DELL PowerEdge R740xd2 2U Rack Server 2x Xeon Platinum 8260 24C 2.4GHz 32GB DDR4 26x 8TB SATA H730P

Dense 2U storage server

The Dell PowerEdge R740xd2 packs twenty-six 3.5-inch drive bays into a 2U rackmount chassis. Two Intel Xeon Platinum 8260 processors provide forty-eight cores at 2.4 GHz with 3.9 GHz turbo. Thirty-two gigabytes of DDR4-2933 ECC registered memory is installed across four slots. A PERC H730P controller with 2 GB cache manages RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50 and 60.

Suited for capacity-first workloads

This configuration targets software-defined storage clusters, backup repositories and media archives that need maximum raw capacity in minimal rack space. The twenty-six 8 TB SATA drives deliver high sequential throughput for large-file workloads. Organisations requiring low-latency transactional performance or all-flash speed should evaluate alternative platforms. The fixed 3.5-inch bay count also limits future density upgrades.

Twenty-six 8 TB SATA drives decide fit

The single specification that determines suitability is the complement of twenty-six 7.2K SATA hard drives pre-installed behind the PERC H730P controller. Buyers needing a different drive count, interface or form factor must select another model. Network connectivity includes dual 1 GbE LOM ports and a dual-port 10/25 GbE SFP28 OCP 2.0 mezzanine card. Two 1100 W platinum power supplies provide redundancy.