPUs aren’t always the answer. On-premises makes sense when:

• You have extreme data gravity (petabytes of uncompressed footage that can’t move)
• Regulatory requirements mandate physical hardware control
• Your utilization is genuinely 24/7 with no variability

For most studios, these exceptions don’t apply.

Getting Started

The migration doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. We typically recommend starting with a pilot: move 5-10 workstations to AWS, measure the experience and costs over 60 days, then decide on full migration.

Our team handles the setup: instance configuration, NICE DCV optimization, Perforce integration, driver management, and monitoring. You focus on creating.