Sage 50 Multi-User Server Hardware Specification (Proxmox + Windows Server 2019 Standard VM)

A practical and cost-conscious hardware specification for a dedicated Windows Server 2019 Standard VM host, intended to run Sage 50 for 5 users, based on your fully Microsoft-supported setup using Proxmox VE as the hypervisor.

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Recommended Hardware Specification

Component	Recommended Spec
CPU	Intel Core i5/i7 (10th Gen or newer) or AMD Ryzen 5/7 with 6–8 cores
RAM	32 GB DDR4 (16 GB absolute minimum; 32 GB recommended for stable VM + host usage)
Storage	500 GB – 1 TB NVMe SSD (for fast boot and I/O inside Windows VM)
Motherboard/Chipset	Any modern board supporting VT-x/AMD-V, ideally with UEFI and good IOMMU support
Network	Gigabit Ethernet (Intel NIC preferred for stability with Proxmox)
Chassis	Mini PC (e.g., Beelink SER5 Pro / Intel NUC) or micro-tower with quiet cooling
Power Supply	80+ Bronze (or better) PSU if not using a mini PC
Backup Drive	1 TB external USB3 SSD/HDD (for VM snapshot exports and Sage backups)
UPS Battery	APC Back-UPS 700VA or equivalent (graceful shutdown protection)

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Optional But Strongly Recommended

Accessory	Purpose
Proxmox Boot Drive	Small 64–128 GB SATA SSD dedicated to Proxmox OS
NVMe SSD for VM	Place the Windows Server 2019 VM on fast storage for Sage performance
ZFS File System	Adds snapshot and redundancy options (Proxmox supports ZFS natively)
Quiet Cooling	Especially important if running in an office — many NUC-style PCs work

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Example Hardware Bundle (Mid-Range, Quiet, UK-Friendly)

Device	Example Model	Est. Price (GBP)
Mini PC with Ryzen 7 5800H	Beelink SER5 Pro 32GB RAM / 1TB NVMe	£450–£500
External USB 3.0 SSD	Samsung T7 / Crucial X9 1TB	£70–£90
UPS Battery Backup	APC Back-UPS 700VA	£80–£110

Why This Hardware Is Suitable

• 32 GB RAM: enough to comfortably allocate 16–24 GB to the Windows Server VM, with RAM left for Proxmox host and snapshots.
• NVMe SSD: Sage 50 benefits from fast disk I/O, especially in multi-user scenarios.
• Reliable power: The UPS prevents data loss or corruption during outages.
• Proxmox: Efficient use of resources, with web-based management and VM snapshots for safety.