My web just was kicked out from a shared hosting plan as a result of a digg effect. This particular web has around 1200 unique visits daily but from time to time, every 2-3 months, a post is "dugg" and it receives a big traffic load. The last peak ended up in an account suspension. I'm considering moving to a *cheap* dedicated server but my question is, what minimum requirements should this server have for such a low traffic? The web is running wordpress and I use a cache plugin. Could I go ok with an Atom 330 and 2gb Ram? Do I need to consider anything else?
If I were you, I would better consider some VPS hosting options.. There are many web hosts offering VPS hosting solutions that can be suitable for your needs. just contact them directly, tell your specific needs and their highly trained experts will find a perfect fit for your needs.
Listen to ~ServerPoint~ If budget is the issue then go with a VPS as you should get better underlying hardware - but be sure to check, some providers use some ropey hardware for VPSs. If you must get a dedicated server at this time then an Atom CPU is not a good dedicated server CPU. 2GB of RAM is OK, but given how cheap RAM is to purchse now (except some DDR3 ECC-R) then you should get a lot more. CPU and RAM are only part of the equation and disks (performance, not size) are probably the most critical now given modern CPUs and RAM. Disk performance hasn't really kept up with the huge advances in the other two areas and is likely to be the biggest bottle-neck in most systems.