The Dell PowerEdge R930 4-Bay 2.5" is the refurbished, minimal-local-storage configuration of Dell's 13th-generation 4U, 4-socket flagship. It carries the same platform as the rest of the R930 line: up to four Intel Xeon E7-8800 v4 or E7-4800 v4 processors, 96 DDR4 DIMM slots with a 12 TB memory ceiling, dual PERC support, and up to 10 PCIe Gen3 slots, paired with just four 2.5" hot-swap front bays. It is built for deployments where bulk storage lives on an external SAN or NAS and the local bays only need to cover OS boot, application binaries, and modest local data.

This is the cost-floor R930 when 4-socket compute and the 12 TB memory ceiling are the design drivers and local storage is genuinely minimal. SAN-attached Oracle RAC nodes, SAP HANA appliances with an external storage tier, ERP application servers with the database on a separate platform, and HPC compute nodes backed by an external parallel filesystem are the typical R930 4-Bay deployments. The freed front-bay space is matched by a deep PCIe budget for storage HBAs, Fibre Channel, and high-speed networking.

Every R930 we ship is fully refurbished and tested with a 12+ hour burn-in covering all 96 memory channels, every PCIe slot, and every drive bay, and is backed by a 180-day warranty with extended terms available. To configure a build or price a multi-unit order, call 1-800-778-1545; volume pricing applies at 5 units and above.

When 4 Bays Is the Right Choice

The 4-Bay shares the R930 platform underneath; what differs is the storage strategy. Choose this chassis when:

• Bulk storage is external. Fibre Channel or iSCSI SAN is the primary storage, and the R930 is the compute node. Common for Oracle RAC nodes on shared SAN, SAP HANA appliances with external storage, and ERP application servers with the database elsewhere.
• 4-socket scale and memory are the design drivers, not local disk. The R930's value is its four sockets and 12 TB ceiling. When the workload reads and writes to external storage, four local bays are enough.
• NAS-attached storage covers bulk data. Enterprise NFS or SMB handles capacity; the R930 is the application or database server in front of it.
• External JBOD provides bulk capacity. A PERC H830 plus external SAS shelves delivers large storage outside the chassis, leaving the front bays for boot and logs.
• Acquisition cost matters on the platform. The 4-Bay saves meaningfully versus the 24-Bay while preserving the 4-socket and 12 TB advantage.

If the workload needs substantial local SSD, hybrid SAS plus NVMe tiers, vSAN-class hyperconverged storage, or local IOPS that scale with the application, the 24-Bay variant is the better fit. That tradeoff is covered in Where to Look Instead.

Storage - 4 2.5" Bays

Four 2.5" SAS/SATA hot-swap front bays. This chassis is sized for boot and modest local data, not bulk capacity; bulk storage is expected to live on SAN, NAS, or external JBOD. Unlike the 24-Bay chassis, the 4-Bay does not have dedicated front-bay NVMe infrastructure, so NVMe is added through PCIe add-in cards rather than the front bays.

Common 4-Bay storage profiles

• 2 x SAS SSD boot mirror + 2 x SAS SSD application/log mirror: The volume configuration. Two independent RAID 1 pairs: OS boot, and application data or transaction logs.
• 4 x SAS SSD in RAID 10: Two mirrored pairs striped for a single modest combined boot-and-data array, about 50% capacity efficiency.
• 2 x SAS SSD boot + 2 x NVMe (PCIe add-in): Boot on SAS RAID 1, with a small NVMe hot tier delivered via PCIe cards.
• USB / IDSDM hypervisor boot + 4 x SAS SSD data: ESXi boots from the internal dual-SD module, freeing all four bays for data.

Boot

The R930 has no BOSS module. On the 4-Bay, the volume boot path is a 2-drive front-bay RAID 1 mirror; for hypervisor-only ESXi, internal USB / IDSDM dual-SD mirroring preserves all four bays for data. Because four bays fill quickly, plan the boot strategy at procurement: a boot mirror plus a data mirror consumes all four bays and leaves no room for a hot spare.

Storage Controllers

• PERC H730P (2 GB NV cache, battery-backed): The volume internal controller, supporting RAID 0/1/5/6/10/50/60. See the PERC H730P 2GB cache RAID controller for the part we quote by default.
• PERC H330 (no cache): Entry-tier hardware RAID for a simple boot-and-log mirror set.
• PERC H830 (external): The controller that matters most on a 4-Bay build, fronting external SAS JBOD shelves for the bulk storage that does not live in the chassis.
• 12 Gbps SAS HBA pass-through: For software-defined storage where the OS or hypervisor owns the disks.

The platform tops out at the H730P generation; the 8 GB-cache H740P is a 14th-gen part and is not available here.

Processors

The 4-Bay takes the same 2 or 4 Intel Xeon E7-8800 v4 or E7-4800 v4 (Broadwell-EX) processors as the rest of the R930 line. The E7-8800 family supports 8-socket-capable QPI interconnect (the R930 uses four sockets); the E7-4800 family is 4-socket-only at a lower price. At matching tiers the two lines share identical core counts, clocks, and TDPs, so for almost every build the E7-4800 v4 SKU is the right call; E7-8800 v4 only makes sense when a forward path to an 8-socket platform is planned, which is rare.

Common SKU choices

• E7-8890 v4 / E7-4890 v4 (24 cores, 2.2 GHz, 165W): Maximum core count. 4-socket = 96 cores / 192 threads.
• E7-8880 v4 / E7-4880 v4 (22 cores, 2.2 GHz, 150W): High-core balanced choice. 4-socket = 88 cores.
• E7-8870 v4 / E7-4870 v4 (20 cores, 2.1 GHz, 140W): Higher-core balanced, strong for SQL Server consolidation.
• E7-8860 v4 / E7-4860 v4 (18 cores, 2.2 GHz, 140W): Mid-range volume SKU. 4-socket = 72 cores.
• E7-8855 v4 / E7-4850 v4 (16 cores, 2.1 GHz, 115W): Lower-tier balanced. 4-socket = 64 cores.
• E7-8830 v4 / E7-4830 v4 (14 cores, 2.0 GHz, 115W): Cost-efficient mid-range.
• E7-8820 v4 / E7-4820 v4 (10 cores, 2.0 GHz, 115W): Entry-tier 4-socket.

Top-bin E7 parts at 150-165W generate substantial heat across four sockets; confirm fan and ambient planning at quote time.

Memory

Eight memory risers, each with 12 DDR4 DIMM slots: 96 slots and 32 channels across four sockets, running at 2400 MT/s with E7 v4 processors, identical to the 24-Bay. Maximum capacity is 12 TB using 128 GB LRDIMMs across all 96 slots; 128 GB modules are LRDIMM-only, and most builds use 64 GB LRDIMMs (6 TB maximum) for better cost per GB. Memory mirroring and memory failover are supported and trade capacity for RAS.

Practical memory configurations

• 1 TB (16 x 64 GB LRDIMM): Dense virtualization or SQL Server consolidation where 1 TB covers the workload.
• 2 TB (32 x 64 GB LRDIMM): Larger in-memory database or ERP host; SAP HANA scale-up small/medium tier.
• 3 TB (48 x 64 GB LRDIMM): SAP HANA mid-tier appliance or large Oracle RAC node.
• 4 TB (64 x 64 GB LRDIMM): Large in-memory analytics platform.
• 6 TB (96 x 64 GB LRDIMM, fully populated): Maximum capacity with 64 GB modules.
• 12 TB (96 x 128 GB LRDIMM, fully populated): The platform ceiling, for large SAP HANA appliances and in-memory scale-up.

Intel Optane Persistent Memory is not supported on the R930; the E7 v4 platform predates Cascade Lake's PMem support.

Networking and PCIe Expansion

Networking starts with a Network Daughter Card (NDC) in its own slot, so it does not consume a general-purpose PCIe slot. Beyond the NDC, the R930 offers up to 10 PCIe Gen3 slots plus a dedicated RAID slot. On a 4-Bay build this PCIe budget is the heart of the configuration: with bulk storage external, the slots carry the storage and networking fabrics.

• Storage HBA capacity: A PERC H830 plus external JBOD shelves for direct-attached scale-out. Typically 2 to 4 slots with redundancy.
• Fibre Channel: Dual 16 Gbps or 32 Gbps FC HBAs for SAN connectivity, usually 2 slots.
• High-speed networking: Dual 25 GbE or quad 10 GbE NICs for production and storage networks, 1 to 2 slots.
• InfiniBand: ConnectX-class HCAs for HPC fabrics, 1 to 2 slots.
• NVMe add-in cards: PCIe NVMe SSDs for a local hot tier when the four front bays are not enough, 1 to 4 slots.

Exact slot counts and widths depend on riser selection and CPU population; we confirm the PCIe layout for your configuration at quote time.

GPU Support

The R930 is a scale-up compute and memory platform, not a GPU server, and that is even more true of the storage-light 4-Bay, whose PCIe slots are usually committed to storage and networking fabrics. The 4U chassis can physically house accelerator cards within the thermal and power envelope of a fully populated 4-socket system, but Dell did not position the R930 as a GPU platform. For GPU-bound AI/ML training or large-scale inference, a purpose-built accelerator platform such as a 14th-generation R740xa or newer is the right tool. For a specific single-card or FPGA case, tell us at quote time and we will confirm support.

Management - iDRAC8 Generation

iDRAC8 Enterprise with Lifecycle Controller: remote KVM, virtual media, power management, hardware monitoring, and OpenManage integration, identical to the rest of the R930 line and the same platform as the R630, R730, and R830. Relative to iDRAC9 on 14th-gen platforms, iDRAC8 lacks Silicon Root of Trust and System Lockdown. For the full iDRAC8 walkthrough, see our Dell PowerEdge R630 10-Bay 2.5" page.

Power and Cooling

Four hot-swap Platinum power supplies in 750W or 1100W, configured for 2+2 (or 3+1) redundancy. Power draw on a 4-Bay build runs lower than the 24-Bay because far fewer drives are active, typically 200 to 400W less depending on drive count and type.

1100W PSUs are the volume specification for 4-socket builds regardless of chassis variant; 750W suits 2-socket or lighter 4-socket loads. Confirm rack PDU and cooling capacity, and remember that four high-TDP CPUs and up to 12 TB of memory put real heat into 4U even with only four drives.

Physical Specs and Platform Notes

• Form factor: 4U rack chassis, four-socket scale-up design. Plan full-depth rail and cable-management-arm clearance in the rack.
• PCIe expansion: Up to 10 PCIe Gen3 slots plus a dedicated RAID slot and a separate NDC slot; full-height cards supported, with the exact layout set by riser and CPU population. On the 4-Bay this budget typically carries storage HBAs and SAN or network fabrics.
• Parts availability: Mature but thinner than the volume 2-socket platforms. The R930's smaller installed base means E7-8800/E7-4800 v4 CPUs and R930-specific FRUs are less abundant on the secondary market than R630/R730 parts. Dell ProSupport for the platform is at end-of-service; third-party maintenance is the standard production support path in 2026.
• Accessories we recommend: The PERC H730P 2GB cache RAID controller for the internal bays, a PERC H830 for external JBOD when bulk storage is direct-attached, plus a 4U-depth ReadyRails kit. The 1U and 2U rail kits and bezels elsewhere in our catalog do not fit the 4U R930 chassis; we match the correct 4U hardware at quote time.
• Platform notes: No BOSS module, so boot is via front-bay RAID 1 or USB/IDSDM; no dedicated front-bay NVMe (NVMe via PCIe add-in only); iDRAC8 without Silicon Root of Trust; a PCIe Gen3 ceiling; no Optane PMem; verify rack PDU capacity for four 1100W PSUs.

Our Assessment

Where it excels: The R930 4-Bay is the right call when the platform's 4-socket compute and 12 TB memory capacity matter and local storage is genuinely minimal because bulk data lives outside the chassis. SAN-attached Oracle RAC nodes, SAP HANA appliances with an external storage tier, ERP application servers with an external database, HPC compute nodes on an external parallel filesystem (Lustre, GPFS, BeeGFS), virtualization hosts backed by external shared storage, and dense application-server consolidation in front of a SAN are where it shines.

Where to look instead: If the workload needs substantial local IOPS or a hybrid SAS-plus-NVMe tier, the R930 24-Bay is the variant to choose. If 2-socket E5-2600 v4 covers the compute, the R730 and 1U R630 cost far less. If four sockets are needed but 3 TB and 2U suffice, the R830 8-Bay saves rack space and money. Workloads needing more than 12 TB, Optane PMem, or iDRAC9 firmware integrity are a 14th-gen R940 conversation.

Bottom line: The 4-Bay versus 24-Bay decision comes down to storage strategy: external-first (4-Bay) or hybrid local-plus-external (24-Bay). For a SAN- or NAS-backed 4-socket compute appliance in Dell's 13th generation, the R930 4-Bay is the cost-correct answer, and it remains a sound buy in 2026 where the 12 TB ceiling and E7 v4 RAS fit the requirement. We help match CPU, memory tier, HBA, and PCIe slot allocation to your existing storage architecture at quote time.

Honest Limitations

• Four SFF bays is the chassis ceiling. It cannot be field-converted to 24-Bay; the backplane and drive cage are 4-Bay-specific. Growth in local storage requires external attachment via a PCIe HBA and JBOD shelves.
• No dedicated front-bay NVMe. Unlike the 24-Bay, this chassis lacks NVMe-capable front bays; NVMe is possible only through PCIe add-in cards.
• Four bays fill immediately. A boot mirror plus an application or log mirror uses all four bays, leaving no room for a hot spare without giving up a mirror.
• Storage must be externalized. The 4-Bay assumes SAN, NAS, or external direct-attached storage, and the PCIe budget is allocated accordingly.
• All R930 platform limits apply. 12 TB memory ceiling, DDR4 2400 MT/s, no Optane PMem, no 14th-gen successor stocked here, 4U rack space, and four 1100W PSUs at full 4-socket load. See our R930 24-Bay page for the full discussion.
• 13th-gen platform constraints apply. iDRAC8 without Silicon Root of Trust, no BOSS module, PERC H730P as the top controller with no H740P, a PCIe Gen3 ceiling, and Dell ProSupport at end-of-service. See our R630 10-Bay page for the full 13th-gen discussion.
• Thinner parts availability. The R930's smaller installed base means E7 v4 CPUs and chassis-specific FRUs are less abundant on the secondary market than R630/R730 parts.
• OS support narrowing. Modern OS releases may have limited 13th-gen support; verify compatibility for deployment horizons beyond 2026.

Workload Fit

Where to Look Instead

• Same platform, dense local storage: the Dell PowerEdge R930 24-Bay 2.5" adds 20 more SFF bays and up to 8 front-bay NVMe for workloads where local storage scales with the application.
• Four sockets in 2U: the Dell PowerEdge R830 8-Bay 2.5" is the same-generation 4-socket platform with E5-4600 v4, 48 DIMM slots, and a 3 TB ceiling. It saves rack space and cost when 3 TB is enough.
• Two-socket, lower cost: the Dell PowerEdge R730 8-Bay 3.5" and the 1U Dell PowerEdge R630 10-Bay 2.5" cover workloads that fit within 2-socket E5-2600 v4 and up to 1.5 TB, at a much lower price.
• 13th-gen LFF capacity: the Dell PowerEdge R730xd 24-Bay 2.5" and its 12-Bay 3.5" companion are the dense-storage alternative when capacity drives, not socket count, are the requirement.
• Default storage controller: the PERC H730P 2GB cache RAID controller is the controller we quote for most R930 builds.
• Next generation: the 14th-gen R940 is the forward path for iDRAC9, faster DDR4, Optane PMem, and a longer support runway. We do not stock it but can source it on request. There is no direct HPE 4-socket 4U counterpart in our current catalog; the closest concept is the ProLiant DL580 Gen9, which we can also source on request.

Ready to Configure?

Tell us your workload (SAN-attached Oracle RAC, SAP HANA with external storage, ERP application server, HPC compute node, virtualization host with shared storage), target socket count (2 or 4), CPU preference, memory capacity in the 1-12 TB range, local storage configuration (two RAID 1 mirrors, 4-drive RAID 10, or an alternative), external storage architecture (Fibre Channel, iSCSI, NAS, or direct-attached JBOD), PCIe expansion needs (storage HBA, FC HBA, networking, InfiniBand), and quantity. We respond within 24 hours.

For SAN-attached deployments, share your existing storage architecture, including vendor, fabric speed, and expected per-node bandwidth, and we will configure FC or iSCSI HBA selection and PCIe slot allocation accordingly.

Every Wholesale Servers R930 ships after a 12+ hour burn-in covering every PCIe slot, all 96 memory channels, and every drive bay. The standard 180-day warranty is included, with 1-Year, 2-Year, and 3-Year Premium options available. Call 1-800-778-1545 or use the quote form on this page; volume pricing applies at 5 units and above.