HPE ProLiant BL460c Gen10 Blade Server

The HPE ProLiant BL460c Gen10 is the current-generation half-height blade server for HPE BladeSystem c7000 enclosures — the Gen10 equivalent of the BL460c Gen9, running Intel Xeon Scalable processors (Skylake or Cascade Lake) with iLO 5, PCIe 3.0 connectivity, and the full Gen10 management and security platform. For HPE BladeSystem environments that have already invested in c7000 enclosure infrastructure, the BL460c Gen10 is the upgrade path that preserves enclosure compatibility while moving to Gen10 compute.

For blade architecture fundamentals — when blades make sense vs. rack servers, c7000 enclosure prerequisites, networking through enclosure interconnects — see the BL460c Gen9 page. All of that framing applies to the Gen10 blade as well. This page covers what changes in Gen10 and when the upgrade from Gen9 is worth making.

Critical prerequisite: The BL460c Gen10 requires a compatible HPE BladeSystem c7000 enclosure. It cannot function as a standalone server. If you don't have an existing c7000 enclosure, see the HPE c7000 Enclosure page.

Gen10 vs. Gen9 Blade — What Changes

• iLO 5 vs. iLO 4: The Gen10 blade ships with iLO 5 — Silicon Root of Trust, firmware integrity monitoring, improved REST API, Active Health System v2. The same iLO 5 vs. iLO 4 security gap as the rack server comparison. For compliance environments and longer-lifecycle blade deployments, iLO 5 is a meaningful improvement.
• Intel Xeon Scalable (Skylake/Cascade Lake): Up to 28 cores per CPU (vs. 22 on Gen9 Broadwell v4), higher DDR4 memory speeds (up to 2933 MT/s vs. 2400 MT/s on Gen9), hardware-level speculative execution mitigations on Cascade Lake.
• PCIe 3.0 connectivity: Same as the DL380 Gen10 — compatible with current-generation mezzanine cards and interconnect modules in the c7000 enclosure.
• Platform longevity: Gen10 blades will remain in HPE's support window significantly longer than Gen9. For blade deployments intended to run 3–5 years, Gen10 is the right generation investment.

Processors

Single or dual Intel Xeon Scalable 1st or 2nd Generation (Skylake or Cascade Lake). v2 (Cascade Lake) preferred for production deployments — hardware mitigations, faster DDR4, better IPC. Up to 56 cores dual-socket with 28-core Cascade Lake SKUs. TDP range from 85W Silver through 205W Platinum.

Memory

Up to 24 DDR4 DIMM slots — 12 per CPU in dual-socket configuration. Matches the DL380 Gen10 rack server's DIMM count — more than the BL460c Gen9's 16 slots. Maximum capacity: 3 TB with LRDIMMs. DDR4 speed at 2 DPC: 2666 MT/s on most Cascade Lake SKUs — consistent with Gen10 rack platform behavior.

Local Storage

Two 2.5" SAS/SATA hot-swap bays — same local storage limitation as the Gen9 blade. Primary storage in blade environments is SAN-attached through the enclosure's Flex Fabric interconnects. Local blade drives are typically used for OS and application data only. For storage-primary workloads, rack servers with higher local drive counts are the appropriate architecture.

Smart Array P204i-b (no-cache, Gen10 embedded) for basic RAID. For production storage requiring write cache, evaluate SAN-attached storage through the enclosure. M.2 SATA boot may be available on some Gen10 blade configurations — confirm at quote time.

Networking Through the c7000

The BL460c Gen10 supports 10 GbE and 25 GbE mezzanine NICs — confirm compatibility with the interconnect modules installed in your c7000 enclosure. Gen10 blades require Gen10-compatible Virtual Connect or FlexFabric interconnect modules for full feature access. If your c7000 enclosure is populated with Gen9-era interconnects, confirm compatibility before ordering Gen10 blades. Our team can assist with interconnect compatibility validation at quote time.

Management — iLO 5

iLO 5 Standard ships on all BL460c Gen10 units. iLO 5 Advanced license required for remote KVM console — same requirement as rack servers. For blade environments managed through HPE OneView, iLO 5 is the management foundation that OneView integrates with for Gen10 blade health, lifecycle, and configuration management.

Our Assessment

The BL460c Gen10 is the right blade for HPE BladeSystem environments making a generational transition from Gen9 — better compute, more memory capacity, iLO 5, longer lifecycle. For organizations building new blade infrastructure, we recommend evaluating whether the c7000 enclosure investment is justified for the planned blade count, or whether Gen10 rack servers (DL360 Gen10 for 1U density) deliver better overall economics. Our general guidance: blade infrastructure makes financial sense at 8+ blades per enclosure in most deployments. Fewer than that, rack servers are almost always more cost-efficient.

Where to look instead:

• No existing c7000 enclosure? → DL360 Gen10 8-Bay rack server — comparable 1U compute without enclosure dependency
• Need to buy enclosure too? → HPE c7000 Enclosure — quote enclosure + blades together
• Staying on Gen9 blade infrastructure? → BL460c Gen9 — lower cost for matching existing node generation

Workload Fit

Ready to Configure?

Blade configurations require c7000 enclosure compatibility verification — existing enclosure generation, Virtual Connect / interconnect module versions, and planned mezzanine NIC. Tell us your enclosure details, required blade count, CPU and memory targets, and quantity. Our team responds within 24 hours. Volume pricing at 5 units and above.