r7i.48xlarge

Analysis

The r7i.48xlarge is a memory optimized instance in the r7i series with 192 vCPUs and 1536 GiB of memory on Intel Xeon Scalable (Sapphire Rapids) (up to 3.2 GHz), which makes it memory-heavy at 8 GiB of memory per vCPU.

It is the cheapest of the 2 processor variants AWS sells at this size and generation. The r7a.48xlarge on AMD EPYC 9R14 costs 15% more, and no others also sit above it.

Running it in N. Virginia instead of São Paulo saves $5,519 a month per instance: $12.70/hour against $20.26/hour, a 60% spread.

On demand it costs $12.70/hour in US East (N. Virginia), $9,272 a month if left running, which puts it mid-table for memory optimized types at the 26th percentile per vCPU ($0.0662 per vCPU-hour) and the 40th percentile per GiB ($0.00827 per GiB-hour).

The newer r8i.48xlarge on Intel Xeon Scalable (Granite Rapids) is 5.0% dearer at $13.34/hour.

Looking beyond its own line, 3 of 20 current types with 192 vCPUs and similar memory are cheaper. The cheapest of those is the r6a.48xlarge on AMD EPYC 7R13 at $10.89/hour.

It is the largest of the 9 r7i sizes. Dropping to the r7i.24xlarge saves $4,636 a month.

Reserving it for a year with no upfront payment cuts the Linux rate to $8.40/hour, which beats on demand once it runs more than 66% of the time; three years brings it to $5.76/hour, 55% below on demand. Windows Server roughly adds 70% to the bill at $21.53/hour, because the licence is charged per vCPU.