Speeding up DBCC CHECKDB on a large database

Question

I have 16 GB RAM, 12 GB allocated for SQL Server, total size of all databases on an instance 5TB.

DBCC CheckDB with PhysicalOnly checking on the biggest database ~ 3TB.

1 socket, 2 virtual processors.

Takes more than 20 hr to run, which is affecting users.

It is a test server, so tempdb is on the same drive along with data and log files.

Is any way to speed it up, or do I really need to add RAM?

Here are the read/write latencies:

Answer 1

Charlieface suggested:

Backup/restore to somewhere else and run CHECKDB there.

Two vCPUs and 16GB RAM for a 5TB instance seems rather undersized, but upgrading your storage speed is probably the first priority, can you get SSDs?

See also:

• Minimizing the impact of DBCC CHECKDB : DOs and DON'Ts by Aaron Bertrand.
• A faster CHECKDB by Bob Ward of Microsoft.
• 3 Ways to Run DBCC CHECKDB Faster by Brent Ozar.