x2iezn.8xlarge

Analysis

The x2iezn.8xlarge is a memory optimized instance in the x2iezn series with 32 vCPUs and 1024 GiB of memory on Intel Xeon Platinum 8252 (up to 4.5 GHz), which makes it very memory-heavy at 32 GiB of memory per vCPU.

Within the same generation and size, the x2gd.8xlarge on AWS Graviton2 costs $2.67/hour, 60% less ($2,920 a month), though switching means rebuilding software for arm64. The other variants are the x2iedn.8xlarge at $6.67.

Running it in N. Virginia instead of Tokyo saves $2,190 a month per instance: $6.67/hour against $9.67/hour, a 45% spread. It is not offered in Ohio, Canada Central, São Paulo, London, Frankfurt, Mumbai, Singapore and Sydney, so plan around that if you need a presence there.

Per vCPU it is one of the dearer memory optimized types: 97% of the 385 current types in the family cost less than its $0.2085 per vCPU-hour. The premium mostly pays for the extra memory per vCPU. On demand it is $6.67/hour in US East (N. Virginia), or $4,871 for a 730-hour month.

Reserving it for a year with no upfront payment cuts the Linux rate to $4.11/hour, which beats on demand once it runs more than 62% of the time; three years brings it to $2.14/hour, 68% below on demand. Windows Server roughly adds 22% to the bill at $8.14/hour, because the licence is charged per vCPU.