DELL PowerEdge R730XD 2U rack server E5-2609v3 1.9GHz 16GB DDR4 12 x 3.5" 15K 3x 300GB SAS H730

2U rack server for dense storage workloads

The Dell PowerEdge R730XD fits 12 hot-plug 3.5-inch bays in a 2U chassis, driven by a single Xeon E5-2609v3 six-core processor at 1.9 GHz and 16 GB of DDR4 memory. It ships with three 300 GB 15K SAS drives on a PERC H730 controller supporting RAID 0/1/5/6/10/50/60. The platform targets archives, backup targets and media repositories that need capacity over raw compute.

SAS 12 Gbps controller limits random-write scaling

The H730’s 12 Gbps SAS link and 1 GB cache handle sequential throughput well, but the single installed CPU and 16 GB maximum memory cap restrict metadata-heavy workloads such as deduplication or large-scale virtualisation. Twelve 3.5-inch bays top out at 52 TB raw capacity, so growth beyond that requires external enclosures. The four onboard 1 GbE ports saturate before the storage array does in multi-client backup scenarios.

Redundant 750 W supplies

Dual hot-swap 750 W power supplies keep the server running during a module failure, while tool-less drive carriers let technicians swap disks without a screwdriver. The 2U height (3.4 inches) fits standard racks, but the 26.8-inch depth demands a four-post cabinet with at least 30 inches of clear rail space. Six PCIe 3.0 slots plus a dedicated RAID slot remain free for 10 GbE uplinks or additional HBAs. iDRAC8 Express provides out-of-band management; Enterprise features require a licence upgrade.