Do I Need a GPU for Remote Server Access with Multiple Users?

For a Remote Desktop Services (RDS) setup, your primary focus should definitely be on having enough RAM and CPU. If you’re really concerned about performance, you might want to consider offloading storage to services like Azure files, or using alternatives to reduce the load. Remote Web Apps can also be a good option if you're looking to cut down CPU and RAM usage.

It really depends on how you're setting it up. Generally, when using RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol), it tends to default to software rendering, which means it's using the CPU resources from the host, not the GPU. However, if you're using a client that supports hardware acceleration, it can tap into the GPU, but that's not the norm. The other systems might just mirror the host's screen using the same host rendering method. So, as a rule of thumb, a GPU isn't necessary unless you're running graphics-heavy applications. In your case, with basic applications, you should be fine without one.

If your server is only going to host account software and nothing too graphic-intensive, then you likely won't encounter issues from a lack of GPU. You’ll rely on software rendering, which uses the CPU for everything. Unless everyone decides to stream videos at the same time, you should be just fine without a dedicated GPU.

Honestly, I doubt the GPU will be your main concern here. From our experience with a similar setup, the real bottleneck was the roaming profiles. If all those users are transferring their profiles and desktop files to the remote server, that could slow everything down significantly. So, I'd recommend focusing on optimizing the RAM and CPU, and ensuring you don’t have roaming profiles. That should keep things running smoothly.