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Equation 1 · Part 2 · The Real Resource Footprint of Building Colossus

Symbol N_GPU

PGPU=NGPU×TDPGPU=100,000×700 W=70 MW.P_{\mathrm{GPU}} = N_{\mathrm{GPU}} \times \mathrm{TDP}_{\mathrm{GPU}} = 100{,}000 \times 700\ \mathrm{W} = 70\ \mathrm{MW}.
NGPUN_{\mathrm{GPU}}

What this part means

NGN_GPU is one factor in the product that computes the quantity on the left.

Its job in the formula

NGN_GPU is one factor in the product that computes the quantity on the left.

The passage around this formula

The technical starting point is disclosed with unusual precision, because Nvidia had a marketing interest in disclosing it. In an October 2024 press release, Nvidia stated that Colossus connected up to 100,000 liquid-cooled H100 GPUs on a single RDMA fabric using its Spectrum-X Ethernet platform, built in 122 days from the first rack’s arrival, with only 19 days between first rack and the start of training, and quoted Musk calling it “the most powerful training system in the world” [ 4 ] . Nvidia’s own current H100 product page lists the SXM variant’s thermal design power at up to 700 watts, configurable [ 5 ] . That is enough to write a first, deliberately narrow equation — the power draw…

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A subscript is a label attached below a symbol. It often selects a time step, component, category, or member of a sequence.

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