The most common mistake when choosing a game server is comparing plans by RAM alone. Five things actually shape the player experience.
1. Single-core CPU speed
The server side of games like Minecraft, FiveM, Garry's Mod and MTA runs mostly on a single core. Many cores help when you run several game servers on one machine; the smoothness of a single server is decided by core speed.
2. RAM depends on the game
| Game | Typical starting point |
|---|---|
| Minecraft (plugins, 10–40 players) | 8 GB |
| FiveM (ESX/QBCore, 32–64 players) | 8 GB |
| Rust (plugins, 50–100 players) | 12 GB |
| ARK (10–30 players, a few mods) | 12 GB |
| Unturned / MTA / GMod | 2–8 GB |
3. Disk type
Game servers constantly perform small reads and writes for world saves, player data and plugin files. NVMe SSD makes a clear difference here compared with SATA; most stutter during a world save comes from disk latency.
4. Location and ping
If your players are mostly in Türkiye, a server located in Türkiye lowers ping directly. Ping is the largest part of the delay a player feels: a powerful server at 200 ms feels worse than a mid-range one at 30 ms.
5. DDoS protection
Game servers are among the most attacked services. Protection has to cover game ports as well; a solution that only protects web traffic does not protect a game server. Our Layer 3, 4 and 7 protection runs on the RouteFence® infrastructure with 8 global POP locations and 6+ Tbps of filtering capacity, and automatic port learning covers game ports too.
Backups: nobody plans for them, everybody needs them
The most common data loss on game servers comes from a broken plugin update or a world file deleted by mistake. Regular backups remove that risk. Archive world files and the database daily and keep a copy off the server; a backup that only exists on the same machine is useless when that machine is unreachable.
Note: backups are not a service we provide directly. Our systems are backed up as part of data security, but the backup of your game world is yours to plan.
What changes as the community grows?
- Up to 20 players: an entry plan is enough for most games; plugin choice matters more than hardware.
- 20–60 players: RAM and disk latency come to the front, and you should start measuring plugins.
- 60+ players: single-core performance sets the ceiling. Some communities split players across several servers at this point.
Decide these before you order
- Target player count: choose for where you want to be in three months, not today; scaling up is always possible but switching plans often wastes time.
- Mod and plugin list: what you install decides the RAM requirement.
- Where your players are: ping follows from that.
- Operating system: pick the one the game server officially supports; some games, such as V Rising, need Windows.
- How you want to manage it: command line, or a ready-made panel?
Panel or VDS?
A ready-made game panel installs everything for you but limits which software and settings you can use. On a VDS you install everything yourself and get unlimited customisation plus the ability to run several services on one machine. For Minecraft with a ready panel, look at our Minecraft Web Panel plans; for full control, our game server plans.