The Dell PowerEdge R740 is a more than capable storage solutions that is perfect for all sorts of businesses. There is a total of three different chassis options for the Dell PowerEdge R740 rackmount server. These options are 8 Bay SFF, 8 Bay LFF, and 16 Bay SFF. The main differences between each chassis have to do with their bay counts, form factor, and PCIe slots.

8 Bay SFF

The 8 Bay SFF chassis has eight 2.5" drive bays on the front of the chassis. There is support for up to eight hot-swap 2.5" SAS/SATA hard drives and/or solid-state drives.

8 Bay LFF

The 8 Bay LFF chassis can accept up to eight 3.5" SAS/SATA drives. 2.5" hard drives and solid state drives can be used via a 2.5" to 3.5" drive converter.

16 Bay SFF

The 16 Bay SFF is equipped with sixteen 2.5 front drive bays. Up to sixteen 2.5" hot-swap SAS/SATA drives can be installed.

Rear Configurations

There is a total of two possible rear configurations for the Dell PowerEdge R740 server. Both rear configurations are nearly identical, other than the fact that they have different numbers of PCIe slots. The first configuration has one low-profile and three full-height PCIe slots while the second configuration has one low-profile and seven full-height PCIe slots. Both rear configurations include a dedicated iDRAC LAN port, a serial management port, a VGA port, two type A USB 3.0 ports, a network daughter card slot, and two hot-swap power supply bays.

The Dell PowerEdge R740 server can accept up to 1st Generation and 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors. Total of 56 cores with a total of 28 cores per processor.

DIMM Slots & Channels

The Dell PowerEdge R740 Server has a total of 24 DIMM slots which makes this system great in terms of scalability. There are 8 memory channels. Each memory channel consists of 8 DIMM slots.

Memory Types & Module Capacities

This system accepts DDR4 memory. ECC Registered (RDIMMs), Load Reduced (LRDIMMs), and Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory (DCPMM) can be used with the R740, but you cannot mix these two types. Capacities of 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB. 128GB is only available with LRDIMMs and 256GB and 512GB are only available with DCPMM. With Load Reduced and Intel Optane, you can achieve an overall greater RAM capacity.

Max Configurations

With ECC Registered memory, you can achieve a max of 1.5TB with a configuration of 24x64GB modules. With Load Reduced, the max you can achieve is 3TB with a configuration of 24x128GB modules. With Intel Optane alone, 6.14TB can be achieved with 12x512GB modules.

Supported Memory Speeds

The Dell R740 supports memory speeds of 2133MT/s, 2400MT/s, 2666MT/s, 2933MT/s, and 3200MT/s. The processor you have installed will determine the max memory speed that you can use with your system. For example, if your processor supports a max memory speed off 2666MT/s and you install a 2933MT/s module, the module will clock down to 2666MT/s. 2933MT/s is the fastest possible speed for this system.

Supported Drives (2.5")

Supported Drives (3.5")

How Many Power Supplies does the R740 Take?

The PowerEdge R740 server can hold up to two hot-swap power supplies. Hot swap means that power supplies can be install/removed as long as one power supply remains plugged in.

Power Supply Options

Power supply options for the R740 include:

• 495W AC Platinum
• 750W AC Platinum
• 1100W AC Platinum
• 1600W AC Platinum
• 2000W AC Platinum
• 2400W AC Platinum
• 750W AC Titanium
• 1100W DC
• 750W DC Platinum Mixed Mode (China Only)
• 750W AC Platinum Mixed Mode
• 750W HVDC Mixed Mode
• 1100W HVDC Mixed Mode