How Much RAM Does a Mordhau Server Need?

Picking a RAM allocation for a Mordhau server is straightforward once you understand what the game actually asks of its hardware. The short version: Mordhau is not especially RAM-hungry for its player count, but it runs on Unreal Engine 4, which means CPU single-core performance is the real bottleneck at scale. RAM keeps the map assets, player state, and mod content resident in memory. CPU handles what’s happening each tick: position updates, hit detection, physics, and all the chaos of 40 people swinging halberds at each other.

That distinction matters because it calibrates your expectations correctly. Allocating more RAM than your player count needs will not meaningfully improve combat responsiveness. But allocating too little can cause problems of its own, especially with mods or larger player counts. This guide gives you practical numbers by use case.

What actually taxes a Mordhau server

The Mordhau wiki is worth quoting directly here: “Great care should be taken in increasing both the tick rate and the max players, as this would create an exponential decrease in server performance.” That exponential language is CPU-speak, not RAM-speak. What fills RAM is the loaded map, player state data, and any mod content pulled into memory at startup.

In practice, RAM usage is relatively predictable and scales gradually with player count. It does not spike dramatically mid-match the way CPU load can during large engagements. What this means for you: size your RAM for your player ceiling and mod list, and let CPU quality handle the rest. WinterNode does not throttle CPU, so you get whatever the hardware can give.

RAM by player count and game mode

Use this as your starting point, then adjust for mods and tick rate (covered below).

A few things worth noting here. First, the game engine’s documented soft cap is 64 players. The Mordhau wiki explicitly says going above this causes engine-level performance issues, so there is no practical reason to plan around a higher ceiling.

Second, the 5GB mid-tier is worth calling out specifically. Many hosts force you to choose between 4GB and 6GB because they sell fixed-size packages. Since WinterNode charges per GB of RAM, a 5GB allocation at $1.99/GB is a legitimate option rather than a forced jump.

Third, Horde mode is a different beast. It caps at 6 players by design and does not involve the open-world position sync of a 32-player Frontline battle. 3GB handles it well, and the main performance consideration there is AI wave counts, not player count.

How mods and custom maps change the number

Vanilla Mordhau loads its map assets into memory at startup and holds them there. When you add mods, especially custom maps, you are adding to that memory footprint.

Light mods like UI tweaks, gameplay balance adjustments, or cosmetic changes add a relatively small overhead. You probably do not need to change your allocation for these if you are already at 4GB or above. Custom maps are a different story. A large custom map can add meaningful memory overhead because the full map geometry and assets need to be resident. If your server runs a heavy mod list or multiple custom maps in rotation, add at least 1-2GB over your baseline player-count allocation.

We see this in support occasionally: a server owner adds a few mods and notices degraded performance, then assumes they need more RAM. Sometimes that is right. But if m.ShowServerStats 1 shows tick rate dropping on a lightly populated server, the culprit is often a CPU-heavy mod or an entity-spawning script, not the memory allocation.

Tick rate and when it changes the math

The default tick rate works for most servers. If you are running a competitive or event server and want to increase it, that adds CPU load. At high player counts combined with an elevated tick rate, you want enough RAM that the operating system is not paging - having memory tight enough that the OS starts using disk as overflow will hurt performance badly.

If you are running a 48-64 player server with an elevated tick rate, treat the 8GB tier as your target. The tick rate itself does not consume much RAM directly, but it raises the stakes for having enough headroom.

Quick reference

If you want a single recommendation to start from: 4GB covers most small to mid-size private servers comfortably. For an active public server planning to run 32+ players, start at 6GB. If you are running the full 64-player experience with mods, 8GB gives you the headroom to not think about it.

At $1.99/GB, a 4GB server runs $7.96/month, a 6GB server is $11.94/month, and 8GB comes to $15.92/month. For most server owners, sizing slightly above your expected player count is the right call - it is cheap insurance against the memory spikes that happen when a batch of players log in at once or a new map loads.

WinterNode’s Mordhau servers start at 3GB of RAM - enough for Horde mode and small private sessions - with no artificial CPU throttling on any plan. All servers include unmetered bandwidth and DDoS protection. If you want to try it out before committing, everything is covered by a 48-hour refund policy.

Get your Mordhau server on WinterNode →

Got questions about your setup? Our support team responds to tickets with actual humans, and we are active on Discord if you prefer chatting there. We also have a Mordhau help center section if you are getting started from scratch.