[zonetuke]

I would like to install UBB or vBulletin on my site. I'm leaning towards vB though because of more features and people say it is much quicker. I'll be importing from ezboard.com, so vB has the advantage there because it can import ezboard. Plus vB is about $100 cheaper. Any advice?

[zorn]

Because vB is based on PHP it can run MUCH faster on the server. With you own comments already stated, I'd say its a good call.

~ Mike

[cteselle]

They are both really great apps. I have used both, and would tend to move toward vBulletin, mainly for the pricing issues (the built in features are great too).

They both have really strong user communities that offer tech support, hacks, etc. For UBB I have used http://www.ubbdev.com and for vBulletin you can check out their own forum (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/index.php).

You do have to make sure that the machine that you use will be able to handle your load properly. If you do not have a somewhat powerful machine to host on I would recommend UBB 5.4xx. The CPU usage of UBB5 is far lower than UBB 6 and vBulletin. UBB 5 will generate the pages only when the change, rather than every time they are accessed.

Hope this helps!

[zonetuke]

Thanks for you responses. cteselle, your point about UBB5 is a good one regarding page generation. I just downloaded phpBB and will check out that free board also. Have either of you used that one?

I'm using Hostrocket.com which has shared servers. So I will want to keep my cgi/php activity at a minimum. Maybe I should go with UBB5?

matthew

[macvillage.net]

You are much better off with UBB in the long run, and here is why:

vBulletin makes many mySQL connections to load a thread (as much as 6) so if 2 visitors load a thread, that's 12 connections! Most shared web server environment limit to either 3 or 6. So right there with 2 simultanious users, you are causing a problem.

I would get UBB and join one of those UBB hacking communities, they have lots of tips on adding features that other boards have, it's really not too hard.


Also note that if you turn off unnecessary features in UBB you will cut resources down considerably.


I personally like UB2k. WHen you cut out all the garbage, it is a very fast board. What I do is I set it to static, so it creates HTML pages for the thread instead of a dynamic page, that cuts down on CPU usage, and loads faster. Only when someone posts is a CGI run.


Many will tell you that DBM of flat file based boards are not good because they are slower, and while they are slightly slower, it is not at all worth upgrading to a mySQL based board. You would need a much more powerful server to handle a mySQL based board. I don't know of many sites that would actually need a mSQL board, even MacNN doesn't need it, they just need a faster server that can handle the load.