Instances›AWS EC2›i4i›i4i.metal
Compute
vCPUs128
Memory1024 GiB
Mem / vCPU8.00 GiB
ProcessorXeon 8375C
Clock speed3.5 GHz
Architecturex86_64
Storage
Type8 × 3,750 GB NVMe SSD
Bandwidth40,000 Mbps
Throughput5000 MB/s
IOPS160,000
Networking
Performance75 Gigabit
Max ENIs15
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
i4i.large2 vCPU · 16 GiB
i4i.xlarge4 vCPU · 32 GiB
i4i.2xlarge8 vCPU · 64 GiB
i4i.4xlarge16 vCPU · 128 GiB
i4i.8xlarge32 vCPU · 256 GiB
i4i.12xlarge48 vCPU · 384 GiB
i4i.16xlarge64 vCPU · 512 GiB
i4i.24xlarge96 vCPU · 768 GiB
i4i.32xlarge128 vCPU · 1024 GiB
i4i.metal128 vCPU · 1024 GiB
i4i.metal

The i4i.metal pairs 128 vCPU with 1024 GiB of RAM, the 8.00 GiB-per-vCPU ratio that marks a storage-optimized instance. In the name, "i" is I/O, meaning local storage, "4" is the generation, "i" marks Intel processors and "metal" is the size within the i4i family. It runs on Intel Xeon 8375C (Ice Lake) at 3.5 GHz, and AWS introduced it in May 2022. AWS has since shipped i7i and i8g. Spot's node ladder tops out below this size, so i4i.metal becomes 8 × mh.vs1.2xlarge (128 vCPU, 1024 GiB combined), $10.98/hr on AWS in US East (N. Virginia), from $0.168/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 qualityVirtualised, not bare metal

i4i.metal is a full physical server — no virtualisation layer in the way, direct access to the hardware, and a socket count that licensing can verify.

Rackspace Spot no longer sells bare metal; everything in the catalog is a virtual machine. You get the same cores and memory (8 × mh.vs1.2xlarge, 128 vCPU, 1,024 GiB), but not the dedicated hardware. If you picked i4i.metal because you needed the real machine — nested virtualisation, per-socket licensing, low-level profiling — this is not a replacement at any price. If you picked it because it is the biggest i4i, it is the same compute for a lot less.

Runs as a fleetNo single Spot node has 128 vCPU; the largest comparable one has 16. So this runs as 8 nodes. That works if your workload already spreads across machines, and doesn't if one process needs all the cores together.
No local diski4i.metal comes with 8 × 3,750 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$10.982$1.923$7.127$5.080$0.168
$10.814 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.168
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$1.048
Hong Kong$14.502$9.455$6.731$0.168
$14.334 savings
Sydney, Australia$13.165$2.340$8.594$6.096$0.168
$12.997 savings
London, UK$12.742$1.303$8.315$5.879$1.048
$11.694 savings
US West, San Jose$12.109$1.211$7.896$5.588$0.016
$12.093 savings
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$1.936
When to use it
Good for
  • ●Data warehousing and log processing
  • ●Distributed file systems and search indexes
  • ●Transactional databases with heavy random I/O
  • ●Workloads that fit inside 1024 GiB of RAM
  • ●Jobs that want 8 × 3,750 GB of local NVMe scratch space
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at 75 Gigabit
  • ●Anything that shards cleanly across 8 nodes, which is how it maps onto Rackspace Spot
Avoid if
  • ●The working set needs more than 1024 GiB of RAM
  • ●You need dedicated hardware. Rackspace Spot sells virtualised compute only.
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
  • ●Workloads that never touch local disk. The instance-store premium is wasted.
  • ●More than 8.00 GiB of RAM per vCPU is needed — that ratio is fixed for the whole family
  • ●The work is single-threaded. Most of these 128 vCPU would sit idle.
Stop overpaying AWS. This compute costs $8,017/mo on AWS vs $123/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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