Instances›AWS EC2›r8gd›r8gd.8xlarge
Compute
vCPUs32
Memory256 GiB
Mem / vCPU8.00 GiB
ProcessorGraviton4 Processor
Clock speed2.7 GHz
Architecturearm64
Storage
Type1 × 1,900 GB NVMe SSD
Bandwidth10,000 Mbps
Throughput1250 MB/s
IOPS40,000
Networking
Performance15 Gigabit
Max ENIs8
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
r8gd.medium1 vCPU · 8 GiB
r8gd.large2 vCPU · 16 GiB
r8gd.xlarge4 vCPU · 32 GiB
r8gd.2xlarge8 vCPU · 64 GiB
r8gd.4xlarge16 vCPU · 128 GiB
r8gd.8xlarge32 vCPU · 256 GiB
r8gd.12xlarge48 vCPU · 384 GiB
r8gd.16xlarge64 vCPU · 512 GiB
r8gd.24xlarge96 vCPU · 768 GiB
r8gd.metal-24xl96 vCPU · 768 GiB
r8gd.48xlarge192 vCPU · 1536 GiB
r8gd.metal-48xl192 vCPU · 1536 GiB
r8gd.8xlarge

r8gd.8xlarge is AWS's memory-optimized EC2 size at 32 vCPU and 256 GiB. In the name, "r" stands for RAM, "8" is the generation, "gd" marks AWS Graviton (ARM) processors and local NVMe storage and "8xlarge" is the size within the r8gd family. It runs on AWS Graviton4 Processor at 2.7 GHz, and AWS introduced it in April 2025. AWS has since shipped r9gd; r9gd.8xlarge is the direct replacement at this size. The closest Spot shape is mh.vs1.2xlarge at 16 vCPU, so this instance maps to 2 of them — 32 vCPU and 256 GiB across the fleet, $2.35/hr on AWS in US East (N. Virginia), from $0.042/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 qualityScale-out match

r8gd.8xlarge gives you 32 vCPU and 256 GiB in a single machine. The largest comparable Spot node, mh.vs1.2xlarge, is 16 vCPU and 128 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 256 GiB in one process, it does not.

x86_64 onlyr8gd.8xlarge 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 diskr8gd.8xlarge comes with 1 × 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$2.351$1.065$0.042
$2.309 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.042
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.262
Hong Kong$2.858$0.042
$2.816 savings
Sydney, Australia$2.706$0.833$0.042
$2.664 savings
London, UK$2.760$0.306$0.262
$2.498 savings
US West, San Jose$2.645$1.239$0.004
$2.641 savings
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.484
When to use it
Good for
  • ●Real-time analytics over hot datasets
  • ●Database instances that keep the working set in RAM
  • ●Graph and search workloads with large indexes
  • ●Workloads that fit inside 256 GiB of RAM
  • ●Jobs that want 1 × 1,900 GB of local NVMe scratch space
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at 15 Gigabit
  • ●Anything that shards cleanly across 2 nodes, which is how it maps onto Rackspace Spot
Avoid if
  • ●The working set needs more than 256 GiB of RAM
  • ●You cannot rebuild x86-only binaries or vendor images for aarch64
  • ●The work is single-threaded. Most of these 32 vCPU would sit idle.
  • ●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
Stop overpaying AWS. This compute costs $1,717/mo on AWS vs $31/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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