I didn't say it was too expensive, I said I'd wait and see what others offer. I'm happy to pay more if it means getting a better service.

You haven't told me the spec of your nodes.

Edit: for example:

http://www.knowinservers.com/vps/linux-vps/german-vps

Has raid0, so that should help with Drive IO. I've read a lot of good things about knowin. I'm happy to pay $15 for a box that performs well. It has way more ram and a bit more drive space than I need, and it's unlimited.