GTHost Phoenix VPS-5 Review: Cheap Intel Core VPS With Real-World Benchmarks

If you’re hunting for a cheap VPS in the US but still care about real performance numbers, this GTHost Phoenix Intel Core virtual private server is one of those boxes you actually want to test before trusting.
We rented the GTHost VPS-5 plan, logged in, ran a pile of benchmarks, and watched how it behaves under CPU, RAM, disk, network, and IP checks.
If you’re deciding where to put your next small site, download node, or test project, this walk-through shows what this GTHost VPS hosting plan does well, where it struggles, and what kind of workloads it really fits.

What We Actually Rented From GTHost

Let’s start with the basics, in normal language.

We picked the Phoenix, USA GTHost VPS-5 plan. On paper it looks like a classic budget virtual private server:

• CPU: 1 × Intel Core (Broadwell) around 2.1 GHz, with AES-NI and hardware virtualization

• RAM: 2 GB

• Storage: 20 GB SSD

• Bandwidth: 8 TB per month on a 1 Gbps port

• Virtualization: KVM

• Addresses: IPv4 + IPv6

• OS we used: Debian 11 (64-bit)

• Location: Phoenix, Arizona, on ASN AS63023 (GTHost)

So this is clearly not a monster machine. It’s more like a “small but decent” VPS you spin up for a low-traffic site, a side project, or a simple service you don’t want to overpay for.

A Quick Look At GTHost As A Provider

GTHost (GLOBALTELEHOST) has been around since 2012 and mainly plays in the dedicated server hosting and instant server space. Their usual selling points are:

• many data centers in North America and Europe

• instant deployment (servers are ready in minutes)

• month-to-month billing and transparent pricing

Support is 24/7 via phone, email, and live chat. So from the infrastructure and service side, this is a “real” hosting provider, not some random VPS reseller that might vanish in a month.

That’s the theory. Now let’s talk about what actually happened when we started pushing this Phoenix VPS.

First Contact: OS, Features, And Control

Right after deployment, we logged in and checked the basics:

• Debian 11 came pre-installed and looked clean and standard.

• AES-NI was enabled, which is good if you care about SSL/TLS and any kind of encryption.

• VT-x/AMD-V virtualization flags were on, as expected for KVM.

• The TCP congestion control was set to bbr, which usually helps squeeze better latency and throughput out of the network.

So the environment feels modern and sensible. Nothing weird in the kernel, nothing suspicious in the basic setup. It behaves like a normal Linux VPS, which is exactly what you want before you start installing your own stack.

If you like to experiment with cheap VPS hosting and want something you can deploy in minutes without talking to sales or waiting for manual approval, this kind of instant setup is pretty handy.
Once you’ve seen these numbers, it’s tempting to try your own test project on similar hardware: 👉 spin up your own GTHost Phoenix VPS in a few minutes here.

CPU And RAM: Good Enough For Light Workloads

After the basics, we moved straight to synthetic tests.

Geekbench 6: Not A Powerhouse

We ran Geekbench 6 to get a feel for raw CPU performance:

• Single-core score: 282

• Multi-core score: 278

Those are low scores by modern standards. This CPU core can handle light web apps, simple APIs, and small services, but it’s not designed for heavy compute, big databases, or anything that loves lots of threads.

If your plan is to:

• host a small WordPress or static site

• run a simple proxy

• deploy a few lightweight Docker containers

then the CPU is fine. But if your app compiles big codebases, runs data analytics, or crunches heavy workloads, this cheap VPS is not the right hammer for that nail.

Memory Tests: Surprisingly Decent

We also tested RAM read/write performance:

• Quick test: about 6.2 GB/s read and 3.5 GB/s write in the fast mode memory test

• Longer tests: around 1.8 GB/s read and 1.3 GB/s write in global tests

So memory speed isn’t the bottleneck here. Once the data is in RAM, the VPS keeps up fairly well. For typical web hosting tasks and basic services, this part won’t hold you back.

Disk Performance: The Biggest Weak Spot

Disk I/O is where the story changes.

We ran both dd and fio tests with different block sizes. The short version:

• With very small 4K blocks, write speeds were around 4.1 MB/s. That’s slow.

• With larger 1 MB blocks, sequential speeds jumped to around 269 MB/s write and similar read speeds.

• fio showed the same pattern:

  • tiny blocks → weak performance

  • larger blocks (512K, 1M) → 250–260 MB/s range, which is fine

What does this mean in real life?

• If your workload reads and writes lots of small files all the time (e.g., busy database with tiny rows, log-heavy apps), you’ll feel the slowness.

• If you mostly move larger files, do backups, or serve big static assets, performance is much more acceptable.

So for this particular GTHost VPS hosting plan, disk I/O is the main thing you need to think about. The SSD is not terrible across the board, but it clearly likes large sequential operations and hates small random ones.

Network Performance: The Strong Side

Now for the good news: the network on this Phoenix VPS is actually pretty solid.

We used iperf3 to test speeds to different locations:

• To Los Angeles, USA: around 747 Mbps send / 641 Mbps receive, with very low ping

• To New York, USA: around 639 Mbps send / 359 Mbps receive

• To Amsterdam, NL: about 415 Mbps send / 606 Mbps receive

• To Singapore, SG, Sao Paulo, BR, and others: speeds stayed in the mid hundreds of Mbps, with pings that roughly matched the distance

In plain language:

• Across the US, the VPS feels fast and responsive.

• To Europe and parts of Asia, speeds are still quite usable for many workloads.

• Latency behaves as you’d expect for a Phoenix data center.

If your priority is network throughput and global reach more than raw disk or CPU, this is where the GTHost Phoenix VPS-5 shines. It’s well suited for:

• file distribution

• CDN origin nodes

• VPN/proxy endpoints (if your use case can live with the IP reputation issues we’ll mention later)

• lightweight APIs that talk a lot over the network

Streaming And Service Unlocks: Mixed Results

We also checked how this IP behaves with common streaming and online services.

From the tests:

• YouTube Premium: works, region detected as US

• Amazon Prime Video: works, US region

• Netflix: only Netflix Originals, no full catalog

• Disney+: blocked (IP banned)

• Other regional platforms: some work, some don’t

On the AI and web service side:

• ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude: all accessible

• Google Search: works, but the IP is flagged as a bit “risky” by some systems

• Wikipedia editing: not allowed from this IP

So the IP behaves like a typical data center address that has seen some action. It’s usable for many things, but you shouldn’t expect it to behave like a home broadband IP in terms of streaming and trust.

IP Reputation: High Fraud Score, Handle With Care

We ran this IP through multiple IP quality and reputation databases.

Highlights:

• Fraud scores are high in some systems.

• The IP is clearly tagged as hosting / datacenter.

• There are some blacklist hits, though not a disaster-level number.

• It’s seen as a possible bot by at least one source.

This doesn’t mean GTHost is “bad.” It just means this particular IP (and likely the surrounding range) has been used in ways that triggered fraud and bot flags somewhere in the past.

Practical impact:

• Some websites and services may show extra CAPTCHA challenges or even deny access.

• You probably don’t want to send important marketing emails or transactional emails from this IP.

• Any service that is strict about residential IPs or clean IP ranges might treat you as suspicious by default.

If your project needs a very clean IP reputation (online banking tools, high-trust SaaS, or serious email sending), this Phoenix VPS is not the safest first choice.

Email Port Situation: Not A Mail-Friendly VPS

We also checked common mail ports against popular providers.

The pattern is simple:

• Local ports on the VPS itself are open for SMTP/POP3/IMAP (so you can run a mail server locally).

• But many hosted mail services (Gmail, QQ, Outlook, and others) don’t play nicely with outbound connections from this IP on standard mail ports.

• Lots of combinations show as blocked or unusable.

So if you imagine this cheap VPS as your all-in-one email server, that’s risky. Even if you manage to send mail, the IP reputation doesn’t help your deliverability.

Best approach:

• Use external email services (like transactional mail providers) rather than sending mail directly from this VPS.

• Treat this server as an app or web node, not a core mail hub.

Who This GTHost Phoenix VPS-5 Is Good For

After all the tests, here’s where this box actually makes sense.

Good Use Cases

This VPS is a decent match if you:

• have basic web hosting needs, like a small site, landing pages, or a personal project

• mainly work with large files (backups, downloads, media storage) rather than tons of tiny writes

• care more about network throughput and coverage than perfect disk I/O or high CPU scores

• want a low-cost, quickly deployed VPS to experiment, test infrastructure, or host lightweight APIs

In those scenarios, the cheap price, 8 TB of traffic, and good network performance give you solid value.

Weak Or Risky Use Cases

On the other hand, you should think twice if you need:

• fast, consistent small-block disk I/O (e.g., busy databases, log-heavy microservices)

• high CPU performance for heavy compute tasks

• a clean IP reputation for email, fintech, or anything sensitive

• strict streaming unlock coverage for a wide range of platforms

You can still use the VPS for some of these, but you’ll be fighting against its natural limits.

Conclusion

This GTHost Phoenix Intel Core VPS-5 plan is exactly what it looks like: a very affordable, network-strong, but CPU- and disk-limited cheap VPS that works best for light workloads and bandwidth-focused tasks. The RAM behaves well, the network numbers are genuinely good for a low-cost virtual private server, but the small-block disk performance and low Geekbench scores clearly mark it as an entry-level option.

If you need a budget-friendly VPS in the US where network speed matters more than raw compute and small-file I/O, this box can still pull its weight. And if you’re wondering why GTHost is suitable for budget-conscious, network-focused VPS hosting scenarios, the main reasons are simple: quick deployment, predictable low pricing, and solid global connectivity despite the modest hardware and IP reputation quirks.