The retail pricing for Amazon Web Services-designed Graviton 4 processors may not follow the traditional trend of lower costs per unit of performance with each successive generation of processors. Graviton 4-based instances are now generally available, offering faster, better, and more cores with dual-socket NUMA memory pooling. The chip runs at 2.8GHz and features significant improvements over the original Graviton 1 chip.
Details about the Graviton 4 chip reveal enhancements such as doubled per-core L2 cache, 50 percent more cores, and a 36MB shared L3 cache across 96 cores. It is based on Arm Ltd’s “Demeter” V2 core, making it suitable for HPC and AI workloads. AWS has deployed over 2 million Graviton processors across regions, establishing them as a key resource for the company.
Graviton 4 instances’ feeds and speeds vary, offering up to 96 cores, 768GB of memory, and scalable network bandwidth and Elastic Block Storage. The chip demonstrates a 30-40 percent increase in performance when moving from Graviton 3 to Graviton 4, benefiting from improved core count and cache architecture.
The pricing for Graviton 4 instances is significantly higher compared to previous generations, raising questions about the cost-effectiveness of these new processors. Despite potential performance gains, the price-to-performance ratio may be less favorable for certain instances, leading to concerns similar to past CPU launches by various manufacturers.
In conclusion, Graviton 4 processors represent a significant advancement in AWS’s cloud offerings, providing enhanced performance capabilities for customers. However, the pricing strategy for these instances raises doubts about their cost-efficiency compared to previous generations. As technology continues to evolve, it will be crucial to evaluate the trade-offs between performance and pricing to make informed decisions about adopting new processor technologies.
Article Source
https://www.nextplatform.com/2024/07/09/aws-charges-a-hefty-premium-for-graviton-4-instances/amp/
