Dell PowerEdge R750xs 8-Bay 2.5" NVME
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
The PERC H755N is the controller built for this backplane: it brings true hardware RAID to NVMe drives, which historically ran unprotected or leaned on software solutions. Battery-backed cache, real RAID levels, and the drives keep the latency you bought them for. For an NVMe array managed the traditional way, it is the correct and complete answer, and it is the option on this page.
The honest alternative is no hardware RAID at all: modern software-defined stacks, vSAN, Storage Spaces Direct, Ceph, and ZFS, were built to own NVMe drives directly, and if this server is joining one of those, you want the drives passed through rather than arrayed. Call 1-800-778-1545 and we will configure that build correctly.
Either way, the array guidance stands: RAID 10 where write latency matters most, and a plan for the first drive failure before it happens, because on NVMe the array is usually carrying the workloads that hurt most when degraded.
5 Storage Drives Select up to 8 drives (0/8 Slots Used) Optional
This is the R750xs for workloads where storage speed is the product: busy databases, latency-sensitive virtualization, analytics scratch, and application tiers that measure response in microseconds. NVMe drives connect over PCIe lanes rather than a storage bus, and the difference is not subtle; if you have been throttled by SAS SSDs, this backplane is the cure.
Buy new, and on NVMe we will add the technical reason to the usual one: flash endurance is consumed by writes, and a used NVMe drive has spent an unknown share of its life already. Every drive here ships new with its full endurance ahead of it.
Size for endurance as well as capacity: mixed-use drives carry the write budget that databases and heavy virtualization consume, while read-intensive drives cost less per terabyte for content and analytics serving. Tell us the workload and we will match the class.
Boot the right way: the BOSS card in the Add-Ons step carries a mirrored M.2 pair for the operating system, keeping all eight NVMe bays for the fast storage you bought them for.
Pair this backplane with the H755N controller (see the RAID step) for hardware-managed arrays, or with pass-through for software-defined stacks. Either way, plan the first failure now: hot spares or rapid replacement, because the workloads on an NVMe array are the ones that hurt most while degraded.
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 NVMe Drives [15th Gen] Detailed Review
The Dell PowerEdge R750xs 8-Bay NVMe is the all-flash specialty configuration of Dell's 15th gen 2U platform: eight 2.5" front bays running as native PCIe Gen4 NVMe through the Universal Backplane in NVMe mode, every bay backed by Gen4 bandwidth, on the dual-socket-capable Ice Lake-SP architecture with 16 DIMM slots. This is the R750xs to reach for when NVMe storage performance is the primary design driver: vSAN ESA single-socket nodes, NVMe-oF target nodes, distributed NVMe storage at scale-out economics, and database platforms where sub-100 microsecond storage latency is the requirement at value-tier 2U pricing.
Condition: this R750xs is available Surplus New or Refurbished. Surplus New means genuinely unused excess inventory, never deployed, priced below Dell-direct new because it sits outside Dell's normal new-sales channel; the Wholesale Servers warranty applies either way. As a 15th gen platform, the R750xs is no longer sold factory-new by Dell, so we are straight about which condition you are quoting. Both conditions carry the same burn-in and inspection process.
To configure a build, call 1-800-778-1545 or use the quote form on this page. Volume pricing applies at 5 units and up. Every unit ships after a 12+ hour burn-in that exercises every NVMe drive bay, memory channel, and PCIe lane, and carries our standard 180-day warranty with optional 1-Year, 2-Year, and 3-Year Premium coverage.
When All-NVMe Is the Right Call
This variant is the same R750xs chassis as the 8-Bay 2.5", with the Universal Backplane explicitly configured for all-NVMe operation rather than the mixed-protocol flexibility of the SAS/SATA build. It is procured when the buyer has decided up front that NVMe is the storage tier.
- Every bay PCIe Gen4 NVMe-configured. The hardware is the same Universal Backplane; the build-time configuration is the difference. The 8-Bay 2.5" typically ships SAS/SATA-configured for mixed-protocol flexibility; this variant ships all-NVMe.
- vSAN ESA-ready out of the box. ESA wants all-NVMe; this configuration ships ESA-ready with no protocol conversion needed.
- Pre-configured for NVMe pass-through. The HBA355i is the standard controller, and the NVMe drives present directly to the OS with no RAID controller in the data path.
- Networking assumption is more aggressive. Eight Gen4 NVMe drives generate throughput that 10 GbE cannot surface. 25 GbE is the minimum baseline; 100 GbE for NVMe-oF or high-concurrency ESA.
Storage - 8 Native PCIe Gen4 NVMe Bays
Eight U.2 NVMe SSDs on the Universal Backplane in NVMe mode, each bay at PCIe Gen4 bandwidth (7+ GB/s sequential read per drive). Aggregate sequential read at full population is 56+ GB/s theoretical, limited in practice by PCIe fabric layout, the network ceiling, and application concurrency.
NVMe drive selection
- Mixed-use NVMe (1-3 DWPD): for the vSAN ESA write tier, write-intensive databases, NVMe-oF targets, and Ceph bluestore. Do not use read-intensive drives for write-heavy workloads; the endurance mismatch causes premature wear and unexpected failures.
- Read-intensive NVMe (0.1-1 DWPD): for the ESA capacity tier, read-dominant databases, distributed object storage, and read-heavy application workloads. Lower cost per TB at equivalent read performance.
- Capacity selection: 1.6 TB, 3.2 TB, 6.4 TB, and 7.68 TB U.2 NVMe drives all qualify, with 15.36 TB qualified on most generations. Match capacity to IOPS density: 8 x 1.6 TB gives 12.8 TB at higher per-drive IOPS, 8 x 7.68 TB gives 61 TB at lower IOPS density.
Every NVMe drive we ship is assessed for remaining endurance via SMART before shipment. Drives with significant endurance consumption are disclosed and priced accordingly.
Common storage architectures
- vSAN ESA: eight Gen4 NVMe drives in a unified ESA storage pool per node, HBA355i pass-through, vSphere 8.x required, 25 GbE minimum and 100 GbE recommended.
- NVMe-oF target: eight Gen4 NVMe drives served to client hosts over RoCE or TCP fabric, with 100 GbE or InfiniBand for the fabric.
- Ceph all-NVMe OSD node: eight Gen4 NVMe OSDs per node, Bluestore on HBA355i pass-through, 128 to 256 GB memory.
- Direct-attached database tier: eight NVMe drives presented to SQL Server, Oracle, or PostgreSQL with mdadm or Storage Spaces software RAID, for sub-100 microsecond latency on transaction logs and active tablespaces.
Boot: BOSS-S1 add-in card with dual mirrored M.2 SATA SSDs keeps the OS off the front bays, so all eight NVMe bays stay available for data. IDSDM and internal USB are also available for hypervisor boot.
Storage Controllers
On an all-NVMe node the controller story is deliberately simple: the drives want to talk to the CPU PCIe lanes directly, and the storage redundancy lives in software.
- HBA355i (pass-through): the standard controller on this variant and the correct choice for vSAN ESA, Ceph, ZFS, and any software-defined NVMe stack. No RAID; the storage layer owns the drives.
- Direct NVMe attach: the U.2 NVMe bays connect to the CPU PCIe lanes through the backplane, not through a PERC, which is what delivers the Gen4 latency profile.
- Hardware NVMe RAID is rarely the right call. Software-defined redundancy (vSAN, Ceph, ZFS, mdadm) generally outperforms a hardware NVMe RAID controller on this class of workload. We quote PERC 11 hardware RAID (H755 / H745) only where a customer specifically needs SAS/SATA RAID alongside, which is not the all-NVMe use case.
Processors
The R750xs runs 3rd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable (Ice Lake-SP, 2021) on Socket LGA 4189, up to two sockets. The cost-optimized xs platform caps each socket at 32 cores, against the 40-core ceiling of the full R650/R750.
- Silver 4300 series: the value tier, adequate for read-dominant NVMe nodes where the CPU is mostly servicing IO.
- Gold 5300 / 6300 series: the production default for ESA, NVMe-oF, and database nodes. A 32-core Gold 6338 (or the network-optimized 6338N) is the practical top bin on the xs; the cores matter when the storage layer runs erasure coding, checksumming, or compression in the data path.
- Single-socket vs. dual-socket: a single socket covers most mid-sized NVMe database and edge nodes. Step to dual-socket when the node needs the full sixteen DIMM slots and the extra PCIe lanes for 100 GbE plus a dedicated HBA.
Top-bin CPUs require the high-performance heatsink. Ordering a high-TDP CPU with the standard heatsink is a common configuration error that thermally throttles the part under sustained load.
Memory
The R750xs carries 16 DDR4 DIMM slots, eight channels per socket at one DIMM per channel. This is the defining value-tier delta against the full R650/R750, which carry 32 slots at two DIMMs per channel.
- Type: registered ECC RDIMM only. No LRDIMM, no Intel Optane Persistent Memory on the xs. If a workload needs LRDIMM density or Optane, that is the signal to step up to the full R750.
- Maximum capacity: 1 TB with 16 x 64 GB RDIMM. Sufficient for most ESA, NVMe-oF, and NVMe database nodes.
- Speed: DDR4-3200 at one DIMM per channel. The 1 DPC topology means there is no two-DIMM-per-channel speed step-down to plan around; the platform runs at rated speed when fully populated.
- Sizing guidance: 128 to 256 GB for Ceph all-NVMe OSD nodes; for vSAN ESA, follow the cluster's per-node RAM sizing for the working set plus dedup and compression overhead.
Networking and PCIe Expansion
On an all-NVMe node the network is the storage performance ceiling for most deployments, so the NIC choice is a first-order decision. Networking uses the OCP NIC 3.0 slot, the 15th gen shift away from the rack Network Daughter Card (rNDC) of 13th and 14th gen, and it does not consume a standard PCIe slot.
- Dual-port 25 GbE SFP28 (OCP 3.0): the minimum recommendation, acceptable for ESA clusters with moderate east-west traffic and modest client-facing demand.
- Dual-port 100 GbE QSFP28: the standard for NVMe-oF targets and high-concurrency ESA, and the right answer wherever NVMe latency and aggregate throughput both matter.
- Dual-port 200 GbE (where qualified): specialty configurations for the most demanding NVMe-oF or HPC storage targets.
- PCIe expansion: up to 6 PCIe Gen4 slots (five Gen4 plus one Gen3), riser-dependent. On an NVMe node the slots typically carry the high-speed NIC and the HBA, leaving room for a fabric card on the dual-socket build.
GPU Support
The 8-Bay NVMe is a storage-performance chassis, not a GPU platform; the PCIe and power budget here is committed to NVMe and high-speed networking. The 2U xs can host a single low-profile single-width accelerator where a node also runs light inference alongside storage, but that is an edge case. For GPU compute, the full R750 is the 2U GPU platform (up to two to three double-width cards); see the R750 24-Bay 2.5" flagship line or a Dell tower for GPU-oriented builds.
Management - iDRAC9
The R750xs ships with iDRAC9 (15th gen) in Express, Enterprise, and Datacenter tiers. Enterprise is the practical default for a clustered NVMe storage node: full remote console, virtual media, and the alerting a lights-out node needs.
- Security baseline: Silicon Root of Trust, Secure Boot, Secure Erase, and System Lockdown mode, with TPM 1.2/2.0 options.
- Lifecycle Controller: agent-free firmware updates and bare-metal provisioning, with OpenManage Enterprise integration for managing the cluster as a fleet.
Power and Cooling
NVMe configurations draw less power than equivalent spinning-disk builds, so the 800W and 1100W tiers cover most R750xs NVMe deployments. All PSUs are hot-plug redundant Platinum.
| Workload Profile | Typical Draw | PSU Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Light: single Silver CPU, modest memory, 4 NVMe populated | 200-300W | 2 x 800W Platinum redundant |
| Balanced: dual Gold CPU, 512 GB memory, full 8 NVMe plus 25 GbE | 300-450W | 2 x 1100W Platinum redundant |
| Heavy: dual Gold 6338N, 1 TB memory, 8 high-endurance NVMe plus 100 GbE | 450-650W | 2 x 1400W Platinum redundant |
The lower-power NVMe profile is not a license to drop PSU redundancy; redundant Platinum PSUs are the production standard. Data center ambient (up to 35C / 95F standard) is assumed.
Physical Specs & Platform Notes
- Form factor: 2U rack, full-depth chassis. An all-NVMe build is lighter than a spinning-disk chassis; standard rack handling applies, and a cable management arm helps on the cabled, high-speed-networked node.
- PCIe expansion: up to 6 slots (five Gen4 plus one Gen3), full-height and low-profile depending on riser. On the NVMe node the slots carry the NIC and HBA.
- Parts availability: 15th gen is current; Dell ProSupport-class parts availability is strong and the R750xs is well within its serviceable life.
- Accessories we recommend: the LCD bezel for at-a-glance health, and the B21 2U sliding rail kit shared across the R550/R750xs/R760 (see the R750xs B21 sliding rails). A cable management arm is worth a slot on a 100 GbE node.
- Platform notes: NVMe bays connect to CPU PCIe lanes through the backplane (no PERC in the NVMe data path); BOSS-S1 is an add-in PCIe card on this platform, not an embedded module; CPU hot-plug is not supported.
Our Assessment
Where it excels: single-socket vSAN ESA nodes at eight Gen4 NVMe, NVMe-oF target nodes, distributed NVMe storage (Ceph, MinIO) at scale-out economics, local-NVMe database nodes, and Kubernetes workers needing local persistent NVMe at sub-100 microsecond latency. The headline case is ESA at eight NVMe per single-socket node, where the value-tier economics deliver real per-node savings over the R750 flagship while keeping full ESA capability.
Where to look instead: for more NVMe density per node, the R750xs 16-Bay 2.5" or the R750 24-Bay 2.5". For SAS/SATA mixed-protocol flexibility, the R750xs 8-Bay 2.5". For LFF capacity drives, the R750xs 8-Bay 3.5". For a 1U footprint, the R650xs 8-Bay 2.5". For cost-primary NVMe where Gen3 bandwidth is acceptable, the 14th gen R640 10-Bay NVMe.
Bottom line: this is the 15th gen 2U value-tier all-NVMe platform for scale-out and ESA deployments where per-node cost matters and eight NVMe per node is the right density. The typical customer is an IT team building a cost-disciplined ESA, NVMe-oF, or distributed-storage cluster and choosing eight high-performance drives per node over a denser, costlier flagship. Where the requirement is fundamentally more density or more compute, that is the 16-Bay xs, the R750 flagship, or the 16th-gen R760xs, not a reconfigured eight-bay.
Honest Limitations
- Value-tier envelope. 16 DIMM slots, 1 TB RDIMM max, 32-core CPU cap, no Optane PMem, BOSS-S1 as an add-in card, 6 PCIe slots (five Gen4 plus one Gen3). If any of those is a hard constraint, the full R750 is the platform.
- Storage performance ceiling is the network. Eight Gen4 NVMe drives can saturate 25 GbE; for NVMe-oF or aggregate-throughput deployments, plan 100 GbE from the start.
- NVMe drive endurance is a real procurement decision. Mixed-use (1-3 DWPD) and read-intensive (0.1-1 DWPD) drives differ significantly in cost and lifespan. Right-size endurance to the workload rather than over-buying or under-buying.
- NVMe wear monitoring is an operational concern. SMART data must be monitored; NVMe drives can fail without the classic SAS SSD warning patterns. Plan replacement on endurance consumption, not chassis age.
- Eight bays is the density ceiling on this variant. If the design needs sixteen or twenty-four NVMe per node, this is the wrong chassis; go wider on the 16-Bay xs or the R750 24-Bay.
- Aggregate NVMe throughput is platform-bound. The xs single-socket-optimized PCIe lane budget can limit sustained maximum-throughput NVMe under heavy concurrency; the R750 flagship's larger PCIe budget is the right call there.
Workload Fit
| Excels at | Where to look elsewhere |
|---|---|
| vSAN ESA single-socket nodes (8 Gen4 NVMe) | Need more than 8 NVMe bays (use 16-Bay R750xs or 24-Bay R750) |
| NVMe-oF targets with single-socket efficiency | Need the R750 flagship envelope |
| Distributed NVMe storage at scale-out economics | Need SAS/SATA flexibility (use 8-Bay 2.5") |
| Local-NVMe database nodes | Need LFF capacity drives (use 8-Bay or 12-Bay 3.5") |
| Sub-100 microsecond latency at value-tier pricing | Cost-primary procurement (use 14th gen R640 10-Bay NVMe) |
| Kubernetes workers with local NVMe | 1U deployment density (use R650xs) |
Where to Look Instead
- Need SAS/SATA flexibility? The R750xs 8-Bay 2.5" runs the Universal Backplane in mixed-protocol mode.
- Need 16 NVMe per node? The R750xs 16-Bay 2.5" (higher density on the same platform).
- Need 24 NVMe per node? The R750 24-Bay 2.5" (flagship territory).
- Need LFF capacity drives? The R750xs 8-Bay 3.5" (NL-SAS NAS and Ceph capacity tier).
- Need a 1U platform? The R650xs 8-Bay 2.5" (1U value-tier).
- 14th gen NVMe at lower cost? The R640 10-Bay NVMe (Cascade Lake, PCIe Gen3 NVMe).
- Cross-vendor counterpart: the HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen11 is the closest HPE 2U analog. We do not currently stock a configured DL380 Gen11 NVMe page; ask and we will advise.
Ready to Configure?
NVMe builds benefit from an upfront discussion of drive endurance, network sizing, the vSAN / NVMe-oF / Ceph architecture, memory for the software storage stack, and PCIe lane allocation. Tell us your storage architecture, drive endurance target, network speed, memory target, quantity, and whether you want it quoted Surplus New or Refurbished. We respond within 24 hours. Volume pricing applies at 5 units and above.
Every Wholesale Servers R750xs ships after a 12+ hour burn-in covering every PCIe slot, every memory channel, and every NVMe drive bay, with a standard 180-day warranty and optional 1-Year, 2-Year, and 3-Year Premium coverage. Call 1-800-778-1545 or use the quote form on this page to start a build.
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