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How to choose a dedicated server: CPU, RAM, storage and bandwidth

Cores, memory, disks and bandwidth: what each one does for your workload, how to estimate what you need, and where it's worth spending more.

HQserv teamPublished 3 min read

Choosing a dedicated server comes down to five things: CPU, memory, storage, bandwidth and IP addresses. Get them roughly right and your server will run smoothly for years. Get one wrong and it becomes the bottleneck, however good the rest is.

Start with what you run today. If you're moving from shared hosting or a VPS, your current usage graphs are the best guide you have.

CPU: cores vs clock speed

More cores let a server do more things at once. Faster cores make each individual task finish sooner.

  • Choose more cores for web servers with many simultaneous visitors, virtualization hosts, build servers and containers.
  • Choose higher clock speeds for single-threaded workloads, such as many game servers, some databases and older applications.

As a rule of thumb, check how busy your CPU is at peak today, then leave at least 50% headroom for growth and traffic spikes.

Memory: give your working set room

RAM is where your server keeps everything it's actively using: the operating system, running applications, database caches and file caches. When memory runs out, the server starts swapping to disk and performance falls off a cliff.

  • A web server with a database: 16 to 32 GB is a comfortable starting point.
  • A busy database: aim to fit your most-used data, the working set, in memory.
  • A virtualization host: add up the memory for every virtual machine, plus a few gigabytes for the host itself.

Look for ECC memory, which detects and corrects single-bit errors before they crash your server or corrupt data. Every HQserv dedicated server uses ECC RAM.

Storage: capacity, speed and redundancy

Ask three questions: how much space do you need, how fast does it have to be, and what happens when a drive fails?

SATA SSD or NVMe

SATA SSDs are far faster than spinning hard drives and suit most websites and applications. NVMe SSDs connect directly over PCIe and handle many more operations per second, which makes a real difference for busy databases, heavy logging and high-traffic sites.

RAID

With two or more drives you can use RAID. RAID 1 mirrors your data across two drives, so the server keeps running if one fails. RAID 0 combines drives for speed but loses everything if any drive fails, so keep it for data you can rebuild.

RAID is not a backup. It won't protect you from deleted files, ransomware or a bad update. Keep separate backups on another machine.

For more detail, see hard drive RAID benefits.

Bandwidth: port speed vs unmetered traffic

Two numbers matter. Port speed is the most your server can send at any moment, for example 1 Gbps. Unmetered bandwidth is the sustained rate you can use all month without extra charges.

To estimate what you need, multiply your average page or file size by the number of requests at peak. A site serving 2 MB pages to 50 visitors per second needs about 800 Mbps at peak (2 MB × 8 bits × 50). Video streaming, large downloads and off-site backups need the most.

Every HQserv dedicated server connects to a 1 Gbps port with 200 Mbps or 500 Mbps of unmetered traffic. For heavier sustained loads, look at our 10 Gbps servers.

IP addresses

One IPv4 address is enough for most servers. You need more if you give each virtual machine a public address, run services that need separate addresses, or host sites that each require their own IP.

Our plans include 1 or 5 usable IPv4 addresses, and you can get up to 1,024 on a dedicated server.

Management and protection

  • Out-of-band access: IPMI lets you reinstall, reboot and see the console even when the server is unreachable.
  • DDoS protection: one attack can take an unprotected server offline.
  • Network quality: multiple upstream carriers and peering keep latency low and routes redundant.

All three come standard with HQserv dedicated servers.

Quick sizing checklist

  1. Write down peak CPU, memory, disk and bandwidth use on your current server.
  2. Add at least 50% headroom for growth.
  3. Choose NVMe if your workload is database- or I/O-heavy.
  4. Use two drives in RAID 1 for anything that has to stay online, and keep separate backups.
  5. Check that the plan's unmetered bandwidth covers your peak, not just your average.

Compare our current dedicated server plans, or send us your requirements and we'll recommend a configuration.

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