Hi Guys,
I have a LAMP server in work with five different web sites on it. All the sites are below average traffic and page upload time seem OK but I want to tweak my hardware anyway. I have tweaked Apache already.

Occasionally (more often recently) my Internet speeds when I use the same WAN connection myself for general surfing the speed is extremely slow. When I look in the logs I can "Access Denied to *.*.*.*" over and over. It's a robot I know but I think it causes a kind of DoS on my Standard router, generally slow everything down. I think a professional router would be better able to deal with that sort of traffic.

What router or device would be good for a web connection when the primary purpose is a web server connection?
How much money should I be thinking of spending on the router?

For a home connection? A Linksys WRT54GL with a custom firmware (I like Tomato).

Or a more modern commercial router that custom firmware still supports, if you want e.g. wireless N support.

I have a Linksys router there that I replaced for someone. It is broken but perhaps if I replace the OS it will work again..
I will try Tomato.
Cheers.

I use a netgear FVS318 for my primary firewall. It routinely operates for months at a time without reboot or showing any sort of slow down. The WRT54 series are decent but can be made a lot better with upgrade firmware.

im running DDWRT on a linksys wrt54gs. smokin fast too.

Just yesterday I configured a wrt54gs to use the dd_wrt software and put it on the front line. We will see how that goes shortly.

From the reading I have been doing, I am getting the understanding that the processing hardware on the smaller routers like the wrt series is ok for smaller operations, but gets overwhelmed and can't keep up once you get a higher volume of traffic and this is one of the big differences between 'home' grade and 'commercial' grade switches and routers. Unfortunately, it seems like you can't even rely on brand reputation anymore. I was looking for a router (the one that dd_wrt went into) and contacted Cisco sales, figuring I wanted to get a higher grade router. They recommended the 4700 series and I promptly went to some online shops and read reviews. Almost all of the reviews said that it would be a great product IF IT WORKED. Apparently, they have been acquiring a lot of lower end manufacturers, and transitioning them into their brand lines at lower price points.

One suggestion would be to get a used commercial grade router. One that is a few years old should still have plenty of (operational) life in it and should be more than adequate for your needs.

Noway2 there is always a Juniper Netscreen SSG series.
THAT JUNK JUST WORKS LOL

I remember a sign that hangs in my Grandfathers garage. It goes like this.

Quality is like buying oats. If you want good, clean fresh oats, they will cost you a pretty penny. If are willing to settle for oats that have already been through the horse, well, those are a little cheaper.