This is a detailed review of the RackNerd 2025 Black Friday promotional VPS priced at $18.66/year in the Ashburn, USA data center. It covers CPU, memory, disk I/O, China telecom routing, return paths, packet loss, and streaming unlock results to evaluate overall value and real-world performance.
RackNerd official website: RackNerd – Introducing Infrastructure Stability
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VPS Plan Overview
The VPS tested here comes from RackNerd’s 2025 Black Friday promotion. After a free traffic upgrade, it offers extremely high cost-performance value. Available locations include multiple US cities (Los Angeles DC-02, LA DC-03, San Jose, Seattle, Chicago, Dallas, New York, Ashburn), Canada Toronto, and France.
| Item | Upgraded Specs | Price | Purchase Link |
| CPU | 2 cores | $18.66/year | Buy Now |
| RAM | 2.5GB | ||
| Disk | 45GB SSD | ||
| Traffic | 6TB (original 3TB doubled) | ||
| Bandwidth | 1Gbps | ||
| Virtualization | KVM | ||
| IPv4 | 1 |
Free traffic upgrade note: After purchase, users can request a traffic upgrade by posting their order ID in the LET official thread or under specified YouTube/Bilibili videos.
Basic Configuration & System Info
The VPS is located in Ashburn, Virginia, USA. IP address: 172.245.6.103.
- Hardware: 2× Intel Xeon E5-2690 v2 @ 3.00GHz, 2.4 GiB RAM, 46.0 GiB SSD
- Virtualization: KVM
- OS: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm), Kernel 6.8.0-31-generic
- Location: Ashburn, Virginia, USA. ASN AS36352 (HostPapa/ColoCrossing)
- IP type: Native datacenter IP
Performance Benchmarks
1. Disk I/O (fio test)
| Block Size | Read (MB/s) | Write (MB/s) | Total (MB/s) |
| 4k | 64.21 | 64.33 | 128.54 |
| 64k | 683.99 | 687.59 | 1371.58 (1.37 GB/s) |
| 512k | 759.43 | 799.78 | 1559.21 (1.55 GB/s) |
| 1m | 765.87 | 816.88 | 1582.75 (1.58 GB/s) |
Comment: Excellent SSD performance, with large-block read/write speeds reaching ~1.5 GB/s.
2. CPU Performance
| Test | Score | Link |
| Geekbench 5 Single-Core | 638 | v5/cpu/23941005 |
| Geekbench 5 Multi-Core | 1228 | |
| SysBench CPU Single-Core | 897 | |
| SysBench CPU Multi-Core | 1795 |
Comment: Strong performance for a $18.66/year VPS, suitable for most lightweight and medium workloads.
3. Memory Performance (SysBench)
| Test | Read (MB/s) | Write (MB/s) |
| Single-thread | 18757.44 | 14830.43 |
Comment: Very fast memory performance ensures stable system operation.
Network & Routing Analysis
1. China Latency & Packet Loss
| Region | Best (ms) | Worst (ms) | Avg (ms) | Packet Loss |
| All | 202 | 329 | 243 | – |
| China Telecom | 202 | 280 | 231 | 5–15% in some regions |
| China Unicom | 208 | 329 | 241 | 0–?% |
| China Mobile | 234 | 296 | 257 | up to 16% in some regions |
| HK/TW | 216 | 218 | 217 | – |
Comment: Average latency around 240ms, typical for an Ashburn (US East) data center. No optimized China direct routes.
2. Global Latency
| Region | Best | Worst | Avg |
| North America | 1 | 69 | 41 |
| Europe | 73 | 84 | 78 |
| South America | 136 | 145 | 140 |
| Asia | 117 | 226 | 185 |
Comment: Excellent performance for North America and Europe users.
3. Routing Analysis (China ISPs)
| ISP | Outbound Route | Return Route |
| China Telecom | Via Shanghai / San Jose / Chicago → Ashburn (long path) | Via NTT / 163 backbone via West Coast exit |
| China Unicom | Via Guangzhou / Los Angeles → Ashburn | Via Level3 / AS4837, Hong Kong or San Jose exit |
| China Mobile | Via Hong Kong / Los Angeles → Ashburn | Via GTT/Arelion → CMI |
Summary: No CN2 or optimized direct routes; traffic uses standard international backbone routes, explaining higher latency.
Streaming & IP Quality
1. Streaming Unlock
| Service | Status | Region | Method |
| Netflix | Unlocked | US | Native |
| YouTube | Unlocked | US | Native |
| TikTok | Unlocked | US | Native |
| Spotify | Unlocked | US | Native |
| ChatGPT | Unlocked | US | Native |
| Disney+ | Blocked | ||
| Amazon Prime Video | Blocked |
Comment: Native US IP with good streaming unlock capabilities.
2. IP Quality
- Type: Datacenter native IP
- Scamalytics score: 53/100 (medium risk)
- IPQS score: 75 (suspicious / proxy flagged)
- Blacklist status: Listed in 5 out of 439 databases
- SMTP port 25 outbound: Available
Comment: Although native, the IP range is flagged by some systems due to hosting network reputation.
Conclusion
| Category | Performance | Use Case |
| Price | Excellent ($18.66/year) | Budget users |
| Performance | Strong | Web hosting, lightweight apps, downloads |
| Streaming | Good | Entertainment use |
| China network | Average | Not suitable for low-latency CN access |
Recommendation
This RackNerd Black Friday VPS offers extremely high value with 2 cores, 2.5GB RAM, and 6TB traffic at only $18.66/year after upgrade.
- Best for users targeting US/EU audiences, backup tasks, downloads, or streaming usage.
- Not recommended for applications requiring low-latency China connectivity or optimized routing.
