field notes
Game Server Sizing: RAM, CPU, Disk Per Game Type (With Real Numbers)
Hosting plans market "up to 32 players" on 4GB plans because the math sounds good in marketing. The reality is that 4GB barely runs a vanilla MC server at 8 players, never mind a modded one at 32. Honest per-game sizing tables.
Why hosting numbers lie
A common Reddit pattern across hosting subs: someone asks for a "cheap VPS for a small game server" (e.g., r/VPS thread on cheap small-game-server VPS (3p/25c)) and the answers are all over the map, from "$2/month works" to "you need $50/month." Both are sometimes right, depending on the game and the player count.
Hosting plans tend to over-promise on the marketing material:
- "Up to 32 slots" doesn't mean the server works at 32 players. It means the slot counter goes up to 32.
- "Modded ready" sometimes means "the game's mod folder is exposed." Doesn't say if the RAM allocation is actually enough for the mod.
- "DDoS protection" is usually marketing. See the dedicated piece.
- "Powerful CPU" almost always means a slow Xeon Silver. Real hosts list the exact chip.
The fix is to size based on real game-by-game data instead of marketing claims.
Per-game sizing tables
Minecraft (Paper / Purpur, vanilla+)
| Players | RAM | CPU clock (single-thread) | Disk |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2GB | 3.5 GHz+ | SATA OK |
| 10 | 4GB | 4.0 GHz+ | SATA OK |
| 20-50 | 6-8GB | 4.5 GHz+ X3D | NVMe |
| 100+ | 8-12GB | 5.0 GHz+ X3D | NVMe |
Minecraft (heavy modded, ATM10, GTNH)
| Players | RAM (allocated) | CPU | Disk |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 8-10GB | Ryzen 7 5800X3D+ | NVMe |
| 8 | 10-12GB | Ryzen 7 7800X3D+ | NVMe |
| 12+ | 14-16GB | Ryzen 9 7950X3D | NVMe |
Palworld
| Players | RAM | CPU | Disk |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 16GB | 4-core 4 GHz+ | NVMe required |
| 8 | 20GB | 6-core 4.5 GHz+ | NVMe |
| 16 | 32GB | 8-core Ryzen 9 | NVMe |
| 32 | 32-64GB | Ryzen 9 7950X3D | NVMe |
Valheim
| Players | RAM | CPU | Disk |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2GB | 3.5 GHz+ | SATA OK |
| 10 | 4GB | 4 GHz+ | SATA OK |
| 20 | 6GB | 4.5 GHz+ X3D | NVMe |
ARK: Survival Ascended (single map)
| Players | RAM | CPU | Disk |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 16GB | 4-core 4 GHz+ | NVMe |
| 8 | 32GB | 8-core 4.5 GHz+ | NVMe |
| 16 | 32GB | Ryzen 9 7950X3D | NVMe |
| 32 | 64GB+ | EPYC 9684X / 9950X3D | NVMe |
Rust
| Slots | RAM | CPU | Disk |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 16GB | Ryzen 5 7600X+ | NVMe |
| 50 | 16-32GB | Ryzen 7 7800X3D | NVMe |
| 100 | 32GB | Ryzen 9 7950X3D | NVMe |
| 200 | 32-64GB | Ryzen 9 7950X3D+ | NVMe |
7 Days to Die (vanilla)
| Players | RAM | CPU | Disk |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 8GB | 4-core 4 GHz+ | SATA OK |
| 8-16 | 12GB | 6-core 4 GHz+ | NVMe |
| 16-24 | 16-24GB | 8-core 4.5 GHz+ | NVMe |
Satisfactory
| Setup | RAM | CPU | Disk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small factory, 4 players | 8GB | 4-core 4 GHz+ | NVMe |
| Mid factory, 4 players | 16GB | 6-core 4.5 GHz+ | NVMe |
| End-game factory | 24-32GB | Ryzen 7 7700X+ | NVMe |
Why CPU is the second-most-important number
RAM is usually the listed spec on hosting plans, but the CPU is what determines whether the server actually runs well at that RAM tier. The CPU-fundamentals article covers this in depth.
Short version: if a host's "Forge 8GB" plan runs on a Xeon Silver, your Minecraft tick is going to lag at 4 players. Same 8GB on a Ryzen 7 7800X3D handles 16-20 players smoothly. The RAM number tells you what fits in memory; the CPU tells you whether it ticks fast enough to play.
Disk choices that matter
The disk hierarchy for game servers is short:
- NVMe SSD: the only correct answer for ARK ASA, Palworld, Rust. Strongly recommended for everything else.
- SATA SSD: acceptable for vanilla MC, Valheim, vanilla 7DTD. Visible stuttering at peak loads on heavier games.
- Spinning disk: not viable for any modern game server. Disk-based hosts in 2026 are not credible.
Verify by reading the host's actual storage spec. "SSD" without "NVMe" usually means SATA SSD, fine for some games, not for the heavy ones.
Network sizing
Roughly:
| Setup | Sustained upload per server |
|---|---|
| Minecraft / Valheim / 7DTD, 10 players | 1-3 Mbps |
| Minecraft / Valheim, 50 players | 10-20 Mbps |
| Rust 100-slot wipe | 50 Mbps |
| Rust 200-slot wipe | 100+ Mbps |
| Palworld 32-player | 10-25 Mbps |
| ARK ASA, 16-player single map | 10-15 Mbps |
Datacenter network is rarely the bottleneck. Residential ISP upload usually is, which is the main argument for VPS-shield setups for home-hosted games. See the DDoS reality piece for the pattern.
FAQ
- Is 4GB RAM enough for a small Minecraft server?
- Yes for vanilla up to ~10 players. For modded, no, even small modpacks like SkyFactory want 6-8GB allocated.
- Do I need NVMe SSD for Valheim?
- Not strictly, SATA SSD is acceptable for 10-player Valheim. NVMe is nice but the disk I/O is light enough that the difference is minor.
- How much RAM for 32-player Palworld?
- 32-64GB depending on mod stack. The 4GB-per-player rough rule holds: 32 players × 1.5GB Palworld baseline + headroom = ~48-64GB.
- Why do hosts undersell RAM?
- Because customers shop on price. A '8GB plan' at $10/month sounds great until you realize the actual usable allocation is 6GB after the host's own overhead. Read the fine print.
- Is the host's listed RAM the actual JVM heap I get?
- For Java-based games (Minecraft), almost always the heap is sized lower than the plan total to leave headroom for the JVM itself + OS. A '8GB plan' usually gives you 6-7GB max heap.