Instances›AWS EC2›c5n›c5n.18xlarge
Compute
vCPUs72
Memory192 GiB
Mem / vCPU2.67 GiB
ProcessorXeon Platinum 8124M
Clock speed3 GHz
Architecturex86_64
Storage
TypeEBS only
Bandwidth19,000 Mbps
Throughput2375 MB/s
IOPS80,000
Networking
Performance100 Gigabit
Max ENIs15
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
c5n.large2 vCPU · 5.25 GiB
c5n.xlarge4 vCPU · 10.5 GiB
c5n.2xlarge8 vCPU · 21 GiB
c5n.4xlarge16 vCPU · 42 GiB
c5n.9xlarge36 vCPU · 96 GiB
c5n.18xlarge72 vCPU · 192 GiB
c5n.metal72 vCPU · 192 GiB
c5n.18xlarge

The c5n.18xlarge is a compute-optimized AWS EC2 instance: 72 vCPU and 192 GiB of memory, 2.67 GiB per vCPU. In the name, "c" stands for compute, "5" is the generation, "n" marks enhanced networking and "18xlarge" is the size within the c5n family. It runs on Intel Xeon Platinum 8124M at 3 GHz, and AWS introduced it in November 2018. AWS has since shipped c6i, c7i, c8i and c9g. No single Spot node covers 72 vCPU and 192 GiB, so the equivalent is a fleet: 6 × ch.vs1.2xlarge, 96 vCPU and 192 GiB in total, 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

c5n.18xlarge gives you 72 vCPU and 192 GiB in a single machine. The largest comparable Spot node, ch.vs1.2xlarge, is 16 vCPU and 32 GiB, so the equivalent here is 6 nodes rather than one.

Spot runs as managed Kubernetes, so a 6-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 72 cores and 192 GiB in one process, it does not.

Pricing by region
1 hr
RegionAWS on-demandAWS Spot1-yr Reserved3-yr ReservedRackspace SpotYou save
US East, N. Virginia$3.888$1.143$2.449$1.412$0.246
$3.642 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.066
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.666
Hong Kong$5.148$3.243$2.007$0.246
$4.902 savings
Sydney, Australia$5.076$1.233$3.198$1.968$0.246
$4.830 savings
London, UK$4.608$1.383$2.903$1.927$0.786
$3.822 savings
US West, San Jose$4.860$1.474$3.062$1.952$0.011
$4.849 savings
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.671
US East, N. Virginia 2$3.888$1.143$2.449$1.412$0.891
$2.997 savings
When to use it
Good for
  • ●Video encoding and transcoding
  • ●High-traffic web and API serving
  • ●Scientific modelling and simulation
  • ●Workloads that fit inside 192 GiB of RAM
  • ●Parallel work that can occupy 72 vCPU
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at 100 Gigabit
  • ●Anything that shards cleanly across 6 nodes, which is how it maps onto Rackspace Spot
Avoid if
  • ●The working set needs more than 192 GiB of RAM
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
  • ●Memory-hungry applications. A memory-optimized family gives more RAM per dollar.
  • ●More than 2.67 GiB of RAM per vCPU is needed — that ratio is fixed for the whole family
  • ●The work is single-threaded. Most of these 72 vCPU would sit idle.
  • ●Local NVMe or instance-store disk is a hard requirement
c5n.18xlarge runs $2,838/mo on AWS on-demand. The 6-node equivalent on Rackspace Spot: $180/mo.
  • 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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