SSD
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There are actions you can take regarding your own computer. I chose what displays in my browser, to the chagrin of advertisers, and run an ad blocker at all times. That's really not up to them, unless they block my access to the page entirely. If they don't, I don't see ads, life goes on. When participating in a project like bitcoin running your node, there are also things you can do. It's your own mempool and your own hardware, etc. There's some argument for being a good sport and participating openly for the good of everyone, and place minimal limits if at all. On the other hand, if someone wants to shove bible quotes into block headers and filter known gambling sites to appease their ultra-religious views, why can't I do a little gatekeeping as well? A simple setting comes to mind is minRelayTxFee and I could set it pretty high, like 1000 sats/byte and I'm guessing never receive or relay any of those "broke people's spam" transactions trying to pay less than 1000. If I'm rejecting transactions paying less than whopping 1000 sats/byte I'm "filtering spam." If you want to get relayed by me you better be sending something worth sending and pay for it. However, the other nodes will still do what they do and miners will mine what they want to mine. "Broke people's spam" will still end up in mined blocks on my SSD eventually.
Queue the recent hubbub. The narrative is you have to switch to another node implementation because reasons and the problem will be solved. It's basically the same thing as configuring your own mempool limitations, albeit more complex with code patches that most people can't easily do themselves. But in effect the other nodes will still do what they do and miners will mine whatever they want to mine, and you guessed it - the "current controversy spam thing" transactions will still end up in mined blocks and on your disk eventually. The caveat here is you can run in pruned mode and over time delete that shit. But if we place harder limits the "spammers" will make more UTXOs. And then nobody can prune that.

Thank you again for your detailed response. Indeed, AWS’s brand power is definitely a factor, and it seems some people just turn a blind eye to budget considerations without looking into them closely, haha. I’ll share the 4 TB SSD and mini PC example with the team as a reference, though I understand machines can vary widely in components from person to person. Thanks also for the information about Allnodes; I’ll check it out.

> there’s an option like Beaconchain, right
Yes, that's what I linked to in my original comment. Beaconcha.in is good enough for almost everybody. Hardcore users might roll their own monitoring system for fun, though.
> Conversely, what motivates people to use AWS?
People use AWS because they don't know any better. It has a one-stop-shop and brand-name premium. For any given service that AWS has, there is another provider that does it better and cheaper, usually by a large margin.
> “holding ETH” different from lending?
Holding just means owning.
> but when you hold ETH, the pattern is to stake it, right?
You can stake it. Or you can lend it on a platform like Aave.
> In that case, what motivates companies like Deutsche Telekom and others to run nodes?
Profit, of course. Liquid staking providers keep about 20% of the total revenue from staking. By using a liquid staking service, you usually get around 80% of the potential staking revenue.
> It seems like a way to demonstrate corporate commitment to the space
Nah, it's just profit.
> Regarding operational and maintenance costs, those would likely be mainly electricity and network fees, right?
If you're staking at home, it's mostly hardware. The electricity cost is usually tiny, maybe $2 a month. The network cost is usually (hopefully?) zero, as you likely already have a good enough internet connection and don't need to upgrade. (But maybe not.)
However, you will need a 4 TB SSD and a staking machine. You can buy a mini PC like a [Minisforum UM680](https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-um760-slim?variant=46040999559413) for around $250, then add 64 GB of RAM and a 4 TB SSD for about $400 more, total $650–$700. That will probably be good for about 4 years.
Alternately, you can just use Allnodes, which is likely cheaper because of how they do virtualization and share hardware. That costs $5/month as far as I know.

I need help with a node. I have it store in an external SSD and it’s hooked up to a persistent tails the monerod isn’t wanting to work. I get something about php not connecting

I just have a mac mini for execution of strategies and a simple unexpensive mini itx for data ingestion connected to an external SSD HD for influx database file. (KAMRUI Desktop Mini PC, AK1PLUS 16GB RAM 1TB SSD Mini Computer with Alder Lake N100 Processor, Quad Core Small Computers 4K UHD, Support 2.5-inch SSD, WiFi5, BT4.2,Gigabit Ethernet, HTPC for Daily Use)

Could you add a little more of your perspective on choosing SSD?

I have a spare PC, the only extra cost is RAM and SSD (the original aren't big enough). If you can resell the parts, it's basically zero cost. I'm going to hold those ETH anyway, so it's near zero cost, and an additional 3% APY, no reason not to do it.

>Hardware specs & costs:
* IMO you need a multi core CPU with atleast 10t Score on Passmark, 32GB RAM and 4 TB SSD with cache.
* **Stable** wired internet connection. My node uses around 5-20MBit/s during normal operation and everything it can get during initial syncing.
>with such high costs, is node operation/staking actually profitable, and over what time horizon can one expect to break even?
Costs are not that high, if you buy stuff used. My Node-Mini-PC cost me around 600€ all in. I think you can build one easily for <1000$.
APR at is around 3% and will probably decline in the future. If price of ETH stays the same, you can break even in a year if you stake with 32 ETH.
>Given the low single-digit APR, we could consider strategies like MEV-Boost to increase our revenue. Is this area complex? 
Not really, you just install & activate it.
>
Are there any other factors or pitfalls we should be aware of?
Stable power and internet connection is the most important thing. The hardware itself should also be flawless and build for continous operation with enough cooling and not in a dusty, moist and/or hot environment.
It makes sense to install additional cooling for RAM and SSD, because these get lot of load during syncing and pruning.

I'm not familiar with AWS. Anything with a 32 GB RAM, 2 TB SSD and a 4 core CPU can run a node. Pretty sure you can get it below $300. The rest is how stable you want it to be. Nothing can have a 100% up time. You can spend a few hundred thousand to get it to 99.9999% up time, but I don't think that will be worth it.

* Gaming performance? AMD Ryzen 5 7600
* Overall system balance out-of-the-box? Intel i5 14400F (if you don't want to upgrade soon)
* Best long-term move? Get the AMD rig, then upgrade to 32GB RAM and a 1TB+ SSD when you can.
Let me know what games you mostly play or care about and I can tailor the advice even more.