2 obvious questions

Does your sites revenue cover the costs of hosting

Is there any technical reason for changing to shared hosting, is page load up slow?

Yes, we can afford it (will be 10 times more than what we pay monthly now though on shared)

There isn't any particular technical problem. It's just that we've read that a site can receive penalties from search engines if you're on the same IP as a spammer. We then thought that for the additional expense each month, it might be worth the extra protection?!?

Personally, I'd advise you to go for a much cheaper entry level dedicated server offering and supplement it with a short course on linux server administration. It will pay for itself many times over.

Specifically, it will enable you to reap the true benefits of a dedicated server, such as being able to customise it entirely to what you require. Unless you know how to install new packages, configure things, and compile new versions from source you are only getting a tiny part of the dedicated server advantage.

Simple things like being able to copy a site from one domain to another without having to download it all by FTP and upload it all again and the ability to download archived scripts directly to the server and decompress them there really do add up.

While obviously a dedicated server is always a possibility, but there are a number of things you have to consider.

1) Are you willing todevote time and effort into learning about a dedicated server and how to set it up and run it?

2) Are you willing to devote the time required to maintain it?

3) Is it really in your best interests to increase your expenses 10-fold?

I don't think a dedicated server is the best option for you at the time. It would require time, money, patience and effort. While it would give you more control, it would also make things much more complicated.

Personally I'd recommend finding a hosting provider that can also give you a dedicated IP. They are out there, just maybe a little bit less common than the more mainstream shared hosting. If all you're after is a dedicated IP, it doesn't make sense to increase your costs by that much. Plus, the speed, memory and processing power you'd get from your own dedicated machine would probably be less than you'd have on a regular host.

Just my 2 cents.

we've read that a site can receive penalties from search engines if you're on the same IP as a spammer

If that's you main motivation why not stay with shared hosting with a dedicated IP?

If that's you main motivation why not stay with shared hosting with a dedicated IP?

Or get two shared servers with dedicated IP's and offload the forum to it's "own" shared server?

Go dedicated you will not regret the decision there is so much more you can do to grow.

I was once on a shared hosting plan till someone on the server crashed it...

When you're a kid, you think your push bike is the best thing since sliced bread and you're convinced you'll never really want a car. Once you've had a car for a while, you start to realise that whilst the bike is good for getting around, there is so much more you can do with a car that you couldn't even dream of with the push bike.

The same can be said of shared and dedicated hosting. The flexibility, power, direct control and the ability to install advanced applications which go beyond simple scripts make most people who've managed their own dedicated servers advise them so highly!