c4a-highmem-1 by Google Cloud Platform

A single-core, memory-optimized virtual machine designed for lightweight workloads requiring a high memory-to-CPU ratio without local storage.

Google Cloud Platform c4a-highmem-1 is an x86_64 architecture virtual machine within the c4a server family, designed with a memory-optimized profile. It features 1 dedicated vCPU and 8.0 GB of RAM, establishing a high memory-to-core ratio of 8 GB per vCPU. The instance does not include local SSD storage or GPU accelerators, relying on network-attached storage for its disk operations. With a dedicated CPU allocation, it avoids the performance fluctuations associated with shared-core environments, though its single-core configuration limits parallel processing capabilities. This instance is qualitatively cost-efficient for memory-sensitive, low-compute tasks. It is best suited for lightweight databases, caching nodes, and small-scale application servers that require a larger memory footprint without the overhead of additional compute cores.