Program Compatibility

If a program is written to work with different versions of Windows, such as 7, 8 and 10, will it work on a windows server edition ?

In general, Windows is Windows.

Unless there are particularly complex interactions with the OS or reliance on very specific behaviours from a particular version of windows, the vast majority of software that is designed for one version of Windows should run without problems on another version of Windows.

There were some more substantive changes between Windows XP and Vista, so some old software won't play nice on Vista/7/8/10, and some newer software will have problems on XP and earlier - but nobody should be running XP anymore anyway (at least, not with an active internet connection).

Thanks for the reply MG. I am considering building a server for correspondence on ICCF, cheat detection and general study. I wanted to make sure the software I use to analyze games will work on Windows server editions. 

You shouldn't have any problems with that.

However, you may find Linux to be a better option - cheaper, anyway.  PGN Spy doesn't run natively, but, while I've never tested it myself, I know people have successfully run it via Wine.  For ICCF purposes, Stockfish and other top engines have native Linux executables.

I have considered it too, but I don't know much about it. I have to build the server first. I also am wondering how much RAM Linux and Wine can utilize, since I know Windows server can only utilize so much. 

In general, basic messing around with Linux is pretty easy to figure out if you're generally good with computers and know how to use Google when you get into trouble.  If you want to do more low-level tinkering with the OS, that's obviously more complicated, but Linux distros like Ubuntu are sufficiently user-friendly that that's what I set my wife up with.  However, if you've never dabbled in Linux at all, you might want to try it on an old computer before putting the time into making it work on your server.

I don't think there's a meaningful limit to how much RAM Linux and Wine can handle, other than the obvious limit for 32-bit software.

I am only interested in 64 bit engines, since they give deeper and more accurate analysis. If Linux won't run as a 64 bit OS and use 64 bit engines, I won't bother. I do remember from reading about Houdini 4 pro x 64, that it could utilize 256 GB of RAM, that I couldn't find a server mobo, that housed enough RAM or a server OS that could use more than 188 GB at that time, back in 2014....

Linux can handle 64-bit software, so long as your hardware supports it and you install a 64-bit version of the OS.

Linux is 64 bit capable on most platforms, and you'll only be caring about x86-64.

(I've a Raspberry Pi with an ARM chip that's also 64 bit; it's about as powerful as a phone.)

An alternative to playing with a old machine is to play with  virtual machine. Virtual Box (now owned by Oracle) is free and quite good. Virtualisation works best for CPU intensive tasks (a chess engine is a good match), OK-ish for disk I/O and is hardest to make fast for networking.

Caveat I'm not current with virtualisation implementations the way I used to be, but I do use Virtual Box and to make networking run close to hardware speed might require dedicating a network interface to a virtual machine.

If I were to look at building a large "PC" server I'd look at Intel and SuperMicro motherboards. (Again, dated experience, but both have had a good reputation for a long time. Not cheap though.)

For AMD I am ignorant; the last time I was involved with as-fast-as-possible PC servers only Intel had processors we could consider using. (Which weren't up to what we needed anyway; trying to parse in real time 10Gbps ATM network packets is really sucky thing to try to do with general purpose CPUs.)

I was looking at exactly those two today. I can build a machine, utilizing some of my current workstation parts and build a 4 cpu server for probably 3k or 4k and it will be faster and have 16 more cores than my current machine. I could sink another 5k into it just for RAM and it probably would be all I could ever want until the OS no longer gets updates. 

.....correction above. I currently have 8 cores, the new configuration would give me 24, tripling my machine capability in simultaneous games I could analyze. 

Sounds like maybe you know more than me.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007629%20600417383

https://www.serversupply.com/MFGR/INTEL/PROCESSORS/INTEL%20XEON%206-CORE/?pricerange=3

I can get refurbished e5-4610 xeon cpu's for it for $175-$200 USD per, the mobo can use the 72 GB of RAM I already use. I can get more 8 GB sticks at a good price. The mobo will hold 48 of them, but can recognize 1500GB of RAM. 48 * 8 = 384, should be plenty for what I am trying to do. The mobo isn't too expensive either.

... I was going to build a custom plexi-glass case for it, so I can use what ever kind of cooling system I want, put lights in it, a dust filter system, like a furnace...