Instances›AWS EC2›m5ad›m5ad.8xlarge
Compute
vCPUs32
Memory128 GiB
Mem / vCPU4.00 GiB
ProcessorEPYC 7571
Clock speed2.5 GHz
Architecturex86_64
Storage
Type2 × 600 GB NVMe SSD
Bandwidth4,750 Mbps
Throughput593.75 MB/s
IOPS20,000
Networking
PerformanceUp to 10 Gigabit
Max ENIs8
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
m5ad.large2 vCPU · 8 GiB
m5ad.xlarge4 vCPU · 16 GiB
m5ad.2xlarge8 vCPU · 32 GiB
m5ad.4xlarge16 vCPU · 64 GiB
m5ad.8xlarge32 vCPU · 128 GiB
m5ad.12xlarge48 vCPU · 192 GiB
m5ad.16xlarge64 vCPU · 256 GiB
m5ad.24xlarge96 vCPU · 384 GiB
m5ad.8xlarge

m5ad.8xlarge is AWS's general-purpose EC2 size at 32 vCPU and 128 GiB. In the name, "m" is the general-purpose line, "5" is the generation, "ad" marks AMD processors and local NVMe storage and "8xlarge" is the size within the m5ad family. It runs on AMD EPYC 7571 at 2.5 GHz, and AWS introduced it in March 2019. AWS has since shipped m6i, m7i, m8i and m9g; m6i.8xlarge is the direct replacement at this size, scoring 550,372 CoreMark/s against this instance's 386,551 — roughly 42% more throughput for the same vCPU count. The closest Spot shape is gp.vs1.2xlarge at 16 vCPU, so this instance maps to 2 of them — 32 vCPU and 128 GiB across the fleet, about 95% 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

m5ad.8xlarge gives you 32 vCPU and 128 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 32 cores and 128 GiB in one process, it does not.

No local diskm5ad.8xlarge comes with 2 × 600 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$1.648$0.575$1.038$0.712$0.082
$1.566 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.082
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.102
Hong Kong$0.022
Sydney, Australia$2.080$0.637$1.310$0.899$0.322
$1.758 savings
London, UK$1.920$0.624$1.210$0.829$0.442
$1.478 savings
US West, San Jose$1.952$0.665$1.230$0.843$0.302
$1.650 savings
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.002
US East, N. Virginia 2$1.648$0.575$1.038$0.712$0.302
$1.346 savings
When to use it
Good for
  • ●Queue workers and scheduled jobs
  • ●Web and application servers with mixed CPU and memory demand
  • ●Microservices and container fleets
  • ●Workloads that fit inside 128 GiB of RAM
  • ●Jobs that want 2 × 600 GB of local NVMe scratch space
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at Up to 10 Gigabit
  • ●Anything that shards cleanly across 2 nodes, which is how it maps onto Rackspace Spot
Avoid if
  • ●Starting a new deployment. m6i.8xlarge is the newer generation at this size.
  • ●The working set needs more than 128 GiB of RAM
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
  • ●Sustained full-core CPU load. A compute-optimized family costs less per unit of work.
  • ●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 32 vCPU would sit idle.
m5ad.8xlarge runs $1,203/mo on AWS on-demand. The 2-node equivalent on Rackspace Spot: $60/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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