> As far as SSD, can your user tell the difference between a cache file that takes .001s vs .0001s? Probably not. For many of us, I think the more critical question is: How much does SSD improve MySQL performance?
Doesn't MySQL store cache in ram, so wouldnt more ram/$ be better?
Most database servers will use RAM as aggressively as possible (limits defined in the configuration files), so yes, more RAM is preferable. However, it's difficult to get a large amount of RAM at an affordable price when it comes to VPS. There's a little saying that's like, "Don't think of an SSD as expensive disk; think of it as cheap RAM." I think that's a good rule that serves well, more or less, if you orient your systems to behave that way.
Good point. Cost of 4G Linode = 8G Droplet. I was more thinking 4G Linode to 4G Droplet comparison. Hypothetically, you run out of "buffer pool" and everything slows to a crawl. Maybe w/ SSD the swapping (or whatever MySQL does on disk) is less noticable. But in that comparison, maybe the 4G Linode CPU is a little faster so it might be a close contest. Granted I'm no MySQL guru and every application is different. BTW I have no affiliation with either company.
Doesn't MySQL store cache in ram, so wouldnt more ram/$ be better?