The decision is made on numbers, not on hardware: a pretty rig is not a profitable one. Estimate income, costs and payback before you buy.
The income formula
Monthly income = GPUs × $/hr × 24 × 30 × utilization × host share. The main lever is utilization: 30–50% for a new host, 50–70% once verified. Vast.ai takes ~15–25%, the host keeps ~75–85%.
| GPU | Rent $/hr | Demand |
|---|---|---|
| RTX 5090 | 0.50 – 0.75 | very high |
| RTX 4090 | 0.30 – 0.50 | high |
| RTX 5080 | 0.18 – 0.30 | medium |
| RTX 3090 | 0.15 – 0.25 | declining |
Prices float with demand and spot is cheaper than on-demand — check current rates on vast.ai before buying.
Example: a 4×RTX 4090 rig
Investment ≈ 920–980k rub (4 cards + a server platform). At $0.35/hr and 50% utilization the host share is ≈ $403/mo ≈ 32,000 rub. Minus ~5,200 rub electricity and ~700 rub VPS → ≈ 26,000 rub/mo net, payback ≈ 38 months.
| Utilization | Profit/mo | Payback |
|---|---|---|
| 30% | ~14,000 rub | ~70 mo |
| 50% | ~26,000 rub | ~38 mo |
| 70% | ~38,000 rub | ~26 mo |
| $0.50 + 70% | ~58,000 rub | ~17 mo |
Payback is very sensitive to utilization and price — these levers matter more than the hardware itself. The baseline is honestly long: 2–4 years. This is not quick money.