A Comprehensive Guide to Accelerated and High Memory Cloud Instances

Parag KulkarniParag Kulkarni
3 min read

Cloud computing has evolved rapidly to meet growing demands in data processing, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and other compute-heavy applications. Among the diverse types of instances available, accelerated computing instances and high-memory instances stand out for their specialized performance.

๐Ÿ“Œ What are Accelerated Computing Instances?

Accelerated computing instances are cloud computing instances specifically designed for high-performance tasks. These include:

  • Machine Learning (ML)

  • Deep Learning (DL)

  • Data analytics

  • Graphics rendering

They come equipped with hardware like GPUs, FPGAs, or TPUs to speed up data processing significantly.

๐Ÿ“Š Types of Accelerated Computing Instances

  • P Series, G Series, F Series

  • Live streaming (e.g., YouTube, Instagram, Facebook)

  • Fast video/data processing

๐Ÿ”ข Common Hardware Used

  • ๐Ÿ’ช GPU: Ideal for ML and graphics rendering

  • ๐Ÿ”ง FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array): Custom hardware acceleration for real-time processing

  • ๐Ÿค– TPU (Tensor Processing Unit): Googleโ€™s custom ASIC for machine learning tasks

๐ŸŒ Scalability

Accelerated instances can be scaled:

  • Horizontally: Add more instances

  • Vertically: Increase the size of each instance

This makes them capable of handling large-scale workloads.

๐Ÿงฌ Use Cases and Optimization

  • Designed for parallel processing workloads: AI/ML, HPC (High-Performance Computing), 3D rendering

  • Used for training models (TensorFlow, PyTorch)

  • Suitable for inference tasks like image recognition

๐Ÿ”น Examples of Accelerated Instances

  • โœจ P2, P3, P4: Equipped with NVIDIA Tesla GPUs (e.g., V100 for deep learning)

  • โœจ F1: Comes with FPGAs; used for custom logic and hardware acceleration

  • โœจ Inf1: Contains AWS Inferentia chips; used for ML inference at scale

๐Ÿ“ˆ Performance Comparison

Accelerated instances deliver 10x to 100x faster performance for specific workloads than CPU-based instances.

๐Ÿ’ก F1 Instances in Detail

  • Offer customizable hardware with FPGA

  • Use case: Digital signal processing, DSLR camera enhancements, real-time video/photo editing

Hardware Specs:

  • 8 to 64 vCPUs

  • 1 to 8 FPGAs

  • 122 GB to 976 GB RAM

  • NVM SSD storage

๐ŸŒ Latest in Accelerated Computing: P5 & P4d

P5 Instance:

  • GPU: NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core

  • Use case: Large-scale AI/ML training, HPC

  • 20x faster AI training compared to previous generations

  • Optimized for generative AI models (e.g., ChatGPT, DALLโ€ขE)

P4d Instance:

GPU: NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core

    • Use case: Deep learning, HPC, graphics rendering

๐Ÿ‹๏ธ G2 & G3 Instances

Best for:

    • 3D application modeling

      • Game visualization

  • G3 uses NVIDIA Tesla M60 GPU for graphic-intensive tasks

๐ŸŒŸ High Memory Instances (U Series)

  • High-memory bare metal instances (no hypervisor)

  • Best suited for applications like SAP HANA

Examples:

    • Xeon 8176M CPUs

      • Up to 12 TB RAM

      • Each instance offers 448 logical processors

๐Ÿ“ฆ Storage & Optimization

  • Powered by AWS Nitro System

EBS-optimized instances:

    • Types: u-6tb1.metal, u-9tb1.metal, u-12tb1.metal

      • Provide dedicated EBS bandwidth of up to 14 Gbps

๐Ÿ”ฌ R5 Instances

  • RAM: Up to 768 GB

  • Use case: Memory-intensive applications

๐Ÿ“… Billing

  • Linux/Ubuntu: Billed per second

  • Windows: Billed per hour

๐Ÿ’ผ Conclusion : Accelerated and high-memory instances are revolutionizing how compute-intensive workloads are handled. Whether you're training a deep neural network or running memory-heavy enterprise software, choosing the right instance type can dramatically improve performance and efficiency.

Use this guide as your reference to pick the most suitable instance for your workload!

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Written by

Parag Kulkarni
Parag Kulkarni