Microsoft’s hardware requirements for Windows Server 2012 are absolutely ridiculously low.
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hardware Requirements
Throw a 32GB boot drive in my Intel Atom based pfsense appliance and the minimum specifications have been exceeded! I can tell you, Windows Server 2008 R2 on the Atom is a painful experience, so go get something faster if you are building a Windows Server 2012 machine. Sure, the Windows Server 2012 hardware requirement specs say you can do it, but would you really want to? I tried this with the release candidate and reached the same conclusion, spend a few dollars more and do not go Atom with Windows Server 2012. Note, I do have a very different opinion on the viability of the Atom platform for things like Linux web servers, but for Server 2012, get something a bit better.
Here are my recommendations:
Windows Server 2012 Hardware Recommendations
Windows Server 2012 Versions & Features
Windows Server 2012 Versions & Features
