Dedicated Server Questions vs. virtual vs. shared

[cookiepants]

I run a niche vB board. As I write this right now I have 120 people on chatting, reading, whatever. Despite what my stats say I know I've had up to 500 on at the same time. I have 12,000 members but about 5,500 active ones

Do I really need a dedicated server with those stats? What about a virtual server?

We currently have a dedicated server for 150.00 a month. This is one person, not a company that I'm dealing with, the spouse of one of my members.

I'm not sure if I should change. I'm looking at these packages, but don't know if they will serve me well:

GoDaddy has a dedicated virtual for 95. a month for a dedicated virtual Linux server

https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/hosting/virtual.asp?se=%2B&app_hdr=&display=virtual&ci=13779

or an actual server for 129 a month:

http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/hosting/dedicated.asp?ci=9014&display=dedicated

A friend directed me here: http://www.fatcow.com/fatcow/fatcow.bml?page=features
They offer hosting services for $66 a year, and have actual telephone support. I don't see anything about a dedicated server package though.

And another one here 12.95 a month:
http://www.************.com/index.ph...s.hostingPlans

Will these have what we need? These have live chat and 24 hour phone support.

Right now the support I get is spotty at best. If the database is corrupted or crashes it takes a day or so to get a hold of him to have him reset the server.

Is 150 a month too much for what I'm getting? There's no CP and he really isn't clear with me on the specifics of the server's capacity. We rarely have down time but when we do it (obviously) sucks.

I don't have games or stores or any of that sort of thing, just chat, posting and vB albums

Thanks for any help.

cookiepants

[royo]

Cheap doesn't mean good. Try getting a VPS(virtual private server) with management and some decent specs(1-2GB RAM, depending on your needs) with cPanel. Godaddy isn't all that great, just search around, they are good for domains but that's it.

[cookiepants]

Cheap doesn't mean good. Try getting a VPS(virtual private server) with management and some decent specs(1-2GB RAM, depending on your needs) with cPanel. Godaddy isn't all that great, just search around, they are good for domains but that's it.

Where are VPS's ? I'm not sure what that means so if you can point me to some I can check it out.

Thanks!

[royo]

It's pretty much a piece of a server, fully isolated from all the other pieces. You get more freedom than shared hosting, but your own dedicated RAM and equal cpu share with everyone else. It's what Goddady markets as virtual dedicated and is often a better choice than a full dedicated server, especially for low-end specs such as single core processors.

[Cromulent]

Where are VPS's ? I'm not sure what that means so if you can point me to some I can check it out.

Thanks!

You should spend some time reading over at http://www.webhostingtalk.com/

[westpak]

...

And another one here 12.95 a month:
http://www.************.com/index.ph...s.hostingPlans

......

I have ix for the last 6 months and not happy with the mysql server, i keep getting slow times, some times more ofthen than others and whenever I open a ticket they say nothing is wrong or give me some excuse, it speeds up for a while, some times days some times minutes, and then slows down again.

I used to have ipower and they did not have any speed issues but I did get shut down for a week at a time almost twice a year.