The Nvidia A100 is a high-end graphics card featuring 80 GB of memory, a bandwidth of 2 Tb/s, and is considered the most expensive graphics card available today, retailing for up to $30,000.
The fluctuations in supply and demand following the pandemic, along with the global chip shortage, have caused graphics card prices to soar. The trend of working from home and increased PC gaming has led many cryptocurrency miners and speculators to hoard graphics cards. This has resulted in a scarcity that continues to drive prices upward.
However, Nvidia A100 stands out as an exceptional case, with its high price tag justified by its advanced manufacturing process, superior specifications, and processing power.
According to Tom’s Hardware, Nvidia A100 is the fastest graphics card ever made. This GPU is equipped with 80 GB of memory, providing a maximum bandwidth of 2 Tb/s, nearly 7,000 CUDA cores (32-bit) and 3,500 (64-bit), along with over 400 Tensor cores. Built on TSMC’s advanced 7 nm fabrication process, the Nvidia A100 offers higher processing power while reducing power consumption.
The DGX 100 is developed for AI data centers, integrating 8 Nvidia A100 cards together. Photo: Nvidia.
Nvidia A100 is part of the DGX 100 system, designed by Nvidia for AI data centers. The DGX 100 integrates 8 Nvidia A100 cards, optimized for scaling to thousands of GPUs, capable of handling any workload.
When interconnected via Nvidia’s NVLink bridges, the bandwidth and computational power of each Nvidia A100 significantly increase. Utilizing Multi-Instance GPU (MIG) technology, it can be partitioned into 7 GPU instances to run 7 different workloads in parallel.
The DGX 100 system costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, not including service fees. Each Nvidia A100 alone retails for up to $30,000, making it the most expensive graphics card in the world.
