HP ProLiant DL380 Gen9 8SFF E5-2643 v3 6C 3.4GHz 8GB B140i rack server

2U rack server for virtualisation workloads

The HP ProLiant DL380 Gen9 fits in a 2U rack space and ships with a single Xeon E5-2643 v3 six-core processor running at 3.4 GHz. Eight gigabytes of DDR4 ECC registered memory are installed across 24 DIMM slots, with twelve slots wired to each CPU socket. The B140i controller provides software RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 for SATA drives only. Dual hot-swap 500 W power supplies deliver redundancy for continuous operation.

Upgrade from single-socket towers

Adding a second compatible Xeon v3 or v4 processor doubles the core count to a maximum of 36 cores and unlocks the remaining twelve memory slots for up to 3 TB of total DDR4 capacity. The jump is worth it when workloads outgrow the single-processor memory ceiling or when hyper-threading across 12 virtual cores no longer meets throughput targets. The B140i remains limited to SATA RAID; heavier I/O demands will require a hardware controller upgrade.

Eight 2.5-inch SFF bays with flexible bay expansion

The chassis includes eight SFF drive bays and two drive trays with screws, but no drives are installed. Bay 3 accepts a universal media bay, while bay 2 can host six NVME drives or a second eight-bay SFF cage for 16 or 24 total bays. Matrox G200eH2 graphics with 16 MB video memory handles basic console output. No operating system is included, so the installer must supply licences and media.