Hello,

I'm new around here (as you probably noticed) so, first of all, I'd like to greet everyone :wavey:

Now, for the question at hand - I'm planning on launching a site about videogame news and reviews. It will be mostly text and pictures (about 10 jpeg's of 50k to 60k per review), but I'd like to throw in a Message Board at some point.

Question: How much space/bandwidth would I need to run a site like that with no worries?

I've written some "test" articles and they'll be 1MB each at most (few exceptions). Assuming the site will cover 5 machines (PC and 4 consoles) I guess I'll need at least 500MB of space (allowing for 100 reviews for each machine) just for the reviews. As far as bandwidth is concerned, though, I have no idea but I was hoping someone here might give me a close estimate (considering the average traffic of a site with these characteristics, for instance).

Any input apreciated! :)

It is pretty hard to say what you will need without watching your traffic patterns, etc. I think your biggest expense will probably on your 1MB reviews. If you get 100 visitors to your site per day, and they each download 3 reviews, that's roughly 9GB of traffic per month.

If I was you, I would select a host with around 10GB of bandwidth or so, and make sure you have the ability to upgrade indefinitely. (For example, upgrade to 50GB/month , then to possibly a VDS, then to a dedicated server).

So basically, the only way to tell is to set everything up and see what bandwidth you are using. :) 10GB is a lot of transfer, and if this is a new site, it will most likely be enough for you for at least the first couple of months.

I would think 5GB of bandwidth would be plenty to start off with.. Forums dont really use up that much space/bandwidth unless they start getting really busy and I still think you would have enough.. The main thing you should ask your host is if you will be allowed to upgrade at no charge.. most hosts allow this but there are a few who have "hidden" charges for stuff like that.. Good luck

Hi,
It really depends on how much traffic you will get. I would choose a flexible plan that allows you to upgrade easily. I would say start with 1 or 2 Gigs of data transfer, but once again it all depends on your traffic. Make sure that a host will let you upgrade easily.

Also, I would say 500MB is too much. 100 Reviews ~ 1 MB each that is 100 MB plus some pics info/pages/programs total 200 MB?

Originally posted by AceWeb
Also, I would say 500MB is too much. 100 Reviews ~ 1 MB each that is 100 MB plus some pics info/pages/programs total 200 MB?

Nope. !MB is the worst case scenario. The HTML files themselves are not more than 20k, but when you add pics it goes from 500k to 1MB.

I'm just trying to keep my bases covered because I don't want to change hosts too fast. I want to take the time to "know my crowd" and then adapt, if you know what I mean.

I was aiming towards something like iPowerweb (200MB/20GB) as that would probably set me up for some time until I needed the extra space.

Anyway, thanks for everything! Any comments are most welcome.

I also suggest doing a search of any hosts you are interested in.. I would do a search on them, You might see some feedback you would rather see now instead of down the road.. Anyway best of luck to you.. you are sure to find a good host here..

I also suggest doing a search of any hosts you are interested in.. I would do a search on them, You might see some feedback you would rather see now instead of down the road..

Ouch... I know what you mean. iPowerweb seems to be unreliable in terms of support, huh? I have a friend who has a site with them since February and he only complained about their service twice (minor things though).

I did some more research and I was surprised with the offer from Myqth.com but something troubles me... In their TOS, they claim they'll be Admin of the Domain registered (which is a colorful way of saying they own it). Then they say that if requested they'll put it in the customer's name but they *might* put you offline because of it! :eek:

Also, they have a strict limit on space/bandwidth (no "unlimited" promisses) but then in the TOS they claim they restrict the use of more than 20% of their system resources... I mean, how the heck am I supposed to know how much of their resources I'm using?

Sounds fishy... but I'll keep looking. Comments welcome as always! :D