The Dell PowerEdge R6525 is a 1U server designed for High Performance Computing (HPC), Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), Virtualization, and more. The R6525 is very similar to the R650 but accepts AMD EPYC processors instead of Intel Xeon.

Bay Counts

There are three bay count and form factor options for the PowerEdge R6525. There is a 4 Bay LFF, 8 Bay SFF, and 10 Bay SFF option. The 4 Bay LFF chassis accepts up to four 3.5” hot-swap SAS/SATA drives. 8 Bay SFF accepts up to eight 2.5” SAS/SATA drives. Lastly, the 10 Bay SFF chassis accepts up to ten 2.5” hot-swap SAS/SATA/NVMe drives. With the 10 Bay SFF chassis, you can install two rear drive bays into the back of the system. These drive bays allow you to install two additional 2.5” hot-swap SAS/SATA/NVMe drives.

Chassis Rear & PCIe Slots

There are three possible R6525 rear configurations. The differences between each configuration is it’s PCIe slots and whether it has a rear drive kit. The first configuration has two full-height PCIe slots and no rear drive bays. The second configuration has three low-profile PCIe slots with no rear drive bays. The last configuration has one low-profile PCIe slot and two 2.5” drive bays. Each of these rear configurations have two 1GbE RJ45 Ethernet ports, an OCP card slot, a dedicated iDRAC port, a BOSS S2 module, a system ID button, USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, a VGA port, and two hot-swap power supply bays.

The Dell PowerEdge R6525 server has two SP3 CPU sockets. This server accepts 2nd or 3rd generation AMD EPYC processors. A maximum of 64 cores per processor is supported.

The PowerEdge R6525 server has 32 DDR4 DIMM slots inside. There are eight memory channels for each CPU. Each memory channel consists of two DIMM slots. DIMM slots are colored either white or black to help distinguish the memory channels.

Supported Memory Types and Capacities

Two types of memory can be used with the PowerEdge R6525: ECC Registered (RDIMMs) and Load Reduced (LRDIMMs). Module capacities of 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB are supported by the R6525 server. One thing to note is that 128GB modules can only be used with Load Reduced. With LRDIMMs, an overall greater RAM capacity can be reached than if you were to use RDIMMs. With RDIMMs, the greatest possible configuration is 2TB (2048GB) with 32x64GB. With LRDIMMs, you can reach 4TB (4096GB) with a configuration of 32x128GB.

Supported Memory Speeds

The PowerEdge R6525 server supports memory speeds of 2666MT/s, 2933MT/s, and 3200MT/s. The processor that you install into your server will determine the maximum memory speed that your DIMMs can operate at. If you install a processor with that supports a lower maximum speed than the speeds you have installed, then the memory modules will clock down to the maximum supported speed. For example, if the installed processor supports a max speed of 2666MT/s, and you install 2933MT/s modules, the modules will operate at 2666MT/s.

There are many potential storage options that you can install into your PowerEdge R6525. The chassis of the R6525 determines whether you can install 2.5” or 3.5” drives. If your system has a rear drive kit, then two additional 2.5” drives can be installed. The R6525 accepts HDDs, SSDs, and M.2s. Supported drive interfaces for the R6525 are: SATA, SAS, and NVMe

Supported Drives

NVMe offers major performance benefits over most non-NVMe drives. Because of this, NVMe is used in datacenters around the world, where speed is crucial. Depending on what R6525 chassis you have, NVMe drives can be installed.

U.2 NVMe and Backplane NVMe

Out of the three R6525 chassis options, only one of them allow you to install U.2 NVMe drives into the backplane. This chassis is the 10 Bay SFF chassis. This chassis can accept up to ten 2.5” U.2 NVMe solid state drives. The 4 Bay LFF and 8 Bay SFF chassis have an NVMe capable backplane. If your system has a rear drive kit, you can install two 2.5” NVMe SSDs.

M.2 NVMe

You may be wondering if the Dell R6525 supports NVMe M.2 drives. M.2 drives can be installed via the BOSS S1 or S2, however NVMe is not supported. Neither the S1 or S2 support NVMe M.2 drives.

The Dell PowerEdge R6525 can accept up to two hot-swap power supply units (PSUs). Hot-swap means that the PSUs can be added or removed while the server is powered on, as long as one unit remains plugged into the system.

Wattage Options

Wattage options for the PowerEdge R6525 are 800W, 1100W, and 1400W. For more power-intensive applications, a 1100W or 1400W power supply is the best choice. For lower end applications, a 800W power supply works just fine.

Voltage Options

Voltage options for the R6525 are Mixed Mode and -48VDC. Mixed Mode power supplies support a power input of 100-240VAC. -48VDC power supplies support a power input of (-48)-(-60) VDC. Mixed mode options are only available with 800W, 1100W, and 1400W power supplies. -48VDC power supplies are only available with 1100W. It is important to make sure that your connection is supported by your power supply, or your system may not power on.

If you want to connected a device to the Internet, it will need some type of Network Interface Card (NIC). A NIC can manifest as ports that are built-in to the motherboard. A NIC can also manifest as additional card that can be installed into the system. The R6525 has two 1GbE RJ45 ports that are built-in to the motherboard. The R6525 accepts OCP and/or PCIe network cards as well. There are options for RJ45, fiber, or both.