DSH1
Xeon E3-1230 v2 · 4c · 3.3 GHz
- 8 GB DDR3
- 1×1 TB HDD or 1×120 GB SSD
- 5 TB · 1 Gbps
$149/mo
Order DSH1When a Dedicated Server Beats a VPS
A virtual private server is the right starting point for most projects. Our KVM instances run on NVMe SSD in RAID-10, deploy within hours and cost from $22 a month on the VPS Hungary plans. Even so, there is a point where sharing a physical node, however fairly, stops making sense. That is where bare metal earns its price.
Signs you have outgrown a virtual machine
- Sustained CPU load. Video transcoding, build pipelines, data processing and busy game servers keep cores at high utilisation for hours. On a dedicated machine those cores are physically yours, so performance stays flat around the clock.
- Predictable disk I/O. Databases with heavy write patterns benefit from disks that no other tenant touches. Your queries never wait behind somebody else’s backup job.
- Large memory footprints. In-memory caches, search indexes and analytics engines can need far more RAM than a single VPS plan provides. The DSH5 offers 192 GB in one chassis.
- Running your own hypervisor. If you want to build your own virtual machines with Proxmox, VMware ESXi, Hyper-V or plain KVM, you need direct hardware access, which only a dedicated server gives you.
- Compliance and isolation. Some clients and auditors simply require that data lives on hardware not shared with third parties.
When a VPS is still the smarter choice
If your load is light or spiky, a virtual server is cheaper and quicker to provision, typically in 1–6 hours rather than 24–72. A VPS also suits short-lived tasks such as a test environment, a personal VPN or a small proxy endpoint. Many customers start on a VPS, measure real resource usage for a few months and then move to bare metal once the numbers justify it. If you are unsure which side of the line you are on, send us a description of your workload through a support ticket and we will suggest a sensible fit.
Both product lines sit in the same Budapest facility and on the same multi-carrier network, so moving from one to the other does not change your latency profile or your Hungarian IP geolocation.
Choosing the Right Xeon Configuration
All five plans use Intel Xeon server processors with ECC-capable server boards, but they target different jobs. The table above lists prices; here is how to read the hardware.
DSH1 to DSH4: single-socket Xeon E3
The four entry and mid-range servers each carry a quad-core Xeon E3 processor with Hyper-Threading, giving eight threads to the operating system.
- DSH1 ($149) – Xeon E3-1230 v2 at 3.3 GHz, 8 GB DDR3. A dependable machine for a single busy website, a mail server, a VPN gateway or a small game server.
- DSH2 ($179) – Xeon E3-1230 v5 at 3.0 GHz, 8 GB. A newer CPU generation with better per-clock efficiency, useful for application servers and CI runners.
- DSH3 ($199) – Xeon E3-1231 v3 at 3.4 GHz, 8 GB, and two drives instead of one. The second disk lets you mirror data in software RAID 1 or separate the operating system from data and backups.
- DSH4 ($249) – Xeon E3-1270 v2 at 3.5 GHz, the highest clock speed in the range, with 16 GB of RAM and a single 2 TB HDD or 240 GB SSD. Strong single-thread performance suits game servers, trading bots and PHP-heavy sites.
HDD or SSD?
Every E3 plan lets you choose between a spinning hard disk and a solid-state drive. Pick HDD when capacity matters most: file storage, backup targets, media libraries or log archives. Pick SSD when responsiveness matters: databases, control panels hosting many small sites, and anything with lots of random reads and writes. Storage can be added to most configurations later, so you can start with SSD for speed and attach extra HDD capacity for bulk data.
DSH5: 192 GB for virtualisation
The DSH5 ($279) is a different class of machine: an HP server with two Xeon E5-2680 processors, eight cores each at 2.7 GHz, for 16 physical cores and 32 threads, plus 192 GB of RAM and two SFF SAS/SATA bays. That combination is ideal for running a hypervisor and carving the box into dozens of virtual machines, hosting large in-memory databases, or consolidating several smaller servers into one. For the price, the memory-per-dollar ratio is hard to match.
Bare Metal for Hosting Resellers and Agencies
Web agencies, freelance developers and hosting resellers form a large share of our dedicated server customers. A single physical machine gives them predictable costs, a clean separation from other providers’ customers and complete control over how resources are divided between clients.
Shared hosting with a control panel
Install cPanel/WHM, Plesk Obsidian or DirectAdmin on a DSH3 or DSH4 and you can host dozens of client websites, each with its own account, mailboxes, databases and SSL certificates. Licences for these panels are available as paid add-ons, or you can bring your own. If you prefer a lighter, lower-cost stack, ISPmanager Lite, Virtualmin and VestaCP are also offered. Because the server sits in Budapest with Hungarian IPv4 addresses, sites aimed at Hungarian and Central European visitors load quickly and geolocate correctly.
Selling your own VPS plans
With the DSH5, resellers can deploy a hypervisor and sell virtual machines under their own brand. 192 GB of RAM and 32 threads leave room for a healthy number of small and medium instances. Additional IPv4 addresses are available as a paid add-on, so each guest can have its own public IP, and we can set rDNS/PTR records on request for clients who send mail.
Agency staging and production
Agencies often split work across two machines: one for development and staging, another for production. Because there is no long-term contract and billing is monthly, adding a second server for a big launch and removing it later is straightforward. Full root access means you can automate deployments with your own tooling, from Git hooks to Ansible playbooks.
Points worth planning for
- Keep separate backups off the server. Our paid backup service, or your own remote storage, protects clients if a disk fails.
- Monitor monthly traffic. 5 TB is generous for most website portfolios, and extra traffic can be added if your clients grow.
- Agree acceptable-use rules with your own customers. Our policy forbids spam, attacks and illegal content, and abuse from a reseller’s client is treated as abuse from the server.
If you resell, our terms of service explain responsibilities in detail.
5 TB Monthly Traffic on a 1 Gbps Port
Every dedicated server includes 5 TB of outbound traffic per month on a 1 Gbps network port. For context, 5 TB is enough to serve millions of typical web page views, stream a considerable volume of video, or synchronise large backup sets between sites every night. Most single-site and multi-site deployments never come close to the limit.
Shared port, lightly loaded
The 1 Gbps uplink is a shared port, but we deliberately keep it lightly loaded. In practice that means you see consistent throughput rather than the sharp evening slowdowns that crowded providers suffer. Traffic is routed through several upstream ISP carriers, so if one carrier has a problem, packets take another path automatically. You can read more about routing and carriers on our Budapest datacenter and network page.
Network-intensive workloads
Bare metal with a fast port works well for jobs that move a lot of data:
- Proxy and VPN servers. A private VPN for a distributed team, or a pool of proxies with Hungarian IP addresses, benefits from both the throughput and the dedicated CPU for encryption.
- Game servers. Low jitter and central European location help keep latency fair for players across the region.
- Download mirrors and media delivery. Serve software packages, podcasts or video files from a Central European point of presence.
- Off-site backups. Use the large-HDD configurations as a backup target for servers elsewhere in the EU.
When you need more
If your usage grows beyond 5 TB, extra traffic can be added to most configurations, just as RAM and storage can. Open a ticket with your expected monthly volume and we will confirm the options for your server. Additional IPv4 addresses are also available as a paid add-on, which is useful for SSL on legacy systems, separating mail from web traffic or giving each virtual machine its own address.
Common ports are open by default, so mail, web, database, VPN and game traffic work without special requests. Custom networking, such as private links between several of your servers, can be arranged on request.
Hardware Replacement, Reinstalls and Power Backup
Renting rather than buying a server means the hardware is our responsibility. That is one of the strongest reasons to choose a dedicated server over colocation, and we take it seriously.
Free hardware replacement
If a component fails, whether a disk, a memory module, a power supply or a motherboard, we replace it at no charge. You report the issue through a support ticket, our technicians diagnose it, swap the faulty part and bring the machine back online. You never pay for spare parts or labour on the hardware you rent. To keep downtime short on storage failures, we recommend a two-drive configuration such as the DSH3 or DSH5 with software RAID, plus regular backups stored elsewhere.
Unlimited free reinstallation
Need a clean operating system, a different Linux distribution or a switch from Linux to Windows? Reinstallation is free and unlimited. Request it via ticket and we handle it on priority. Hard reboots are also performed on request when a server stops responding. Remember that a reinstall wipes the disks, so copy any data you need first.
Power and cooling backup
The Budapest facility is Tier III certified, which means power and cooling paths are redundant and can be maintained without shutting down the servers they feed. Uninterruptible power supplies and backup generators protect against grid failures, while redundant cooling keeps hardware within safe temperature limits. Our uptime target is 99.9%.
What the SLA does not cover
Dedicated servers are unmanaged by default. We keep the hardware and network running; you are responsible for the operating system, software updates, security configuration and backups. If you would rather not handle that yourself, paid management and paid backups are available. We do not offer a money-back guarantee, so if you are uncertain about sizing, ask us before ordering and we will help you choose.
- Covered: component failures, hardware diagnosis, OS reinstallation, hard reboots, power and cooling.
- Your responsibility: software, data, application security and anything installed after delivery.
Operating Systems, Control Panels and Management
Every dedicated server supports both Linux and Windows. You choose the operating system at checkout, and you can change it later through a free reinstall.
- Linux distributions
We install the popular server distributions: the RHEL family (CentOS and AlmaLinux-type builds), Ubuntu, Debian and Fedora. Linux is the natural choice for web stacks, mail servers, container hosts, VPN gateways and most game servers. You get full root access over SSH from the moment the server is delivered. See our Linux VPS Hungary page if you want to compare with virtual options.
- Windows Server
Windows Server 2016 and 2019 are available. The image is provided as an unlicensed evaluation edition, usually valid for around 180 days, and you can activate your own licence at any time. A paid Windows add-on is available if you need us to supply it. Windows on bare metal suits .NET applications, MS SQL Server, remote desktop workloads and trading platforms such as MetaTrader. You connect via RDP with full Administrator rights. Our Windows VPS Hungary page covers the virtual equivalent.
- Control panels
A control panel turns a bare server into a point-and-click hosting platform. Options available as add-ons include:
- cPanel/WHM – the most widely known panel for shared hosting and reselling.
- Plesk Obsidian – works on both Linux and Windows, popular with agencies.
- DirectAdmin – lightweight and inexpensive, with reseller features.
- ISPmanager Lite, Virtualmin and VestaCP – lighter options for smaller portfolios or single projects.
Panel licences are not free; they are billed as add-ons or you can supply your own.
- Managed or unmanaged
By default the service is unmanaged: we look after hardware and network, and you look after the software. That keeps costs low and gives experienced administrators complete freedom. If you prefer help with updates, security hardening, monitoring and troubleshooting, add paid management. Paid backups are also available, so your data has a copy outside the server. Support for all customers runs 24/7 through tickets in the client area.
Ordering, 24–72 Hour Delivery and Adding Resources
Ordering a dedicated server takes a few minutes. Choose a plan from the table above, select HDD or SSD (on DSH1–DSH4), pick your operating system and any add-ons, then complete checkout in the client area. Payment is accepted via PayPal and Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency.
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Delivery times
Dedicated servers are delivered within 24–72 hours. Unlike a VPS, a physical machine has to be prepared: hardware is checked, the requested drives are fitted, the operating system is installed and the network is configured. Orders are processed in the order they arrive. When your server is ready, login details are sent to your email and appear in the client area.
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Adding resources later
Your needs will change, and a dedicated server can change with them. For most configurations we can add:
- RAM – useful when databases or caches start to swap.
- Storage – an extra HDD for backups or an SSD for faster data.
- Traffic – if your monthly transfer is approaching 5 TB.
- IPv4 addresses – as a paid add-on for additional sites, services or virtual machines.
Open a ticket describing what you need and we will confirm compatibility and price before making any change. If you outgrow a configuration entirely, for example moving from a DSH1 to a DSH5 for virtualisation, the simplest route is to order the new server, migrate your data and cancel the old one before its renewal date.
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Billing and contract
All plans are billed monthly with no long-term commitment and no hidden charges. You can cancel at any time from the client area before the next billing cycle. Because there is no money-back guarantee, we encourage you to ask any questions before ordering. Our team responds to tickets 24/7.
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Acceptable use
Any legal workload is welcome: websites, mail, databases, VPN and proxy services, development environments, game servers and trading bots. Spam, attacks and illegal content are strictly forbidden and lead to account termination. For pre-sales questions, use the contact page or email info@vpshungary.com.