> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://base-a060aa97-eb-mini-app-ia-overhaul.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Node Performance

This guide provides recommendations for hardware, client software, and configuration settings to optimize the performance of your Base node.

## Hardware

Running a performant Base node requires adequate hardware. We recommend the following minimum specifications:

1. A modern multi-core CPU with good single-core performance.
2. At least 32 GB RAM (64 GB recommended).
3. A locally attached NVMe SSD drive. RAID 0 configurations can improve performance.
4. Sufficient storage capacity calculated as:

```
(2 \* [current chain size](https://base.org/stats) + [snapshot size](https://basechaindata.vercel.app) + 20% buffer)
```

This accounts for chain data growth and snapshot restoration space.

<Note>
  If utilizing Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS), io2 Block Express volumes are recommended to ensure sufficient disk read speeds, preventing latency issues during initial sync. However, **locally attached NVMe SSDs are strongly recommended over networked storage for optimal performance.**
</Note>

### Production Hardware Examples

The following are the hardware specifications used for Base production nodes:

* **Geth Full Node:**
  * Instance: AWS `i4i.12xlarge`
  * Storage: RAID 0 of all local NVMe drives (`/dev/nvme*`)
  * Filesystem: ext4

* **Reth Archive Node:**
  * Instance: AWS `i4ie.6xlarge`
  * Storage: RAID 0 of all local NVMe drives (`/dev/nvme*`)
  * Filesystem: ext4

## Initial Sync

Using a recent [snapshot](/base-chain/node-operators/snapshots) can significantly reduce the time required for the initial node synchronization process.

## Client Software

The [Base Node](https://github.com/base/node) repository contains the current stable configurations and instructions for running different client implementations.

### Supported Clients

Reth is currently the most performant client for running Base nodes. Future optimizations will primarily focus on Reth. You can read more about the migration to Reth [here](https://blog.base.dev/scaling-base-with-reth).

| Type    | Supported Clients                                                                                        |
| ------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Full    | [Reth](https://github.com/base/node/tree/main/reth), [Geth](https://github.com/base/node/tree/main/geth) |
| Archive | [Reth](https://github.com/base/node/tree/main/reth)                                                      |

### Geth Performance Tuning

#### Geth Cache Settings

For Geth nodes, tuning cache allocation via environment variables can improve performance. These settings are used in the standard Docker configuration:

```bash
# .env.mainnet / .env.sepolia
GETH_CACHE="20480"             # Total P2P cache memory allowance (MB) (default: 1024)
GETH_CACHE_DATABASE="20"       # Percentage of cache memory allowance for database IO (default: 75)
GETH_CACHE_GC="12"             # Percentage of cache memory allowance for garbage collection (default: 25)
GETH_CACHE_SNAPSHOT="24"       # Percentage of cache memory allowance for snapshot caching (default: 10)
GETH_CACHE_TRIE="44"           # Percentage of cache memory allowance for trie caching (default: 25)
```

#### Geth LevelDB Tuning

For teams running Geth with LevelDB, the following patch allows setting LevelDB initialization parameters via environment variables:

[https://github.com/0x00101010/goleveldb/commit/55ef3429673fb70d389d052a15a4423e13d8b43c](https://github.com/0x00101010/goleveldb/commit/55ef3429673fb70d389d052a15a4423e13d8b43c)

This patch can be applied using a `replace` directive in `go.mod` when building `op-geth`. Here’s how to modify your Dockerfile:

```dockerfile
RUN git clone $REPO --branch $VERSION --single-branch . && \
    git switch -c branch-$VERSION $COMMIT && \
    bash -c '[ "$(git rev-parse HEAD)" = "$COMMIT" ]'

RUN echo '' >> go.mod && \
    echo 'replace github.com/syndtr/goleveldb => github.com/0x00101010/goleveldb v1.0.4-param-customization' >> go.mod && \
    go mod tidy

# Continue building op-geth
COPY op-geth/ ./
RUN go run build/ci.go install -static ./cmd/geth
```

Recommended LevelDB environment variable values with this patch:

```bash
# Recommended LevelDB Settings
LDB_BLOCK_SIZE="524288"              # 512 KiB block size (matches common RAID 0 chunk sizes)
LDB_COMPACTION_TABLE_SIZE="8388608"  # 8 MiB compaction table size (default: 2 MiB)
LDB_COMPACTION_TOTAL_SIZE="41943040" # 40 MiB total compaction size (default: 8 MiB)
LDB_DEBUG_OPTIONS="1"                # Emit LevelDB debug logs
```