downgrading server, need opinion on specs

[Jake Bunce]

I am considering downgrading my current dedicated to a cheaper dedicated to cut costs.

Current server:
2.8GHz P4
73GB SCSI
1GB RAM

New server:
2.0GHz celery
80GB IDE
2GB RAM

Size / traffic:
It is only hosting my vBulletin site which is very small and is not a concern for server load (260MB database, 130k posts, 800 registered, < 10 concurrent). But spiders regularly push my concurrent users to 100 or more, sometimes up to 500. I am concerned about site performance with that kind of exposure. My current server handles it fine.

[Zachery]

I'd seriously avoid a celery for any reason. Cost cutting or not.

[BamaStangGuy]

You can probably shave money by getting a low end Pentium 4 with an IDE HD and 1GB of ram (2GB is overkil for your traffic)

[jason|xoxide]

What are you currently paying? What would you like to get the costs down to?

[Jake Bunce]

I currently pay $217/mo. The new server would be $109/mo.

They are going to sell me RAM for a larger setup fee and no additional monthly fee, so that doesn't contribute to the monthly cost. But I can reduce it to 1GB and save on the setup if I don't need it.

I can get a 2.4GHz P4 for $129/mo. The celery doesn't seem to be a favorite here so I might do that. So it would be:

New server:
2.4GHz P4
80GB IDE
1GB RAM

Does that look adequate for my site?

[BamaStangGuy]

Yep

[jason|xoxide]

The new server would be $109/mo. I can get a 2.4GHz P4 for $129/mo.

Pay the extra $20, it's worth it.

[eva2000]

yeah get the P4 2.4Ghz for $129/mo.. ...

best way to save money isn't downgrading these days but jumping web hosts

if you have a small to medium manageable web site/forum you can probably get same spec server you have now and a cheaper price :)

July 22 comes intel's new round of cpu price cuts... i guess web servers will be even cheaper after July again :)