Instances›AWS EC2›c5ad›c5ad.8xlarge
Compute
vCPUs32
Memory64 GiB
Mem / vCPU2.00 GiB
ProcessorEPYC 7R32
Clock speed3.3 GHz
Architecturex86_64
Storage
Type2 × 600 GB NVMe SSD
Bandwidth3,170 Mbps
Throughput396.25 MB/s
IOPS13,300
Networking
Performance10 Gigabit
Max ENIs8
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
c5ad.large2 vCPU · 4 GiB
c5ad.xlarge4 vCPU · 8 GiB
c5ad.2xlarge8 vCPU · 16 GiB
c5ad.4xlarge16 vCPU · 32 GiB
c5ad.8xlarge32 vCPU · 64 GiB
c5ad.12xlarge48 vCPU · 96 GiB
c5ad.16xlarge64 vCPU · 128 GiB
c5ad.24xlarge96 vCPU · 192 GiB
c5ad.8xlarge

c5ad.8xlarge is AWS's compute-optimized EC2 size at 32 vCPU and 64 GiB. In the name, "c" stands for compute, "5" is the generation, "ad" marks AMD processors and local NVMe storage and "8xlarge" is the size within the c5ad family. It runs on AMD EPYC 7R32 at 3.3 GHz, and AWS introduced it in August 2020. AWS has since shipped c6i, c7i, c8i and c9g; c6i.8xlarge is the direct replacement at this size. The closest Spot shape is ch.vs1.2xlarge at 16 vCPU, so this instance maps to 2 of them — 32 vCPU and 64 GiB across the fleet, about 94% below the US East (N. Virginia) on-demand rate. Spot delivers compute as managed Kubernetes, so a node pool of that size is the native shape of the answer rather than a workaround — provided the workload scales horizontally.

Match qualityScale-out match

c5ad.8xlarge gives you 32 vCPU and 64 GiB in a single machine. The largest comparable Spot node, ch.vs1.2xlarge, is 16 vCPU and 32 GiB, so the equivalent here is 2 nodes rather than one.

Spot runs as managed Kubernetes, so a 2-node pool is the normal way to run things rather than a workaround. If your workload already sits behind a load balancer, a queue or a scheduler, it spreads across them without changes. If it needs all 32 cores and 64 GiB in one process, it does not.

No local diskc5ad.8xlarge comes with 2 × 600 GB NVMe SSD attached to the machine. Spot nodes use network storage only, so that disk doesn't come with it. If you were using it as fast scratch space, you'd move to a persistent volume or object storage, which are slower to read.
Pricing by region
1 hr
RegionAWS on-demandAWS Spot1-yr Reserved3-yr ReservedRackspace SpotYou save
US East, N. Virginia$1.376$0.608$0.867$0.594$0.082
$1.294 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.022
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.222
Hong Kong$0.082
Sydney, Australia$1.808$0.779$1.139$0.781$0.082
$1.726 savings
London, UK$0.262
US West, San Jose$0.004
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.244
US East, N. Virginia 2$1.376$0.608$0.867$0.594$0.324
$1.052 savings
When to use it
Good for
  • ●Ad serving and real-time bidding
  • ●Game servers and matchmaking
  • ●Batch processing and CI/CD runners
  • ●Workloads that fit inside 64 GiB of RAM
  • ●Jobs that want 2 × 600 GB of local NVMe scratch space
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at 10 Gigabit
  • ●Anything that shards cleanly across 2 nodes, which is how it maps onto Rackspace Spot
Avoid if
  • ●Starting a new deployment. c6i.8xlarge is the newer generation at this size.
  • ●The working set needs more than 64 GiB of RAM
  • ●More than 2.00 GiB of RAM per vCPU is needed — that ratio is fixed for the whole family
  • ●The work is single-threaded. Most of these 32 vCPU would sit idle.
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
  • ●Memory-hungry applications. A memory-optimized family gives more RAM per dollar.
$1,004/mo on AWS on-demand against $60/mo on Rackspace Spot for the 2-node equivalent — market-priced, not list-priced.
  • Spot sells spare capacity at market prices. It is the cheapest compute on the internet.
  • Prices are set by supply and demand. You pay what the market decides.
  • Compute is delivered as fully managed Kubernetes. All infrastructure is taken care of.
  • Egress costs $0.01/GB after the free allowance. AWS charges $0.09/GB.
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