Dell
Dell PowerEdge R740 2X Bronze 3106 128GB RAM 8X 400GB SSD Renewed
Dual 8-core Bronze 3106 CPUs, 128GB RAM, and 8x 400GB SSD in a 2U chassis deliver enterprise compute density at a fraction of new-server pricing.
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Overview
Enterprise-Class Performance for Demanding Workloads
The Dell PowerEdge R740 is a powerful and versatile server designed for a wide range of enterprise applications. This renewed server offers high performance, scalability, and reliability in a 2U rack form factor.
Specifications:
- Form Factor: 2U Rack Server
- Drive Bays: 8 x 2.5 Hot Plug
- Processors: 2X Bronze 3106 Eight Core 1.7Ghz
- Memory: 128GB RAM
- Storage: 8X 400GB SSD
- RAID Controller: H730P
Pros & Cons
👍 Pros
- Dual-socket architecture delivers 16 physical Xeon cores and 32MB of L3 cache at a price point far below a comparable new-server configuration, making it cost-effective for SMB virtualization or database hosting.
- 128GB DDR4 across 24 available DIMM slots leaves the memory subsystem significantly under-populated, enabling straightforward capacity expansion without replacing existing DIMMs.
- The PERC H730P hardware RAID controller with 2GB NV cache supports RAID 6 across the 8x SSD array, providing dual-drive fault tolerance with write-cache protection — a feature absent from software RAID implementations.
- 8x hot-plug 2.5" SSD bays enable live drive replacement without downtime, which is operationally significant for environments without a scheduled maintenance window.
- The 2U form factor delivers substantial compute and storage density for its rack height, making it suitable for colocated or space-constrained deployments.
👎 Cons
- The Bronze 3106 has no Turbo Boost and no Hyper-Threading — the fixed 1.7 GHz all-core frequency is a hard ceiling that significantly limits single-threaded performance compared to Gold-tier Xeons at the same socket count.
- As a renewed server, drive wear state is unknown at purchase — SSDs may be at significant percentage of their rated write endurance, requiring immediate health verification via SMART data and RAID controller logs.
- 400GB per SSD is modest by current standards; the 3.2TB raw / ~2.4TB usable (RAID 6) storage envelope fills quickly under virtualization or database workloads requiring local storage.
- No warranty terms are specified — enterprise-grade support coverage is typically unavailable on renewed units without purchasing a separate extended service contract.
Frequently Asked Questions
What workloads are the dual Bronze 3106 processors best suited for?
The Bronze 3106 is a Skylake-SP Xeon with 8 cores at 1.7 GHz (no Turbo Boost, no Hyper-Threading). Dual-socket gives you 16 physical cores total. This configuration is well-matched to parallelizable workloads — virtualization hosts running moderate VM counts, database servers with many concurrent connections, and CI/CD build environments — but the fixed 1.7 GHz clock means latency-sensitive single-threaded tasks will underperform compared to Gold or Platinum-tier Xeons.
Is 128GB of RAM expandable, and what is the maximum the R740 supports?
The PowerEdge R740 supports up to 3TB of DDR4 RAM across 24 DIMM slots (12 per processor). As a renewed unit, the 128GB configuration leaves substantial headroom for expansion — the platform supports LRDIMMs up to 128GB per DIMM — but buyers should verify which DIMM slots are populated before purchasing additional memory to ensure correct channel population.
What does the H730P RAID controller mean for the 8x 400GB SSDs?
The PERC H730P is a 12Gb/s SAS/SATA hardware RAID controller with 2GB of NV cache. It supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60. For the 8x 400GB SSDs (3.2TB raw), RAID 6 gives you approximately 2.4TB usable with dual-drive fault tolerance — a practical configuration for production data. The NV cache (battery-backed or flash-backed) protects write data through power interruptions, which distinguishes it from software RAID implementations.
What does "renewed" mean for enterprise servers, and what should I verify on arrival?
Renewed (refurbished) means the server has been inspected, cleaned, and tested to functional specification, but is not factory new. On arrival, verify: iDRAC firmware version (update if needed), drive health via PERC RAID controller logs, DIMM slot population and any logged memory errors, and CPU thermal paste condition. Dell's iDRAC lifecycle controller logs surviving hardware events from prior deployments.
Can I add GPUs or additional PCIe cards to this server?
Yes. The R740 2U chassis includes PCIe 3.0 expansion slots — up to three full-height, full-length slots plus additional low-profile slots depending on configuration. GPU workloads requiring high-power cards should factor in the server's PSU capacity and the specific riser card configuration present in the renewed unit.
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