GPU machine types

You can use GPUs on Compute Engine to accelerate specific workloads on your VMs such as machine learning (ML) and data processing. To use GPUs, you can either deploy an accelerator-optimized VM that has attached GPUs, or attach GPUs to an N1 general-purpose VM.

Compute Engine provides GPUs for your VMs in passthrough mode so that your VMs have direct control over the GPUs and their associated memory.

For more information about GPUs on Compute Engine, see About GPUs.

If you have graphics-intensive workloads, such as 3D visualization, 3D rendering, or virtual applications, you can use NVIDIA RTX virtual workstations (formerly known as NVIDIA GRID).

This document provides an overview of the different GPU VMs that are available on Compute Engine.

To view available regions and zones for GPUs on Compute Engine, see GPUs regions and zone availability.

GPUs for compute workloads

For compute workloads, GPUs are supported for the following machine types:

  • A3 VMs: these VMs have NVIDIA H100 80GB GPUs automatically attached.
  • A2 VMs: these VMs have either NVIDIA A100 80GB or NVIDIA A100 40GB GPUs automatically attached.
  • G2 VMs: these VMs have NVIDIA L4 GPUs automatically attached.
  • N1 VMs: for these VMs, you can attach the following GPU models: NVIDIA T4, NVIDIA V100, NVIDIA P100, or NVIDIA P4.

A3 machine series

To use NVIDIA H100 80GB GPUs, you must use an A3 accelerator-optimized machine. Each A3 machine type has a fixed GPU count, vCPU count, and memory size.

A3 machine series are available in three types:

  • A3 Mega: these machine types have H100 80GB GPUs (nvidia-h100-mega-80gb) and provide the highest network performance. They are ideal for the most demanding and large-scale training workloads.
  • A3 High: these machine types have H100 80GB GPUs (nvidia-h100-80gb) and are well-suited for both large AI model training and serving tasks.
  • A3 Edge: these machine types have H100 80GB GPUs (nvidia-h100-80gb), are designed specifically for serving, and are available in a limited set of regions.

A3 Mega

Machine type GPU count GPU memory*
(GB HBM3)		 vCPU count† VM memory (GB) Attached Local SSD (GiB) Physical NIC count Maximum network bandwidth (Gbps)‡ Network protocol
a3-megagpu-8g 8 640 208 1,872 6,000 9 1,800 GPUDirect-TCPXO

A3 High

When provisioning a3-highgpu-1g, a3-highgpu-2g, or a3-highgpu-4g machine types, you must either use Spot VMs or a feature that uses the Dynamic Workload Scheduler (DWS) such as resize requests in a MIG. For detailed instructions on either of these options, review the following:
Machine type GPU count GPU memory*
(GB HBM3)		 vCPU count† VM memory (GB) Attached Local SSD (GiB) Physical NIC count Maximum network bandwidth (Gbps)‡ Network protocol
a3-highgpu-1g 1 80 26 234 750 1 25 GPUDirect-TCPXO
a3-highgpu-2g 2 160 52 468 1,500 1 50 GPUDirect-TCPXO
a3-highgpu-4g 4 320 104 936 3,000 1 100 GPUDirect-TCPXO
a3-highgpu-8g 8 640 208 1,872 6,000 5 800 GPUDirect-TCPXO

A3 Edge

Machine type GPU count GPU memory*
(GB HBM3)		 vCPU count† VM memory (GB) Attached Local SSD (GiB) Physical NIC count Maximum network bandwidth (Gbps)‡ Network protocol
a3-edgegpu-8g 8 640 208 1,872 6,000 5
  • 800: for asia-south1 and northamerica-northeast2
  • 400: for all other A3 Edge regions
 GPUDirect-TCPXO

*GPU memory is the memory on a GPU device that can be used for temporary storage of data. It is separate from the VM's memory and is specifically designed to handle the higher bandwidth demands of your graphics-intensive workloads.
†A vCPU is implemented as a single hardware hyper-thread on one of the available CPU platforms.
‡Maximum egress bandwidth cannot exceed the number given. Actual egress bandwidth depends on the destination IP address and other factors. See Network bandwidth.

A2 machine series

To use NVIDIA A100 GPUs on Google Cloud, you must deploy an A2 accelerator-optimized machine. Each A2 machine type has a fixed GPU count, vCPU count, and memory size.

A2 machine series are available in two types:

  • A2 Ultra: these machine types have A100 80GB GPUs (nvidia-a100-80gb) and Local SSD disks attached.
  • A2 Standard: these machine types have A100 40GB GPUs (nvidia-tesla-a100) attached.

A2 Ultra

Machine type GPU count GPU memory*
(GB HBM3)		 vCPU count† VM memory (GB) Attached Local SSD (GiB) Maximum network bandwidth (Gbps)‡
a2-ultragpu-1g 1 80 12 170 375 24
a2-ultragpu-2g 2 160 24 340 750 32
a2-ultragpu-4g 4 320 48 680 1,500 50
a2-ultragpu-8g 8 640 96 1,360 3,000 100

A2 Standard

Machine type GPU count GPU memory*
(GB HBM3)		 vCPU count† VM memory (GB) Attached Local SSD (GiB) Maximum network bandwidth (Gbps)‡
a2-highgpu-1g 1 40 12 85 Yes 24
a2-highgpu-2g 2 80 24 170 Yes 32
a2-highgpu-4g 4 160 48 340 Yes 50
a2-highgpu-8g 8 320 96 680 Yes 100
a2-megagpu-16g 16 640 96 1,360 Yes 100

*GPU memory is the memory available on a GPU device that can be used for temporary storage of data. It is separate from the VM's memory and is specifically designed to handle the higher bandwidth demands of your graphics-intensive workloads.

G2 machine series

To use NVIDIA L4 GPUs (nvidia-l4 or nvidia-l4-vws), you must deploy a G2 accelerator-optimized machine.

Each G2 machine type has a fixed number of NVIDIA L4 GPUs and vCPUs attached. Each G2 machine type also has a default memory and a custom memory range. The custom memory range defines the amount of memory that you can allocate to your VM for each machine type. You can specify your custom memory during VM creation.

Machine type GPU count GPU memory* (GB GDDR6) vCPU count† Default VM memory (GB) Custom VM memory range (GB) Max Local SSD supported (GiB) Maximum network bandwidth (Gbps)‡
g2-standard-4 1 24 4 16 16 to 32 375 10
g2-standard-8 1 24 8 32 32 to 54 375 16
g2-standard-12 1 24 12 48 48 to 54 375 16
g2-standard-16 1 24 16 64 54 to 64 375 32
g2-standard-24 2 48 24 96 96 to 108 750 32
g2-standard-32 1 24 32 128 96 to 128 375 32
g2-standard-48 4 96 48 192 192 to 216 1,500 50
g2-standard-96 8 192 96 384 384 to 432 3,000 100

*GPU memory is the memory available on a GPU device that can be used for temporary storage of data. It is separate from the VM's memory and is specifically designed to handle the higher bandwidth demands of your graphics-intensive workloads.

N1 machine series

You can attach the following GPU models to an N1 machine type with the exception of the N1 shared-core machine type.

N1 VMs with lower numbers of GPUs are limited to a maximum number of vCPUs. In general, a higher number of GPUs lets you create VM instances with a higher number of vCPUs and memory.

N1+T4 GPUs

You can attach NVIDIA T4 GPUs to N1 general-purpose VMs with the following VM configurations.

Accelerator type GPU count GPU memory* (GB GDDR6) vCPU count VM memory (GB) Local SSD supported
nvidia-tesla-t4 or
nvidia-tesla-t4-vws 		1 16 1 to 48 1 to 312 Yes
2 32 1 to 48 1 to 312 Yes
4 64 1 to 96 1 to 624 Yes

*GPU memory is the memory available on a GPU device that can be used for temporary storage of data. It is separate from the VM's memory and is specifically designed to handle the higher bandwidth demands of your graphics-intensive workloads.

N1+P4 GPUs

You can attach NVIDIA P4 GPUs to N1 general-purpose VMs with the following VM configurations.

Accelerator type GPU count GPU memory* (GB GDDR5) vCPU count VM memory (GB) Local SSD supported†
nvidia-tesla-p4 or
nvidia-tesla-p4-vws 		1 8 1 to 24 1 to 156 Yes
2 16 1 to 48 1 to 312 Yes
4 32 1 to 96 1 to 624 Yes

*GPU memory is the memory that is available on a GPU device that can be used for temporary storage of data. It is separate from the VM's memory and is specifically designed to handle the higher bandwidth demands of your graphics-intensive workloads.

†For VMs with attached NVIDIA P4 GPUs, Local SSD disks are only supported in zones us-central1-c and northamerica-northeast1-b.

N1+V100 GPUs

You can attach NVIDIA V100 GPUs to N1 general-purpose VMs with the following VM configurations.

Accelerator type GPU count GPU memory* (GB HBM2) vCPU count VM memory (GB) Local SSD supported†
nvidia-tesla-v100 1 16 1 to 12 1 to 78 Yes
2 32 1 to 24 1 to 156 Yes
4 64 1 to 48 1 to 312 Yes
8 128 1 to 96 1 to 624 Yes

*GPU memory is the memory available on a GPU device that can be used for temporary storage of data. It is separate from the VM's memory and is specifically designed to handle the higher bandwidth demands of your graphics-intensive workloads.
†For VMs with attached NVIDIA V100 GPUs, Local SSD disks aren't supported in us-east1-c.

N1+P100 GPUs

You can attach NVIDIA P100 GPUs to N1 general-purpose VMs with the following VM configurations.

For some NVIDIA P100 GPUs, the maximum CPU and memory that is available for some configurations is dependent on the zone in which the GPU resource is running.

Accelerator type GPU count GPU memory* (GB HBM2) vCPU count VM memory (GB) Local SSD supported
nvidia-tesla-p100 or
nvidia-tesla-p100-vws 		1 16 1 to 16 1 to 104 Yes
2 32 1 to 32 1 to 208 Yes
4 64

1 to 64
(us-east1-c, europe-west1-d, europe-west1-b)

1 to 96
(all P100 zones)

1 to 208
(us-east1-c, europe-west1-d, europe-west1-b)

1 to 624
(all P100 zones)

 Yes

*GPU memory is the memory available on a GPU device that can be used for temporary storage of data. It is separate from the VM's memory and is specifically designed to handle the higher bandwidth demands of your graphics-intensive workloads.

NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstations (vWS) for graphics workloads

If you have graphics-intensive workloads, such as 3D visualization, you can create virtual workstations that use NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstations (vWS) (formerly known as NVIDIA GRID). When you create a virtual workstation, an NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation (vWS) license is automatically added to your VM.

For information about pricing for virtual workstations, see GPU pricing page.

For graphics workloads, NVIDIA RTX virtual workstation (vWS) models are available:

  • G2 machine series: for G2 machine types you can enable NVIDIA L4 Virtual Workstations (vWS): nvidia-l4-vws

  • N1 machine series: for N1 machine types, you can enable the following virtual workstations:

    • NVIDIA T4 Virtual Workstations: nvidia-tesla-t4-vws
    • NVIDIA P100 Virtual Workstations: nvidia-tesla-p100-vws
    • NVIDIA P4 Virtual Workstations: nvidia-tesla-p4-vws

General comparison chart

The following table describes the GPU memory size, feature availability, and ideal workload types of different GPU models that are available on Compute Engine.

GPU model GPU memory Interconnect NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation (vWS) support Best used for
H100 80GB 80 GB HBM3 @ 3.35 TBps NVLink Full Mesh @ 900 GBps Large models with massive data tables for ML Training, Inference, HPC, BERT, DLRM
A100 80GB 80 GB HBM2e @ 1.9 TBps NVLink Full Mesh @ 600 GBps Large models with massive data tables for ML Training, Inference, HPC, BERT, DLRM
A100 40GB 40 GB HBM2 @ 1.6 TBps NVLink Full Mesh @ 600 GBps ML Training, Inference, HPC
L4 24 GB GDDR6 @ 300 GBps N/A ML Inference, Training, Remote Visualization Workstations, Video Transcoding, HPC
T4 16 GB GDDR6 @ 320 GBps N/A ML Inference, Training, Remote Visualization Workstations, Video Transcoding
V100 16 GB HBM2 @ 900 GBps NVLink Ring @ 300 GBps ML Training, Inference, HPC
P4 8 GB GDDR5 @ 192 GBps N/A Remote Visualization Workstations, ML Inference, and Video Transcoding
P100 16 GB HBM2 @ 732 GBps N/A ML Training, Inference, HPC, Remote Visualization Workstations

To compare GPU pricing for the different GPU models and regions that are available on Compute Engine, see GPU pricing.

Performance comparison chart

The following table describes the performance specifications of different GPU models that are available on Compute Engine.

Compute performance

GPU model FP64 FP32 FP16 INT8
H100 80GB 34 TFLOPS 67 TFLOPS
A100 80GB 9.7 TFLOPS 19.5 TFLOPS
A100 40GB 9.7 TFLOPS 19.5 TFLOPS
L4 0.5 TFLOPS* 30.3 TFLOPS
T4 0.25 TFLOPS* 8.1 TFLOPS
V100 7.8 TFLOPS 15.7 TFLOPS
P4 0.2 TFLOPS* 5.5 TFLOPS 22 TOPS†
P100 4.7 TFLOPS 9.3 TFLOPS 18.7 TFLOPS

*To allow FP64 code to work correctly, a small number of FP64 hardware units are included in the T4, L4, and P4 GPU architecture.
†TeraOperations per Second.

Tensor core performance

GPU model FP64 TF32 Mixed-precision FP16/FP32 INT8 INT4 FP8
H100 80GB 67 TFLOPS 989 TFLOPS† 1,979 TFLOPS*, † 3,958 TOPS† 3,958 TFLOPS†
A100 80GB 19.5 TFLOPS 156 TFLOPS 312 TFLOPS* 624 TOPS 1248 TOPS
A100 40GB 19.5 TFLOPS 156 TFLOPS 312 TFLOPS* 624 TOPS 1248 TOPS
L4 120 TFLOPS† 242 TFLOPS*, † 485 TOPS† 485 TFLOPS†
T4 65 TFLOPS 130 TOPS 260 TOPS
V100 125 TFLOPS
P4
P100

*For mixed precision training, NVIDIA H100, A100, and L4 GPUs also support the bfloat16 data type.
†For H100 and L4 GPUs, structural sparsity is supported which you can use to double the performance value. The values shown are with sparsity. Specifications are one-half lower without sparsity.

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