Dell PowerEdge R740 16-Bay | 2x Gold 6148 | 40 Cores | 768 GB RAM | H730p | 16x Trays

A fully-configured, ready-to-rack Dell PowerEdge R740 — components installed, tested, and documented. This unit ships with everything in place: processors, memory, RAID controller, and drive trays. For procurement teams that need a known configuration on a fast timeline, pricing is fixed and delivery is faster than our custom Configure & Quote builds.

Configuration Details

• Chassis: Dell PowerEdge R740 16-Bay 2.5" SFF, 2U rack
• Processors: 2x Intel Xeon Gold 6148 — 2.4 GHz base, 20 cores / 40 threads per CPU, 40 cores / 80 threads total, 150W TDP
• Memory: 768 GB DDR4 (24x 32 GB RDIMM) — full 24-DIMM population, all six memory channels active per CPU at 2 DPC
• RAID Controller: PERC H730p (2 GB cache)
• Storage: 16x drive trays included (drives not populated — add SAS/SATA drives at quote time or source separately)

What We Think of This Configuration

The Gold 6148 is a 1st Generation Xeon Scalable (Skylake-SP) processor — 20 cores at 2.4 GHz base with 3.7 GHz all-core turbo, 150W TDP. At 40 cores total in a dual-socket build, this is substantial compute in a 2U chassis. The Gold 6148 is the higher-clocked sibling of the Gold 6140 (18 cores, 2.3 GHz) — 2 additional cores per socket and 100 MHz higher base clock for the same TDP. A meaningful step up for core-count-sensitive or lightly-threaded workloads that benefit from higher per-core frequency.

On the memory: 768 GB across 24 DIMMs with full channel utilization is a strong foundation for virtualization and in-memory workloads. Not as high-density as LRDIMM configurations, but 32 GB RDIMMs at full 24-slot population provide solid memory bandwidth with more per-DIMM capacity than 16 GB configurations. Right-sized for large vSphere hosts, high-VM-density deployments, and SQL Server instances that need meaningful memory without the LRDIMM cost premium.

On the RAID controller: The H730p provides 2 GB of cache — adequate for most workloads on this chassis. For write-intensive production storage, the H740P (8 GB NV cache, battery-backed) delivers meaningfully better write latency. If this unit will serve write-heavy database workloads on local storage, contact us about a controller upgrade quote alongside this configuration.

On the drive trays: This unit ships with 16 drive trays installed but no drives populated. This is a common procurement pattern for customers who source drives separately from the server chassis, or who want to configure storage independently from the compute platform. We can add SAS/SATA drives at any configuration — contact us for drive pricing and lead time. Alternatively, quote NVMe expansion via PCIe if NVMe performance is a requirement (the 16-bay SFF backplane is SAS/SATA, not native NVMe).

On generation: The Gold 6148 is 1st Generation Xeon Scalable (Skylake-SP), one generation behind the 2nd Gen Cascade Lake CPUs in our Configure & Quote chassis configurations. The performance difference is workload-dependent — Cascade Lake adds AVX-512 improvements, slightly better memory speeds, and hardware-level speculative execution mitigations. For most enterprise workloads the real-world delta is modest. The acquisition cost advantage of 1st-gen configurations is often significant.

Ideal Workloads for This Configuration

• Large vSphere hosts: 40 cores + 768 GB memory supports high VM consolidation ratios. Strong for VDI environments and application consolidation where memory density per host matters.
• SQL Server and enterprise databases: 40 cores with 768 GB of full-channel memory provides a capable database platform. Add SAS SSD drives for local storage or connect to a SAN for shared storage access.
• General enterprise compute: Broad applicability for application serving, development environments, and any workload that benefits from high core count and large memory capacity.
• Customers sourcing drives separately: If your procurement process sources drives from a different vendor or leverages existing drive inventory, the trays-included, drives-not-populated configuration is a clean fit.

Limitations to Know

• Drives not included: 16 trays are installed, drives are not. Storage is not functional until drives are added. Factor drive procurement lead time and cost into your deployment timeline.
• H730p write cache: 2 GB cache without battery backup. For production databases on local storage with sustained writes, the H740P provides better write latency protection. We can quote this substitution.
• 1st Gen Xeon (Skylake): Firmware-based speculative execution mitigations on certain workloads carry slight performance overhead vs. Cascade Lake hardware mitigations. Workload-dependent — typically not material for enterprise application workloads.
• SAS/SATA backplane only: Native front-bay NVMe requires the NVMe chassis variant. PCIe NVMe expansion is possible via PCIe slots if NVMe performance is needed alongside this chassis.

Refurbished Context for 2026

The R740 / Gold 6148 platform has been in production since 2017 — the same maturity story as the broader R740 family. Stable firmware, abundant parts, active Dell ProSupport. Every unit ships with documented testing covering CPU stress, memory validation across all 24 DIMM slots, RAID controller verification, and chassis health assessment. The trays are inspected and verified — drives sourced separately should be validated before installation.

Workload Fit

Ordering This Configuration

Fixed-spec unit — pricing is set. Lead time typically 3–5 business days after PO receipt. Volume pricing at 5 units and above. To add drives, modify the RAID controller, or adjust any component, contact us and we will quote the modification through the Configure & Quote process. We can also quote complementary drive procurement alongside this unit if you want a complete, drive-populated system.