I have dual quad core hyperthreaded boxes at gigenet on 1Gbit lines with 12GB of ram. At $279 each, they may seem over priced, but trust me, you get what you pay for. Solid, always up, multiple thousands of simultaneous connections. I can push 400Mbit+ on these boxes per box. Anyway, I have used lots of hosts and the bottom line is you usually get what you pay for and I need a lot, so I pay.