Google is doubling the maximum number of CPU cores developers can use with a single virtual machine on its Compute Engine service from 32 to 64. These high-power machines are now available in beta across all of Google’s standard configurations and as custom machine types, which allow you to select exactly how many cores and memory you want.
If you opt to use 64 cores in Google’s range of high-memory machine types, you’ll also get access to 416GB of RAM. That’s also twice as much memory as Compute Engine previously offered for a single machine and enough for running most memory-intensive applications, including high-end in-memory databases.
Running your apps on this high-memory machine will set you back $3.7888 per hour (though you do get all of Google’s usual sustained-use discounts if you run it for longer, too).
“We’re not stopping here,” Google’s Urs Hoelzle said during today’s Cloud Next keynote. “So later this year, you’ll see even higher core counts and memory sized of a terrabyte or more.”
It’s worth noting that AWS’s EC2 service already offered 128-core machines and memory sizes up to 2095.944GB. The on-demand pricing for those machines on AWS is currently $13.388 per hour. Microsoft Azure’s virtual machines currently top out at 32 cores.
