The g4ad.2xlarge is a GPU AWS EC2 instance: 8 vCPU and 32 GiB of memory, 4.00 GiB per vCPU. In the name, "g" is graphics, "4" is the generation, "ad" marks AMD processors and local NVMe storage and "2xlarge" is the size within the g4ad family. It runs on AMD EPYC 7R32 at 2.8 GHz, and AWS introduced it in July 2021. AWS has since shipped g5, g6 and g7; g5.2xlarge is the direct replacement at this size. Rackspace Spot runs one GPU class, gpu.vs2.xlargeplusplus — a single NVIDIA A30 with 24 vCPU and 64 GiB, in San Jose only. Against this instance's 1 × AMD Radeon Pro V520 that is a fair swap for inference and media work — the A30 carries more memory and more throughput per card.
Match qualityComparable GPU
g4ad.2xlarge pairs 1 GPU (8 GiB VRAM) with 8 vCPU. Spot's GPU node uses the NVIDIA A30 (Ampere, 24 GB VRAM) with 24 vCPU and 64 GiB of memory — more GPU memory, more CPU and newer hardware than g4ad.2xlarge. For inference, batch transcoding and single-card fine-tuning that is an upgrade rather than a compromise. The catch is location rather than hardware: US West, San Jose is the only Spot region that offers it, so latency to your users and egress to your data are the things to check.
Pricing by region
1 hr
Region
AWS on-demand
AWS Spot
1-yr Reserved
3-yr Reserved
Rackspace Spot
You save
US West, San Jose
$0.191
When to use it
Good for
●Video transcoding and image processing
●Machine learning experimentation and fine-tuning
●Remote graphics workstations and rendering
●Workloads that fit inside 32 GiB of RAM
●Parallel work that can occupy 8 vCPU
●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at Up to 10 Gigabit
Avoid if
●Starting a new deployment. g5.2xlarge is the newer generation at this size.
●The working set needs more than 32 GiB of RAM
●Anything the CPU can do fast enough. GPU hours are the most expensive on the price list.
●More than 4.00 GiB of RAM per vCPU is needed — that ratio is fixed for the whole family
●Local NVMe or instance-store disk is a hard requirement
Rackspace Spot sells spare capacity at market prices. You pay what the market decides, not a list price.
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.
