Instances›AWS EC2›x2idn›x2idn.metal
Compute
vCPUs128
Memory2048 GiB
Mem / vCPU16.00 GiB
ProcessorXeon Scalable
Clock speed3.5 GHz
Architecturex86_64
Storage
Type2 × 1,900 GB NVMe SSD
Bandwidth80,000 Mbps
Throughput10000 MB/s
IOPS260,000
Networking
Performance100 Gigabit
Max ENIs15
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
x2idn.16xlarge64 vCPU · 1024 GiB
x2idn.24xlarge96 vCPU · 1536 GiB
x2idn.32xlarge128 vCPU · 2048 GiB
x2idn.metal128 vCPU · 2048 GiB
x2idn.metal

The x2idn.metal is a memory-optimized AWS EC2 instance: 128 vCPU and 2048 GiB of memory, 16.00 GiB per vCPU. In the name, "x" is the extra-memory line, "2" is the generation, "idn" marks Intel processors, local NVMe storage and enhanced networking and "metal" is the size within the x2idn family. It runs on Intel Xeon Scalable (Icelake) at 3.5 GHz, and AWS introduced it in August 2022. AWS has since shipped x8i. No single Spot node covers 128 vCPU and 2048 GiB, so the equivalent is a fleet: 15 × mh.vs1.2xlarge, 240 vCPU and 1920 GiB in total, $13.34/hr on AWS in US East (N. Virginia), from $0.315/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

x2idn.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 (15 × mh.vs1.2xlarge, 240 vCPU, 1,920 GiB), but not the dedicated hardware. If you picked x2idn.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 x2idn, 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 15 nodes. That works if your workload already spreads across machines, and doesn't if one process needs all the cores together.
No local diskx2idn.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$13.338$3.682$8.207$4.278$0.315
$13.023 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.315
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$1.965
Hong Kong$21.276$13.091$6.824$0.315
$20.961 savings
Sydney, Australia$19.341$1.934$11.900$6.204$0.315
$19.026 savings
London, UK$16.806$1.681$10.341$5.391$1.965
$14.841 savings
US West, San Jose$17.340$4.824$10.669$5.562$0.030
$17.310 savings
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$3.630
When to use it
Good for
  • ●In-memory caches such as Redis and Memcached
  • ●Large JVM heaps and application servers that hold state
  • ●OLAP and business intelligence query engines
  • ●Workloads that fit inside 2048 GiB of RAM
  • ●Jobs that want 2 × 1,900 GB of local NVMe scratch space
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at 100 Gigabit
  • ●Anything that shards cleanly across 15 nodes, which is how it maps onto Rackspace Spot
Avoid if
  • ●The working set needs more than 2048 GiB of RAM
  • ●You need dedicated hardware. Rackspace Spot sells virtualised compute only.
  • ●More than 16.00 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.
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
  • ●CPU-bound work. You are paying for memory this workload will not use.
$9,737/mo on AWS on-demand against $230/mo on Rackspace Spot for the 15-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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