DELL PowerEdge R740xd 2U 12-Bay 3.5" 2x Xeon Silver 4116 2.1GHz 12-Core 256GB DDR4 12x 6TB H730P rack server

Purpose-built storage server

The Dell PowerEdge R740xd is a 2U rack system designed for storage-heavy workloads such as software-defined storage or virtual desktop infrastructure. It ships with two Intel Xeon Silver 4116 processors at 2.1GHz, 256GB of DDR4 registered ECC memory and twelve 6TB 3.5-inch SATA hard drives. Dual 750W platinum power supplies, iDRAC9 Enterprise and rails are included.

Fit and limits

This server suits teams that need dense 3.5-inch drive capacity in a two-socket platform with hardware RAID. Buyers who require solid-state media, a different drive interface or more than two processors should look elsewhere. The chassis holds exactly twelve 3.5-inch bays and the installed PERC H730P controller manages SAS and SATA drives only.

Deciding specification

The PERC H730P storage controller with 2GB cache supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50 and 60 plus pass-through mode. If your deployment depends on that specific RAID feature set and the twelve 6TB SATA drives supplied, this configuration matches; otherwise a different controller or drive mix will be needed.