We are much smaller office of less than 10 users and not more than 5 online at the same time. I run my AC 6.6 on a VM with 4GB memory and it works.
I should experiment with latest AC on another backup VM? I need to order a new server, so thinking should I get a dual proc or will single proc with loads of memory suffice. I have never seen AC pegging the CPU.
I would experiment with AC on a backup VM. Dual or Quad Core will be much faster, you can dedicate a core or two only to the VM.
V7 and V8 are much more resource intensive than V6. They use a later version of SQL which likes more memory and AC itself is more of a memory hog.
See here for general recommendations
http://amazingcharts.com/support/hardware-os-requirements/If you are considering a new server, I'm not sure you can get one as a single core. Especially with VM's cores matter. Although AC's recommendations are based on Intel architecture, I like AMD processors and they are moderately lower cost, but are not as fast for individual processes. But you can get an 8 core processor for $150 or less!
