EC2 Compute Optimized Instances
EC2 Compute Optimized instances are perfect for compute bound applications which can make use of high-performance processors.
Instances that fall under this family are mostly good suited for companies aiming to benefit from the following options:
– Batch processing workloads
– Media transcoding
– High performance web servers
– High performance computing (HPC)
– Scientific modeling
– Dedicated gaming servers
– Ad server engines
– Machine learning inference
– Other compute intensive apps
This type of instance has the following categories of instances:
1. C5
They are optimized for the purpose of compute-intensive workloads. They supply a cost-effective high level of performance for a low cost/compute ratio.
Its Features Include the following:
- Choice of processors (size of the instance)
- C5 and C5d (12xlarge + 24xlarge + metal instance sizes)
- Custom 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors (Cascade Lake)
- Sustained all core Turbo frequency (3.6GHz)
- Single core turbo frequency (up to 3.9GHz)
- Other C5 instance sizes: on the second generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors or even the first generation Intel Xeon Platinum 8000 series (Skylake-SP) processor
- Sustained all core Turbo frequency (up to 3.4GHz)
- Single core turbo frequency (up to 3.5 GHz)
- 24xlarge instance size offering: 96 vCPUs & 192 GiB of memory & 3.6TB local NVMe-based SSDs (optional)
- Needs HVM AMIs which have drivers for ENA + NVMe
- C5d instances: local NVMe-based SSDs (physically attached to host server + provide block-level storage which gets coupled to lifetime of C5 instance)
- Elastic Network Adapter (ENA) gives C5 instances:
– Up to 25 Gbps of network bandwidth
– Up to 14 Gbps of dedicated bandwidth to Amazon EBS
- Powered through Nitro System (combines dedicated hardware + lightweight hypervisor)
| Model | vCPU | Memory (GiB) | Instance Storage (GiB) | Network Bandwidth (Gbps) | EBS Bandwidth (Mbps) |
| c5.large | 2 | 4 | EBS-Only | Up to 10 | Up to 4,750 |
| c5.xlarge | 4 | 8 | EBS-Only | Up to 10 | Up to 4,750 |
| c5.2xlarge | 8 | 16 | EBS-Only | Up to 10 | Up to 4,750 |
| c5.4xlarge | 16 | 32 | EBS-Only | Up to 10 | 4,750 |
| c5.9xlarge | 36 | 72 | EBS-Only | 10 | 9,500 |
| c5.12xlarge | 48 | 96 | EBS-Only | 12 | 9,500 |
| c5.18xlarge | 72 | 144 | EBS-Only | 25 | 19,000 |
| c5.24xlarge | 96 | 192 | EBS-Only | 25 | 19,000 |
| c5.metal | 96 | 192 | EBS-Only | 25 | 19,000 |
| c5d.large | 2 | 4 | 1 x 50 NVMe SSD | Up to 10 | Up to 4,750 |
| c5d.xlarge | 4 | 8 | 1 x 100 NVMe SSD | Up to 10 | Up to 4,750 |
| c5d.2xlarge | 8 | 16 | 1 x 200 NVMe SSD | Up to 10 | Up to 4,750 |
| c5d.4xlarge | 16 | 32 | 1 x 400 NVMe SSD | Up to 10 | 4,750 |
| c5d.9xlarge | 36 | 72 | 1 x 900 NVMe SSD | 10 | 9,500 |
| c5d.12xlarge | 48 | 96 | 2 x 900 NVMe SSD | 12 | 9,500 |
| c5d.18xlarge | 72 | 144 | 2 x 900 NVMe SSD | 25 | 19,000 |
| c5d.24xlarge | 96 | 192 | 4 x 900 NVMe SSD | 25 | 19,000 |
| c5d.metal | 96 | 192 | 4 x 900 NVMe SSD | 25 | 19,000 |
C5 + C5d (12xlarge + 24xlarge + metal instances) include the below specs:
- Second generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors (Custom)
- Sustained all core Turbo frequency (3.6GHz)
- Single core turbo frequency (up to 3.9GHz)
- Intel AVX + Intel AVX2 + Intel AVX-512 + Intel Turbo + Intel DL Boost
- They are EBS Optimized
- They contain Enhanced Networking
Every one of the other C5 + C5d instances contain the below specs:
- Second generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors (Custom)
- Sustained all core Turbo frequency (3.6GHz)
- Single core turbo frequency (up to 3.9GHz)
- First generation Intel Xeon Platinum 8000 series processor
- Sustained all core Turbo frequency (up to 3.4GHz)
- Single core turbo frequency (up to 3.5 GHz)
- Intel AVX + Intel AVX2 + Intel AVX-512 + Intel Turbo
- They are EBS Optimized
- They have Enhanced Networking
Used in the following Cases:
– High performance web servers
– Scientific modelling
– Batch processing
– Distributed analytics
– High-performance computing (HPC)
– Machine/deep learning inference
– Ad serving
– Highly scalable multiplayer gaming
– Video encoding.
2. C5n
Those instances are perfect for those companies that require high compute applications that can take advantage of improved network throughput and packet rate performance, for example:
– High Performance Computing (HPC) workloads
– Data lakes
– Network appliances
– Firewalls
– Routers
C5n instances offer:
– Up to 100 Gbps (network bandwidth)
– Increased memory in comparison with C5 instances
– C5n.18xlarge instances: supportive of Elastic Fabric Adapter which is known as a network interface for EC2 instances. It gives customers the possibility to run apps in need of great levels of inter-node communications, such as High Performance Computing apps through the use of Message Passing Interface (at scale on AWS).
Its Features Include:
- “Intel Xeon Platinum” processors of 3.0 GHz (Intel Advanced Vector Extension 512 (AVX-512) instruction set)
- Launches every core at 3.5 GHz through the help of Intel Turbo Boost Technology
- Greater instance size (c5n.18xlarge) which provides 72 vCPUs & 192 GiB of memory
- Needs HVM AMIs that have drivers for both ENA & NVMe
- Network bandwidth raises to a whole of 100 Gbps to provide higher performance for network intensive apps
- Has EFA support (for c5n.18xlarge instances)
- In comparison with C5 instances, it provides a 33% increased memory footprint
- Powered through Nitro System (combines dedicated hardware + lightweight hypervisor)
| Model | vCPU | Memory (GiB) | Instance Storage (GiB) | Network Bandwidth (Gbps) | EBS Bandwidth (Mbps) |
| c5n.large | 2 | 5.25 | EBS-Only | Up to 25 | Up to 4,750 |
| c5n.xlarge | 4 | 10.5 | EBS-Only | Up to 25 | Up to 4,750 |
| c5n.2xlarge | 8 | 21 | EBS-Only | Up to 25 | Up to 4,750 |
| c5n.4xlarge | 16 | 42 | EBS-Only | Up to 25 | 4,750 |
| c5n.9xlarge | 36 | 96 | EBS-Only | 50 | 9,500 |
| c5n.18xlarge | 72 | 192 | EBS-Only | 100 | 19,000 |
| c5n.metal | 72 | 192 | EBS-Only | 100 | 19,000 |
Every instance has the below specs:
- Intel Xeon Platinum Processor (3.0 GHz)
- Intel AVX + Intel AVX2 + Intel AVX-512 + Intel Turbo
- It is EBS Optimized
- It has Enhanced Networking
Used for the following Cases:
– High performance web servers
– Scientific modeling
– Batch processing
– Distributed analytics
– High-performance computing (HPC)
– Machine/deep learning inference
– Ad serving
– Highly scalable multiplayer gaming
– Video encoding
3. C4
EC2 Compute Optimized Instances – c4
These C4 instances are designed especially for compute-intensive workloads. They can deliver extremely cost-effective and greatly high performance for a low price/compute ratio.
Its Features Include:
- Great frequency “Intel Xeon E5-2666 v3” (Haswell) processors that are designed especially for EC2
- EBS-optimized for higher storage performance for no extra price (by default)
- Greater networking performance + Enhanced Networking that supports Intel 82599 VF
- It needs VPC + EBS + 64-bit HVM AMIs
| Instance | vCPU* | Mem (GiB) | Storage | Dedicated EBS Bandwidth (Mbps) | Network Performance |
| c4.large | 2 | 3.75 | EBS-Only | 500 | Moderate |
| c4.xlarge | 4 | 7.5 | EBS-Only | 750 | High |
| c4.2xlarge | 8 | 15 | EBS-Only | 1,000 | High |
| c4.4xlarge | 16 | 30 | EBS-Only | 2,000 | High |
| c4.8xlarge | 36 | 60 | EBS-Only | 4,000 | 10 Gigabit |
Every instance has the below specs:
- Intel Xeon E5-2666 v3 Processor (2.9 GHz)
- Intel AVX + Intel AVX2 + Intel Turbo
- It is EBS Optimized
- It has Enhanced Networking
Used in the following Cases:
– High performance front-end fleets
– Web-servers
-Batch processing
– Distributed analytics
– High performance science & engineering applications
– Ad serving
– MMO gaming
– Video-encoding
Overall Notes:
Every vCPU is known to be a thread of either one of the following:
– Intel Xeon core
-AMD EPYC core (except for T2 + m3.medium)
AVX + AVX2 + Enhanced Networking: available on instances that are launched with HVM AMIs.
A custom number of vCPUs may be specified upon the launching of this specific instance type.
M4 instances can be launched on: Intel Xeon E5-2686 v4 (Broadwell) processor.
See Also