The Dell PowerEdge R760xs 8-Bay NVMe is the all-NVMe loadout of the 16th-generation 2U dual-socket cost-optimized platform. It shares the chassis, universal backplane, and dual-socket motherboard of the standard R760xs 8-Bay 2.5" build, but is specified from the factory with eight Gen5 NVMe drives and the PERC H965i (Series 12 / PERC12) controller that handles NVMe RAID across every level (0/1/5/6/10/50/60). It is sold as a higher-tier preconfigured loadout because the NVMe drive cost plus the PERC12 controller put it at a different price point than the SAS/SATA standard build.

This SKU exists because RAID on Gen5 NVMe is a controller question, not a backplane question. The universal backplane accepts any drive type, but the entry-level PERC H355 does not do NVMe RAID at all, and the PERC H755 Front variant does not do NVMe RAID either. Only the PERC H755N or the PERC H965i can put Gen5 NVMe drives under hardware RAID 5/6/10. We ship the H965i with this build because it is the right controller for the full RAID matrix on NVMe and because PERC12 is the current-generation Series 12 controller. Offered New at below-list pricing with the Dell manufacturer warranty path; Surplus New and certified-refurbished configurations are also available.

To configure a build, call 1-800-778-1545 or request a quote online and we respond within 24 hours. Every unit carries our 180-day warranty, and refurbished and Surplus New units ship only after a 12+ hour burn-in and full inspection. Volume pricing applies at 5 units and up.

When All-NVMe Is the Right Loadout

Three things make this a distinct SKU rather than a configuration toggle on the standard 8-Bay build:

• Controller compatibility. Not every PERC handles NVMe RAID. PERC H355 supports only RAID 0/1/10 on SAS/SATA and no NVMe RAID at all. PERC H755 Front handles SAS/SATA RAID across all levels but does not do NVMe RAID. To get RAID 5/6/10 on NVMe drives you need PERC H755N (NVMe-specific PERC11) or PERC H965i (PERC12, the right call on 16th gen). This build ships the H965i.
• Drive cost. Eight Gen5 NVMe drives are a meaningfully higher bill of materials than eight SAS/SATA SSDs at equivalent capacity. Pricing this separately is more honest than burying the difference in configuration upcharges.
• Workload fit. The buyer who wants this build is targeting vSAN ESA, NVMe-backed databases, or latency-sensitive virtualization and already knows NVMe is the requirement. A dedicated SKU shortens the quote conversation.

If you are not sure whether you need this build or the standard 8-Bay, the test is simple: do you need RAID 5/6/10 on Gen5 NVMe drives? If yes, this is the SKU. If you would run NVMe in pass-through (HBA355i for vSAN ESA, Ceph, ZFS), either build works, but the standard R760xs 8-Bay 2.5" starts cheaper because the controller is cheaper.

Storage: 8 SFF Bays, All Gen5 NVMe

Eight 2.5" hot-swap bays populated with Gen5 NVMe SSDs on the same universal backplane as the standard build, loaded here for the NVMe use case. Maximum raw capacity is 122.88 TB with 16 TB Gen5 NVMe drives. Aggregate bandwidth approaches 100 GB/s with all eight drives populated, before any controller bottleneck.

• Gen5 NVMe (direct-attach): up to roughly 14 GB/s per drive, PCIe Gen5 x4 lanes per slot. This is the headline capability of the platform.
• PERC H965i (Series 12, 8 GB flash-backed cache): standard on this build. RAID 0/1/5/6/10/50/60 across NVMe drives. The cache absorbs write bursts and the PERC12 architecture handles Gen5 NVMe at line speed.
• HBA355i alternative: if the workload is vSAN ESA (which mandates pass-through to NVMe drives, not hardware RAID), specify HBA355i instead of the H965i and we substitute at quote time. ESA buyers who want higher per-node drive count should also look at the R660xs 10-Bay.
• Boot: BOSS-N1 (hot-swap): two M.2 NVMe SSDs in hardware RAID 1, separate from the front bays, hot-swappable for boot-drive replacement without downtime.

Storage Controllers at NVMe Scale

The PERC H965i is the reason this SKU exists, and it is worth understanding what makes it the right pick on an all-NVMe build:

• Tri-mode, tri-protocol: one card handles SAS4 (22.5 Gb/s), SATA, and Gen5 NVMe RAID. PERC11 needed separate H755 and H755N cards for SAS/SATA versus NVMe; PERC12 collapses that to one controller.
• Full RAID matrix on NVMe: 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60. The H355 and H755 Front variants cannot do this on NVMe; the H755N can only on PERC11-generation NVMe.
• 8 GB flash-backed cache: the cache survives power events (a supercap-backed flash module). Write coalescing is meaningful even on NVMe because it reduces controller overhead at high IOPS.
• Front-mounted variant: the Front H965i mounts directly behind the drive backplane on the R760xs, simplifying cabling.

When the H965i is the wrong choice: vSAN ESA or any storage stack that requires direct NVMe access (Ceph with NVMe-attached OSDs, ZFS with native pool management, or any software-defined storage that does its own redundancy). For those, HBA355i pass-through is mandatory; a PERC RAID card in front of vSAN ESA capacity drives will fail the platform certification. The full controller lineup (H755, H755N, H355, HBA355i, HBA355e/H965e external, S160 software RAID) matches the standard build; see the R760xs 8-Bay 2.5" build for the SAS/SATA-oriented options.

Processors: 4th or 5th Gen Xeon Scalable

Dual-socket, supporting both 4th Gen Sapphire Rapids and 5th Gen Emerald Rapids in the same Socket E1 / LGA 4677, the same processor lineup as the standard 8-Bay build and the R660xs. The xs tier caps supported CPU TDP below the full R760.

• 4th Gen (Sapphire Rapids): up to 32 cores per socket, DDR5 up to 4800 MT/s. The volume tier.
• 5th Gen (Emerald Rapids): up to 28 cores per socket, DDR5 up to 5200 MT/s, drop-in compatible with 4th gen on the same socket, with higher per-core performance and memory bandwidth.

For NVMe-backed databases and latency-sensitive virtualization, dual Gold 6438Y+ (32-core, 205W) pairs well with the all-NVMe storage tier; for lighter inference-plus-storage nodes, dual Silver 4416+ (20-core, 165W) is the value point. The TDP ceiling is roughly 225W, the same as the standard build; 300W+ Platinum SKUs are full R760 territory.

Memory: 16 DDR5 Slots

Sixteen DDR5 RDIMM slots, 8 per CPU across 8 memory channels per socket at 1 DIMM per channel, 16 DIMMs total. Speed tracks the CPU generation (4800 MT/s on 4th gen, 5200 MT/s on 5th gen). Maximum capacity is 1 TB per Dell's official spec, with some channel sources listing up to 1.5 TB at 128 GB RDIMMs.

• Registered ECC RDIMM only. UDIMM and LRDIMM are not supported.
• Practical sizing for NVMe workloads: 512 GB (8x 64GB) is the common pairing for NVMe-backed database and ESA nodes; 1 TB for larger in-memory or VDI pools.

The 1 TB ceiling is the platform's main memory constraint; for more, the full R760 carries 32 DIMM slots and an 8 TB ceiling.

Networking and PCIe Expansion

Dual 1 GbE LOM ports standard plus one OCP 3.0 mezzanine slot, with up to 6 PCIe slots in a 2-CPU configuration. On an all-NVMe build the network is usually the bottleneck before the drives are, so the OCP and PCIe headroom matters.

• 25 GbE via OCP is the practical baseline for NVMe-backed database and virtualization tiers.
• 100 GbE for vSAN ESA, NVMe-over-fabrics, and storage-heavy nodes that can actually feed the drives.

The 16th-gen platform uses OCP NIC 3.0 for high-speed networking; the rNDC mezzanine belonged to the older 13th and 14th-gen generations. The 2U chassis has room for dual 100 GbE OCP plus additional PCIe NICs, which the 1U R660xs typically does not.

GPU Support

Up to 2x 75W single-width low-profile GPUs in a dual-CPU configuration, the same envelope as the standard build. On an NVMe node this is most useful for AI inference paired with a fast local data tier.

• Inference: NVIDIA L4 (72W) or T4 (70W) for inference serving and transcoding alongside the NVMe data tier.
• Not a training platform: 75W single-width is the ceiling; no double-width cards. Training-class GPUs are R760 or R760xa territory.
• Thermal: adding GPUs triggers a Fan 1 upgrade to HPR Gold and raises power draw, which matters more on an all-NVMe build where the drives already add load.

Management and Security

• iDRAC9 Enterprise: the 16th-gen management baseline; iDRAC10 is the 17th-gen R670/R770, not this platform.
• Silicon Root of Trust: standard on 16th gen, cryptographic verification from boot ROM through OS handoff, required for federal compliance baselines.
• TPM 2.0 standard, with OpenManage Enterprise for fleet management on the same toolchain as the rest of the 16th-gen lineup.

Power and Cooling

All-NVMe loadouts draw more under sustained load than SAS/SATA equivalents because Gen5 NVMe drives can pull 12–20W each at peak. Size PSUs accordingly; 1100W Titanium is the practical floor for this build.

Six hot-swap fan modules cool the chassis; adding GPUs, BOSS-N1, or the heavier NVMe loadout pushes Fan 1 to HPR Gold. Peak draws under burst load can spike well above sustained averages, so do not undersize.

Physical Specs & Platform Notes

• Form factor: 2U rack, air-cooled only, no DLC on the xs tier. Standard 2U depth with cable management arm clearance.
• PCIe expansion: up to 6 PCIe slots in a 2-CPU configuration (Gen5 and Gen4 by riser), plus one OCP 3.0 slot and one dedicated PERC slot; 4 slots with a single CPU.
• Parts availability: current-generation 16th-gen hardware with excellent parts availability and an active Dell ProSupport path.
• Accessories we recommend: the optional LCD security bezel, a cable management arm, and the R550/R750xs/R760 2U sliding rail kit for a complete rack BOM.
• Platform notes: the universal backplane accepts SAS, SATA, and NVMe, but this SKU is loaded all-NVMe with the H965i; the optional rear-bay kit is exclusive to the 12x 3.5" LFF chassis; and any GPU or BOSS-N1 forces the Fan 1 upgrade to HPR Gold.

Our Assessment

Where it excels: this is the right call when you need Gen5 NVMe under hardware RAID across every RAID level on a current-generation 2U dual-socket platform, with the cost benefit of the xs tier (no DLC complexity, smaller GPU envelope, 16-DIMM board) relative to the full R760. The PERC H965i pairing is the differentiator: it is the controller that genuinely handles RAID 5/6/10 on NVMe, which the standard build's H755 Front does not.

Where to look instead: for vSAN ESA at scale, substitute HBA355i for the H965i at quote (PERC RAID in front of ESA drives breaks the certification), and for higher per-node NVMe count consider the R660xs 10-Bay. For more than 1 TB of memory or larger GPUs, step up to the Dell PowerEdge R760 8-Bay. Where SAS or SATA drives would suffice at lower cost, the standard R760xs 8-Bay 2.5" is the cheaper entry. And where Gen5 bandwidth is not required, the 15th-gen R750xs 8-Bay NVMe covers the role for less.

Bottom line: the all-NVMe 16th-gen 2U cost-optimized SKU with the proper Gen5 NVMe RAID controller. The typical buyer runs NVMe-backed databases or latency-sensitive virtualization and needs RAID 5/6/10 on NVMe specifically. Ship the H965i for hardware RAID or HBA355i for vSAN ESA; a 1100W Titanium PSU is the floor; and keep BOSS-N1 hot-swap boot.

Generation Context

Against the 15th-gen R750xs 8-Bay NVMe (Ice Lake), this build moves from PCIe Gen4 to Gen5 NVMe, DDR4 to DDR5, and cold-swap BOSS-S1 to hot-swap BOSS-N1, on the 16th-gen security baseline. For workloads that do not need Gen5 throughput, the R750xs NVMe build is the value play on refurbished.

Against the standard R760xs 8-Bay 2.5" build, the chassis, backplane, and motherboard are identical; this SKU pairs the H965i with all-NVMe drives at a higher entry price, while the standard build pairs H755 or H355 with SAS/SATA at a lower one. Against the 1U R660xs 10-Bay, that platform offers higher per-node NVMe density (10 bays) in 1U but no GPU support and less PCIe expansion. Against the full R760, the full platform adds 32 DIMM slots, DLC, and larger GPU options. The 17th-gen R770 (Granite Rapids, iDRAC10) is the emerging successor, with no announced cost-reduced variant, so for a current-generation 2U all-NVMe cost-optimized build this is the answer.

Honest Limitations

• The H965i is not the right controller for vSAN ESA. If the workload is ESA, substitute HBA355i pass-through; PERC RAID in front of ESA capacity drives breaks the platform certification. Tell us at quote time and we spec it correctly.
• NVMe RAID rebuild times can be deceptively long. A 16 TB NVMe drive at full write speed still takes hours to rebuild under load, and the parity math on RAID 6 adds overhead. Plan rebuild SLAs and hot-spare allocation; faster than spinning disk, slower than buyers sometimes assume.
• Gen5 NVMe drives draw real power. 12–20W per drive at peak, 6–10W sustained. Eight at peak adds 100W+ of drive draw alone before CPU and memory, so do not undersize PSUs.
• NVMe drive cost dominates the bill of materials. Eight Gen5 NVMe drives at 7.68 TB each can cost more than the server platform itself. Use 3.84 TB drives or partial population where budget is the constraint and capacity allows.
• Controllers are not field-swapped in five minutes. Moving from H755 Front on the standard build to the H965i here involves removing the front PERC, re-cabling, and reconfiguring the array, which is why this is sold as its own SKU rather than a swap-in option.
• All R760xs platform limits apply: 1 TB memory ceiling, 225W CPU TDP ceiling, 2x 75W single-width GPU ceiling, no DLC, no 600W PSU. See the standard R760xs 8-Bay 2.5" build for the full platform discussion.

Workload Fit

Where to Look Instead

• SAS/SATA at a lower entry price: the standard R760xs 8-Bay 2.5" build.
• 1U NVMe density: the R660xs 10-Bay or the R660xs 8-Bay.
• More memory, DLC, larger GPUs: the full Dell PowerEdge R760 8-Bay.
• Lower cost where Gen5 is not required: the 15th-gen R750xs 8-Bay NVMe.

Ready to Configure?

Tell us your CPU generation (4th vs 5th gen), memory capacity, NVMe drive count and capacity (up to 8 front plus boot), RAID requirement (the H965i is standard; HBA355i substitution for vSAN ESA), boot configuration, GPU need (up to 2x 75W single-width), networking speed, PSU preference, and quantity. Call 1-800-778-1545 or request a quote online and we return a formal quote within 24 hours. Every order carries the 180-day warranty with a 12+ hour burn-in on tested units, with 1/2/3-year Premium warranty options available, and volume pricing starts at 5 units.

Building vSAN ESA? Specify the HBA355i substitution and we swap the H965i for pass-through and adjust pricing; the chassis and drives are the same, only the controller changes. For SAS/SATA-primary builds, the standard R760xs 8-Bay 2.5" is the better entry point. Wholesale Servers is a Dell new and refurbished server reseller; contact us or request a quote to get started.