FMV vs OLV vs FLV for GPUs
Three values for the same server, and which one to lend against.
The short answer
Fair market value (FMV) is the price between a willing buyer and a willing seller. Orderly liquidation value (OLV) is what a seller who has to sell gets with time to find buyers, and forced liquidation value (FLV) what it gets in a quick sale. A used 8-GPU HGX H100 server was worth $195,000 at fair market value in the October 2026 Rack Report.
One server, three values
| Used equipment, October 2026 | Fair market (FMV) | Orderly liquidation (OLV) | Forced liquidation (FLV) |
|---|---|---|---|
| HGX H200 8-GPU server* | $348,500 | $309,000 | $225,000 |
| HGX H100 8-GPU server | $195,000 | $173,000 | $126,000 |
| HGX A100 80GB 8-GPU server | $95,200 | $84,400 | $61,500 |
Fair market value is the October 2026 Rack Report's value for a whole 8-GPU server in a standard configuration, data through August 2026. Orderly liquidation is 89% of it, the median ratio of 25th-percentile to median realized price across the GPUs we benchmark. Forced liquidation is 65%, the weakest such ratio on record. Both are gross, before selling costs.
No used HGX B300 or B200 servers appear in our sales data yet, so they have no values here. The GPU Value Guide shows their residual bands.
*Limited sample. Indicative, not an appraisal. Orderly and forced liquidation values here are our mapping of realized-price dispersion to the ASA value definitions, not an appraisal method signed by a credentialed appraiser.
Sources: American Compute.
The premises of value
| Value | Standard definition | For GPU collateral |
|---|---|---|
| Fair market valueFMV | The price at which the equipment would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither under any compulsion to buy or sell, both with reasonable knowledge of the relevant facts, as of a stated date. | For GPUs the evidence is completed arm's-length sales, not dealer asks or rental rates. Asks for used H100 SXM GPUs ran 1.16x the realized price in the October 2026 Rack Report. |
| Fair market value in continued useFMV-CU | Fair market value assuming the equipment stays installed and in use as part of an operating business, with the cost of installation and its contribution to the whole considered. | The case for a cluster that keeps running in place: same site, network fabric and offtaker. It drops away if the colocation contract or the offtake ends, which is when a lender needs the number. |
| Orderly liquidation valueOLV | The gross amount that could typically be realized from a liquidation sale given a reasonable time to find buyers, with the seller compelled to sell, as-is and where-is, as of a stated date. | A GPU resale usually takes about 30 days once remarketing materials, diagnostics and refurbishment are done; our residual report recommends 30 to 60 days, because a rushed sale fetches less. |
| Forced liquidation valueFLV | The gross amount that could typically be realized from a properly advertised and conducted public auction, with the seller compelled to sell with a sense of immediacy, as-is and where-is. | There is no central auction house for data center GPUs. A forced sale runs through brokers and resellers in parallel, and parting out a cluster cuts the buyer pool to those who can rebuild it. |
| Residual value at key datesRV | Expected value at each date that matters to the deal: payment dates, covenant tests, a balloon, lease end. Expressed as a percent of original cost and in dollars. | We give residuals as conservative and moderate bands by calendar year, measured from when the GPU generation first shipped, not from the purchase date. |
The definitions above follow the American Society of Appraisers' machinery and equipment definitions. In the United States, USPAP, published by The Appraisal Foundation's Appraisal Standards Board, governs how personal property appraisals, including machinery and equipment, are developed (Standard 7) and reported (Standard 8). If your credit policy or regulator names a standard, put it in the engagement scope. USPAP-compliant reports are available on request.
Sources: American Society of Appraisers, American Compute, The Appraisal Foundation, Appraisal Standards Board.
Net orderly liquidation value and remaining useful life
- Net orderly liquidation value (NOLV)
- Orderly liquidation value less the costs of selling. For GPU servers those include colocation fees while the sale runs, freight, refurbishment and wiping the drives. Bank examiners treat NOLV as the standard for collateral value in asset-based lending.
- Remaining useful life (RUL)
- How long the equipment can keep earning from the valuation date. We count a GPU's age from when its generation first shipped, not from the invoice date. Depreciation schedules are an accounting convention; CoreWeave's is six years for GPU servers. See the useful-life tracker.
Sources: American Compute, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Which value a lender uses for what
Each decision in a deal calls for a different premise.
- Advance rate and borrowing base
- Orderly liquidation value, or NOLV once selling costs come off. Bank examiners expect asset-based lenders to get an appraisal at underwriting to help set the borrowing base and advance rates, with NOLV as the standard for collateral value. On GPU loans the base is usually the invoice price, so check the quote against realized sales first.
- Loan-to-value tests
- The premise used at closing, updated. Examiners expect updated appraisals through the life of the loan, more often as issues arise. We mark GPU collateral monthly or quarterly from the same sale data: see GPU valuations.
- Fair market value lease
- Fair market value. The lessee can buy the equipment at its then fair market value at the end of the term, so the lessor keeps the residual risk.
- Default and recovery case
- Forced liquidation value, which assumes the seller has to sell quickly, as-is and where-is. Defaults and weak resale markets tend to arrive together, so test the recovery case at the forced value.
- Fund and lessor marks
- Fair value, an exit price between market participants at the measurement date. See appraisal vs valuation.
Sources: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, American Compute, American Society of Appraisers, Deloitte Accounting Research Tool (DART).
Why the gap matters for GPU loans
Dealer asks run above sales. A used H100 SXM was listed at a median $16,576 and sold for $14,250 typical in the October 2026 Rack Report. A fair market value built on listings starts too high, and every liquidation value derived from it does too.
Parting out gives up value. A complete HGX A100 80GB node traded +40% against the sum of its parts in the October 2026 Rack Report, and an HGX H100 node +4%. Buyers of older GPUs want tested, working systems, so a forced sale that breaks up clusters gives that premium away.
Power and cooling set the buyer pool. Past roughly 40 kW per rack, air cooling stops working, so a liquid-cooled rack can only go to a buyer with a liquid-cooled site. An air-cooled DGX H100 at about 10.2 kW still runs in older data centers, which keeps its buyer pool wide today.
Sources: American Compute, NVIDIA.
Desktop appraisal or on-site inspection
A desktop appraisal works from documents and data: the quote, the bill of materials and our sale data. GPU serial numbers can be read remotely and matched to the UCC-1 schedule.
An inspection adds on-site equipment verification and a facility walk-through. Scope one when the site affects the value, since its power, cooling and condition decide who could buy the equipment in a sale.
Sources: American Compute.
Related pages
Discuss a transaction
Send us the equipment list and the loan or lease you have in mind. We will come back with an indication and the questions we would need answered.
Prefer email? hello@amcompute.com
Questions
- What is the difference between FMV and OLV?
- Fair market value assumes a willing seller under no pressure to sell. Orderly liquidation value assumes the seller has to sell, with reasonable time to find buyers, as-is and where-is. For used GPU servers, our GPU Value Guide sets OLV at the lower quartile of realized sales.
- What is NOLV?
- NOLV is net orderly liquidation value, the orderly liquidation value less the costs of selling. For GPU servers those include colocation fees while the sale runs, freight, refurbishment and wiping the drives. Bank examiners treat NOLV as the standard for collateral value in asset-based lending.
- What is forced liquidation value?
- The gross amount a properly advertised public auction would bring, with the seller compelled to sell quickly, as-is and where-is. Public GPU auctions are rare, so a forced sale of GPU servers usually runs through brokers and resellers.
- What is the liquidation value of an H100 server?
- A used 8-GPU HGX H100 server was worth $195,000 at fair market value in the October 2026 Rack Report. Our GPU Value Guide gives orderly and forced liquidation values from the spread of realized sales; an appraisal sets them for your configuration, site and sale date.
- What is remaining useful life for a GPU?
- How long the equipment can keep earning from the valuation date. We count a GPU's age from when its generation first shipped, so an H100 bought in 2024 is valued as a generation that first shipped in late 2022.