DELL PowerEdge R740xd2 26x 8TB 32GB DDR4 2x Xeon Gold 6254 3.1GHz 18C rack server

High-density 2U storage server

The Dell PowerEdge R740xd2 is a 2U rack server built for data-intensive workloads that demand maximum storage density in a compact form factor. It ships with 26 bays populated by 8TB 7.2K SATA hard drives and is powered by two Intel Xeon Gold 6254 processors running at 3.1GHz with 4.0GHz turbo. Thirty-two gigabytes of DDR4-2933 ECC registered memory and dual 1100W platinum power supplies complete the configuration.

Suited for archive and backup targets.

This system suits organisations building software-defined storage clusters, backup repositories or media archives where raw capacity per rack unit is the primary concern. The 26-drive layout and HBA330 controller deliver high-throughput sequential access for large datasets. Buyers who need large memory footprints for in-memory databases or virtualisation hosts should look elsewhere, as the installed 32GB uses only four of sixteen slots and the workload profile favours storage over compute density.

26-bay 3.5-inch SATA capacity decides fit

The defining specification is the twenty-six 3.5-inch drive bays pre-loaded with 8TB SATA drives behind a Dell PERC HBA330 12Gb/s SAS/SATA controller. This density determines whether the chassis matches the planned storage topology; networking, memory expansion and CPU headroom are secondary to the physical drive count and interface.