We recommend using provisioned IOPS volumes with EBS optimized instances to increase reliability as well as performance levels. Provisioned IOPS volumes can provide the high level of predictable performance that your database master needs by increasing speed and lowering the variability of I/O responses.

Should I use Provisioned IOPS?

If I/O latency is high, check the average queue length to be sure that your application is not trying to drive more IOPS than you provisioned. If the IOPS is higher than what you provisioned and the application is latency sensitive, consider using a Provisioned IOPS (SSD) volume with more provisioned IOPS.

When should I use Provisioned IOPS over standard RDS storage?

For any production application that requires fast and consistent I/O performance, Amazon recommends Provisioned IOPS (input/output operations per second) storage. Provisioned IOPS storage is optimized for I/O intensive, online transaction processing (OLTP) workloads that have consistent performance requirements.