Instances›AWS EC2›d3en›d3en.6xlarge
Compute
vCPUs24
Memory96 GiB
Mem / vCPU4.00 GiB
ProcessorXeon Platinum 8259
Clock speed3.1 GHz
Architecturex86_64
Storage
Type12 × 13,980 GB NVMe SSD
Bandwidth4,000 Mbps
Throughput500 MB/s
IOPS25,000
Networking
Performance40 Gigabit
Max ENIs4
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
d3en.large2 vCPU · 8 GiB
d3en.xlarge4 vCPU · 16 GiB
d3en.2xlarge8 vCPU · 32 GiB
d3en.4xlarge16 vCPU · 64 GiB
d3en.6xlarge24 vCPU · 96 GiB
d3en.8xlarge32 vCPU · 128 GiB
d3en.12xlarge48 vCPU · 192 GiB
d3en.6xlarge

The d3en.6xlarge is a storage-optimized AWS EC2 instance: 24 vCPU and 96 GiB of memory, 4.00 GiB per vCPU. In the name, "d" is dense local storage, "3" is the generation, "en" marks extended capacity and enhanced networking and "6xlarge" is the size within the d3en family. It runs on Intel Xeon Platinum 8259 (Cascade Lake) at 3.1 GHz, and AWS introduced it in December 2020. d3en is the current generation of the d family, so there is no newer AWS size to migrate to. No single Spot node covers 24 vCPU and 96 GiB, so the equivalent is a fleet: 2 × gp.vs1.2xlarge, 32 vCPU and 128 GiB in total, $3.15/hr on AWS in US East (N. Virginia), from $0.082/hr on Rackspace Spot. 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

d3en.6xlarge gives you 24 vCPU and 96 GiB in a single machine. The largest comparable Spot node, gp.vs1.2xlarge, is 16 vCPU and 64 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 24 cores and 96 GiB in one process, it does not.

No local diskd3en.6xlarge comes with 12 × 13,980 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$3.154$0.695$1.987$1.363$0.082
$3.072 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.082
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.102
Hong Kong$0.022
Sydney, Australia$3.954$0.664$2.491$1.708$0.322
$3.632 savings
London, UK$0.442
US West, San Jose$0.302
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.002
US East, N. Virginia 2$3.154$0.695$1.987$1.363$0.302
$2.852 savings
When to use it
Good for
  • ●Streaming ingest that spools to local disk
  • ●Elasticsearch and OpenSearch data nodes
  • ●NoSQL stores such as Cassandra, ScyllaDB and MongoDB
  • ●Workloads that fit inside 96 GiB of RAM
  • ●Jobs that want 12 × 13,980 GB of local NVMe scratch space
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at 40 Gigabit
  • ●Anything that shards cleanly across 2 nodes, which is how it maps onto Rackspace Spot
Avoid if
  • ●The working set needs more than 96 GiB of RAM
  • ●Workloads that never touch local disk. The instance-store premium is wasted.
  • ●More than 4.00 GiB of RAM per vCPU is needed — that ratio is fixed for the whole family
  • ●The work is single-threaded. Most of these 24 vCPU would sit idle.
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
Stop overpaying AWS. This compute costs $2,302/mo on AWS vs $60/mo on Rackspace Spot.
  • 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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