{"title":"Dell PowerEdge R550 Servers","description":"\u003cp data-start=\"552\" data-end=\"899\"\u003eThe Dell PowerEdge R550 is a versatile 2U rack server designed to deliver a strong balance of performance, scalability, and value for growing businesses. Powered by Intel Xeon Scalable processors, the R550 is well-suited for a wide range of workloads including virtualization, file storage, database applications, and business-critical operations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"901\" data-end=\"1240\"\u003eWith support for high-capacity DDR4 ECC memory, the PowerEdge R550 provides reliable performance and data integrity for demanding environments. Its flexible storage configurations—supporting both 2.5” (SFF) and 3.5” (LFF) drive options—allow you to tailor the system for performance, capacity, or a hybrid approach depending on your needs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1242\" data-end=\"1555\"\u003eThe Dell PowerEdge R550 is designed to scale with your business, making it a smart choice for organizations planning for growth. Whether you're consolidating workloads, expanding storage, or deploying new applications, the R550 offers the flexibility to adapt without requiring a complete infrastructure overhaul.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1557\" data-end=\"1787\"\u003eIntegrated iDRAC9 management enables remote monitoring, deployment, and maintenance, helping IT teams reduce downtime and streamline operations. This makes the R550 ideal for both on-site data centers and distributed environments.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1789\" data-end=\"2042\"\u003eAt Wholesale Servers, all Dell PowerEdge R550 servers are fully tested, professionally refurbished, and built to order. Customize your system with the right combination of CPUs, RAM, storage, and RAID controllers to match your exact workload and budget.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2044\" data-end=\"2260\"\u003eIf you’re looking for a scalable, well-rounded server that delivers reliable performance and flexibility, the Dell R550 is an excellent solution for SMBs, virtualization environments, and expanding IT infrastructure.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"dell-poweredge-r550-16-bay-build-your-own","title":"Dell PowerEdge R550 16-Bay 2.5\" Drives [15th Gen]","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Dell PowerEdge R550 16-Bay 2.5\" is the maximum-density configuration of Dell's 15th gen value-tier 2U platform: sixteen 2.5\" SAS\/SATA hot-plug bays, two 3rd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors (Ice Lake-SP, socket LGA 4189), sixteen DDR4-3200 RDIMM slots, and PCIe Gen4 throughout. It is the R550 variant for converged compute-plus-storage workloads that need a high SFF spindle count in a 2U footprint without paying for the full memory and PCIe budget of the R750.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis page is the primary R550 platform reference. The Ice Lake silicon, the 16-DIMM memory topology, the PCIe Gen4 slot budget, BOSS-S2 boot, and the full R550-versus-R750-versus-R750xs positioning are all documented here; the two 8-Bay variants share every platform fundamental and differ only in front-bay storage profile. The R550 ships either Refurbished (tested, reconditioned, previously deployed) or Surplus New, which is genuinely unused excess inventory that never entered a production deployment and sits outside Dell's normal new-sales channel; both carry the same Wholesale Servers warranty and burn-in process.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo configure a build, call 1-800-778-1545 or use the quote form on this page. Every Wholesale Servers R550 ships after a 12+ hour burn-in and carries a 180-day warranty, and volume pricing applies at 5 units and above.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eWhere the R550 16-Bay Fits in the Family\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 is Dell's value-tier 2U dual-socket server in the 15th gen lineup, sitting below the mainstream R650 and R750. Within the R550 family there are three chassis: the 8-Bay 2.5\" SFF (compute-primary, storage in a supporting role), the 8-Bay 3.5\" LFF (bulk NL-SAS capacity), and this 16-Bay 2.5\" SFF, the converged variant where the workload genuinely uses both the dual-socket compute and a 16-spindle SFF storage profile.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMost refurbished 2U dual-socket platforms in this price band cap at 8 SFF bays. The 16-Bay doubles that without leaving the value tier or stepping into the full R750. It is the right chassis when the data lives on the same box as the compute: software-defined storage nodes, dense application servers with local SAS SSD, mid-tier databases that separate data, log, and temp across RAID groups, and Kubernetes nodes with substantial local persistent-volume demand. For compute-primary roles where storage is external, the lower-cost \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r550-8-bay-build-your-own\"\u003eR550 8-Bay 2.5\" SFF\u003c\/a\u003e is the more economical choice; for hundreds of terabytes of bulk capacity, the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r550-8-bay-lff-build-your-own\"\u003eR550 8-Bay 3.5\" LFF\u003c\/a\u003e carries NL-SAS density this chassis cannot.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eStorage - 16 SFF Bays\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eSixteen 2.5\" SAS\/SATA hot-swap bays across the front of the 2U chassis. The defining architectural constraint of the entire R550 family applies here: \u003cstrong\u003ethe R550 backplane supports SAS and SATA only. There is no NVMe front-bay option on the R550 at any drive count.\u003c\/strong\u003e This is a chassis-level limit, not a configuration choice. Workloads that require front-bay NVMe (vSAN ESA, all-NVMe Ceph, NVMe-tier database arrays, Storage Spaces Direct with an NVMe cache tier) belong on the R650 1U or the R750 2U, both of which carry NVMe backplanes. The R550 is the SAS\/SATA-dense chassis in the 15th gen value slot.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePractical raw capacity at 16 SFF bays:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e16x 2.4 TB 10K SAS HDD: 38.4 TB raw. RAID 10 gives 19.2 TB usable (8 mirror pairs) for write-balanced application data; RAID 6 gives roughly 33.6 TB usable for read-heavy capacity.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e16x 3.84 TB SAS SSD: 61.44 TB raw. RAID 10 yields 30.72 TB usable; RAID 6 yields about 53.76 TB. The sweet spot for dense application storage and mid-tier databases.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e16x 7.68 TB SAS SSD: 122.88 TB raw, the current SFF SAS SSD ceiling we stock. RAID 6 yields roughly 107.52 TB usable.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTiered mix: 4x SAS SSD on RAID 10 as a hot tier plus 12x 10K SAS HDD on RAID 6 as a capacity tier is a common layout for converged workloads using software tiering (Storage Spaces, ZFS, Ceph cache tiers).\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eBoot stays off the front bays. BOSS-S2 carries two mirrored M.2 SATA SSDs in hardware RAID 1 on a dedicated card, which keeps the operating system off the sixteen front bays and leaves all of them free for data. The 15th gen BOSS-S2 uses M.2 SATA modules; the NVMe-based BOSS-N1 is a 16th gen part and is not used here. IDSDM (internal dual microSD) and an internal USB 3.0 port are also available for hypervisor boot.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eStorage Controllers\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 uses the Dell PERC 11 controller family. The production options for a 16-Bay build:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePERC H755.\u003c\/strong\u003e 12 Gbps SAS-3, 8 GB flash-backed write cache. The production hardware-RAID default for the 16-Bay. It supports RAID 0\/1\/5\/6\/10\/50\/60 and can present the sixteen bays as one RAID set or several. This is the controller to specify when you want hardware RAID 5 or RAID 6.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePERC H745.\u003c\/strong\u003e Lower-cache hardware-RAID alternative to the H755, also capable of RAID 5 and RAID 6. Quoted when the H755 cache budget is not needed.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHBA355i.\u003c\/strong\u003e SAS-3 pass-through host bus adapter, no hardware RAID. The correct pick for Ceph OSD nodes, ZFS hosts, and Storage Spaces Direct, where the software layer owns redundancy. This is the natural controller when the 16-Bay is deployed as a converged storage node.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePERC H345 and H355.\u003c\/strong\u003e Entry hardware RAID, \u003cstrong\u003eRAID 0\/1\/10 only\u003c\/strong\u003e. These do not provide RAID 5 or RAID 6. Appropriate when the design mirrors across all sixteen bays and never needs parity. If you need parity RAID, specify the H755 or H745 instead; quoting an H355 for a RAID 6 design is the most common controller mistake we correct on this platform.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePERC S150.\u003c\/strong\u003e Chipset software RAID. Acceptable for dev, test, and light boot-volume duty only, never for production data.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eProcessors\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo sockets of 3rd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable (Ice Lake-SP, 2021), socket LGA 4189, on the Intel C621A chipset. The R550 is the value cut of the platform, so the supported SKU range tops out lower than the mainstream R650 and R750: plan on up to 24 cores per socket (for example the Gold 6342 at 24 cores), 48 cores across two sockets, at value-tier TDPs. Both sockets should carry identical SKUs.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe single most common configuration mistake on a dual-socket Ice Lake board is running one CPU. The R550's memory channels and a portion of the PCIe lanes are split across the two sockets; a single-CPU build strands half the DIMM slots and some of the riser capacity. If the workload genuinely needs only one socket of compute, the single-socket \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r750xs-16-bay-2-5-build-your-own-server\"\u003eR750xs 16-Bay 2.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e is the better-matched chassis and draws less power. Where the workload needs more than 24 cores per socket, that is the signal to step up to the R650 or R750.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMemory\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eSixteen DDR4 DIMM slots, eight memory channels per CPU at one DIMM per channel. \u003cstrong\u003eThe R550 takes registered ECC RDIMM only. It does not support LRDIMM, and it does not support Intel Optane persistent memory.\u003c\/strong\u003e Maximum memory is 1 TB using 16x 64 GB RDIMM. Rated speed is DDR4-3200; value-tier CPU SKUs frequently clock the bus at 2933, so size memory expecting 2933 to 3200 depending on the processor chosen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat 1 TB ceiling, and the absence of LRDIMM and Optane, is the cleanest line between the R550 and the mainstream R650 and R750. The mainstream chassis carry 32 DIMM slots with a 4 TB RDIMM topology and Optane support. If the workload's memory footprint is at or below 1 TB, the R550's 16-slot board is the cost-correct choice. If it is above 1 TB, or it needs Optane PMem, the platform answer is the R650 or R750, not a larger DIMM count in the R550.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eNetworking and PCIe Expansion\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eNetworking on the R550 is OCP NIC 3.0. This is the 15th gen networking standard and is the part of the platform most often described wrong in secondhand listings: the 13th and 14th gen rNDC mezzanine is gone, replaced by the OCP 3.0 slot. OCP 3.0 cards are available in 2x 1 GbE, 4x 1 GbE, 2x 10 GbE, 2x 25 GbE, and 2x 100 GbE options, and the OCP card does not consume a standard PCIe slot. For most converged 16-Bay deployments, a 2x 25 GbE OCP card is the sensible combined storage-and-application uplink.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePCIe expansion is Gen4, with up to roughly five slots depending on the riser configuration selected (the value-tier riser layout is narrower than the R750's), plus a dedicated slot for the PERC controller. Choose the riser around the add-in cards the deployment actually needs (an external SAS HBA for drive shelves, a higher-speed NIC, or a low-power accelerator) rather than maximum slot count.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eGPU Support\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 is not a GPU platform. It is a value-tier storage-and-compute chassis: the PCIe budget, power delivery, and thermal envelope are not built for double-width accelerators, and we do not quote it for GPU compute. If the deployment needs GPUs (AI and ML inference or training, accelerated VDI, rendering), the right Dell answers at this generation are the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r650-8-bay-2-5-build-your-own\"\u003eR650\u003c\/a\u003e for low-profile single-width cards or the R750 and R750xa for double-width GPU work. GPUs specified on an R550 are a configuration we will redirect at quote time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eManagement - iDRAC9\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eiDRAC9 with Lifecycle Controller, in Express, Enterprise, or Datacenter licensing. Enterprise is the production baseline: it adds full remote KVM, virtual media, and the automation and telemetry most fleets rely on. The 15th gen security stack is present: Silicon Root of Trust, Secure Boot, signed firmware, and System Lockdown (Lockdown requires the Enterprise license). TPM 2.0 is an option and is the one to specify for NIST, CMMC, FedRAMP, HIPAA, or PCI DSS compliance contexts. iDRAC9 is the 15th gen management generation; iDRAC10 is a later-generation part and does not apply to the R550.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003ePower and Cooling\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 takes Dell's hot-plug redundant Platinum power supplies from the shared 15th gen PSU line, in the 600W, 800W, and 1100W class (exact tier confirmed per build). The 800W Platinum unit is the common fit for a fully populated 16-Bay SAS configuration with two value-tier Ice Lake CPUs; step to 1100W for high-core-count CPUs plus a fully loaded SSD complement. Dual PSUs give standard A and B feed redundancy. Cooling uses the standard R550 fan complement, and the value-tier CPU TDP range keeps thermal headroom comfortable at normal datacenter inlet temperatures without performance heatsinks.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003ePhysical Specs \u0026amp; Platform Notes\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eForm factor:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2U rack, regulatory model E75S. Standard-depth 2U chassis; budget rack depth for cable management at the rear.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePCIe expansion:\u003c\/strong\u003e PCIe Gen4, up to about five slots by riser configuration, plus a dedicated PERC slot; full-height and low-profile positions depend on the riser chosen.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eParts availability:\u003c\/strong\u003e Strong. 15th gen Ice Lake is current enough that PERC 11 controllers, OCP 3.0 NICs, DDR4-3200 RDIMM, BOSS-S2 modules, and PSUs are all readily sourced, and Dell support paths on 15th gen remain active.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAccessories we recommend:\u003c\/strong\u003e the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r550-r750xs-r760-b21-2u-sliding-rails\"\u003eR550 \/ R750xs \/ R760 B21 2U sliding rail kit\u003c\/a\u003e for the rack mount, an OCP 3.0 NIC sized to the uplink, and a BOSS-S2 card so boot stays off the front bays.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePlatform notes:\u003c\/strong\u003e SAS\/SATA front bays only (no NVMe backplane), RDIMM-only memory (no LRDIMM or Optane), and OCP NIC 3.0 networking are the three chassis facts buyers most often need confirmed before committing a design.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eOur Assessment\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhere it excels:\u003c\/strong\u003e Converged compute-plus-SAS-storage at 15th gen value-tier pricing. Software-defined storage nodes (Ceph OSD, ZFS, Storage Spaces Direct) attached through the HBA355i, dense application servers running data on local SAS SSD, mid-tier SQL Server or PostgreSQL with data, log, and temp separated across RAID groups, Kubernetes workers with heavy local persistent-volume demand, and backup target hosts that use the dual-socket compute for inline dedupe. Sixteen SFF bays in a value-tier 2U is genuinely more density per dollar than most refurbished 2U platforms in this band.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhere to look instead:\u003c\/strong\u003e If the storage architecture wants NVMe for IOPS or latency, the R550 is the wrong chassis; the R750 16-Bay NVMe is the correct platform and we will quote it directly. If memory needs to exceed 1 TB or use Optane, step to the R650 or R750 and their 32-slot topology. If a single socket of Ice Lake is enough, the R750xs 16-Bay matches this density at lower power. If eight bays are plenty, the R550 8-Bay variants save acquisition cost.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBottom line:\u003c\/strong\u003e For a SAS\/SATA workload sized at 1 TB of memory or less, 24 cores per socket or fewer, and a genuine need for 16-spindle local storage, the R550 16-Bay 2.5\" is the cost-correct 15th gen chassis and the one we steer converged-storage buyers toward. The moment a design breaches the NVMe, memory, or core ceiling, we move the quote to the R650 or R750 and say why. This is the procurement-justification summary: value-tier 2U, dual Ice Lake, sixteen SAS\/SATA bays, current-generation support, refurbished or surplus-new pricing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eWhere the R550 Fits in 2026\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 is current-generation-adjacent hardware. 15th gen Ice Lake-SP launched in 2021 and remains under active Dell support, with the 16th gen R660 and R760 (Sapphire Rapids and Emerald Rapids) now above it in the lineup. For a value-tier 2U buyer that matters in two ways. First, this is not end-of-life hardware; parts, firmware, and support paths are current, and a refurbished or surplus-new R550 has real production life ahead of it. Second, because the 16th gen is shipping, 15th gen value-tier pricing on the secondary market is attractive relative to the capability you get.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 earns its place when the workload fits inside its envelope: SAS\/SATA storage, up to 1 TB of RDIMM memory, up to 24 cores per socket, and a need for 16-spindle local density in a 2U value chassis. Capacity-add to an existing 15th gen fleet, software-defined storage nodes, dense application hosts, and mid-tier database servers are the patterns where it is the right answer rather than a compromise.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eHonest Limitations\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNo front-bay NVMe at any drive count. SAS\/SATA backplane only. This is the hard limit that most often disqualifies the chassis.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e16 DIMM slots and a 1 TB memory ceiling. No LRDIMM, no Optane PMem. Memory-bound workloads above 1 TB belong on the R650 or R750.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eValue-tier CPU range. Up to 24 cores per socket; the higher-core and higher-TDP Ice Lake SKUs are an R650 or R750 capability.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNarrower PCIe budget than the R750. Roughly five Gen4 slots by riser, not the R750's eight. Heavy add-in-card designs can run short of room.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNot a GPU platform. No double-width accelerator support.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eWorkload Fit\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eR550 16-Bay 2.5\" is appropriate for\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eConsider alternatives for\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCeph, ZFS, or S2D storage nodes (16 SAS SSD via HBA355i)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eNVMe-tier IOPS required (R750 16-Bay NVMe)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eDense application servers with local SAS SSD storage\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMemory exceeds 1 TB (R650 or R750, 32 DIMM slots)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMid-tier databases with data, log, and temp separation\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMore than 24 cores per socket (R650 or R750)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eKubernetes nodes with substantial local PV demand\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003evSAN ESA deployment (requires NVMe; R650 or R750)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBackup target hosts with deduplication compute\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eSingle socket sufficient at 16 bays (R750xs 16-Bay 2.5\")\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eConverged compute plus 16-spindle SAS storage at value-tier price\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBulk capacity workload (R550 8-Bay 3.5\" LFF or R750 12-Bay LFF)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eWhere to Look Instead\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNeed NVMe or more than 1 TB of memory:\u003c\/strong\u003e the R750 (2U, 32 DIMM slots, NVMe backplane) is the mainstream step up, and the R650 is the 1U equivalent. We quote these whenever a design breaches the R550's storage or memory ceiling.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSingle-socket workload at 16 bays:\u003c\/strong\u003e the R750xs 16-Bay 2.5\" matches the density with one Ice Lake socket and lower power draw.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBulk NL-SAS capacity:\u003c\/strong\u003e the R550 8-Bay 3.5\" LFF within this family, or the R750 12-Bay 3.5\" for hundreds of terabytes.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePrevious generation, budget-led:\u003c\/strong\u003e the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r540-12-bay-3-5-chassis\"\u003eDell PowerEdge R540 12-Bay 3.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e is the 14th gen value-tier 2U predecessor, a step down in platform (Skylake and Cascade Lake, rNDC networking) at a lower price point where 15th gen features are not required.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHPE equivalent:\u003c\/strong\u003e the closest HPE counterpart at this tier is the ProLiant DL380 Gen11 in its value configuration; we name it for cross-shopping but do not currently stock it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eReady to Configure?\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTell us your workload, your memory target, your CPU preference (or a workload description so we can recommend a SKU), your storage architecture (hardware RAID on a PERC H755 versus pass-through on an HBA355i for software-defined storage), your drive mix (all SAS SSD, mixed SSD and HDD, or all 10K SAS HDD), your network uplink (10, 25, or 100 GbE on the OCP card), and quantity. Volume pricing applies at 5 units and above, and we respond within 24 hours. Every Wholesale Servers Dell PowerEdge R550 ships after a 12+ hour burn-in across every PCIe slot, memory channel, and drive bay, with a 180-day warranty included and 1-Year, 2-Year, and 3-Year options available. Call 1-800-778-1545 or use the quote form on this page.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf your design calls for NVMe-tier IOPS, we will quote the R750 16-Bay NVMe alongside the R550 so you can weigh the platform premium against the workload-fit difference directly. If your sizing supports a single Ice Lake socket, we will put the R750xs 16-Bay next to it for a total-cost comparison.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45951276417223,"sku":"BP-013638","price":4180.01,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0748\/4493\/0247\/files\/server-design-lab-dell-poweredge-r550-16-bay-25-drives-375179.png?v=1765539691"},{"product_id":"dell-poweredge-r550-8-bay-lff-build-your-own","title":"Dell PowerEdge R550 8-Bay 3.5\" Drives [15th Gen]","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Dell PowerEdge R550 8-Bay 3.5\" is the large-form-factor configuration of Dell's 15th gen value-tier 2U platform: eight 3.5\" SAS\/SATA hot-plug bays, two 3rd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors (Ice Lake-SP, socket LGA 4189), sixteen DDR4-3200 RDIMM slots, and PCIe Gen4 throughout. It is the bulk-capacity variant of the R550 family, built for workloads that pair dual-socket Ice Lake compute with high-capacity nearline SAS storage in a single 2U chassis, without the memory ceiling, NVMe backplane, or PCIe budget of the flagship R750.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 ships either Refurbished (tested, reconditioned, previously deployed) or Surplus New, which is genuinely unused excess inventory that never entered a production deployment and sits outside Dell's normal new-sales channel; both carry the same Wholesale Servers burn-in and warranty. The R550 platform fundamentals (Ice Lake silicon, the 16-DIMM memory topology, PCIe Gen4, OCP NIC 3.0 networking, BOSS boot) are shared across all three R550 variants; this page documents them in full with the LFF storage profile as the variant-specific framing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo configure a build, call 1-800-778-1545 or use the quote form on this page. Every Wholesale Servers R550 ships after a 12+ hour burn-in and carries a 180-day warranty, and volume pricing applies at 5 units and above.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eWhen 8 LFF Bays Is the Right Choice\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eWithin the R550 family there are three chassis on one shared platform: this 8-Bay 3.5\" LFF (bulk nearline capacity), the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r550-8-bay-build-your-own\"\u003eR550 8-Bay 2.5\" SFF\u003c\/a\u003e (compute-primary, IOPS-oriented storage), and the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r550-16-bay-build-your-own\"\u003eR550 16-Bay 2.5\" SFF\u003c\/a\u003e (maximum SFF spindle density). All three share the same system board, the same 16 DIMM slots, the same PCIe and PSU options, and the same iDRAC9 Enterprise management. The chassis decision is purely about front-bay storage profile.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 8-Bay 3.5\" is the right pick when raw capacity per chassis matters more than spindle count or IOPS. Eight LFF bays at 24 TB nearline SAS is 192 TB raw in 2U, a capacity profile the SFF variants cannot reach. The natural fits are file servers and NAS heads where the file workload also needs dual-socket compute, backup target hosts that run media-server or deduplication work alongside the capacity, branch-office consolidated hosts running virtualization on top of local LFF storage, and Ceph or ZFS capacity nodes co-located with application workloads. For IOPS-dense roles the SFF variants are the better profile; for capacity beyond eight LFF bays the step is the R750 12-Bay LFF.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eStorage - 8 LFF Bays\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eEight front-accessible 3.5\" LFF hot-plug bays, all SAS or SATA. \u003cstrong\u003eThe R550 backplane is SAS\/SATA only; there is no NVMe front-bay option on the R550 at any drive count.\u003c\/strong\u003e This is a chassis-level limit, not a configuration choice. Workloads needing front-bay NVMe belong on the R650, R750xs, or R750. The R550 8-Bay 3.5\" is the bulk-capacity LFF chassis in the 15th gen value slot.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePractical raw capacity at 8 LFF bays:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e8x 20 TB nearline SAS HDD: 160 TB raw. RAID 6 strongly recommended at this per-drive capacity, roughly 120 TB usable with two parity drives.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e8x 24 TB nearline SAS HDD: 192 TB raw, about 144 TB usable RAID 6. The current LFF NL-SAS ceiling we stock.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e8x 8 TB SAS SSD: 64 TB raw. RAID 10 gives 32 TB usable (4 mirror pairs) for high-write-throughput data; RAID 6 gives about 48 TB usable for balanced read and write.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTiered mix: 2x SAS SSD as a hot tier plus 6x nearline SAS for capacity, paired with a software tiering layer (Storage Spaces, ZFS, Ceph cache tiers), is a common converged configuration.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eBoot stays off the front bays. BOSS-S2 carries two mirrored M.2 SATA SSDs in hardware RAID 1 on a dedicated card, keeping the operating system off the eight LFF bays and leaving all of them for data. The 15th gen BOSS-S2 uses M.2 SATA modules; the NVMe-based BOSS-N1 is a 16th gen part and is not used here. IDSDM (internal dual microSD) and an internal USB 3.0 port are also available for hypervisor boot.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eStorage Controllers\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 uses the Dell PERC 11 controller family. Production options for the 8-Bay 3.5\":\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePERC H755.\u003c\/strong\u003e 12 Gbps SAS-3, 8 GB flash-backed write cache, full RAID 0\/1\/5\/6\/10\/50\/60. The standard production hardware-RAID controller for the 8-Bay 3.5\" and the one to specify for parity RAID on bulk NL-SAS. Wholesale Servers ships hardware-RAID R550 builds with the H755 unless you specify otherwise.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePERC H745.\u003c\/strong\u003e Lower-cache hardware-RAID alternative to the H755, also RAID 5 and RAID 6 capable. Quoted when the H755 cache budget is not needed.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHBA355i.\u003c\/strong\u003e SAS-3 pass-through, no hardware RAID. The correct controller for Ceph, ZFS, and Storage Spaces Direct, where the software layer owns redundancy.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePERC H355 and H345.\u003c\/strong\u003e Entry hardware RAID, \u003cstrong\u003eRAID 0\/1\/10 only\u003c\/strong\u003e, no RAID 5 or 6. Appropriate for mirrored SAS SSD application data. Do not specify an H355 for a parity-RAID NL-SAS design; that is the most common controller mistake on this platform, and the H755 or H745 is the right answer.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePERC S150.\u003c\/strong\u003e Chipset software RAID, for dev, test, and light boot duty only, never production data.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eProcessors\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo 3rd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors (Ice Lake-SP, socket LGA 4189) on the Intel C621A chipset. The R550 is the value cut of the platform, and Dell caps its qualified SKU list at 24 cores per socket; the 32-core and 40-core Platinum SKUs are an R650 or R750 capability. This is the same value-tier discipline as the R540 versus R740 on 14th gen: Dell qualifies a subset of the SKU stack per chassis tier rather than offering the full range everywhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRecommended R550 CPU configurations:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eXeon Silver 4314 (16 cores, 2.4 GHz, 135W).\u003c\/strong\u003e The standard value-tier build, 32 cores and 64 threads dual-socket. Strong general-purpose virtualization and application-server fit, comfortably inside the thermal envelope.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eXeon Silver 4316 (20 cores, 2.3 GHz, 150W).\u003c\/strong\u003e More core density at a modest power increase, for VM-density-driven sizing.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eXeon Gold 6326 (16 cores, 2.9 GHz, 185W).\u003c\/strong\u003e Higher per-core frequency for licensing-bound workloads (SQL Server Standard, Oracle, per-core ISV licensing), with stronger single-thread performance.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eXeon Gold 6342 (24 cores, 2.8 GHz, 230W).\u003c\/strong\u003e The R550 ceiling, 48 cores and 96 threads dual-socket. Supportable in the R550 but it narrows ASHRAE class margin, so verify against the thermal envelope at quote time.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eRunning a single CPU is the most common configuration mistake on a dual-socket Ice Lake board: the R550's memory channels and part of the PCIe lane budget are split across both sockets, so a one-CPU build strands half the DIMM slots and some riser capacity. If a single socket genuinely covers the workload, the single-socket R750xs is the better-matched and lower-power chassis. Ice Lake also brings eight memory channels per socket (versus Cascade Lake's six), native PCIe Gen4, and the Sunny Cove IPC uplift, so even at equal core counts the platform is a real step over 14th gen for memory-bandwidth-bound work.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMemory\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eSixteen DDR4 DIMM slots, eight channels per CPU at one DIMM per channel. \u003cstrong\u003eThe R550 takes registered ECC RDIMM only. It does not support LRDIMM, and it does not support Intel Optane persistent memory.\u003c\/strong\u003e Maximum capacity is 1 TB with 16x 64 GB dual-rank RDIMM. Rated speed is DDR4-3200 at one DIMM per channel; value-tier CPU SKUs frequently run the bus at 2933, so size memory expecting 2933 to 3200 depending on the processor chosen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCommon configurations: 128 GB (8x 16 GB, one DIMM per channel on each socket), 256 GB (16x 16 GB fully populated, the most common refurbished R550 build), 512 GB (16x 32 GB), and 1 TB (16x 64 GB) at the ceiling. The 1 TB cap, and the absence of LRDIMM and Optane, is the cleanest line between the R550 and the mainstream R650 and R750 with their 32 DIMM slots and 4 TB topology. For high-density virtualization, large in-memory databases (SAP HANA, large Redis or Spark working sets), or VDI consolidation that drives memory above 1 TB, the R750 is the correct platform, and we will say so at quote time if your sizing pushes against the ceiling.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eNetworking and PCIe Expansion\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eNetworking on the R550 is OCP NIC 3.0, the 15th gen standard. This is the part of the platform most often described wrong in secondhand listings: the 13th and 14th gen rNDC mezzanine is gone, replaced by the OCP 3.0 slot, which does not consume a standard PCIe slot. The R550 ships with a 1 GbE management LOM for iDRAC; production networking is added through the OCP 3.0 card or a PCIe NIC. Common attaches:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e2x 10 GbE SFP+ (Intel X710 or equivalent), the standard production uplink.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e2x 25 GbE SFP28 (Mellanox ConnectX-5 or Intel E810) for software-defined storage backplanes and 25 GbE leaf fabrics.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e4x 10 GbE Base-T (Intel X710-T4) for copper 10 GbE without SFP+ optics.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e2x 32G Fibre Channel (Emulex or QLogic, PCIe Gen4) for SAN-attached block storage.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003ePCIe expansion is Gen4, up to roughly five slots depending on riser configuration (the value-tier riser layout is narrower than the R750's), plus a dedicated slot for the PERC controller. Gen4 doubles per-lane bandwidth over Gen3, so 25 and 100 GbE NICs and 32G FC HBAs run without slot-level saturation. For designs that need more than that slot budget (multiple HBAs plus high-speed NICs plus accelerators), the R750's eight-slot layout is the correct platform.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eGPU Support\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 is not a GPU platform. It is a value-tier storage-and-compute chassis: the PCIe budget, power delivery, and thermal envelope are not built for double-width accelerators, and we do not quote it for GPU compute. If the deployment needs GPUs (AI and ML inference or training, accelerated VDI, rendering), the Dell answers at this generation are the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r650-8-bay-2-5-build-your-own\"\u003eR650\u003c\/a\u003e for low-profile single-width cards or the R750 and R750xa for double-width work. GPUs specified on an R550 are a configuration we redirect at quote time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eManagement - iDRAC9\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 ships with iDRAC9 (15th gen) and Lifecycle Controller. Wholesale Servers builds include iDRAC9 Enterprise unless you specify otherwise: Enterprise adds virtual console redirection, virtual media, and full SNMP and Redfish API access, which is non-negotiable for remote-site or branch hosts where OS-level recovery has to happen without on-site staff. The 15th gen security stack is present: Silicon Root of Trust, Secure Boot with system-level signing of BIOS updates, TPM 2.0 standard, and System Lockdown (requires Enterprise). iDRAC9 integrates with OpenManage Enterprise for fleet management, Ansible for infrastructure-as-code workflows, and Redfish-native monitoring. iDRAC9 is the 15th gen management generation; iDRAC10 is a later part and does not apply to the R550.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003ePower and Cooling\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 supports up to two redundant hot-plug power supplies in a 1+1 configuration, from the shared 15th gen PSU line:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003ePSU\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eEfficiency\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eTypical fit\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e600W AC\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePlatinum\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eSingle-CPU or Silver 4314 dual-socket, light I\/O, baseline drive population. Lowest-power R550 builds.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e800W AC\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePlatinum\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eStandard dual-socket: Silver 4314 or 4316, 256 GB RAM, 8x LFF NL-SAS, 2x 10 GbE. The most common R550 PSU.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e1100W AC or DC\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePlatinum \/ Titanium\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHigher-TDP CPUs (Gold 6326, Gold 6342), dense SAS SSD, 25 and 100 GbE NICs. DC variant for -48V telco and colocation plant.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 does not offer the 1400W or 2400W PSUs available on the R750, consistent with its value-tier envelope. Cooling is standard front-to-rear air with up to five cold-swap fans; there is no liquid-cooling option. ASHRAE A2 (10 to 35 C) is fully supported across all configurations; A3 (to 40 C) and A4 (to 45 C) are supported with CPU TDP held at 150W or below and higher-power add-in cards restricted. Most production deployments target A2.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003ePhysical Specs \u0026amp; Platform Notes\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eForm factor:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2U rack, regulatory model E75S. Standard-depth 2U chassis; budget rack depth for rear cable management.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePCIe expansion:\u003c\/strong\u003e PCIe Gen4, up to about five slots by riser configuration, plus a dedicated PERC slot; full-height and low-profile positions depend on the riser chosen.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eParts availability:\u003c\/strong\u003e Strong. 15th gen Ice Lake is current enough that PERC 11 controllers, OCP 3.0 NICs, DDR4-3200 RDIMM, BOSS-S2 modules, LFF drive carriers, and PSUs are all readily sourced, and Dell support paths remain active.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAccessories we recommend:\u003c\/strong\u003e the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r550-r750xs-r760-b21-2u-sliding-rails\"\u003eR550 \/ R750xs \/ R760 B21 2U sliding rail kit\u003c\/a\u003e for the rack mount, an OCP 3.0 NIC sized to the uplink, and a BOSS-S2 card so boot stays off the eight LFF bays.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePlatform notes:\u003c\/strong\u003e SAS\/SATA LFF front bays only (no NVMe backplane), RDIMM-only memory (no LRDIMM or Optane), OCP NIC 3.0 networking, and air cooling only are the chassis facts buyers most often confirm before committing a design.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eOur Assessment\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhere it excels:\u003c\/strong\u003e Converged dual-socket compute plus bulk LFF capacity in 2U at 15th gen value-tier pricing. File servers and NAS heads that also need application compute, backup targets running media-server or dedupe workloads, branch-office consolidated hosts combining virtualization with local storage, Ceph or ZFS capacity nodes co-located with application workloads, and mid-tier databases at the LFF capacity tier. Eight LFF bays at up to 192 TB raw is a capacity-per-dollar profile the SFF variants and most refurbished 2U platforms cannot match.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhere to look instead:\u003c\/strong\u003e If memory needs to exceed 1 TB or use Optane, step to the R750 with its 32 DIMM slots. If the storage architecture needs front-bay NVMe, the R650 or R750 carry NVMe backplanes; the R550 does not. If a single Ice Lake socket covers the compute, the R750xs 8-Bay 3.5\" gives the same LFF profile at lower cost and power. If more than eight LFF bays are needed, the R750 12-Bay 3.5\" is the step up.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBottom line:\u003c\/strong\u003e For a SAS\/SATA workload at 1 TB of memory or less, 24 cores per socket or fewer, and a genuine need for bulk LFF capacity alongside dual-socket compute, the R550 8-Bay 3.5\" is the cost-correct 15th gen chassis and the one we steer converged file-and-application buyers toward. When a design breaches the memory, core, or NVMe ceiling, we move the quote to the R650 or R750 and explain why. The procurement-justification summary: value-tier 2U, dual Ice Lake, eight 3.5\" SAS\/SATA bays to 192 TB raw, current-generation support, refurbished or surplus-new pricing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eWhere the R550 Fits in 2026\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 is current-generation-adjacent hardware. 15th gen Ice Lake-SP launched in 2021 and remains under active Dell support, with the 16th gen R660 and R760 (Sapphire Rapids and Emerald Rapids) now above it. For a value-tier 2U buyer that means two things: this is not end-of-life hardware, so a refurbished or surplus-new R550 has real production life ahead of it; and because 16th gen is shipping, 15th gen value-tier pricing on the secondary market is attractive relative to the capability you get.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAgainst 14th gen, the R550 replaces the R540 (Skylake and Cascade Lake). The deltas are 3rd Gen Ice Lake-SP versus 2nd Gen Cascade Lake, eight memory channels per socket versus six, PCIe Gen4 versus Gen3, DDR4-3200 versus DDR4-2933, and the stronger 15th gen iDRAC9 security baseline. The R540's 12-bay LFF maximum was higher than the R550's eight LFF bays, so if the requirement exceeds eight LFF bays the R540 12-Bay or the R750 12-Bay LFF is the right platform. The R550 earns its place for SAS\/SATA workloads up to 1 TB memory and 24 cores per socket that need bulk LFF density in a current-generation value chassis.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eHonest Limitations\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNo front-bay NVMe at any drive count. SAS\/SATA LFF backplane only. This is the hard limit that most often disqualifies the chassis.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e16 DIMM slots and a 1 TB memory ceiling. No LRDIMM, no Optane PMem. Memory-bound workloads above 1 TB belong on the R650 or R750.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eValue-tier CPU range, up to 24 cores per socket; the higher-core and higher-TDP Ice Lake SKUs are an R650 or R750 capability.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEight LFF bays only. Bulk-capacity designs above eight LFF spindles need the R750 12-Bay LFF.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRoughly five Gen4 PCIe slots by riser, not the R750's eight. Not a GPU platform, and air cooling only.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eWorkload Fit\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eR550 8-Bay 3.5\" is appropriate for\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eConsider alternatives for\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eConverged dual-socket compute plus LFF capacity in 2U\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eSingle-socket workloads (R750xs 8-Bay 3.5\", lower cost and power)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFile servers and NAS heads with application workload colocation\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMore than 8 LFF bays needed (R750 12-Bay 3.5\")\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCeph or ZFS storage nodes that also run application compute\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFront-bay NVMe required (R650, R750xs, R750)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBranch-office or remote-site consolidated hosts (virtualization plus storage)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMemory exceeds 1 TB (R750, 32 DIMM slots)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBackup targets with media-server or deduplication workload\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMore than 24 cores per socket (R750 supports 40-core Platinum)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMid-tier database hosts (SQL Server Standard, PostgreSQL) at LFF capacity tier\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHigh-density VM consolidation needing large memory and CPU (R750)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eWhere to Look Instead\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMore memory, NVMe, or PCIe slots:\u003c\/strong\u003e the R750 (2U, 32 DIMM slots, NVMe backplane, eight PCIe slots) is the mainstream step up, and the R650 is the 1U equivalent.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSingle-socket LFF workload:\u003c\/strong\u003e the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r750xs-3-5-build-your-own-server\"\u003eR750xs 8-Bay 3.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e matches this LFF profile with one Ice Lake socket at lower cost and power.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMore than eight LFF bays:\u003c\/strong\u003e the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r750-12-bay-lff-build-your-own\"\u003eR750 12-Bay 3.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e for bulk capacity beyond this chassis.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePrevious generation, budget-led:\u003c\/strong\u003e the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r540-12-bay-3-5-chassis\"\u003eDell PowerEdge R540 12-Bay 3.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e is the 14th gen value-tier 2U LFF predecessor (Skylake and Cascade Lake, rNDC networking) at a lower price point where 15th gen features are not required.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHPE equivalent:\u003c\/strong\u003e the closest HPE counterpart at this tier is the ProLiant DL380 Gen11 in its value configuration; we name it for cross-shopping but do not currently stock it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eReady to Configure?\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTell us your workload, your memory and storage targets, your CPU preference (or a workload description so we can recommend a SKU), your storage architecture (hardware RAID on a PERC H755 versus pass-through on an HBA355i for software-defined storage), your drive mix (nearline SAS capacity, SAS SSD, or a tiered combination), your network uplink (10, 25, or 100 GbE on the OCP card), and quantity. Volume pricing applies at 5 units and above, and we respond within 24 hours. Every Wholesale Servers Dell PowerEdge R550 ships after a 12+ hour burn-in across every PCIe slot, memory channel, and drive bay, with a 180-day warranty included and 1-Year, 2-Year, and 3-Year options available. Call 1-800-778-1545 or use the quote form on this page.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf your memory or storage requirements push against the R550 ceiling, we will quote the R750 alongside; for borderline sizings the modest premium for the R750 is frequently the better long-term call, and we will say so directly. If a single Ice Lake socket covers your compute, we will put the R750xs 8-Bay 3.5\" next to it so you can compare on total cost of ownership rather than acquisition price alone.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45951277301959,"sku":"BP-013639","price":4388.84,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0748\/4493\/0247\/files\/server-design-lab-dell-poweredge-r550-8-bay-35-drives-516383.png?v=1765539695"},{"product_id":"dell-poweredge-r550-8-bay-build-your-own","title":"Dell PowerEdge R550 8-Bay 2.5\" Drives [15th Gen]","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Dell PowerEdge R550 8-Bay 2.5\" is the compute-primary SFF configuration of Dell's 15th gen value-tier 2U platform: eight 2.5\" SAS\/SATA hot-plug bays, two 3rd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors (Ice Lake-SP, socket LGA 4189), sixteen DDR4-3200 RDIMM slots, and PCIe Gen4 throughout. It is the R550 variant for workloads where dual-socket Ice Lake compute is the primary requirement and local storage is a supporting role rather than the center of gravity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis page documents the R550 platform in full with the compute-primary SFF profile as the variant-specific framing; the two companion variants, the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r550-8-bay-lff-build-your-own\"\u003eR550 8-Bay 3.5\" LFF\u003c\/a\u003e (bulk capacity) and the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r550-16-bay-build-your-own\"\u003eR550 16-Bay 2.5\" SFF\u003c\/a\u003e (maximum density), share the same board, memory topology, PCIe budget, and management. The R550 ships either Refurbished (tested, reconditioned, previously deployed) or Surplus New, which is genuinely unused excess inventory that never entered a production deployment and sits outside Dell's normal new-sales channel; both carry the same Wholesale Servers burn-in and warranty.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo configure a build, call 1-800-778-1545 or use the quote form on this page. Every Wholesale Servers R550 ships after a 12+ hour burn-in and carries a 180-day warranty, and volume pricing applies at 5 units and above.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eWhen 8 SFF Bays Is the Right Choice\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 8-Bay 2.5\" SFF is the compute-primary variant of the R550 family. Its front bays take 2.5\" drives only (SAS SSD, SAS HDD typically 1.2 TB to 2.4 TB, SATA SSD), not 3.5\" LFF nearline drives, so it is the right pick when storage is IOPS-oriented and modest in footprint rather than capacity-bound. It runs at half the density of the 16-Bay, which keeps acquisition cost and airflow load down: if a workload genuinely needs eight SFF bays and no more, paying for the 16-Bay backplane is paying for capability it will not use.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOf the three R550 chassis this one carries the lowest acquisition cost, which makes it the most economical entry to dual-socket Ice Lake when the workload is CPU-and-memory-primary. Application servers on shared SAN storage, Kubernetes workers with persistent volumes on external storage, database hosts whose data files live on SAN or NFS, and virtualization hosts running VMs on shared datastores are the natural patterns. When storage is the headline rather than the supporting cast, the LFF variant (bulk capacity) or the 16-Bay (SFF density) earns its premium.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eStorage - 8 SFF Bays\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eEight 2.5\" SAS\/SATA hot-swap bays. \u003cstrong\u003eThe R550 backplane is SAS\/SATA only; there is no NVMe front-bay option on the R550 at any drive count.\u003c\/strong\u003e This is a chassis-level limit, not a configuration choice. Workloads needing front-bay NVMe belong on the R650, the R750xs NVMe variant, or the R750.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePractical raw capacity at 8 SFF bays:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e8x 2.4 TB 10K SAS HDD: 19.2 TB raw. RAID 10 gives 9.6 TB usable for general application data; RAID 6 gives 12 TB usable for read-heavy work at higher resilience.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e8x 3.84 TB SAS SSD: 30.72 TB raw. RAID 10 gives 15.36 TB usable for write-intensive application or database tiers; RAID 6 gives about 23 TB.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e8x 7.68 TB SAS SSD: 61.44 TB raw, the current SFF SAS SSD ceiling we stock. RAID 6 yields about 46 TB usable.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMixed: 2x SAS SSD (RAID 1 for OS or hot data) plus 6x 10K SAS HDD (RAID 6 capacity tier) is a common cost-optimized application-server build.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eBoot stays off the front bays. BOSS-S2 carries two mirrored M.2 SATA SSDs in hardware RAID 1 on a dedicated card, leaving all eight front bays for data. The 15th gen BOSS-S2 uses M.2 SATA modules; the NVMe-based BOSS-N1 is a 16th gen part and is not used here. IDSDM (internal dual microSD) and an internal USB 3.0 port are also available for hypervisor boot.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eStorage Controllers\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 uses the Dell PERC 11 controller family. Production options for the 8-Bay 2.5\":\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePERC H755.\u003c\/strong\u003e 12 Gbps SAS-3, 8 GB flash-backed write cache, full RAID 0\/1\/5\/6\/10\/50\/60. The standard production hardware-RAID controller, and the one to specify for parity RAID. Wholesale Servers ships hardware-RAID R550 builds with the H755 unless you specify otherwise.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePERC H745.\u003c\/strong\u003e Lower-cache hardware-RAID alternative to the H755, also RAID 5 and RAID 6 capable.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHBA355i.\u003c\/strong\u003e SAS-3 pass-through, no hardware RAID. The correct controller for Ceph, ZFS, and Storage Spaces Direct, where the software layer owns redundancy.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePERC H355 and H345.\u003c\/strong\u003e Entry hardware RAID, \u003cstrong\u003eRAID 0\/1\/10 only\u003c\/strong\u003e, no RAID 5 or 6. Appropriate for mirrored SAS SSD application data; specify the H755 or H745 instead if the design needs parity RAID.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePERC S150.\u003c\/strong\u003e Chipset software RAID, for dev, test, and light boot duty only, never production data.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eProcessors\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo 3rd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors (Ice Lake-SP, socket LGA 4189) on the Intel C621A chipset. The R550 is the value cut of the platform, and Dell caps its qualified SKU list at 24 cores per socket; the 32-core and 40-core Platinum SKUs are an R650 or R750 capability. Typical R550 SKUs run from the Xeon Silver 4314 (16 cores, 135W), the standard value-tier build, through the Gold 6326 (16 cores, 2.9 GHz, 185W) for frequency-sensitive licensing-bound workloads, up to the Gold 6342 (24 cores, 230W) at the R550 ceiling, where you should verify the thermal envelope at quote time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRunning a single CPU is the most common configuration mistake on a dual-socket Ice Lake board: the R550's memory channels and part of the PCIe lane budget are split across both sockets, so a one-CPU build strands half the DIMM slots and some riser capacity. If a single socket genuinely covers the workload (which is common for the compute-primary roles this chassis suits), the single-socket \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r750xs-8-bay-2-5-build-your-own-server\"\u003eR750xs 8-Bay 2.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e is the better-matched and lower-power chassis. Where the workload needs more than 24 cores per socket, that is the signal to step up to the R650 or R750.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMemory\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eSixteen DDR4 DIMM slots, eight channels per CPU at one DIMM per channel. \u003cstrong\u003eThe R550 takes registered ECC RDIMM only. It does not support LRDIMM, and it does not support Intel Optane persistent memory.\u003c\/strong\u003e Maximum capacity is 1 TB with 16x 64 GB dual-rank RDIMM. Rated speed is DDR4-3200 at one DIMM per channel; value-tier CPU SKUs frequently run the bus at 2933, so size memory expecting 2933 to 3200 depending on the processor chosen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCommon configurations: 128 GB (8x 16 GB, one DIMM per channel on each socket), 256 GB (16x 16 GB fully populated, the most common refurbished R550 build), 512 GB (16x 32 GB), and 1 TB (16x 64 GB) at the ceiling. The 1 TB cap, and the absence of LRDIMM and Optane, is the cleanest line between the R550 and the mainstream R650 and R750 with their 32 DIMM slots and 4 TB topology. For workloads whose memory footprint exceeds 1 TB, the R750 is the correct platform, and we will say so at quote time if your sizing pushes against the ceiling.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eNetworking and PCIe Expansion\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eNetworking on the R550 is OCP NIC 3.0, the 15th gen standard. This is the part of the platform most often described wrong in secondhand listings: the 13th and 14th gen rNDC mezzanine is gone, replaced by the OCP 3.0 slot, which does not consume a standard PCIe slot. The R550 ships with a 1 GbE management LOM for iDRAC; production networking is added through the OCP 3.0 card or a PCIe NIC. Common attaches:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e2x 10 GbE SFP+ (Intel X710 or equivalent), the standard production uplink.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e2x 25 GbE SFP28 (Mellanox ConnectX-5 or Intel E810) for modern virtualization fabrics and 25 GbE leaf switches.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e4x 10 GbE Base-T (Intel X710-T4) for copper 10 GbE without SFP+ optics.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e2x 32G Fibre Channel (Emulex or QLogic, PCIe Gen4) for SAN-attached block storage, the common attach for the database-on-SAN pattern this chassis suits.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003ePCIe expansion is Gen4, up to roughly five slots depending on riser configuration (the value-tier riser layout is narrower than the R750's), plus a dedicated slot for the PERC controller. Gen4 doubles per-lane bandwidth over Gen3, so 25 and 100 GbE NICs and 32G FC HBAs run without slot-level saturation. For designs that need more than that slot budget, the R750's eight-slot layout is the correct platform.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eGPU Support\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 is not a GPU platform. It is a value-tier storage-and-compute chassis: the PCIe budget, power delivery, and thermal envelope are not built for double-width accelerators, and we do not quote it for GPU compute. If the deployment needs GPUs (AI and ML inference or training, accelerated VDI, rendering), the Dell answers at this generation are the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r650-8-bay-2-5-build-your-own\"\u003eR650\u003c\/a\u003e for low-profile single-width cards or the R750 and R750xa for double-width work. GPUs specified on an R550 are a configuration we redirect at quote time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eManagement - iDRAC9\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 ships with iDRAC9 (15th gen) and Lifecycle Controller. Wholesale Servers builds include iDRAC9 Enterprise unless you specify otherwise: Enterprise adds virtual console redirection, virtual media, and full SNMP and Redfish API access, which is non-negotiable for remote-site or branch hosts where OS-level recovery has to happen without on-site staff. The 15th gen security stack is present: Silicon Root of Trust, Secure Boot with system-level signing of BIOS updates, TPM 2.0 standard, and System Lockdown (requires Enterprise). iDRAC9 integrates with OpenManage Enterprise for fleet management, Ansible for infrastructure-as-code workflows, and Redfish-native monitoring. iDRAC9 is the 15th gen management generation; iDRAC10 is a later part and does not apply to the R550.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003ePower and Cooling\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 supports up to two redundant hot-plug power supplies in a 1+1 configuration, from the shared 15th gen PSU line:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003ePSU\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eEfficiency\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eTypical fit\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e600W AC\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePlatinum\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eSingle-CPU or Silver 4314 dual-socket, light I\/O, baseline drive population. Lowest-power R550 builds, and a common fit for this compute-primary chassis.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e800W AC\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePlatinum\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eStandard dual-socket: Silver 4314 or 4316, 256 GB RAM, SAS SSD population, 2x 10 GbE. The most common R550 PSU.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e1100W AC or DC\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePlatinum \/ Titanium\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHigher-TDP CPUs (Gold 6326, Gold 6342) and 25 or 100 GbE NICs. DC variant for -48V telco and colocation plant.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 does not offer the 1400W or 2400W PSUs available on the R750, consistent with its value-tier envelope. Cooling is standard front-to-rear air with up to five cold-swap fans; there is no liquid-cooling option. ASHRAE A2 (10 to 35 C) is fully supported across all configurations; A3 (to 40 C) and A4 (to 45 C) are supported with CPU TDP held at 150W or below and higher-power add-in cards restricted. The half-populated SFF backplane on this variant keeps airflow load light, so thermal headroom is comfortable.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003ePhysical Specs \u0026amp; Platform Notes\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eForm factor:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2U rack, regulatory model E75S. Standard-depth 2U chassis; budget rack depth for rear cable management.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePCIe expansion:\u003c\/strong\u003e PCIe Gen4, up to about five slots by riser configuration, plus a dedicated PERC slot; full-height and low-profile positions depend on the riser chosen.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eParts availability:\u003c\/strong\u003e Strong. 15th gen Ice Lake is current enough that PERC 11 controllers, OCP 3.0 NICs, DDR4-3200 RDIMM, BOSS-S2 modules, and PSUs are all readily sourced, and Dell support paths remain active.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAccessories we recommend:\u003c\/strong\u003e the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r550-r750xs-r760-b21-2u-sliding-rails\"\u003eR550 \/ R750xs \/ R760 B21 2U sliding rail kit\u003c\/a\u003e for the rack mount, an OCP 3.0 NIC sized to the uplink, and a BOSS-S2 card so boot stays off the eight front bays.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePlatform notes:\u003c\/strong\u003e SAS\/SATA front bays only (no NVMe backplane), RDIMM-only memory (no LRDIMM or Optane), and OCP NIC 3.0 networking are the three chassis facts buyers most often confirm before committing a design.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eOur Assessment\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhere it excels:\u003c\/strong\u003e The lowest-acquisition-cost path to dual-socket Ice Lake at 15th gen when local storage is a supporting role. Application servers running on shared SAN or NFS with local OS and scratch on SAS SSD, mid-tier databases with data files on Fibre Channel or iSCSI and the transaction log on local RAID 10 SSD, Kubernetes workers with persistent volumes on external CSI storage, virtualization hosts on shared datastores, and branch-office multi-role hosts running directory, file, and a few application VMs. The economics work whenever the workload is CPU-and-memory-primary and the storage footprint stays modest.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhere to look instead:\u003c\/strong\u003e If a single Ice Lake socket covers the compute, the R750xs 8-Bay 2.5\" gives the same eight SFF bays at lower cost and power, and many of these compute-primary roles fit on one socket. If storage is the headline, the R550 16-Bay 2.5\" adds SFF density and the R550 8-Bay 3.5\" adds bulk LFF capacity on the same platform. If the design needs front-bay NVMe, the R650 or R750 carry NVMe backplanes. If memory exceeds 1 TB, the R650 or R750 with their 32-slot topology are the answer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBottom line:\u003c\/strong\u003e For a compute-primary SAS\/SATA workload at 1 TB of memory or less and 24 cores per socket or fewer, where local storage is modest and often offloaded to a SAN, the R550 8-Bay 2.5\" is the cost-correct 15th gen chassis. If the workload genuinely uses dual-socket thread count, this is the right box; if it does not, we will put the single-socket R750xs next to it at quote time and compare on total cost of ownership rather than acquisition price alone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eWhere the R550 Fits in 2026\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe R550 is current-generation-adjacent hardware. 15th gen Ice Lake-SP launched in 2021 and remains under active Dell support, with the 16th gen R660 and R760 (Sapphire Rapids and Emerald Rapids) now above it. For a value-tier 2U buyer that means two things: this is not end-of-life hardware, so a refurbished or surplus-new R550 has real production life ahead of it; and because 16th gen is shipping, 15th gen value-tier pricing on the secondary market is attractive relative to the capability you get.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAgainst 14th gen, the R550 replaces the R540 (Skylake and Cascade Lake). The deltas are 3rd Gen Ice Lake-SP versus 2nd Gen Cascade Lake, eight memory channels per socket versus six, PCIe Gen4 versus Gen3, and the stronger 15th gen iDRAC9 security baseline. The R550 earns its place for compute-primary SAS\/SATA workloads up to 1 TB memory and 24 cores per socket that want dual-socket Ice Lake in a current-generation value chassis without paying for capability the deployment will not use.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eHonest Limitations\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNo front-bay NVMe at any drive count. SAS\/SATA backplane only.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e16 DIMM slots and a 1 TB memory ceiling. No LRDIMM, no Optane PMem.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eValue-tier CPU range, up to 24 cores per socket; higher-core and higher-TDP Ice Lake SKUs are an R650 or R750 capability.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEight SFF bays only. Storage-primary designs want the 16-Bay 2.5\" for density or the 8-Bay 3.5\" for bulk LFF capacity.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRoughly five Gen4 PCIe slots by riser, not the R750's eight. Not a GPU platform, and air cooling only.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eWorkload Fit\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eR550 8-Bay 2.5\" is appropriate for\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eConsider alternatives for\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eDual-socket application servers on shared or SAN storage\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eSingle socket sufficient (R750xs 8-Bay 2.5\", lower cost)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMid-tier database hosts (database files on SAN or iSCSI)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFront-bay NVMe required (R650, R750xs NVMe, R750)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eKubernetes worker nodes (PV on external CSI storage)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMore than 8 SFF bays (R550 16-Bay 2.5\")\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eVirtualization hosts on shared SAN datastores\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCapacity-tier LFF storage workload (R550 8-Bay 3.5\")\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBranch-office consolidated hosts with modest local storage\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMemory exceeds 1 TB (R750, 32 DIMM slots)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCompute-primary workloads at 15th gen value-tier price\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMore than 24 cores per socket (R650 or R750)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eWhere to Look Instead\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSingle-socket workload:\u003c\/strong\u003e the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r750xs-8-bay-2-5-build-your-own-server\"\u003eR750xs 8-Bay 2.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e gives the same eight SFF bays with one Ice Lake socket at lower cost and power, the most common alternative for these compute-primary roles.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMore memory, NVMe, or PCIe slots:\u003c\/strong\u003e the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r650-8-bay-2-5-build-your-own\"\u003eR650 8-Bay 2.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e is the mainstream 1U step up, and the R750 is the 2U equivalent with NVMe and a 32-slot memory topology.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eStorage-primary on the same platform:\u003c\/strong\u003e the R550 16-Bay 2.5\" for SFF density or the R550 8-Bay 3.5\" for bulk LFF capacity.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePrevious generation, budget-led:\u003c\/strong\u003e the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r540-12-bay-3-5-chassis\"\u003eDell PowerEdge R540\u003c\/a\u003e is the 14th gen value-tier 2U predecessor (Skylake and Cascade Lake, rNDC networking) at a lower price point where 15th gen features are not required.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHPE equivalent:\u003c\/strong\u003e the closest HPE counterpart at this tier is the ProLiant DL380 Gen11 in its value configuration; we name it for cross-shopping but do not currently stock it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003ch2\u003eReady to Configure?\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTell us your workload, your memory target, your CPU preference (or a workload description so we can recommend a SKU), your storage profile (OS-only, RAID 10 SSD, or a mixed tier), your network uplink (10, 25, or 100 GbE on the OCP card), and quantity. Volume pricing applies at 5 units and above, and we respond within 24 hours. Every Wholesale Servers Dell PowerEdge R550 ships after a 12+ hour burn-in across every PCIe slot, memory channel, and drive bay, with a 180-day warranty included and 1-Year, 2-Year, and 3-Year options available. Call 1-800-778-1545 or use the quote form on this page.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf your workload sizing suggests a single Ice Lake socket is sufficient, we will quote the R750xs 8-Bay 2.5\" alongside the R550 for comparison; total cost of ownership often favors the single-socket option for compute-primary deployments at this storage tier.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45951277007047,"sku":"BP-013637","price":3341.13,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0748\/4493\/0247\/files\/server-design-lab-dell-poweredge-r550-8-bay-25-drives-895014.png?v=1765539691"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0748\/4493\/0247\/collections\/poweredge-r550-299166.jpg?v=1765540189","url":"https:\/\/wholesaleservers.com\/collections\/dell-poweredge-r550-servers.oembed","provider":"Wholesale Servers","version":"1.0","type":"link"}