DELL PowerEdge R740xd 2U rack server 2x Xeon Silver 4116 2.1GHz 12-core 512GB DDR4 24-bay H730P

Storage-dense 2U server

The Dell PowerEdge R740xd is a 2U rack server built around two Intel Xeon Silver 4116 processors running at 2.1 GHz with 12 cores each. It ships with 512 GB of DDR4 registered ECC memory across 16 modules and a PERC H730P controller with 2 GB cache. Twenty-four 2.5-inch drive trays support SATA and SAS devices, while a quad-port network daughter card provides two 1 GbE and two 10 Gb SFP+ connections. iDRAC 9 Enterprise and redundant 1100 W platinum power supplies complete the platform.

Suits storage-heavy workloads

This configuration targets software-defined storage, virtual desktop infrastructure and service-provider deployments that need high drive-count density in a 2U form factor. The dual-socket design and large memory capacity also serve virtualisation hosts with demanding capacity requirements. Buyers who need more than two processors or more than 3 TB of memory cannot expand this chassis further. Builds requiring installed solid-state drives or a different controller feature set should evaluate alternative models.

Twenty-four 2.5-inch drive bays

The single specification that determines fit is the 24-bay 2.5-inch front panel, which sets the maximum number of SATA or SAS drives the system can hold without external enclosures. The PERC H730P supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50 and 60 plus pass-through mode, so the controller does not limit the array topology you choose.