Compute-optimized machine family for Compute Engine

Compute-optimized virtual machine (VMs) instances are ideal for compute-intensive workloads. Compute-optimized VMs offer the highest performance per core and are built on architecture that utilizes features like non-uniform memory access (NUMA) for optimal reliable uniform performance.

Machine	Workloads
C2 machine series	Compute-bound workloads High-performance web serving Gaming (AAA game servers) Ad serving High-performance computing (HPC) Media transcoding AI/ML
C2D machine series	Memory-bound workloads Gaming (AAA game servers) High-performance computing (HPC) High-performance databases Electronic Design Automation (EDA) Media transcoding

This machine family is built on the 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor (Cascade Lake) offering up to 3.9 GHz sustained single-core max turbo frequency and the 3rd generation AMD EPYC Milan processor offering up to 3.5 GHz max boost frequency.

C2 machine series

The C2 machine series provides full transparency into the architecture of the underlying server platforms, letting you fine-tune the performance. Machine types in this series offer much more computing power, and are generally more robust for compute-intensive workloads compared to N1 high-CPU machine types.

The C2 series comes in different machine types ranging from 4 to 60 vCPUs, and offers up to 240 GB of memory. You can attach up to 3TB of local storage to these VMs for applications that require higher storage performance.

The C2 series supports higher network bandwidth of 50 Gbps and 100 Gbps with per VM Tier_1 networking performance.

This series also produces a greater than 40% performance improvement compared to the previous generation N1 machines and offer higher performance per thread and isolation for latency-sensitive workloads.

The C2 series enables the highest performance per core and the highest frequency for compute-bound workloads using Intel 3.9 GHz Cascade Lake processors. If you are looking to optimize workloads for single thread performance, particularly with respect to floating point, choose a machine type in this series to leverage AVX512 capabilities only available on Intel.

Machine types	vCPUs^*	Memory (GB)	Max number of persistent disks (PDs)^†	Max total PD size (TB)	Local SSD	Default egress bandwidth (Gbps)^‡	Tier_1 egress bandwidth (Gbps)^#
`c2-standard-4`	4	16	128	257	Yes	10	N/A
`c2-standard-8`	8	32	128	257	Yes	16	N/A
`c2-standard-16`	16	64	128	257	Yes	32	N/A
`c2-standard-30`	30	120	128	257	Yes	32	50
`c2-standard-60`	60	240	128	257	Yes	32	100

^*A vCPU represents a single logical CPU thread. See CPU platforms.
^†Persistent disk usage is charged separately from machine type pricing.
^‡Default egress bandwidth cannot exceed the number given. Actual egress bandwidth depends on the destination IP address and other factors. See Network bandwidth.
^#Supports high-bandwidth networking for larger machine types.

C2 Limitations

The C2 machine series has the following restrictions:

You cannot use regional persistent disks.
The C2 machine series is subject to different disk limits than the general-purpose and memory-optimized machine families.
The C2 machine series is available only in select zones and regions on specific CPU processors.
The C2 machine series doesn't support GPUs.

C2D machine series

The C2D machine series provides the largest VM sizes and are best-suited for high-performance computing (HPC). The C2D series also has the largest available last-level cache (LLC) cache per core.

The C2D machine series comes in different machine types ranging from 2 to 112 vCPUs, and offer up to 896 GB of memory. You can attach up to 3TB of local storage to these machine types for applications that require higher storage performance.

C2D standard and C2D high-cpu machines serve existing compute-bound workloads including high-performance web servers, media transcoding, and gaming.
C2D high-memory machines serve specialized workloads such as HPC and EDA, which need more memory.

The C2D series supports these compute-bound workloads by using the third generation AMD EPYC Milan platform.

The C2D series supports Confidential VM.

C2D standard

Machine types	vCPUs^*	Memory (GB)	Max number of persistent disks (PDs)^†	Max total PD size (TB)	Local SSD	Default egress bandwidth (Gbps)^‡	Tier_1 egress bandwidth (Gbps)^#
`c2d-standard-2`	2	8	128	257	Y	10	N/A
`c2d-standard-4`	4	16	128	257	Y	10	N/A
`c2d-standard-8`	8	32	128	257	Y	16	N/A
`c2d-standard-16`	16	64	128	257	Y	32	N/A
`c2d-standard-32`	32	128	128	257	Y	32	50
`c2d-standard-56`	56	224	128	257	Y	32	50
`c2d-standard-112`	112	448	128	257	Y	32	100

C2D high-cpu

Machine types	vCPUs^*	Memory (GB)	Max number of persistent disks (PDs)^†	Max total PD size (TB)	Local SSD	Default egress bandwidth (Gbps)^‡	Tier_1 egress bandwidth (Gbps)^#
`c2d-highcpu-2`	2	4	128	257	Y	10	N/A
`c2d-highcpu-4`	4	8	128	257	Y	10	N/A
`c2d-highcpu-8`	8	16	128	257	Y	16	N/A
`c2d-highcpu-16`	16	32	128	257	Y	32	N/A
`c2d-highcpu-32`	32	64	128	257	Y	32	50
`c2d-highcpu-56`	56	112	128	257	Y	32	50
`c2d-highcpu-112`	112	224	128	257	Y	32	100

C2D high-mem

Machine types	vCPUs^*	Memory (GB)	Max number of persistent disks (PDs)^†	Max total PD size (TB)	Local SSD	Default egress bandwidth (Gbps)^‡	Tier_1 egress bandwidth (Gbps)^#
`c2d-highmem-2`	2	16	128	257	Y	10	N/A
`c2d-highmem-4`	4	32	128	257	Y	10	N/A
`c2d-highmem-8`	8	64	128	257	Y	16	N/A
`c2d-highmem-16`	16	128	128	257	Y	32	N/A
`c2d-highmem-32`	32	256	128	257	Y	32	50
`c2d-highmem-56`	56	448	128	257	Y	32	50
`c2d-highmem-112`	112	896	128	257	Y	32	100

C2D Limitations

The C2D machine series has the following restrictions:

You cannot use regional persistent disks.
The C2D machine series is subject to different disk limits than the general-purpose and memory-optimized machine families.
The C2D machine series is available only in select zones and regions on specific CPU processors.
The C2D machine series doesn't support GPUs.
The C2D machine series doesn't support sole-tenant nodes.