Instances›AWS EC2›r6gd›r6gd.xlarge
Compute
vCPUs4
Memory32 GiB
Mem / vCPU8.00 GiB
ProcessorGraviton2 Processor
Clock speed2.5 GHz
Architecturearm64
Storage
Type1 × 237 GB NVMe SSD
Bandwidth4,750 Mbps
Throughput593.75 MB/s
IOPS20,000
Networking
PerformanceUp to 10 Gigabit
Max ENIs4
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.xlarge

The r6gd.xlarge is a memory-optimized AWS EC2 instance: 4 vCPU and 32 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 "xlarge" 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.xlarge is the direct replacement at this size, scoring 96,355 CoreMark/s against this instance's 80,488 — roughly 20% more throughput for the same vCPU count. Rackspace Spot's mh.vs2.large is a like-for-like substitute at 4 vCPU and 32 GiB, about 91% below the US East (N. Virginia) on-demand rate.

Match qualityx86 substitution

r6gd.xlarge is Graviton (arm64). Rackspace Spot does not have arm64 servers, so mh.vs2.large is an x86_64 substitute with similar specs.

You will need x86 builds of your container images. Most software rebuilds without changes, but anything with compiled native code needs a real rebuild rather than a retag. Speed per core also differs between the two chips, so it is worth testing before deciding how many nodes to run.

No local diskr6gd.xlarge comes with 1 × 237 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$0.230$0.104$0.145$0.100$0.021
$0.209 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.061
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.021
Hong Kong$0.006
Sydney, Australia$0.278$0.104$0.176$0.121$0.006
$0.272 savings
London, UK$0.270$0.091$0.170$0.117$0.006
$0.264 savings
US West, San Jose$0.260$0.109$0.164$0.112$0.061
$0.199 savings
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.061
When to use it
Good for
  • ●Large JVM heaps and application servers that hold state
  • ●OLAP and business intelligence query engines
  • ●Real-time analytics over hot datasets
  • ●Workloads that fit inside 32 GiB of RAM
  • ●Jobs that want 1 × 237 GB of local NVMe scratch space
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at Up to 10 Gigabit
Avoid if
  • ●Starting a new deployment. r7gd.xlarge is the newer generation at this size.
  • ●The working set needs more than 32 GiB of RAM
  • ●You cannot rebuild x86-only binaries or vendor images for aarch64
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
  • ●CPU-bound work. You are paying for memory this workload will not use.
  • ●More than 8.00 GiB of RAM per vCPU is needed — that ratio is fixed for the whole family
r6gd.xlarge runs $168/mo on AWS on-demand. The equivalent on Rackspace Spot: $15/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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