question about dedicated/vps servers
 

Im thinking my forums will be needing a new server as it's always down.. i'm currently with siteground.com and didn' have that many members, but within the past few months we have accrued 200 members and it's been very, very busy.

im not familiar with all this server.. shared/dedicated talk/lingo so im not sure what i'm actually looking for.

would anyone recommend a shared or vps server? as im not sure a dedicated server is what i need we only have 200+ members at the moment, but i do feel we will be expanding more in the future.

Try to find a low-end VPS, your problem is that you are on a shared server that is heavily oversold. You're paying a low amount of money per month and being offered a surreal amount of space/traffic on a server with tons of other customers, which at times will slow down your site. With a VPS your resources will be dedicated; Try getting one with at least 256 mb ram and your current control panel so you don't have problems migrating or having to learn to use a new control panel.

thank you royo for your response, would you happen to recommend any VPS servers?

could this be the cause of my forums "lagging" and slow loading and having a lot of database errors?

Yes, there are many good hosts that dont over sell servers, i would stay away from godaddy, there are numerous posts around and many opinions on hosts, searching here can find you many opinions.

liquidweb
hostgator

The list could go on and on.