AWS and AMD announced the availability of new memory-optimized, high-frequency Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) X8aedz instances powered by a 5th Gen AMD EPYC processor. These instances offer the highest CPU frequency, 5GHz in the cloud. They deliver up to two times higher compute performance compared to previous generation X2iezn instances.
X8aedz instances are ideal for electronic design automation (EDA) workloads, such as physical layout and physical verification jobs, and relational databases that benefit from high single-threaded processor performance and a large memory footprint. The combination of 5 GHz processors and local NVMe storage enables faster processing of memory-intensive backend EDA workloads such as floor planning, logic placement, clock tree synthesis (CTS), routing, and power/signal integrity analysis. The high memory-to-vCPU ratio of 32:1 makes these instances particularly effective for applications with vCPU-based licensing models.
Let me explain the instance type naming: The “a” suffix indicates an AMD processor, “e” denotes extended memory in the memory-optimized instance family, “d” represents local NVMe-based SSDs physically connected to the host server, and “z” indicates high-frequency processors.
X8aedz instances
X8aedz instances are available in eight sizes ranging from 2–96 vCPUs with 64–3,072 GiB of memory, including two bare metal sizes. X8aedz instances feature up to 75 Gbps of network bandwidth with support for the Elastic Fabric Adapter (EFA), up to 60 Gbps of throughput to the Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS), and up to 8 TB of local NVMe SSD storage.
Here are the specs for X8aedz instances:
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With the 60 Gbps Amazon EBS bandwidth and up to 8 TB of local NVMe SSD storage, you can achieve faster database response times and reduced latency for EDA operations, ultimately accelerating time-to-market for chip designs. These instances also support the instance bandwidth configuration feature that offers flexibility in allocating resources between network and EBS bandwidth. You can scale network or EBS bandwidth by 25% and improve database (read and write) performance, query processing, and logging speeds.
X8aedz instances use sixth-generation AWS Nitro cards, which offload CPU virtualization, storage, and networking functions to dedicated hardware and software, enhancing performance and security for your workloads.
Now available
Amazon EC2 X8aedz instances are now available in US West (Oregon) and Asia Pacific (Tokyo) AWS Regions, and additional Regions will be coming soon. For Regional availability and future roadmap, search the instance type in the AWS CloudFormation resources tab of the AWS Capabilities by Region.
You can purchase these instances as On-Demand, Savings Plan, Spot Instances, and Dedicated Instances. To learn more, visit the Amazon EC2 Pricing page.
Give X8aedz instances a try in the Amazon EC2 console. To learn more, visit the Amazon EC2 X8aedz instances page and send feedback to AWS re:Post for EC2 or through your usual AWS Support contacts.
