Dell PowerEdge R750xs 8-Bay 3.5"
Configure Your System:
1 Processor Required
Step 1: Choose a tier
Xeon Silver (4300 series) is the value tier: solid dual-socket compute for general duty, with memory running at 2666 MT/s.
Xeon Gold (5300 and 6300 series) is the mainstream of this platform and our default recommendation: more cores, higher clocks, and faster memory support, 2933 MT/s on the 5300s and the full 3200 MT/s on the 6300s.
Xeon Platinum options here run up to 32 cores per socket for dense consolidation; the xs platform is tuned for value, and most builds land comfortably in Gold before Platinum makes sense.
One connection worth knowing before you pick: your processor tier sets your memory speed. The DIMMs in the memory step run at whatever your CPU supports, so a Silver chip quietly caps the memory bus you paid for. It is one of the honest arguments for Gold.
Whichever tier you pick, populate both sockets; half the memory channels and PCIe lanes route through the second CPU.
Step 2: Choose your CPU
Running Windows Server? Two 8-core CPUs land exactly on the 16-core base license, and our pick is the Gold 6334 (8 cores, 3.6 GHz): top clocks per core, full 3200 memory speed, nothing wasted on the license.
Virtualizing on vSphere? VMware licenses a 16-core minimum per socket, so the 8-core strategy buys you nothing there; take 16-core parts and use every core you are paying to license.
General consolidation lands in the middle Golds. And if your spec sheet keeps climbing toward the top of the menu, look at the standard R750 before you buy the xs to its limits; we will tell you honestly which chassis your workload wants at 1-800-778-1545.
2 Heat Sink Optional
What still matters is airflow discipline. Keep every drive bay blank and internal shroud installed; the R750xs cools front to back, and an open path lets air skip the components that need it. Give it real datacenter intake air where you can; it will run in a well-ventilated closet, but fan and drive life is better in a cold aisle.
If your plans include accelerator cards or unusually warm environments, call 1-800-778-1545 before checkout and we will confirm the thermal picture for your exact build.
3 Memory (RAM) 16 DIMM slots, modules added in sets of 2 Required
What that means in practice:
Full population is full bandwidth. Sixteen matched DIMMs engages every channel once at the platform's full speed, and that is our default and the natural build for this chassis.
Your processor sets the speed: Silver CPUs run memory at 2666 MT/s, Gold 5300s at 2933, and Gold 6300s and up at the full 3200. The configurator pairs the right DIMMs with your chip.
Below sixteen, populate in multiples of eight and keep both sockets even; a lopsided population starves channels you paid for.
Size for the future, honestly. Sixteen slots is also the ceiling, so growth on this chassis means swapping DIMMs for bigger ones rather than adding sticks. Buy the capacity target as one matched set now; a year from now, matching rank and speed against installed DIMMs is a maintenance-window project you can avoid today.
Common landing spots: 128 GB (16x 8 GB) for general duty, 256 GB (16x 16 GB) is our default virtualization host, and 512 GB (16x 32 GB) when the databases move in.
4 RAID Controllers Optional
PERC H745 (4 GB cache) is the configurator default and our pick for most builds: a large battery-backed cache, full RAID levels, and throughput that keeps a busy backplane honest.
PERC H755 (8 GB cache) is the step up for write-heavy duty on a loaded chassis: big parity arrays, database volumes, and backplanes that stay busy.
PERC H345 is the entry option for boot mirrors and light RAID duty; honest for a host whose local storage is just the OS pair, and not for parity arrays you care about. PERC H355 sits just above it for simple RAID 1/10 duty.
Building vSAN, Storage Spaces Direct, Ceph, or ZFS? Those stacks want direct drive access through an HBA rather than a RAID controller; call 1-800-778-1545 and we will spec the HBA355 for that build.
Array guidance regardless of controller: RAID 10 where write latency matters, RAID 6 over RAID 5 on large spinning drives, and a hot spare on any array whose rebuild you would rather not race.
5 Storage Drives Select up to 8 drives (0/8 Slots Used) Optional
The 3.5" R750xs, in its eight and twelve bay versions, is the value storage play of the 15th generation. Large NL-SAS and SATA spinning drives deliver cost per terabyte nothing else matches, and a full backplane of them covers backup targets, file storage, archives, media, and surveillance at serious scale. 2.5" drives fit these bays in adapters, so a small flash tier alongside the spindles is available where a database or VM volume needs the speed.
Buy new. We steer you away from refurbished on drives specifically, and we say that as a company that sells refurbished servers all day. Rebuilds on large drives run long, and a rebuild is exactly when you do not want a second drive with unknown hours in the array.
The RAID math on big spinning drives is non-negotiable: RAID 6 over RAID 5, no exceptions, plus a hot spare if you can spare the bay. A large-drive RAID 5 array is a rebuild failure waiting for its moment, and RAID 5 does not survive one.
Boot the right way: the BOSS card in the Add-Ons step carries a mirrored M.2 pair dedicated to the operating system, keeping every large bay for the capacity you bought this chassis to hold. On a storage build it is not optional in our book.
6 Remote Access Required
The dividing line is the remote console. iDRAC9 Enterprise gives you remote KVM and virtual media through a clean HTML5 interface: reach the server's screen, mount an ISO, and rebuild an OS from anywhere, even when the operating system is down. The lower tiers leave you walking to the rack for any problem below the OS.
Enterprise is the configurator default and our pick. The xs buyer is choosing value, and this is the one line where we will argue against saving the money: the license costs a fraction of one emergency site visit, and the first bad firmware day pays for it.
Enterprise also brings automated firmware updates, telemetry streaming, and secure erase for the day the server retires holding company data.
Skip it only when the server sits down the hall and someone can physically reach it without ceremony, and even then, think about whether that stays true for the machine's whole life.
If you are deploying 5 or more units, take Enterprise on all of them. Fleet management without remote console access does not work in practice.
7 Power Supply 2x included in build Required
2x 600W is the configurator default and fits the xs mission: Silver or mid-Gold processors, a sensible memory load, and a bay of SSDs land inside it with room to work.
2x 800W is our pick when the build fills out: higher-TDP Gold silicon, a full backplane of drives, or all sixteen DIMM slots loaded. The price step is small and it buys the 50 percent load target, where a PSU runs at peak efficiency, runs cooler, and lasts longer than one working near its limit.
2x 1400W covers the heavy end: a full NVMe backplane under top silicon, or a loaded spinning-disk chassis where twelve drives pull their peak current at spin-up, exactly when the server is busiest bringing everything else online.
Watch the estimated TDP counter at the bottom of the page as you add components to see where your build lands, and when it sits between two tiers, size up; the price difference is a rounding error against the efficiency and headroom you get back.
8 Network Cards Required
Quad 1 GbE covers file, print, and light application duty, and it is the honest budget answer when the clients are desktops on gigabit switching.
10 Gb is the floor the moment this server hosts a busy hypervisor, shared storage, or backup traffic on a deadline. The dual and quad 10 Gb options, and 25 Gb where the switching exists, match what this platform can actually push; a modern build bottlenecked at gigabit is a mismatch you feel daily.
Then port type, and this is the one that catches people. SFP+/SFP28 ports take fiber or DAC cables and talk to datacenter-grade switches. BASE-T ports are 10 Gb copper on ordinary RJ45. Neither is better; they must simply match your switch. Order SFP against a copper-only switch and the server racks up with nothing to plug into.
Need more ports, or separate links for storage and VM traffic? PCIe network cards stack on top of whatever you choose here. Call 1-800-778-1545 and we will spec the whole path, switch ports included.
9 Operating System Required
The good news on this platform: the R750xs is current enough that every modern OS supports it fully, so the choice is about your environment, not compatibility.
Windows Server 2022 is the mainstream pick, and Windows Server 2025 is fully supported here if you want the newest platform. Licensing is per core with a 16-core base, which is why our processor guidance steers Windows buyers to two 8-core CPUs: the 16-Core license covers that build exactly. Past 16 total cores, you need the larger license tiers. On CALs, count your users and round up.
Fair warning on Evaluation Editions: free and fully functional for 180 days, then they expire. Right for labs and proof-of-concept, wrong for production.
VMware ESXi is fully supported on this platform, and for shops standing on vSphere the xs is an economical first-class host; we will install the version your cluster runs.
Proxmox VE is our quiet favorite for new virtualization deployments: open-source KVM with clustering and live migration, no per-core license math, and it pairs beautifully with the value story that brought you to the xs in the first place.
Ubuntu Server LTS covers Linux application duty with five years of free updates, and No OS is there for teams imaging from their own deployment infrastructure.
Not sure which fits? Tell us the workload at quote time, or call 1-800-778-1545.
WServer Warranty
Dell PowerEdge R750xs 8-Bay 3.5" Drives [15th Gen] Detailed Review
The Dell PowerEdge R750xs 8-Bay 3.5" Hot-Swap is the LFF capacity-tier configuration of Dell's 15th gen cost-optimized 2U platform: eight large-format hot-swap bays for high-capacity NL-SAS or SATA drives, on the dual-socket-capable R750xs Ice Lake architecture. Up to 160 TB raw at 8 x 20 TB NL-SAS, with 15th gen platform currency at value-tier 2U economics. This is the R750xs configuration for smaller-scale capacity workloads: branch-office NAS, modest backup targets, departmental file servers, and entry-tier Ceph capacity nodes, where the 12-Bay R750xs LFF is more capacity than the deployment needs.
This page covers what changes at the 8-bay LFF chassis. The shared platform detail (the dual-socket-capable Ice Lake architecture, 16 DIMM slots, PCIe Gen4 expansion, and the R750xs versus R750 envelope comparison) is documented on the canonical R750xs 8-Bay 2.5" page. As a 15th gen platform the R750xs is no longer sold factory-new by Dell; Wholesale Servers stocks it refurbished and fully tested, as the cost-correct alternative to the R540 LFF predecessor or to stepping up to the R750 flagship.
To spec an R750xs LFF build, call 1-800-778-1545 or use the quote form on this page; we respond within 24 hours. Every unit ships after a 12+ hour burn-in that exercises every drive bay, memory channel, and PCIe slot, and carries our standard 180-day warranty, with 1-Year, 2-Year, and 3-Year Premium options available. Volume pricing applies at 5 units and above.
When 8 LFF Bays Is the Right Capacity Tier
The 8-bay LFF chassis is the lower-capacity rung of the R750xs storage line. It exists for the deployment where eight large drives cover the requirement and twelve would be over-provisioned. Eight 3.5" front bays for SAS or SATA spinning drives (or 3.5" SAS SSDs in the rare case where 3.5" flash makes sense), with no NVMe path: the LFF backplane is purpose-built for capacity-per-bay, not latency. The compute envelope underneath is the full R750xs platform, which is what separates this from a pure storage appliance: for converged nodes that run NAS plus deduplication and compression, or Ceph plus client workloads, the dual-socket-capable Ice Lake compute is meaningful. Where eight LFF bays is too few, the 12-Bay 3.5" is the next rung; where 1U density matters more than bay count, the R650xs 4-Bay 3.5" is the companion platform.
Storage - 8 LFF Bays
Eight 3.5" SAS/SATA hot-swap front bays. The 8-bay LFF backplane is SAS/SATA only; there is no NVMe path on this chassis.
- NL-SAS HDD (up to 20 TB): the primary use case. 8 x 20 TB is 160 TB raw, roughly 120 TB usable at RAID 6 with one hot spare. Excellent sequential throughput, modest random IOPS. For branch NAS, small backup targets, and warm-tier storage at sub-200 TB deployment sizes.
- SAS HDD (10K / 15K RPM): higher random IOPS at lower per-drive capacity, for workloads that need better random performance than NL-SAS without paying for SSD.
- Mixed SAS SSD plus NL-SAS: 1 to 2 SAS SSDs in select bays as a hot tier, 6 to 7 NL-SAS HDDs for capacity. Useful for NAS deployments where frequently-accessed data benefits from an SSD tier.
An optional 2 x 2.5" rear drive kit adds a small flash tier or a dedicated swap and log location without consuming a front bay. BOSS-S1 (a PCIe add-in card carrying two mirrored M.2 SATA SSDs in hardware RAID 1) handles OS boot, keeping all 8 LFF front bays available for data.
Storage Controllers
RAID 6 is the non-negotiable default on large NL-SAS drives here, and the controller choice follows from that:
- PERC H755 (8 GB flash-backed cache): the recommended controller for this chassis. RAID 6 with battery-backed write cache is what large-capacity NL-SAS needs, and the H755 is the right answer for production NAS and backup arrays.
- PERC H745 (4 GB flash-backed cache): the lower-cache alternative where the array is read-dominant.
- PERC H355 / H345: RAID 0, 1, and 10 only. They do not do RAID 5 or RAID 6, so they are not appropriate for a parity-protected capacity array on this chassis; for RAID 6 the H755 or H745 is required.
- HBA355i (pass-through): required for Ceph, ZFS, and other software-defined storage that wants raw drives. Presents the disks directly to the OS with no RAID controller in the data path.
- S150 software RAID: chipset software RAID, for very entry-tier configurations only.
We do not quote RAID 5 on 14 TB and larger NL-SAS without an explicit customer override: at 18 to 20 TB, single-drive rebuilds can exceed 24 hours, and RAID 5 leaves the array exposed to a second-drive failure for that entire window.
Processors
Dual 3rd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable (Ice Lake-SP) processors on socket LGA 4189, Silver and Gold tier up to 32 cores per socket. The top-bin Platinum 8380 (40 cores) is not supported; that is reserved for the R750 flagship, and the 32-core ceiling is a genuine platform validation limit. On an LFF storage node, CPU is rarely the bottleneck. A single Silver 4310 or 4314 covers a straightforward NAS or archive target; step to a Gold 5318Y or 6338N when the node also runs dedup, compression, or erasure coding, which are CPU-bound. Single-socket is the common pattern on a storage box; the second socket is available for converged compute but is not a standard field upgrade, so decide socket count at procurement. Both sockets must carry matching CPUs.
Memory
16 DDR4 DIMM slots: 8 per CPU, one DIMM per channel, 8 channels per socket, registered ECC only, DDR4-3200. Maximum is 1 TB with 16 x 64 GB RDIMM, and there is no Optane PMem support (that is an R750 flagship feature). For an LFF NAS or backup target, size memory to the workload: 128 to 256 GB for file-system cache on a straightforward NAS, 256 to 512 GB where dedup-aware backup software keeps a large in-memory hash table. The 1 DPC topology means there is no second-DIMM-per-channel expansion path later, so populate to the target at procurement.
Networking and PCIe Expansion
The R750xs uses OCP NIC 3.0, the 15th gen shift away from the rNDC mezzanine of the 13th and 14th gen platforms. One OCP 3.0 slot plus the PCIe Gen4 expansion slots. For a production LFF NAS, 25 GbE is the standard recommendation; 10 GbE is acceptable for smaller branch deployments, and 100 GbE is worth it only on high-concurrency or high-throughput backup targets. Eight spinning drives will not saturate 100 GbE on their own.
PCIe expansion is up to 6 slots (5 Gen4 plus 1 Gen3), all low-profile. On this chassis the budget is rarely tight: a 25 GbE OCP, the RAID controller, and the BOSS-S1 card leave headroom. Place any Gen4 adapter so it avoids the single Gen3 slot.
GPU Support
This is not a GPU platform, and an LFF capacity chassis is the last place to put one. The value-tier power and PCIe budget supports at most a single-width 75W card (an NVIDIA A2 or L4) for incidental transcode, but there is no thermal or slot headroom for compute GPUs, and a storage node rarely wants one. For GPU compute, the R750 or the purpose-built R750xa is the right platform.
Management - iDRAC9 Generation
iDRAC9 Enterprise is the production recommendation, the same enhanced 15th gen iDRAC9 used across the R650 and R750: Active Health System, Secured Component Verification, iDRAC Direct via front-panel micro-USB, and Quick Sync 2.0. A hardware Silicon Root of Trust validates firmware at boot, with Secure Boot, signed firmware updates, and System Lockdown on the Enterprise and Datacenter tiers. TPM 2.0 is standard, and the Lifecycle Controller handles agent-free deployment and firmware management. For a storage node that often runs lights-out, the iDRAC9 remote console and drive-health telemetry are the day-to-day operational surface.
Power and Cooling
The 8-bay LFF configuration draws less peak power than the SFF SSD variants, because spinning HDDs are lower power per drive than SAS SSDs at sustained load and the 8-bay count keeps aggregate drive power modest. Available PSU tiers are 600W, 800W, 1100W, and 1400W Platinum or Titanium.
| Workload Profile | Typical Draw | PSU Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Light: single Silver CPU, modest memory, idle storage | 150-250W | 2 x 600W or 800W Platinum redundant |
| Balanced: single or dual Gold CPU, 256 GB memory, active NAS | 250-400W | 2 x 800W or 1100W Platinum redundant |
| Heavy: dual Gold CPU, 512 GB memory, active backup/dedup | 350-550W | 2 x 1100W Platinum redundant |
Both PSUs must match; mixed wattages are not supported. Standard fans cover all LFF configurations on this chassis.
Physical Specs and Platform Notes
- Form factor: 2U rack, standard 19-inch mount, chassis depth roughly 28 inches. Verify rack depth at quote time.
- PCIe expansion: up to 6 slots (5 Gen4 plus 1 Gen3), low-profile. Slot pressure is low on an LFF storage build.
- Parts availability: strong. The 15th gen platform sits inside active Dell ProSupport coverage, with excellent supply of CPUs, DIMMs, PERC controllers, PSUs, and LFF carriers.
- Accessories we recommend: the B21 2U sliding rail kit (shared across R550 / R750xs / R760), an optional security bezel, the BOSS-S1 boot card, and the optional 2 x 2.5" rear drive kit for a flash tier.
- Platform notes: a fully populated 8 x 20 TB LFF chassis carries roughly 16 lbs of rotating media and exceeds 60 lbs total, so a two-person lift is recommended. Eight active HDDs generate noticeable noise and vibration; this is a data-center-placement box, not an office-floor one.
Our Assessment
Where it excels: branch and departmental NAS, entry-tier backup targets, small Ceph capacity nodes, and archive storage where 15th gen platform currency matters and eight LFF bays (roughly 80 to 120 TB usable at RAID 6) covers the requirement. It fills the gap between the 1U R650xs 4-Bay LFF, which is undersized for mid-tier capacity, and the 12-Bay R750xs, which is over-provisioned for a smaller target.
Where to look instead: for pure cost-primary bulk storage on a short lifecycle, the 14th gen R540 8-Bay 3.5" delivers equivalent spinning-disk performance at meaningfully lower acquisition cost. For more capacity per node, step to the R750xs 12-Bay 3.5"; for the flagship envelope (32 DIMM slots, more PCIe, larger PSUs) alongside LFF capacity, the R750 12-Bay 3.5". For SFF SSD or NVMe instead of capacity HDDs, the R750xs 8-Bay 2.5" is the platform.
Bottom line: this is the 15th gen 2U value-tier LFF platform for small-to-mid capacity storage. The 15th gen premium over the R540 earns its place when ProSupport coverage, converged compute on the storage node, or platform lifecycle alignment matter; for lowest-cost short-lifecycle storage, the R540 remains a valid call and we will quote both.
Honest Limitations
- Same R750xs envelope constraints. 16 DIMM slots, 1 TB RDIMM ceiling, 32-core CPU cap, no Optane PMem, BOSS-S1 as an add-in card.
- No NVMe path on the LFF backplane. For NVMe on the R750xs, the SFF chassis variants are required.
- Long RAID rebuilds on large drives. 18 to 20 TB NL-SAS rebuilds can exceed 24 hours. RAID 6 is mandatory at this drive size, and a hot spare is strongly recommended.
- Spinning-disk performance ceiling. Eight NL-SAS HDDs deliver strong sequential throughput but limited random IOPS, typically 100 to 200 aggregate. Random-IOPS workloads belong on an SFF SSD chassis.
- 3.5" SAS SSD is rarely the right call. Per-TB cost is far higher than 2.5" SAS SSD; if SSD is the requirement, the 8-Bay 2.5" SFF chassis is the right platform.
- Modest capacity ceiling. 8 x 20 TB (160 TB raw) is the upper bound. For larger capacity tiers, the 12-Bay R750xs or an R750 chassis is the right call.
- Acoustic and weight profile. Eight active HDDs are loud, and a full chassis exceeds 60 lbs. Data-center placement and a two-person lift apply.
Workload Fit
| Right for | Consider alternatives for |
|---|---|
| Branch / departmental NAS (80-120 TB usable) | Need more than 8 LFF bays (use R750xs 12-Bay 3.5") |
| Entry-tier backup targets at 15th gen currency | Need SFF SSD or NVMe storage (use R750xs 8-Bay 2.5") |
| Entry-tier Ceph capacity nodes (8 OSDs/node) | Need the flagship envelope (use R750 12-Bay 3.5") |
| Departmental archive / compliance storage | Cost-primary procurement (use R540 8-Bay 3.5") |
| Converged compute plus small-LFF storage | 1U deployment density (use R650xs 4-Bay 3.5") |
Where to Look Instead
- Need 12 LFF bays? The R750xs 12-Bay 3.5" adds 50 percent more capacity per node.
- Need SFF drives or NVMe? The R750xs 8-Bay 2.5" brings the Universal Backplane with NVMe.
- Need the dual-socket flagship for LFF capacity? The R750 12-Bay 3.5" is the flagship envelope.
- Cost-primary at 14th gen? The R540 8-Bay 3.5" or R540 12-Bay 3.5" (Cascade Lake, lower cost).
- Need 1U LFF capacity? The R650xs 4-Bay 3.5" is the 1U companion platform.
Ready to Configure?
Tell us your capacity target, workload type (NAS, backup, Ceph, or archive), memory target, network speed requirement, and quantity. We respond within 24 hours and will quote both the R750xs 8-Bay LFF and the R540 8-Bay LFF for a generational cost comparison where relevant. Volume pricing applies at 5 units and above.
Every Wholesale Servers R750xs ships after a 12+ hour burn-in test covering every drive bay, memory channel, and PCIe slot. Standard 180-day warranty included, with 1-Year, 2-Year, and 3-Year Premium warranty options available. Call 1-800-778-1545 or use the quote form on this page to start a configuration.
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Click the Add to Quote button at the bottom of your screen to save your design as a draft order for future reference and to check for discounts, lead time, and availability. Most servers ship within 1-3 days.
