Instances›AWS EC2›c6gd›c6gd.xlarge
Compute
vCPUs4
Memory8 GiB
Mem / vCPU2.00 GiB
ProcessorGraviton2 Processor
Clock speed2.5 GHz
Architecturearm64
Storage
Type1 × 237 GB NVMe SSD
Bandwidth4,750 Mbps
Throughput593.75 MB/s
IOPS20,000
Networking
PerformanceUp to 10 Gigabit
Max ENIs4
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
c6gd.medium1 vCPU · 2 GiB
c6gd.large2 vCPU · 4 GiB
c6gd.xlarge4 vCPU · 8 GiB
c6gd.2xlarge8 vCPU · 16 GiB
c6gd.4xlarge16 vCPU · 32 GiB
c6gd.8xlarge32 vCPU · 64 GiB
c6gd.12xlarge48 vCPU · 96 GiB
c6gd.16xlarge64 vCPU · 128 GiB
c6gd.metal64 vCPU · 128 GiB
c6gd.xlarge

The c6gd.xlarge pairs 4 vCPU with 8 GiB of RAM, the 2.00 GiB-per-vCPU ratio that marks a compute-optimized instance. In the name, "c" stands for compute, "6" is the generation, "gd" marks AWS Graviton (ARM) processors and local NVMe storage and "xlarge" is the size within the c6gd family. It runs on AWS Graviton2 Processor at 2.5 GHz, and AWS introduced it in July 2020. AWS has since shipped c7gd, c8gd and c9gd; c7gd.xlarge is the direct replacement at this size, scoring 100,484 CoreMark/s against this instance's 78,426 — roughly 28% more throughput for the same vCPU count. ch.vs2.large on Rackspace Spot lines up one-for-one: 4 vCPU and 8 GiB, about 86% below the US East (N. Virginia) on-demand rate.

Match qualityx86 substitution

c6gd.xlarge is Graviton (arm64). Rackspace Spot does not have arm64 servers, so ch.vs2.large is an x86_64 substitute with similar specs.

You will need x86 builds of your container images. Most software rebuilds without changes, but anything with compiled native code needs a real rebuild rather than a retag. Speed per core also differs between the two chips, so it is worth testing before deciding how many nodes to run.

No local diskc6gd.xlarge comes with 1 × 237 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$0.154$0.050$0.097$0.066$0.021
$0.133 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.011
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.021
Hong Kong$0.036
Sydney, Australia$0.202$0.071$0.126$0.086$0.011
$0.191 savings
London, UK$0.184$0.056$0.116$0.080$0.026
$0.158 savings
US West, San Jose$0.192$0.066$0.122$0.082$0.031
$0.161 savings
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.041
US East, N. Virginia 2$0.154$0.050$0.097$0.066$0.031
$0.123 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 8 GiB of RAM
  • ●Jobs that want 1 × 237 GB of local NVMe scratch space
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at Up to 10 Gigabit
Avoid if
  • ●Starting a new deployment. c7gd.xlarge is the newer generation at this size.
  • ●The working set needs more than 8 GiB of RAM
  • ●You cannot rebuild x86-only binaries or vendor images for aarch64
  • ●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
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
$112/mo on AWS on-demand against $15/mo on Rackspace Spot for the 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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