WAL Proxmox hardware - Musings of a muse

Here’s a shopping list of recommended hardware to run Proxmox VE with a Windows VM for Sage 50 (5 users). I’ve listed three tiers — Budget, Mid-Range, and Premium — depending on your needs for performance, power efficiency, and longevity.

⸻

Key Requirements Recap

To support 1 Windows VM with 5 concurrent RDP users running Sage 50, you’ll need:

•   4+ CPU cores
•   16–32 GB RAM
•   250 GB+ SSD (preferably NVMe)
•   Reliable network port (preferably Intel)
•   Quiet, low-power if run 24/7
•   USB or NAS for backups

⸻

Budget Tier (~£250–£400)

Mini PC: Beelink SER5 / Minisforum UM350 / GMKtec Nucbox 5

Component Recommendation

CPU AMD Ryzen 5 5500U or Ryzen 7 5800U

RAM 16 GB DDR4 (upgradeable to 32 GB)

Storage 500 GB NVMe SSD

Network 1x Gigabit LAN

Cooling Quiet active fan

Power ~15–25W idle

Example: Beelink SER5 Pro Ryzen 5 5600H, 16GB RAM, 500GB NVMe SSD — ~£280

Pros:

•   Very compact, silent
•   Good Linux/Proxmox support
•   Excellent price/performance

Cons:

•   Limited I/O
•   Not rack-mountable

⸻

Mid-Range Tier (~£450–£700)

Mini Server: Intel NUC 11 Pro / 12 Pro or Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny

Component Recommendation

CPU Intel i5-1135G7 or i7-1165G7

RAM 32 GB DDR4

Storage 500 GB–1 TB NVMe SSD + optional SATA SSD

Network 1x Intel Gigabit LAN

Extras VESA mount, TPM 2.0, M.2 + SATA slots

Example:

•   Intel NUC 11 Pro i5, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD – ~£600
•   Lenovo ThinkCentre M70q Gen 2 – refurbs from £400

Pros:

•   Excellent Linux and Proxmox support
•   Efficient, durable
•   TPM support (if you want full Windows 11 in VM)

Cons:

•   Slightly more expensive

⸻

Premium Tier / Server-Class (~£800–£1,500)

Home Server: HP ProLiant MicroServer Gen10+ or Dell PowerEdge T40

Component Recommendation

CPU Intel Xeon E-2224 or i5-10500T

RAM 32–64 GB ECC or DDR4

Storage 2–4 x SATA SSDs + optional NVMe cache

Network 2x Intel LAN (iLO remote management on Gen10+)

Expansion PCIe slot for 10GbE / HBA / GPU

Example:

•   HP MicroServer Gen10+ Xeon E-2224 – ~£950
•   Dell T40 – Xeon E-2224G, 32GB RAM – from ~£850

Pros:

•   ECC memory support
•   Expandable, server-grade
•   Can run multiple VMs beyond just Sage

Cons:

•   Larger footprint
•   Louder fans unless modded

⸻

Optional Accessories

Item Why It’s Useful Cost

1TB External USB Drive (SSD/HDD) For Proxmox backups £50–£100

Small UPS (e.g. APC Back-UPS 700) Power protection for graceful shutdown £80–£120

MicroSD Card (32GB+) For booting/installing Proxmox £10

2.5” SATA SSD (250GB+) For daily Sage data snapshot £25–£50

⸻

Software Licences Needed

Software Type Notes

Windows 10/11 Pro OEM or Retail For the VM (use KMS or activate properly)

Sage 50 (5 user) Commercial licence Talk to Sage or a reseller for quotes

Proxmox VE Free (GPL) Paid support optional

⸻

Next Steps

Would you like help with:

•   Choosing between two options based on your budget?
•   A list of UK shops/vendors with good reliability?
•   A complete Proxmox install and VM config script?

Let me know how hands-on or hands-off you want to be — I can give fully scripted builds or manual guides.

May 25, 2025

WAL 2 Promox Proxmox VE is one of the best choices you can make for this setup. It’s a free, enterprise-grade Linux-based virtualisation platform — perfect for

WAL Proxmox vendors Perfect. Here’s a hands-off, ready-to-go solution plan for getting your Sage 50 system running on a mini-server with Proxmox and remote access, with

Previous post

Next post