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Can anyone advise what is a realistic price to pay for a Hosted dedicated Windows Server in the UK.

I am currently using the company - Server Solutions Overview | Host-IT and specifically their Gold Server. I am paying slightly less than that, as I went with the configuration option of a 4TB HDD (not SSD) in raid 1. I have never had any issues with the service provided by the company or any issues with the server itself. They are really good!

I came across this company - https://www.ukservers.com/ and their reviews seem to suggest that they are very good and yet they are basically half the price and I am getting more Internet speed! I am wary of “cheap” hosting companies, because reliability is frequently a problem with cheap companies. In addition, many of them are a major source of spam and malware - so their IP Addresses are very often on blocklists. This company however does seem to have good reviews.

I like the fact that UK Dedicated Servers uses Supermicro Servers just like Host-IT, as I believe that Supermicro are really top quality. Quality Servers does suggest quality service!

I don’t know if £75 a month for a Server with 16GB Ram, 4tb raid 1 Windows Server and 1GB Internet is a realistic price for reliable service. I would like a UK based Data Center.

I am sure that I will be ok with UK Dedicated Servers, but I would like to have a better understanding of what to look at when considering pricing to make sure that I am not missing anything. I am just concerned that UK Dedicated Servers doesn’t seem to be much more expensive than other providers that I know are crap! I don’t know why Host-IT is so much more expensive.

3 Spice ups
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Your price may be down to two things.

  1. Did they provide the windows license ? If so they will be charging you per month for the use of that license (it’s called SPLA licensing) they’ll be a Microsoft partner and have to pay Microsoft for your use of the licence. They have to accurately license it per core (as spla partners can be audited by Microsoft if something looks amiss).

So you don’t foot the bill for a complete server license (hundreds of £) , they turn it in to a subscription model and incorporate it into your monthly price. Not all hosts are SPLA partners, some you have to source your own license (which you then carry the can if you license it inaccurately)

  1. Your disk size is larger than the average for a dedicated box that size especially in a raid mirror configuration (usually you see a 2x2TB) set up - the extra disk space may be contributing to the additional cost.

If you’re happy with your provider - shop around and get competitive prices then shoot support an email to see if they’ll price match. Mention you’ve been happy with their service but see if they can give you some leeway - never hurts to ask!

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I have double checked and the new provider definitely provides the Windows license. It is included in their list of options with the option to spend more if you want the datacentre option. I will raise it as a question however, when I send an email. Good point.

I can’t see the disk size being relevant as like for like Host-IT is way more expensive. Even when looking at the standard offerings of Host-IT with much smaller hard drives, they are still quite expensive.

However, I did notice when I checked the OS, that the new company servers is DDR3, whereas the server I am using is DDR4. I suspect that perhaps they don’t use brand new servers at UK Dedicated Hosting, whereas at Host-IT the default is for a brand new server when leasing a Dedicated Server. Possibly the new server and the Tier 4 Data Centre that Host-IT offers is more likely the reason why they are more expensive?

I will email the new company because I just think what they are offering is more in line with my requirements. I don’t need the latest server, nor a bomb proof Data Centre. I very much doubt that Host-IT would drop the price by 50% as I suspect that their operating costs are higher as result of the Tier 4 and new servers.

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Now that I have moved to the new server, I thought that I would update this question as I can see better what is causing the price differential here.

The old company definitely uses Enterprise grade hard drives. The new company uses Consumer grade hard drives. While they work and there is nothing wrong with them, there are performance issues in certain scenarios such as large file transfers. Not a problem for long term, but definitely a noticeable issue when transferring data from the old server to the new server.

I think the new Hosting Provider is quite good in terms of offering value for money. Their broadband speed is so much faster and it makes a huge difference when wanting to transfer a lot of data. The new server does work well for the general usage that I use it for, but I personally don’t think that Consumer hard drives should ever be used in a data centre. However, the difference in price between the old and new data centre makes it understandable why. Once I have got everything completed transferred and the server bedded in, I will see how it works on a day to day normal usage basis. I think it will be fine, but my main concern will be longevity and also long term performance of the Sata drive being used for Backups.