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Dell PowerEdge R860 (New)
What Is the Dell PowerEdge R860?
The R860 is the four-socket 2U scale-up model of Dell’s 16th-generation PowerEdge family. It accepts up to four 4th Generation (Sapphire Rapids) or 5th Generation (Emerald Rapids) Intel Xeon Scalable processors in an 86.8 mm (3.41") 2U chassis, with 64 DDR5 DIMMs (16 per processor), PCIe Gen5, EDSFF E3.S NVMe Gen5 storage and optional direct liquid cooling.
Buyers choose the R860 when a single dual-socket host is not enough — large in-memory databases such as SAP HANA, consolidated ERP/CRM and virtualization farms, and dense CPU-bound analytics that must scale up inside one operating-system image. Compared with the mainstream dual-socket R760, the R860 doubles socket count, doubles memory capacity to 16 TB and roughly doubles core count in the same 2U footprint. We ship it new and configured to order for data-center consolidation projects worldwide.
R860 specifications at a glance
| Form factor | 2U four-socket rack server (up to 4 × CPU sockets; 2- or 4-processor configurations) |
| Generation | Dell PowerEdge 16th Generation (16G) |
| Processors | Up to 4 × 4th/5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable (Sapphire Rapids / Emerald Rapids); 4th Gen SKUs from Gold 6416H up to Platinum 8490H; up to 350 W TDP; UPI up to 16 GT/s, up to 4 links per CPU |
| Maximum cores | Up to 60 cores per socket on 4th Gen (240 total); up to 64 cores per socket on 5th Gen (256 total) |
| Memory | 64 × DDR5 ECC RDIMM slots (16 per processor); 16/32/64/96/128/256 GB modules; up to 4800 MT/s 1 DPC (4400 MT/s 2 DPC) with 4th Gen, 5600 MT/s with 5th Gen |
| Maximum memory | 16 TB |
| Front drives | 8 × 2.5″ SAS/SATA; 16 × 2.5″ SAS/SATA/NVMe (or 16 × SAS/SATA + 8 × NVMe); 24 × 2.5″ SAS/SATA/NVMe; 8 × EDSFF E3.S NVMe Gen5 |
| Rear drives | 2 × 2.5″ SAS/SATA/NVMe, or 4 × EDSFF E3.S NVMe Gen5 |
| Maximum NVMe | Up to 24 front 2.5″ NVMe (all-NVMe passive backplane), or 8 front + 4 rear E3.S NVMe Gen5 |
| RAID / HBA | Software RAID S160; PERC H355, H755, H965i/H965e; HBA355i/HBA355e; HBA465i/HBA465e; BOSS-N1 dual-M.2 boot |
| PCIe | Up to 8 slots — full four-socket riser config: 8 × PCIe Gen5 x16 (FH/HL); 2-CPU entry riser config: 4 × Gen4 x8 |
| Networking | OCP 3.0 SFF mezzanine (up to 100 GbE, up to 4 ports); optional 2 × 1 GbE LOM (BCM5720); LOM and OCP can coexist |
| GPUs | N/A — GPU/FPGA options are not supported on the R860 |
| Power | 2 × PSUs with 1+1 redundancy: 1100 W Titanium / 1400 W Platinum / 1800 W Titanium / 2400 W Platinum / 2800 W Titanium; AC and 240 Vdc (HVDC) |
| Cooling | Up to 6 sets of dual-rotor hot-plug fans with N+1 redundancy; optional Direct Liquid Cooling (rack-manifold/CDU solution) |
| Dimensions | H 86.8 mm (3.41″) × W 482.0 mm (18.97″) × D 883.2 mm (34.77″) with bezel (869.2 mm without bezel) |
| Weight | Up to 42.97 kg (94.73 lb) fully populated; 13.09 kg (28.85 lb) without drives and PSUs |
| Management | iDRAC9, iDRAC Direct, OpenManage Enterprise, Quick Sync 2, Redfish API; TPM 2.0, Silicon Root of Trust, signed firmware, Secure Boot, Secure Erase, Secured Component Verification |
| Operating systems | Windows Server with Hyper-V, VMware ESXi, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Canonical Ubuntu Server LTS |
Specifications per the official Dell PowerEdge R860 Technical Guide (Rev. A05, December 2024) and spec sheet, plus our audited configuration database. New units are configured to order; not every option is present in every stock build, so confirm your target configuration with us.
R860 Specifications in Detail
Processors: four-socket scale-up, up to 256 cores
The four sockets accept 4th Generation Sapphire Rapids and 5th Generation Emerald Rapids Intel Xeon Scalable CPUs. The 4th Generation list runs from the Gold 6416H (18 cores, 165 W) up to the Platinum 8490H (60 cores, 113 MB cache, 350 W), with up to four Intel Ultra Path Interconnect links per CPU at up to 16 GT/s for cache-coherent four-socket operation. 5th Generation processors extend the per-socket ceiling to 64 cores — up to 256 cores per 2U host. Mixing processor models in a four-socket configuration is not recommended.
Memory: 64 DDR5 DIMMs, up to 16 TB
The system board provides 64 DDR5 ECC RDIMM slots — 16 per processor — with 16/32/64/96/128/256 GB modules and a 16 TB ceiling. DIMMs run at up to 4800 MT/s with one DIMM per channel (4400 MT/s with two DPC) on 4th Generation CPUs; 5600 MT/s speed is supported with 5th Generation processors. Large-capacity 96 GB and 128 GB RDIMMs are validated on selected high-core SKUs — send us your DIMM map and we will confirm the exact processor/memory matrix.
This is the core reason to choose an R860: four sockets and 16 TB of RAM in a single 2U box, sized for in-memory and scale-up database workloads that dual-socket servers cannot host.
Storage: SAS/SATA, up to 24 NVMe, or EDSFF E3.S Gen5
Front backplanes span 8 × 2.5″ SAS/SATA, 16 × 2.5″ SAS/SATA/NVMe (including a 16 × SAS/SATA + 8 × NVMe mixed layout), a 24 × 2.5″ SAS/SATA/NVMe panel and an 8 × EDSFF E3.S NVMe Gen5 panel. An all-NVMe passive 24-bay build reaches 24 front NVMe drives; dual-controller backplane layouts are available. A rear drive cage adds 2 × 2.5″ SAS/SATA/NVMe or 4 × E3.S NVMe Gen5 drives for up to 12 E3.S drives system-wide. Supported media include 24 Gb SAS SSDs, 6 Gb SATA SSDs and Gen4/Gen5 NVMe SSDs up to 15.63 TB per drive.
RAID controllers: S160 to PERC H965, plus BOSS-N1 boot
Controller options cover software RAID S160, the PERC H355 and H755, the premium H965i / H965e internal/external controllers, and HBA355i/HBA355e and HBA465i/HBA465e passthrough adapters (internal and external). A BOSS-N1 dual-M.2 card keeps the hypervisor or boot volume separate from data disks. External storage extends to 12 Gb MD-series JBODs and USB-attached tape.
PCIe expansion and networking: up to eight Gen5 slots, OCP 3.0 to 100 GbE
Four-socket riser configurations provide up to eight PCIe Gen5 x16 full-height, half-length slots (each processor integrates 80 PCIe 5.0 lanes at 32 GT/s); the entry two-CPU riser configuration provides four Gen4 x8 slots. Networking uses an optional OCP 3.0 SFF mezzanine card with up to four ports at up to 100 GbE (Broadcom, Intel and Mellanox options, including 25 GbE SFP28 and 100 GbE QSFP56), alongside an optional 2 × 1 GbE LOM board. The Gen5 slots are full-height, half-length slim-width with x16 electrical width. The rear panel also carries the dedicated iDRAC Ethernet port, USB 3.0/2.0, VGA and an optional serial port. GPUs and FPGAs are not supported on the R860 platform.
Power and cooling: 1100–2800 W, AC or 240 Vdc, optional liquid cooling
Two hot-plug PSUs run in 1+1 redundancy across five ratings: 1100 W Titanium, 1400 W Platinum, 1800 W Titanium, 2400 W Platinum and 2800 W Titanium, each supporting AC and 240 Vdc (HVDC) input. Cooling is handled by up to six sets of dual-rotor hot-plug fans with N+1 fan redundancy — the system keeps running after a single fan failure. For dense high-TDP builds, an optional Direct Liquid Cooling (DLC) configuration is available as a rack solution requiring rack manifolds and a coolant distribution unit.
Management, security and chassis
Every R860 includes iDRAC9 (Enterprise/Datacenter licenses available), iDRAC Direct, the Redfish RESTful API and OpenManage Enterprise with vCenter and System Center integrations. Hardware security includes TPM 2.0, Silicon Root of Trust, cryptographically signed firmware, Secure Boot, Secure Erase, System Lockdown and Secured Component Verification. The chassis measures 86.8 × 482.0 × 883.2 mm (H×W×D with bezel) and weighs up to 42.97 kg fully populated; ReadyRails support four-post racks, with static rails available for two-post (telco) racks.
R860 vs R760: Which 2U Intel Server Do You Need?
| PowerEdge R860 (16G) | PowerEdge R760 (16G) | |
|---|---|---|
| Sockets | 4 × CPU (scale-up) | 2 × CPU (mainstream) |
| Processors | 4 × 4th/5th Gen Xeon Scalable | 2 × 4th/5th Gen Xeon Scalable |
| Cores (max) | Up to 256 total | Up to 128 total |
| Memory | 64 × DDR5, up to 16 TB | 32 × DDR5, up to 8 TB |
| Front storage | Up to 24 × 2.5″ NVMe; 8 × E3.S Gen5; rear bays | Up to 24 × 2.5″ NVMe; 8/12 × 3.5″ |
| PCIe | Up to 8 × Gen5 x16 (or 4 × Gen4 x8) | 8 × Gen5 |
| GPUs | Not supported | Up to 2 × double-width 350 W |
| Power | 1100–2800 W, AC / 240 Vdc HVDC | 800–2800 W |
| Best fit | Scale-up: in-memory DBs, ERP, big VM hosts | General virtualization, HCI, GPU-light compute |
Rule of thumb: choose the R860 when the workload must scale up — more RAM, more sockets and more cores in one OS image. Choose the R760 for fleet-standard dual-socket virtualization, HCI and GPU-accelerated hosts. Both are current 16th-generation DDR5/Gen5 platforms; browse the full Intel Xeon server range or send us your sizing input and we will recommend the platform.
R860 Workloads: What Customers Run on Four Sockets
- SAP HANA and in-memory databases. Up to 16 TB of DDR5 in a single host supports large HANA and in-memory analytics footprints without scale-out complexity.
- Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server and scale-up databases. Up to 256 cores with high UPI bandwidth suit license-bound, high-throughput OLTP and database consolidation.
- ERP, CRM and batch processing. Dense four-socket compute for business-critical ERP/CRM systems and large batch and ETL windows.
- Data warehouse and business intelligence. CPU- and memory-heavy query workloads that benefit from a large shared-memory architecture.
- Virtualization, VM density and VDI. Very large vSphere/Hyper-V hosts, monster VMs and high-density VDI farms on one 2U server.
- CPU-bound AI, HPC and analytics. Four-socket Xeon throughput for ML/DL inference and technical computing workloads that do not require GPUs.
Configure Your New R860: CTO Builds, Batch Orders and Export
Every R860 we quote is configured to order. Tell us your CPU SKUs, DIMM map, backplane, controller, networking and PSU requirements and we will build to bill of materials — including two-processor entry builds on the same chassis. Multi-unit orders receive matched CPU steppings, identical DIMM layouts, same-batch drives and standardized firmware, palletized for export with full documentation. Send destination and incoterm with your inquiry.
Configurable options:
- 2 or 4 × 4th/5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors (Gold / Platinum SKUs, up to 350 W per CPU)
- Up to 16 TB DDR5 ECC RDIMM across 64 slots (16 GB–256 GB modules, 4800/5600 MT/s subject to CPU)
- 8/16/24 × 2.5″ front (SAS/SATA/NVMe, mixed and dual-controller layouts) or 8 × EDSFF E3.S NVMe Gen5; 2 × 2.5″ or 4 × E3.S rear
- S160, H355 / H755 / H965i or H965e, HBA355/HBA465 (internal/external); BOSS-N1 M.2 boot
- OCP 3.0 networking to 100 GbE plus optional 2 × 1 GbE LOM; up to eight PCIe Gen5 riser slots
- 1100/1400/1800/2400/2800 W redundant hot-plug PSUs with 240 Vdc HVDC support; optional direct liquid cooling; ReadyRails and cable arms
Warranty: Brand-New Genuine Dell with a 3-Year Xinchuan Warranty
All PowerEdge R860 servers we supply are brand-new, genuine Dell systems, factory-sealed and configured to order through our channel. Every unit is inspected, configured and burn-in checked before export packaging, and is sold with a 3-year warranty backed by Beijing Xinchuan Technology Co., Ltd. along with the configuration documentation for your build.
Why Buy a New R860 from ServerBastion?
- Brand-new and factory-sealed. Current, genuine Dell four-socket systems supplied through our channel — every new order ships as a factory-sealed CTO build.
- Channel pricing on configured builds. We configure and export in volume, so new systems are frequently quoted below Dell’s direct retail list — you receive a configured price against your exact bill of materials.
- Scale-up configuration expertise. We validate CPU/RDIMM compatibility (including 96/128 GB DIMM rules and 1DPC/2DPC speeds), backplane, riser and PSU choices against Dell’s technical documentation before you order.
- Batch-ready and export-experienced. Matched CPU steppings and firmware revisions, palletized shipping and export documentation for customers worldwide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Dell PowerEdge R860 used for?
The R860 is Dell’s 16th-generation 2U four-socket Intel server for scale-up workloads: SAP HANA and other in-memory databases, Oracle and SQL Server, ERP/CRM and batch processing, data warehousing and BI, very large VMware/Hyper-V virtualization and VDI hosts, and CPU-bound AI/HPC analytics. It is chosen when more cores and memory than a dual-socket server are needed inside a single 2U host.
What is the difference between the R860 and the R760?
The R860 is a four-socket server with up to 4 × 4th/5th Gen Xeon Scalable processors, up to 256 cores, 64 DDR5 DIMMs and up to 16 TB of memory. The R760 is dual-socket with up to 128 cores, 32 DIMMs and 8 TB, and it supports up to two double-width 350 W GPUs while the R860 does not support GPUs. The R860 is the scale-up platform; the R760 is the mainstream dual-socket workhorse.
What is the maximum RAM for the R860?
64 DDR5 ECC RDIMM slots (16 per processor) support up to 16 TB using 256 GB modules. Memory runs at up to 4800 MT/s (1 DPC) or 4400 MT/s (2 DPC) with 4th Generation Xeon, and at 5600 MT/s with 5th Generation processors.
Does the R860 support GPUs?
No. Dell lists GPU options for the R860 as N/A, and GPU/FPGA devices are not supported on the platform. If you need four-socket-class memory with data-center GPUs, tell us your workload and we will suggest a GPU-capable PowerEdge model such as the R760.
Is the R860 sold new, and can I order a custom configuration?
Yes. We supply the R860 brand-new and factory-sealed as a configure-to-order build — choose two or four processors, your DIMM map, backplane and NVMe layout, PERC/HBA controllers, OCP networking and PSU rating. Every new unit carries a 3-year warranty backed by Beijing Xinchuan Technology Co., Ltd.
What is the lead time and how do you ship?
Lead time depends on the configuration and current Dell availability; contact us with your bill of materials for the current typical lead time. Orders are palletized and shipped worldwide with export documentation — send destination and preferred incoterm (for example CIF, DAP or FOB) with your inquiry.
Compare Related PowerEdge Models
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Explore the rest of our Intel Xeon server range.
Specifications on this page are based on the official Dell PowerEdge R860 Technical Guide (Rev. A05, December 2024), the Dell PowerEdge R860 spec sheet and our audited configuration database. Dell and PowerEdge are trademarks of Dell Inc.; Intel Xeon is a trademark of Intel Corporation. New units are sold and warranted by Beijing Xinchuan Technology Co., Ltd.
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