Hands-on benchmark of Scaleway’s Paris Ampere ARM instances. Covers plan specs, lscpu/Yabs output, disk and network performance, plus streaming unlocks and routing to China. Despite a temporary 50% promo code, the overall price‑performance is mediocre versus competitors; no clear advantage, not recommended. Better stick with Stardust.

This post benchmarks the YxVM Hong Kong CN2 “toy” VPS (no AFF), which is $5 for the first month and $99 on renewal. It focuses on CN2 routes back to mainland China, with low-latency direct China Telecom CN2 connectivity. Compared with Sharon, performance is slightly worse. Includes real-world China Telecom/Unicom/Mobile routing traces, return-path tests, multimedia unlock status, and nationwide latency screenshots for reference only.

Server-Factory has opened pre-sales for its new AMD Ryzen 9 7950X VPS in Eygelshoven, Netherlands: 2 vCPU cores, 2 GB DDR5 RAM, 100 GB NVMe (PCIe 4.0), and 8 TB traffic @ 500 Mbps for €48/year. This post includes Looking Glass, status page, lscpu output, and extensive stability and performance benchmarks. Crypto and PayPal are accepted, but refunds are not allowed.

Hands-on benchmark of HostHatch’s Tokyo AMD 7R13 plan: 6 vCPUs (2 dedicated + 4 fair‑share), 24GB RAM, 300GB NVMe, 5TB @ 200Mbps for $125/year. Includes detailed CPU, disk, network, Geekbench, PassMark and routing results. Good price‑performance, but mind GB vs GiB sizing and reports of occasional data loss.

Hands-on benchmark of Faconhost’s new Netherlands AMD 7950X VPS: excellent NVMe I/O performance, Xtom-backed network routes similar to other NL 7950X offerings, and a VirtFusion control panel. However, as a brand‑new provider, long‑term stability is unknown and its refund/change fees and TOS are extremely strict—overall not recommended for most users.

Hands-on benchmark of ZgoCloud’s Los Angeles Ryzen 9 7950X VPS plan, covering YABS, Geekbench 5/6, UnixBench, and fusion script results, plus extensive routing and speed tests. Includes full streaming unlock matrix for IPv4/IPv6 and a detailed look at the strict TOS limits, instability issues, score degradation over time, and outage–fix timeline. Approach with caution.

This post benchmarks Bero-Host’s Christmas special AMD EPYC 7443P VPS: 8 vCPUs, 24 GB RAM, 420 GB NVMe, 20 TB@1 Gbps for just €10/month. It supports Windows, three snapshots plus scheduled backups, and custom ISO installs. With an additional 20% discount on renewal, the price‑to‑performance ratio is outstanding, though the custom control panel takes some getting used to.

Step-by-step guide to building a Kubernetes cluster with kubeadm on three Ubuntu 20.04 servers. Covers environment preparation, disabling SWAP and firewall, kernel and containerd configuration, installing kubeadm/kubelet/kubectl, initializing the control plane, deploying Flannel CNI, enabling shell completion, and joining worker nodes, with ready-to-use scripts and version notes.

Benchmark of Hybula’s new Netherlands VPS plan powered by AMD EPYC 9554. Self-built premium Amsterdam network with excellent routing, 4C/4G/50G NVMe and 10TB@2Gbps bandwidth. Black Friday pre-sale at 25% off, €27 per quarter, plus up to 7 backups by posting your order ID on LowEndTalk. Includes extensive CPU, disk, network and latency benchmarks.

Lost access to Oracle after changing phones because Oracle Authenticator no longer works? This post documents a previously working emergency workaround: derive a bypass code by editing the IDCS console URL, log in, remove old devices, and bind your new phone. Note: this method stopped working in February 2024—see the comments for the latest viable approach.

Hands-on benchmark of Advin Servers’ Germany KVM VPS powered by AMD EPYC 9554: 2 vCPUs, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB NVMe, 5 TB @ 10 Gbps for $4/month. Includes lscpu output with AVX-512/virtualization flags, YABS, Bench.sh, PassMark PerformanceTest Linux, fusion script I/O and network tests, plus byte-unixbench scores for purchase and performance reference.