Dell PowerEdge R830 Gen13 Rack Server

Description

With support for four processors, the Dell R830 server is just a step below Dell’s flagship PowerEdge R930 server, which also supports four processors. Dell's commitment to well-engineered products is very clear with a logical chassis layout and the ability to run the server with either two or four processors using a unique processor expansion module that also includes integrated memory module slots supported by the additional processors.

Performance

The PowerEdge R830 features Intel's C612 chipset and will support either two or four E5-4600 v4 processors with data transfer speeds of up to 2400MT/s. Administrators can start out with just two processors, and by installing the optional processor expansion module (PEM) can add two additional processors and double the supported memory. Although, most customers will opt for the four processor configuration given there are plenty of two socket alternatives in the Gen13 PowerEdge line but nice to know you can start with two processors and add two more at a later date.

Memory

With a two processor configuration the R830 will support up to 24 DDR4 load-reduced (LRDIMM) or registered (RDIMM) memory modules. With the addition of the CPU riser or PEM the system will support a total of four processors and up to 3TBs of memory using 64GB memory modules in all 48 DIMM slots.

Storage

This R830 comes configured for either eight or sixteen 2.5-inch storage bays. Choose from either SAS/SATA HDDs, SAS/SATA SSDs, Nearline SAS hard drives or a mix of drive types with hot data stored on faster SSDs and cold data stored on slower, less expensive HDDs. The system also supports a 1.6TB NVMe express flash PCIe card for use as a boot drive or mass storage device.

Expansion

There are a total of seven PCIe 3.0 slots supported on three separate risers that can be used to support additional NICs, HBAs, External RAID adapters, and the previously mentioned 1.6TB NVMe PCIe card. A network daughter card (NDC) provides network connectivity and Administrators can choose from 4 x 1GbE, 2 x 10GbE, or a 2 x Converged Network Adapter. An optional optical storage device and dual SD card module for hypervisor support are available.

Management

Dell's OpenManage Essentials works with Dell's iDRAC8 Express with LifeCycle controller to manage the Dell's R830 both on site and remotely. Upgrading to iDRAC enterprise will enable the dedicated management port and optional vFlash SD card slot. OpenManage leverages the iDRAC module to help manage third-party data center hardware and automate bare-metal server and OS deployments.

Summary

The Dell PowerEdge R830 rack server is a very well-engineered server ideal for data centers, dense virtualization or containers. With four processors and support for up to 3TB of memory, it’s an appropriate platform for in-memory applications like Oracle RAC and Microsoft SQL. The 2u form factor and dense architecture under the lid will also help save money where space is a premium.