Instances›AWS EC2›r6gd›r6gd.metal
Compute
vCPUs64
Memory512 GiB
Mem / vCPU8.00 GiB
ProcessorGraviton2 Processor
Clock speed2.5 GHz
Architecturearm64
Storage
Type2 × 1,900 GB NVMe SSD
Bandwidth19,000 Mbps
Throughput2375 MB/s
IOPS80,000
Networking
Performance25 Gigabit
Max ENIs15
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
r6gd.medium1 vCPU · 8 GiB
r6gd.large2 vCPU · 16 GiB
r6gd.xlarge4 vCPU · 32 GiB
r6gd.2xlarge8 vCPU · 64 GiB
r6gd.4xlarge16 vCPU · 128 GiB
r6gd.8xlarge32 vCPU · 256 GiB
r6gd.12xlarge48 vCPU · 384 GiB
r6gd.16xlarge64 vCPU · 512 GiB
r6gd.metal64 vCPU · 512 GiB
r6gd.metal

The r6gd.metal is a memory-optimized AWS EC2 instance: 64 vCPU and 512 GiB of memory, 8.00 GiB per vCPU. In the name, "r" stands for RAM, "6" is the generation, "gd" marks AWS Graviton (ARM) processors and local NVMe storage and "metal" is the size within the r6gd family. It runs on AWS Graviton2 Processor at 2.5 GHz, and AWS introduced it in July 2020. AWS has since shipped r7gd, r8gd and r9gd; r7gd.metal is the direct replacement at this size, scoring 1,648,316 CoreMark/s against this instance's 1,302,490 — roughly 27% more throughput for the same vCPU count. No single Spot node covers 64 vCPU and 512 GiB, so the equivalent is a fleet: 4 × mh.vs1.2xlarge, 64 vCPU and 512 GiB in total, $3.69/hr on AWS in US East (N. Virginia), from $0.084/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

r6gd.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 (4 × mh.vs1.2xlarge, 64 vCPU, 512 GiB), but not the dedicated hardware. If you picked r6gd.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 r6gd, it is the same compute for a lot less.

Runs as a fleetNo single Spot node has 64 vCPU; the largest comparable one has 16. So this runs as 4 nodes. That works if your workload already spreads across machines, and doesn't if one process needs all the cores together.
x86_64 onlyr6gd.metal is Graviton (arm64) and Rackspace Spot has no arm64 nodes, so you'd be moving to x86. You'll need x86 builds of your images, and per-core speed differs between the chips — worth testing before you decide how many nodes to run.
No local diskr6gd.metal comes with 2 × 1,900 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$3.686$0.916$2.322$1.593$0.084
$3.602 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.084
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.524
Hong Kong$0.084
Sydney, Australia$4.448$0.575$2.822$1.935$0.084
$4.364 savings
London, UK$4.326$0.442$2.726$1.869$0.524
$3.802 savings
US West, San Jose$4.160$0.416$2.621$1.797$0.008
$4.152 savings
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.968
When to use it
Good for
  • ●Graph and search workloads with large indexes
  • ●In-memory caches such as Redis and Memcached
  • ●Large JVM heaps and application servers that hold state
  • ●Workloads that fit inside 512 GiB of RAM
  • ●Jobs that want 2 × 1,900 GB of local NVMe scratch space
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at 25 Gigabit
  • ●Anything that shards cleanly across 4 nodes, which is how it maps onto Rackspace Spot
Avoid if
  • ●Starting a new deployment. r7gd.metal is the newer generation at this size.
  • ●The working set needs more than 512 GiB of RAM
  • ●You cannot rebuild x86-only binaries or vendor images for aarch64
  • ●You need dedicated hardware. Rackspace Spot sells virtualised compute only.
  • ●The work is single-threaded. Most of these 64 vCPU would sit idle.
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
$2,691/mo on AWS on-demand against $61/mo on Rackspace Spot for the 4-node 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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