ARK's memory use is driven by which map you run far more than by how many people are on it — pick your map first, then size.
Massive maps, heavy mod lists, and full DLC support.
ARK is more likely to be RAM-bound than CPU-bound. We build for that.
192GB DDR5 per node, which is what a map baseline plus a mod list actually needs.
High-clock Zen 4 in North America too.
ARK's own guidance is ~2 logical cores per instance and no meaningful scaling past four. Clock speed wins.
Island, The Center, Ragnarok, Genesis and the rest. Full SFTP for Workshop mods.
MaxPlayers ships at 70. We do not cap it — the real limit is your plan's memory.
Run several maps side by side. Each is its own process with its own memory baseline.
It depends on the map far more than the player count. An empty Island is 3.5 to 4.5GB; an empty Genesis Part 2 is 10 to 12.5GB.
Players add roughly 50 to 150MB each on top of that baseline, so a ten-person Island server is a very different proposition from a ten-person Genesis Part 2 server. If you plan to run a cluster of several maps, size for the sum of their baselines — each map is a separate server process with its own memory footprint.
No. Around two logical cores per instance is the guidance, and the workload does not scale meaningfully past four.
This is why we do not sell ARK on core count. Single-thread performance is what moves the needle, which is what the Ryzen 7 7700 and EPYC 4244P are for. If you are running a cluster, cores start to matter again — but as a way to run more map instances side by side, not to make one map faster.
No. We host ARK: Survival Evolved only.
Survival Ascended is a separate game with its own server software and much higher requirements, and it is not part of our catalogue. If you are looking for Ascended hosting, we are not the right host for it — we would rather tell you that up front than take the order.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| RAM — Island, empty | 3.5-4.5 GiB before any players join |
| RAM — The Center, empty | 3-4 GiB |
| RAM — Genesis Part 2, empty | 10-12.5 GiB |
| RAM per player | Roughly +50-150 MiB each |
| CPU | ~2 logical cores per instance; no scaling past ~4. Single-thread preferred |
| Install size | About 21 GiB |
| Player limit | MaxPlayers under [/Script/Engine.GameSession], ships at 70 |
| Ports | 7777 UDP game, 7778 UDP peer, 27015 UDP query, 27020 TCP RCON |
| Operating system | 64-bit required. Windows and Linux both run natively |
Source: the ARK community wiki dedicated server guide (officially endorsed but community-maintained), with install size cross-checked against Valve’s Steam depot metadata for app 376030.
Common questions about running an ARK: Survival Evolved server with us.