Best EC2 Instance Type for HPC Workloads
A company has data lakes designed for high performance computing (HPC) workloads. Which Amazon EC2 instance type should the company use to meet these requirements?
Community Votes
67% of anonymous learners picked answer B. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.
Community Insight
Tests the mapping of workload types to EC2 families; the trap is confusing storage-intensive data lakes with compute-heavy processing requirements.
Determines the optimal Amazon EC2 instance category for High-Performance Computing (HPC) workloads to maximize processing efficiency. It clarifies that compute-optimized instances are specifically engineered for these intensive tasks.
Learners often select Storage optimized instances because 'data lake' implies heavy disk I/O, overlooking that the primary constraint here is 'High-Performance Computing.'
Community Discussion (7 comments)
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Expert Analysis
Why the Answer Is Correct
Compute Optimized instances (e.g., C5, C6g) feature a high ratio of CPU cores to memory, making them the definitive choice for mathematically demanding and compute-intensive applications. AWS documentation explicitly lists High-Performance Computing (HPC) as a primary use case for this family. Since the question prioritizes 'high performance computing' capabilities, maximizing processor speed and core count is the critical factor.Why the Other Options Are Wrong
General Purpose instances balance compute, memory, and networking, suitable for mixed workloads but not specialized for peak HPC performance. Memory Optimized instances focus on large datasets fitting into RAM, ideal for in-memory databases rather than raw calculation power. Storage Optimized instances provide high sequential read/write throughput, which serves data ingestion needs but does not address the computational intensity of HPC algorithms.Community Comment Notes
The community consensus strongly favors Compute Optimized instances. As babycute999 noted, "Compute optimized instances are specifically designed for compute-intensive tasks." Multiple users confirmed that despite the mention of data lakes, the HPC requirement dictates the selection of compute-focused hardware.Official Reference
Exam Strategy
Always identify the dominant keyword in the workload description. If the prompt mentions 'computing', 'batch processing', or 'scientific modeling', choose Compute Optimized. If it mentions 'caching' or 'in-memory databases', choose Memory Optimized.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why not Storage Optimized for a data lake?
Storage Optimized focuses on disk I/O throughput. While useful for data lakes, the specific requirement here is 'High-Performance Computing,' which demands CPU power, not just storage speed.
When should I choose Memory Optimized?
Choose Memory Optimized when the workload requires massive amounts of RAM, such as in-memory databases (Redis), real-time big data analytics, or high-performance caching systems.
Related Analysis
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