Instances›AWS EC2›c5d›c5d.9xlarge
Compute
vCPUs36
Memory72 GiB
Mem / vCPU2.00 GiB
ProcessorXeon Platinum 8124M
Clock speed3.4 GHz
Architecturex86_64
Storage
Type1 × 900 GB NVMe SSD
Bandwidth9,500 Mbps
Throughput1187.5 MB/s
IOPS40,000
Networking
Performance12 Gigabit
Max ENIs8
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
c5d.large2 vCPU · 4 GiB
c5d.xlarge4 vCPU · 8 GiB
c5d.2xlarge8 vCPU · 16 GiB
c5d.4xlarge16 vCPU · 32 GiB
c5d.9xlarge36 vCPU · 72 GiB
c5d.12xlarge48 vCPU · 96 GiB
c5d.18xlarge72 vCPU · 144 GiB
c5d.24xlarge96 vCPU · 192 GiB
c5d.metal96 vCPU · 192 GiB
c5d.9xlarge

The c5d.9xlarge is a compute-optimized AWS EC2 instance: 36 vCPU and 72 GiB of memory, 2.00 GiB per vCPU. In the name, "c" stands for compute, "5" is the generation, "d" marks local NVMe storage and "9xlarge" is the size within the c5d family. It runs on Intel Xeon Platinum 8124M at 3.4 GHz, and AWS introduced it in May 2018. AWS has since shipped c6i, c7i, c8i and c9g. No single Spot node covers 36 vCPU and 72 GiB, so the equivalent is a fleet: 3 × ch.vs1.2xlarge, 48 vCPU and 96 GiB in total, about 93% 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

c5d.9xlarge gives you 36 vCPU and 72 GiB in a single machine. The largest comparable Spot node, ch.vs1.2xlarge, is 16 vCPU and 32 GiB, so the equivalent here is 3 nodes rather than one.

Spot runs as managed Kubernetes, so a 3-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 36 cores and 72 GiB in one process, it does not.

No local diskc5d.9xlarge comes with 1 × 900 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$1.728$0.586$1.089$0.726$0.123
$1.605 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.033
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.333
Hong Kong$2.214$1.395$0.956$0.123
$2.091 savings
Sydney, Australia$2.268$0.761$1.429$0.980$0.123
$2.145 savings
London, UK$2.070$0.619$1.304$0.894$0.393
$1.677 savings
US West, San Jose$2.160$0.632$1.361$0.933$0.005
$2.155 savings
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.305
US East, N. Virginia 2$1.728$0.586$1.089$0.726$0.405
$1.323 savings
When to use it
Good for
  • ●High-traffic web and API serving
  • ●Scientific modelling and simulation
  • ●Ad serving and real-time bidding
  • ●Workloads that fit inside 72 GiB of RAM
  • ●Jobs that want 1 × 900 GB of local NVMe scratch space
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at 12 Gigabit
  • ●Anything that shards cleanly across 3 nodes, which is how it maps onto Rackspace Spot
Avoid if
  • ●The working set needs more than 72 GiB of RAM
  • ●The work is single-threaded. Most of these 36 vCPU would sit idle.
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
  • ●Memory-hungry applications. A memory-optimized family gives more RAM per dollar.
  • ●More than 2.00 GiB of RAM per vCPU is needed — that ratio is fixed for the whole family
$1,261/mo on AWS on-demand against $90/mo on Rackspace Spot for the 3-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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