Fleet vs. Beefy — TCO Simulator

A fleet of cheap old secondhand desktops vs. one modern machine, sized to the same target RAM -- which is actually cheaper, and does that hold up over time once electricity is counted honestly? Same formulas as the original 2026-08-06 research log, ported to run live in the browser with editable inputs instead of a fixed one-time result.

Inputs

Fleet unit (old SFF desktop)

Unit price SOURCED

+ storage/SSD EST

RAM per unit (GB)

PassMark (MT) SOURCED

Idle watts EST

Load watts EST

Beefy machine (modern build)

Barebones cost EST

DRAM $/GB SOURCED

PassMark (MT) SOURCED

Idle watts EST

Load watts EST

Electricity rate

Usage pattern

Results at 5yr

Target	Fleet CapEx	Fleet $/GB	Fleet $/PassMark	Beefy CapEx	Beefy $/GB	Beefy $/PassMark	Fleet 5yr TCO	Beefy 5yr TCO	Crossover

TCO over 10 years

Fleet Beefy