Most of our machines are refurbished: systems with AMD Ryzen CPUs that had a first life somewhere else. We check and clean them, replace worn parts, put in fast NVMe storage and enough RAM, and test every machine before a customer ever touches it. The goal is simple: give each component five or more extra years of useful life instead of sending it to a recycler after three.
Does older hardware mean slow servers?
No. Game servers are limited by single-core speed and memory, not by the newest instruction set. A Ryzen from a few years ago runs a Paper server for 30 players with room to spare. Where it matters (modpacks with hundreds of mods, ARK, Palworld), we put fewer servers on a machine.
What we do not skimp on
Storage. Worn SSDs are the most common cause of data loss, so game data lives on fast NVMe drives and every server comes with backup slots. Memory is dedicated: your 4 GB are yours.
Why bother
A chassis and mainboard that live five years longer are five years of manufacturing emissions and e-waste that do not happen. Together with the solar power it is the biggest lever a small host has.