Dell EMC PowerEdge R750 Server

Description

The Dell EMC PowerEdge R750 server can be used to support a number of different workloads including, virtualization and cloud applications, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), database and analytics, high-performance computing, plus software defined storage build out. It offers a large memory footprint supported by 3rd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors. 3rd gen Xeons also provide more memory channels and PCIe 4.0 for twice the throughput compared to PCIe 3.0 speeds. Optional liquid cooling is supported on this system. GPUs are also supported for computational acceleration or distributed environments.

Performance

This system supports 2x 3rd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors with up to 40x physical cores and 80 virtual threads. Code named “Ice Lake,” these processors also support 8x memory channels, or 2x more than then previous generation. More PCIe lanes are also supported at up to 64 per CPU socket, and faster PCIe 4.0 speeds.

Memory

Memory speed has also been upgraded to 3200MHz when paired with certain processors that support that speed too. The system will support registered (RDIMM) and load reduced (LRDIMM) memory modules in varying capacities. Intel Optane persistent memory 200 series memory modules, or PMem, are also supported. Each processor supports 16x DIMMs in 8x memory channels for a total of 32x active memory module slots with both processors installed. Maximum capacity is achieved using 8x 512GB PMem modules and 8x 256GB memory modules for 6TB per processor, and a total of 12TB of memory with both processors.

Storage

There are options for storage on this system with 3x different 2.5-inch drive configurations, an 8-bay chassis, 16-bay chassis, and 24-bay chassis. Another configuration using 3.5-inch drives features 12x 3.5-inch drive bays. Supported drive formats include SAS, SATA and U.2 NVMe drives. 4x more drives can be installed in the rear of the Dell R750 server using an optional drive cage. All NVMe U.2 drives are supported for all configurations. However, if all front drive bays on the 24-bay chassis configuration are outfitted with NVMe U.2 drives then the rear drive cage is limited to SATA3. If the rear drive cage is installed, only 4x of the 8x possible PCIe slots will be available. Dell has also upgraded the boot optimized subsystem, or BOSS, which can be used to host the OS. The BOSS is now fully accessible from the back of the system in two hot-pluggable slots that can be RAIDed together for redundancy. A new range of 15 generation PowerEdge RAID Controllers (PERC) are also supported and leverage 14th generation PERCs for performance improvements with a new Harpoon-based tier offering.

Expansion

Again, you have options with the R750, which can support 8x PCIe 4.0 x8 slots or up to 6x PCIe 4.0 x16 slots in 3x risers. The OCP 3.0 card on the back has a dedicated slot, which won’t detract from the PCIe riser slots, is PCIe 4.0 compatible and offers flexible networking speeds and ports to support your workloads. Another dedicated slot supports an iDRAC card for at-chassis and remote management of the system. 2x double-width 300W, or 4x single width 150W, or 6x single-width 75W accelerators are supported for computational acceleration or distributed environments.

Management

This platform offers full-stack management integration with Microsoft, VMware, ServiceNow, Ansible and many other options. Intel’s Xeon Scalable processors also provide cryptographically trusted booting and the silicon root of trust with its cyber-resilient architecture, which is part of the CPU architecture. A dedicated management port on the back of the system provides access to the integrated Dell remote access controller (iDRAC) with lifecycle controller. Dell EMC’s OpenManage systems portfolio provides additional tools for end-to-end management of the system including automation tools to help scale, manage, and protect your infrastructure.

Summary

Suitable for conquering a number of high-performance computing applications, the Dell EMC PowerEdge R750 server supports 2x of Intel’s 3rd generation Xeon Scalable processors in a 2U chassis. 24x up front bays provide most of the storage, but another 4-bay drive cage can be installed in back. Two M.2 storage devices can be used to support the OS in a RAID and are installed in the back of the server providing easy access without having to open the case. It delivers more cores, more memory, and faster memory than the previous generation and offers support for compute accelerating GPUs.