Understanding GPU cloud instance types: How to read a spec sheet for real-world ML performance
A GPU spec sheet is a confidence trick. It looks like an objective document - numbers, units, comparable rows - but most of the numbers on it don't map cleanly to the performance a real workload will see. Teams that pick GPUs by reading the headline figures usually find out the gap between spec and reality somewhere around the first production run. This is a working guide to reading GPU cloud instance specifications against actual ML workloads. The goal isn't to recommend a card.