Dell
Dell Intel Xeon T440: 8 x 3.5, 2X Gold 5118, 64GB, 2X 10TB, H730 (Renewed)
Dual Xeon Gold 5118 compute and 20TB of hot-plug storage make the PowerEdge T440 a tower server that punches at rack-mount performance levels.
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Overview
Unleash Server Performance with the Dell PowerEdge T440
The Dell PowerEdge T440 is designed to deliver powerful and reliable performance for small and medium-sized businesses. Featuring dual Intel Xeon Gold processors, ample RAM, and high-capacity storage, it's an ideal solution for file and print serving, web hosting, and application workloads.
Specifications:
- Server Type: Dell PowerEdge T440
- Drive Bays: 8 x 3.5" Hot Plug
- Processors: 2x Intel Xeon Gold 5118 (Twelve Core, 2.3Ghz)
- Memory: 64GB RAM
- Storage: 2x 10TB
- Controller: H730
- Power Supplies: 2x PSU
Pros & Cons
👍 Pros
- 24 physical cores across dual Gold 5118 CPUs provide thread-dense compute capacity that scales well under VMware, Hyper-V, or heavy application server workloads.
- 64GB of DDR4 ECC RAM is a practical starting point for running multiple production VMs without memory over-commitment.
- 8x hot-plug 3.5" bays allow non-disruptive drive additions up to the T440's maximum storage capacity.
- The PERC H730 controller supports all standard RAID levels and includes onboard cache to improve both read and write throughput.
- Dual redundant PSUs protect against single power supply failure in environments without UPS infrastructure.
👎 Cons
- Only two of eight drive bays are populated in this configuration — the H730 cache is most effective in RAID 5 or RAID 10 configurations requiring at least three to four drives, which need to be purchased separately.
- The Gold 5118's 2.3GHz base clock means serial-execution-heavy workloads — certain legacy ERP queries, single-threaded batch jobs — will not benefit from the high core count.
- 64GB RAM, while functional, is below the density threshold for high-VM-count deployments; budget for additional RDIMMs before scaling beyond 10–15 VMs.
- The tower form factor, while office-friendly, cannot be rack-mounted without a separate tower-to-rack conversion kit, which adds cost for future data center migration.
- As a renewed unit, Dell ProSupport contract status should be verified — out-of-warranty enterprise hardware shifts all support burden to the buyer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What workloads are the dual Gold 5118 processors best suited for?
Each Gold 5118 is a 12-core, 24-thread Skylake-SP chip running at 2.3GHz base with a 3.2GHz max turbo and 16.5MB L3 cache. Combined, you have 24 physical cores and 48 threads — well-suited for virtualization, SQL Server, file serving, and application workloads that scale with thread count rather than single-core speed.
What RAID configurations are possible with the H730 controller and two 10TB drives?
The Dell PERC H730 supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60. With only two drives installed, your practical options are RAID 0 (20TB raw, no redundancy) or RAID 1 (10TB usable, full mirror). Adding drives unlocks RAID 5 and 10 for a better performance/redundancy balance.
Can the T440 be expanded beyond the current 64GB of RAM?
Yes. The PowerEdge T440 supports up to 1TB of DDR4 ECC registered memory across 16 DIMM slots, depending on the processor configuration. Expansion should use registered ECC DDR4 DIMMs validated on Dell's memory compatibility list for this platform.
Is the T440 tower form factor suitable for a non-data-center environment?
Yes — the T440's tower chassis is designed for machine room, wiring closet, or even office environments where rack infrastructure doesn't exist. It operates on standard power and produces less ambient noise than rack-mounted equivalents in open cooling configurations, though it is still a server-class machine with server-class acoustics under load.
Does the H730 controller include a cache battery, and does it affect performance?
The Dell PERC H730 includes a 1GB non-volatile cache backed by a capacitor (NVCM) or battery-backed unit (BBU) depending on configuration. When the cache is active and write-back mode is enabled, write performance improves substantially. Verify the cache module and BBU status via Dell's OMSA or iDRAC upon initial setup.
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