Running a VPS on older hardware

gaekwad · 2025-11-19 17:47:31

I’ve been exploring Hetzner’s VPS offerings on older hardware. Until now, I’ve tried to use ARM / aarch64 processors for most low-medium sites since they’re typically much more power efficient overall. There are other economies of scale involved – as I understand it, the rack servers can be much more densely-packed, and cooling is less of a concern. Accordingly, these ARM servers are usually at a lower price point compared to their AMD or intel x64 cousins.

Not every VPS provider does ARM servers. There are some quirks to navigate with some providers, but I’ve had a few years of practice at this so it’s effectively a handful of solved problems for me. Hetzner Cloud (affiliate link; proceeds go to Textpattern) is a provider who have a limited supply of ARM servers across their EU server farms, and they work really well. Recently, Hetzner juggled their non-dedicated server offerings and they currently supply x64 servers on current or ‘older’ hardware.

The pull quote: The older hardware x64 are very good value for money. I’m running an 8x CPU / 16GB RAM / 160GB SSD server for €11 a month.

The benchmarks are pretty impressive:

$ curl -sL yabs.sh | bash
# ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## #
#              Yet-Another-Bench-Script              #
#                     v2025-04-20                    #
# https://github.com/masonr/yet-another-bench-script #
# ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## #

Wed Nov 19 05:15:20 PM UTC 2025

Basic System Information:
---------------------------------
Uptime     : 0 days, 3 hours, 38 minutes
Processor  : AMD EPYC-Rome Processor
CPU cores  : 8 @ 2445.406 MHz
AES-NI     : ✔ Enabled
VM-x/AMD-V : ❌ Disabled
RAM        : 15.2 GiB
Swap       : 8.0 GiB
Disk       : 150.2 GiB
Distro     : Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)
Kernel     : 6.12.57+deb13-cloud-amd64
VM Type    : KVM
IPv4/IPv6  : ✔ Online / ✔ Online

IPv6 Network Information:
---------------------------------
ISP        : Hetzner Online GmbH
ASN        : AS24940 Hetzner Online GmbH
Host       : Hetzner Online GmbH
Location   : Nuremberg, Bavaria (BY)
Country    : Germany

fio Disk Speed Tests (Mixed R/W 50/50) (Partition /dev/sda1):
---------------------------------
Block Size | 4k            (IOPS) | 64k           (IOPS)
  ------   | ---            ----  | ----           ---- 
Read       | 103.21 MB/s  (25.8k) | 1.08 GB/s    (16.9k)
Write      | 103.48 MB/s  (25.8k) | 1.09 GB/s    (17.0k)
Total      | 206.69 MB/s  (51.6k) | 2.17 GB/s    (34.0k)
           |                      |                     
Block Size | 512k          (IOPS) | 1m            (IOPS)
  ------   | ---            ----  | ----           ---- 
Read       | 1.65 GB/s     (3.2k) | 1.92 GB/s     (1.8k)
Write      | 1.74 GB/s     (3.4k) | 2.05 GB/s     (2.0k)
Total      | 3.39 GB/s     (6.6k) | 3.98 GB/s     (3.8k)

iperf3 Network Speed Tests (IPv4):
---------------------------------
Provider        | Location (Link)           | Send Speed      | Recv Speed      | Ping           
-----           | -----                     | ----            | ----            | ----           
Clouvider       | London, UK (10G)          | 7.13 Gbits/sec  | 7.08 Gbits/sec  | 18.9 ms        
Eranium         | Amsterdam, NL (100G)      | 11.5 Gbits/sec  | 4.24 Gbits/sec  | 9.35 ms        
Uztelecom       | Tashkent, UZ (10G)        | 8.36 Gbits/sec  | 2.07 Gbits/sec  | 96.2 ms        
Leaseweb        | Singapore, SG (10G)       | 3.00 Gbits/sec  | 3.86 Gbits/sec  | 171 ms         
Clouvider       | Los Angeles, CA, US (10G) | 1.03 Gbits/sec  | 1.31 Gbits/sec  | 166 ms         
Leaseweb        | NYC, NY, US (10G)         | 6.67 Gbits/sec  | 8.60 Gbits/sec  | 96.8 ms        
Edgoo           | Sao Paulo, BR (1G)        | 2.08 Gbits/sec  | 5.54 Gbits/sec  | 216 ms         

iperf3 Network Speed Tests (IPv6):
---------------------------------
Provider        | Location (Link)           | Send Speed      | Recv Speed      | Ping           
-----           | -----                     | ----            | ----            | ----           
Clouvider       | London, UK (10G)          | 5.20 Gbits/sec  | 6.75 Gbits/sec  | 18.5 ms        
Eranium         | Amsterdam, NL (100G)      | 11.9 Gbits/sec  | 4.61 Gbits/sec  | 9.36 ms        
Uztelecom       | Tashkent, UZ (10G)        | 7.28 Gbits/sec  | 1.47 Gbits/sec  | 95.7 ms        
Leaseweb        | Singapore, SG (10G)       | 3.67 Gbits/sec  | 6.09 Gbits/sec  | 168 ms         
Clouvider       | Los Angeles, CA, US (10G) | 1.05 Gbits/sec  | 1.26 Gbits/sec  | 165 ms         
Leaseweb        | NYC, NY, US (10G)         | 4.35 Gbits/sec  | 6.22 Gbits/sec  | 96.8 ms        
Edgoo           | Sao Paulo, BR (1G)        | 2.45 Gbits/sec  | 44.9 Mbits/sec  | 216 ms         

Geekbench 6 Benchmark Test:
---------------------------------
Test            | Value                         
                |                               
Single Core     | 1485                          
Multi Core      | 7837                          
Full Test       | https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/15124818

YABS completed in 13 min 10 sec

That’s an older x64 system outperforming a new ARM box for less money. The trade off is the server power use is higher, but the technology is still being used and kept away from recycling / e-waste…so there’s an embodied carbon aspect to it, too.

Here’s the pricing for the aarch64 boxes:

…and the ‘older’ x64 boxes for comparison:

…and the current (‘new’) x64 boxes:

It’s really quite fun watching source code compile really quickly and knowing there’s still cost-effectiveness going on.

gaekwad · 2025-11-19 18:18:56

I’ve just run a comparison ARM benchmark on an 8x CPU / 16GB RAM / 160GB SSD server. Still Hetzner, the same server farm, and a fresh install of Debian 13.2.

Caveat: the benchmark script is experimental on ARM.

Here are the details:

$ curl -sL yabs.sh | bash
# ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## #
#              Yet-Another-Bench-Script              #
#                     v2025-04-20                    #
# https://github.com/masonr/yet-another-bench-script #
# ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## #

Wed Nov 19 06:03:45 PM UTC 2025

ARM compatibility is considered *experimental*

Basic System Information:
---------------------------------
Uptime     : 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes
Processor  : Neoverse-N1
CPU cores  : 8 @ ??? MHz
AES-NI     : ✔ Enabled
VM-x/AMD-V : ❌ Disabled
RAM        : 15.2 GiB
Swap       : 8.0 GiB
Disk       : 150.2 GiB
Distro     : Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)
Kernel     : 6.12.57+deb13-arm64
VM Type    : KVM
IPv4/IPv6  : ✔ Online / ✔ Online

IPv6 Network Information:
---------------------------------
ISP        : Hetzner Online GmbH
ASN        : AS24940 Hetzner Online GmbH
Host       : Hetzner Online GmbH
Location   : Nuremberg, Bavaria (BY)
Country    : Germany

fio Disk Speed Tests (Mixed R/W 50/50) (Partition /dev/sda1):
---------------------------------
Block Size | 4k            (IOPS) | 64k           (IOPS)
  ------   | ---            ----  | ----           ---- 
Read       | 126.65 MB/s  (31.6k) | 1.26 GB/s    (19.7k)
Write      | 126.56 MB/s  (31.6k) | 1.30 GB/s    (20.3k)
Total      | 253.21 MB/s  (63.3k) | 2.57 GB/s    (40.1k)
           |                      |                     
Block Size | 512k          (IOPS) | 1m            (IOPS)
  ------   | ---            ----  | ----           ---- 
Read       | 1.93 GB/s     (3.7k) | 1.93 GB/s     (1.8k)
Write      | 2.09 GB/s     (4.1k) | 2.16 GB/s     (2.1k)
Total      | 4.03 GB/s     (7.8k) | 4.09 GB/s     (3.9k)

iperf3 Network Speed Tests (IPv4):
---------------------------------
Provider        | Location (Link)           | Send Speed      | Recv Speed      | Ping           
-----           | -----                     | ----            | ----            | ----           
Clouvider       | London, UK (10G)          | 5.90 Gbits/sec  | 4.35 Gbits/sec  | 18.9 ms        
Eranium         | Amsterdam, NL (100G)      | 15.5 Gbits/sec  | 4.96 Gbits/sec  | 10.0 ms        
Uztelecom       | Tashkent, UZ (10G)        | 3.43 Gbits/sec  | 1.10 Gbits/sec  | 96.1 ms        
Leaseweb        | Singapore, SG (10G)       | 1.04 Gbits/sec  | busy            | 170 ms         
Clouvider       | Los Angeles, CA, US (10G) | 1.02 Gbits/sec  | 1.25 Gbits/sec  | 161 ms         
Leaseweb        | NYC, NY, US (10G)         | 3.39 Gbits/sec  | 3.26 Gbits/sec  | 96.7 ms        
Edgoo           | Sao Paulo, BR (1G)        | 1.18 Gbits/sec  | 1.48 Gbits/sec  | 225 ms         

iperf3 Network Speed Tests (IPv6):
---------------------------------
Provider        | Location (Link)           | Send Speed      | Recv Speed      | Ping           
-----           | -----                     | ----            | ----            | ----           
Clouvider       | London, UK (10G)          | 5.38 Gbits/sec  | 6.59 Gbits/sec  | 21.4 ms        
Eranium         | Amsterdam, NL (100G)      | 16.7 Gbits/sec  | 4.82 Gbits/sec  | 12.6 ms        
Uztelecom       | Tashkent, UZ (10G)        | 3.39 Gbits/sec  | 1.52 Gbits/sec  | 96.2 ms        
Leaseweb        | Singapore, SG (10G)       | 1.75 Gbits/sec  | 1.80 Gbits/sec  | 168 ms         
Clouvider       | Los Angeles, CA, US (10G) | 1.03 Gbits/sec  | 1.29 Gbits/sec  | 161 ms         
Leaseweb        | NYC, NY, US (10G)         | 3.27 Gbits/sec  | 3.25 Gbits/sec  | 96.9 ms        
Edgoo           | Sao Paulo, BR (1G)        | 1.24 Gbits/sec  | 1.32 Gbits/sec  | 227 ms         

Geekbench 6 Benchmark Test:
---------------------------------
Test            | Value                         
                |                               
Single Core     | 1075                          
Multi Core      | 5933                          
Full Test       | https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/15125556

YABS completed in 13 min 2 sec

The Neoverse-N1 processor (if that’s correct, see above re: experimental) is already a few years old. Here are the details on WikiChip: en.wikichip.org/wiki/arm_holdings/microarchitectures/neoverse_n1

It’s not clear which AMD EPYC Rome CPU is at play here. I could hazard a guess at a 2.4gHz model, but that could be affected by the virtualisation setup.

Edit: Geekbench comparison: browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/compare/15124818?baseline=15125556

Last edited by gaekwad (2025-11-20 13:23:59)

Algaris · 2025-11-20 09:21:55

This is very interesting.

Ever since you started mentioning Hetzner I’ve been keen to try it out. However the ARM-only limitation was a bit of an issue as not all packages support it. An 8x CPU, 16GB RAM and 160GB SSD server ruining on x64 hardware for €11 a month, now that is tempting.

Last edited by Algaris (2025-11-20 09:24:19)

gaekwad · 2025-11-20 11:35:43

Algaris wrote #341272:

However the ARM-only limitation was a bit of an issue as not all packages support it.

This was on my radar, too, though it’s less of a concern than 2-3 years ago. Library support is levelling out nicely, and there are fewer blockers for me building on ARM where they’re available at a good price-performance.

Off the top of my head:

The percona-release package isn’t supported on ARM (last I checked, anyway).
I can’t get Percona MySQL 8.0 or 8.4 to compile on ARM.

There are some other smaller things that I’m working on ARM-wise, but honestly that ‘older’ hardware from Hetzner is an absolute steal for the money.

gaekwad · 2025-11-25 18:07:35

Algaris wrote #341272:

This is very interesting.

Ever since you started mentioning Hetzner I’ve been keen to try it out.

This referral link will apparently give you €20 credit: hetzner.cloud/?ref=RlTsIapSIpnz

jayrope · Yesterday 21:42:11

gaekwad wrote #341359:

This referral link will apparently give you €20 credit: hetzner.cloud/?ref=RlTsIapSIpnz

This link has expired.

gaekwad · Today 16:14:29

jayrope wrote #342274:

This link has expired.

Have you used Hetzner before? It seems to be working OK here, so I wonder if you’ve already tried Hetzner.

jayrope · Today 16:54:05

gaekwad wrote #342287:

Have you used Hetzner before? It seems to be working OK here, so I wonder if you’ve already tried Hetzner.

Hey there, no I haven’t. I’d need to look into this I guess. On the other hand I am aware of a number of minority sites, though, that have been cancelled by Hetzner without giving any reasons – obviously they we’re threatened by bigger clients, presumably also governments, and didn’t want to loose the bigger business. Sadly these things are happening more oftenly these days.
Planning to get in touch with these people first: https://jpberlin.de/webhosting

Last edited by jayrope (Today 16:54:20)

gaekwad · Today 19:20:41

Hetzner does have a bit of a reputation in some quarters, you’re absolutely correct there.

Flipping the logic in its head for a moment – maybe consider Mailman providers and check if any fit your other requirements.

jayrope · Today 21:11:36

gaekwad wrote #342292:

Hetzner does have a bit of a reputation in some quarters, you’re absolutely correct there.

Flipping the logic in its head for a moment – maybe consider Mailman providers and check if any fit your other requirements.

Good hint, thank you. couldn’t find anything, then overpricing though. Might have to stick to my current hosting, although they they try to #enshittify me now, after 20 years. If you should have a an idea on how to self-host, or with a VPS for a complete VPS/Apache/phpMyAdmin/SSH etc. newbie, then let me know :)

Last edited by jayrope (Today 21:12:04)

jakob · Today 23:27:19

gaekwad wrote #342292:

Hetzner does have a bit of a reputation in some quarters, you’re absolutely correct there.

I wasn’t aware of that. Can you elaborate? I do a fair few non-profit association stuff. I don’t think they would count as being contentious or subversive but certainly society and commons-oriented. Could that be a problem?

jayrope wrote #342294:

Good hint, thank you. couldn’t find anything, then overpricing though.

It has to be mailman, right? My “regular shared host” in Germany all-inkl.com offer plenty of space and databases at reasonable prices and has majordomo for mailing list management. They’re reliable, green-powered, east German and support is reachable and knowledgeable but standard Linux Apache MySQL PHP setup. Probably not the fastest but fine for general use.

If you should have a an idea on how to self-host, or with a VPS for a complete VPS/Apache/phpMyAdmin/SSH etc. newbie

If you mean for Textpattern hosting, the Hetzner VPS + CloudPanel I mentioned earlier wasn’t so difficult to set up, and you have a simple panel for setting up multiple sites with different PHP versions and as many DBs as your server has space for. I’ve really only had one niggle with an nginx directive and the new auto-generated thumbnails that I mentioned in another thread. That’s solvable, and didn’t apply to the regular thumbnails we’ve had in Textpattern all these years.

If you mean mailman hosting, I have no idea but people on forums seem to caution against running your own mailserver as being fraught with difficulties. There are self-hosted newsletter packages like Mailcoach that you can install and then hook up to services like Postmark, SendGrid or Mailgun that have specialised in sending bulk mails. You then have control of tracking or not. It’s not free, though.

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#1 2025-11-19 17:47:31