With the increasing number of independent games, self-developed online projects, and mobile game acceleration nodes, "Hong Kong servers" have become the first choice for many game practitioners. The reasons are not complicated: close to the mainland, connected network, relatively loose policies, and generally good experience.

　　But problems also follow. Everyone who wants to deploy a Hong Kong game server will be entangled in a question: "How much bandwidth do I need for this game?"

　　Some people say 10M is enough, some say at least 100M, and some people shout 1Gbps right away, as if the larger the bandwidth, the less stuck the game is. The truth is: the bandwidth of the game server is not about who has the largest bandwidth, but how you play.

　　Let's not talk about the game type first, let's talk about the most basic concept first:

　　The size of the server bandwidth essentially depends on how many people you want to serve at the same time and how much traffic each player will use on average.

　　For example:

　　For a lightweight battle game (such as turn-based battle), the total uplink and downlink of a single player does not exceed 20kbps. If you have 100 people online at the same time, the total bandwidth occupied is only 100 × 20kbps = 2Mbps, plus peak buffer, 5Mbps is more than enough.

　　But if you are playing a game with frequent synchronization such as FPS and MMO. A single player may occupy 50~200kbps instantly. 100 people may occupy 10Mbps or even higher. Considering group play, broadcasting, and UDP burst traffic, 20Mbps~50Mbps is a reasonable range at this time.

　　So the key is not whether you need 100M bandwidth, but your game type determines your bandwidth requirements.

　　Common bandwidth "misunderstandings" when choosing a Hong Kong server:

　　Misunderstanding 1: As long as you buy 100M, it will definitely be enough

　　Not necessarily, the so-called "100M bandwidth" of many Hong Kong VPS is a shared bandwidth. You share this export link with dozens of machines, and the actual usable bandwidth may be only about 10M. Especially the ultra-low-priced product of "Hong Kong CN2 100M unlimited flow", it must be tested.

　　Myth 2: Game lag = insufficient bandwidth

　　In fact, many times, game lag is not caused by bandwidth, but by: high latency (taking detours instead of CN2), severe packet loss (unstable routing between operators), and large server-side latency (not enough CPU, process stuck). Before buying bandwidth, first figure out whether it is a problem with the line and computing resources, otherwise "adding bandwidth = fixing lag" is a waste of money.

　　How much bandwidth should be selected for Hong Kong game servers?

　　Here are three ideas, and you can choose the right one according to your actual business:

　　If you are a "small trial project", the recommended bandwidth is: 5M~10M exclusive, low cost, and acceptable experience. Generally, 1 core 1G 5Mbps configuration can run 20~50 people concurrently. For example, if you are doing terminal game simulators such as "MapleStory"  you can start here.

　　If you are a "medium-sized online game, formal community service", the recommended bandwidth is: 20M~50M exclusive or 100M shared bandwidth with no flow limit. Suitable for hundreds of concurrent games, requiring stable bandwidth and strong burst resistance. Hong Kong BGP line + CN2 is preferred, and the speed of returning to China is more stable.

　　If you are a "cloud game/game live broadcast/large distribution node", the recommended bandwidth is: 100M~1Gbps large bandwidth package. Be sure to choose high-export and high-traffic resources. Multi-node deployment of CDN/reverse generation is also very necessary.

　　Finally, a reminder: when renting a server in Hong Kong, it is not about how large the bandwidth is written, but whether the bandwidth is exclusive, whether it is a real export, and whether it can be verified by speed test.

　　Some unscrupulous host providers' "100M unlimited flow" actually only opens a 5M real hole, or limits the speed during the day and runs at night, which will be exposed once tested. Therefore, it is recommended to ask the merchant to provide speed test IP and real return line. Use tools like iperf or speedtest-cli for actual testing. Pay more attention to the "mine post" or speed test report in the VPS community and technical forum.