PEQ is one of the few or only servers that actually uses multiple PCs to share the load of the zone servers. It is probably also the highest (at least english speaking) population server in the eqemu community. I am guessing that since you are having issues, it is probably on one of the other servers that tries to run everything from 1 PC or dedicated host. In this case, the hardware of the host and the bandwidth available to it are the most important factors.
I do think that if the zone server code was fixed to allow multiple PCs on the same network to all share the load that many servers could handle considerably more players. Other than that, it seems like 150-200 players is the highest you can get on a single PC and even then I imagine there will be connection issues and lag.
My server currently gets about 125ish on it at peak times and it has been plagued with said issues when it gets that high. I have been working on many tweaks to help it perform better, but it is an ongoing project. Tonight I just moved the server to a new Linux build instead of running the server on Windows. I am hoping that will show some nice improvements, but only time will tell for sure.
I think the main limiting factor for a server is available upload bandwidth. It takes at least 1Mbit upload speed to handle 100 or so. I imagine 2Mbit would be able to handle 200ish and so on. There are still many memory leaks and other issues that will cause a server to have issues if it isn't regularly maintained (daily). This project is always evolving and people are always learning new things, so I would recommend noting your issues on the website devoted to the server you have been having problems on. Maybe they can shed some light on the cause and possible solutions or ways you can help out.
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